Like many brides, I felt overwhelmed and clueless as to where to start when it came to planning my wedding. Of course I knew I needed a guest list, a place to host my wedding, etc. but there were so many things to do and keep track of. How was I supposed to know that I was doing everything I should and doing it at the right time? Thankfully there was Google but I could have saved myself a lot of time if I had just had a clear plan and strategy.

I did all my planning on my own and then asked two wonderful friends to coordinate the day of the wedding. During one of my first searches online about planning a wedding, I found a free download of a wedding planning checklist. This turned out to be a great guideline and allowed me to feel confident that I was covering all my bases. It covered everything from determining your budget and deciding on a theme, all the way to monthly and weekly tasks.

I Created a Wedding Board on Pinterest

After I had I figured out a good outline of our budget and theme, I created a Pinterest board called “Our Wedding.” I made sure it was a secret board and added my fiance, Aaron. Then I started searching things like, “wedding dresses,” “wedding ceremony decor,” “bridesmaids,” and “wedding bouquets.” I pinned everything that inspired me or caught my eye.

As the board filled up with different parts of the wedding day, I noticed a certain theme of colors and styles. Next, I went back and deleted everything that didn’t fit that theme. After several weeks I had a pretty good visual representation of my wedding vision including my color palette which led me to the next step, choosing vendors and rentals.

I Printed Out My Inspirational Photos

I’m a very visual person so once I nailed down things like my bouquet and the wedding cake, I printed out the photos and took them with me when I met with vendors such as the cake baker and florist. I love Pinterest but something about printing it out and holding it in my hand helped me visualize it much better.

I Organized My Lists in Google Docs

Along with Pinterest, Google Docs was an absolute life saver. There I created organized lists for things like “Wedding Wear” listing each group of people with the colors and outfits they were wearing, “Wedding Processional” where I listed out the order the bridal party would be filing in during the ceremony and much more. I’m definitely more detailed than most people but it gave me peace of mind knowing that I had everything written down and also allowed my coordinator to take over easily. While I did use a paper notebook for to-do lists, saving these lists online meant I could access them from multiple devices and made it super easy to print out multiple copies.

Armed with my Pinterest board and Google Docs lists, Aaron and I started booking our venue, securing rentals, and hiring smaller vendors. With lots of planning, hard work, and help from our amazing friends and family, our wedding day was absolutely everything I had dreamed of and more. Of course there were the normal glitches of every wedding day but keeping our eyes focused on our marriage, (the real reason behind our wedding,) and the fact that at the end of the day, we were going to be married, allowed the little things to slip away.

Wondering how to plan for a stress free wedding day?

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