Wedding Planning amazes me. The number of tools, books and blogs about it are astonishing. It looks like sometimes a big chunk of the industry revolves just around events. Well to cut it short, enter Shana, who’s gonna show you some great tools.
This is a guest post by Shana Fu is the founder of East West Event Productions, a full service event planning firm based in Orange County, CA.
I’ve been involved in planning dozens of weddings in various locations, with varying guest counts, and distinctive needs. When my boyfriend proposed last year, it was finally time to plan my own wedding! My familiarity with the industry and the available tools out there has given me the insight to choose the best tools to use for my own wedding needs. .
1. Google Docs
As a planner, I’ve envisioned my wedding for the longest time. When we got engaged, I sent my fiancé a 10 tab Google spreadsheet via Google Docs. My fiancé and I live and breathe by our Google Doc spreadsheet. I’ve customized several tabs to include: guestlist, budget, to do list, vendor research, song list, etc. We share the spreadsheet with each other so we can make changes anytime, at home or at the office. Google Docs gives the option to add the all-in-one planner or pick and choose the elements that you need in your own planning process. Each template also includes helpful tips which will guide you along the way.
2. The Wedding Book: The Big Book for Your Big Day by Mindy Weiss
Referred to as the wedding bible, written by celebrity planner Mindy Weiss, this book was chock full of wedding A to Zs. Even as a planner, there were things I was learning from this book. From the engagement, to setting the budget, to coordinating the fine details, this is a book that is essential to any bride.
3. Here Comes The Guide
The ultimate venue guide for couples looking to wed in California, Chicago, or DC metro areas. You can filter by location, site type, site view, and guest count. Each venue profile has a high level overview of the venue with some profiles even displaying a 360 degree virtual tour of the ceremony and reception sites.
4. Wedding Wire
Excellent directory of venues and vendors all over the country. You can find vendor profiles as well as read reviews of the vendors from real brides, to make your selection process a bit easier.
5. Weddingbee
Online community of real brides from around the world. The blog is updated over 25 times a day by editor selected contributors. The boards and classified sections are especially useful for tips, etiquette advice, inspiration ideas, and purchasing new or gently used wedding items at a lower cost.
6. Dessy Styleboard
Picking out your wedding colors and creating an elegant inspiration board is a snap with Dessy Group’s styleboard tool.
7. Honeyfund
Forget your usual houseware and kitchenware registry. Use this honeymoon registry instead!
8. Style Me Pretty
Abundance of DIY projects located here!
9. Wufoo
Use Wufoo to create customizable and embeddable contact forms or even RSVP forms for your wedding website.
10. Martha Stewart Wedding Seating Chart
Organizing your seating chart is no longer a pain with this user friendly, interactive tool on the Martha Stewart Weddings site.
In Conclusion
There is a multitude of wedding tools and sites out there, which made it very difficult to limit to a top 10 list, but I assure that these will make planning your wedding much easier and more stress free. They have for me! Happy planning!
Photo by clevercupcakes
