I have no shame in saying that after we got engaged one of the first things I bought was a wedding planner. I can safely say its one of the best things I’ve bought. As we delve further into our own wedding planning, I thought I’d compile a little list of the things I have found useful (and sometimes just plain pretty) for wedding planning.
A Wedding Planner
I looked around for a while for one of these and found the perfect on from John Lewis. It was around £20, but has been the most useful thing ever. It’s full of lists of things I didn’t realise we would need and has lots of space for ideas. A budget planner which is super useful, and little spaces to put leaflets and bits and bobs collected from weddings fayres or from magazines. It’s also something nice to keep for later when you’ve got kids/grandkids or just want to reminisce about your wedding, you’ve got all the plans and ideas inside!
Busy B Wedding Planner here
A White Board
Now, I knew when I bought the wedding planner that it was mostly going to be for neat, final ideas, and I wanted to keep it as tidy as possible. So we bought a white board to throw down any ideas we had and wanted to mess around with, and then we popped the final ideas, down in the planner, along with costs and etc.
Whilst it’s easy to get carried away on Pinterest and loose hours of your life, it’s also like looking through one massive wedding magazine. I’ve gotten some great ideas and inspiration for some things on there, from the venue decoration to cake ideas. Whilst some of the stuff on there would be pretty expensive, its given me ideas and made me look for cheaper alternatives. Pinterest also has a feature where you can collaborate on a board, so you can invite your bridesmaids/groomsmen and get planning, without feeling like your sending them loads of emails and messages.
Wedding Magazines
Now, its easy to get sucked in with these guys and some of them are a waste of time. However, if you pick up one thats about the area you want to get married in (e.g. I picked up Yorkshrie Bride) it can be a little gem as it will have lots of suppliers, fairs etc that are local to you. Sometimes googling, ‘Wedding Venue in Yorkshire’ doesn’t always bring up what you want. It’s also good to have a flick through and get some decoration ideas? Particularly the ones that do features on certain weddings. I’d always have a little flick through the magazine before buying it. These can however be a little over priced, so any brides/brides to be that you know, talk to them and do a magazine swap when you’ve both finished with them! Helps keep costs down.
Notepads/Post-It-Notes
I guarantee these will become your best friends. I have two notepads dedicated to wedding things, filled with questions for the venue/suppliers, things that I don’t really want in my wedding planner, things that help you along to securing final details. Pages and pages of photographers and wedding fayre dates. Post it notes are also great if you and your other half need to get stuff done but maybe don’t have time to do that together. A Facebook message is great but once its read doesn’t always mean it gets done or looked at. A post it note starring you in the face is quite hard to ignore!
So, there are my planning essentials so far! Let me know if this was helpful, and what are some the things you swear by for wedding planning?
Living In The Moment 