WHAT'S PART OF OUR SPREADSHEET?

Let’s break it down for you! Below you will find every category listed in our planning spreadsheet and why.

Master Checklist:

• Having a master checklist of all your to do's in one place is visually helpful in the planning process. I recommend breaking down all the tasks on your list by month. For me, this eliminated the need to tackle all the tasks at once and spread out the to do's to when they actually needed to be completed. I also appreciated this because it gave me breaks throughout planning and making decisions.

Wedding Meetings:

• The next tab is a space where Jesse and I created agendas and tracked our wedding meetings. It helped remind us what was coming up and when we needed to follow up with vendors, as well as when items were due for the vendors.

Overall Budget:

• This tab not only tracked the budget, but also what had been paid, how much, when the next payments were due, and where we were at overall financially. The budget fluctuates constantly throughout planning and it is hard to remember where you are at, so I highly suggest including this in your spreadsheet.

Events Budget:

• I also wanted to track how much we were spending on all the outside activities that were wedding related, but not part of the wedding weekend. Things such as an engagement party, bachelorette weekend, outfits, items I was purchasing, etc. This tab was similar to the other one, but on a smaller more general scale.

Vendors:

• Throughout the research process I kept all the vendors and their contact information in this tab. Even after booking every vendor it is a great place to keep track of all their contact information. When it gets closer to the wedding, this tab is helpful to include for the itinerary, as well as to send out to all vendors for the wedding weekend.

Guest List:

• While a guest list is absolutely mandatory in the wedding planning process, mine was color coded to include a few other needs for the future. We broke this tab down to also include rehearsal dinner guest count, our welcome party guest count, who will be needing accommodations as apart of the room block, and transportation. In the spreadsheet itself we categorized the guest list by group. So when it came down to creating the seating chart, most people were already separated by their respective group to put into tables. 

Outfits:

• While this tab is not at all necessary, I had been eyeing brands for years to find the best outfits for all bridal occasions. I also had this tab available for tracking what I might want for my wedding day look. For example, what nail colors I had been gravitating towards, as well as looks for the reception such as a painted jacket for the exit, etc.

Wedding Party:

• This tab not only had information about my wedding party such as contact information and their sizes for gifts, but also ideas for bridesmaid dresses, getting ready outfits, and gift ideas.

Accommodation Options:

• Room blocks are typically necessary for wedding guests, but also keep in mind where your wedding party will be staying + you and your fiance the night before, along with where you will be staying the night of your wedding! I used this tab to track all the options.

Website:

• I researched different website platforms for our wedding website, what information I wanted to include and how the invitation suite could potentially tie into this platform as well.

Registry:

• Anything that I thought we might want or need I added it to this tab so that when we were ready to create our actual registry we knew exactly where to start. I loved doing because I wanted things that were actually useful for us! I also recommend that once you do register, to include a registry tracker that has a place to add who gifted the item to you and check off if you have sent them a thank you card.

Moments:

• I am a firm believer that when it comes to the wedding day, you need to include moments that you will remember forever. As I thought of things that might be special, or visualized for our day, I add them to this tab to talk through with my photographer and coordinator.

Photography:

• Similar to the moments, I created this tab to include shot list ideas throughout the day, who I wanted photos with, and my photo inspiration.

Floral:

• On this tab, I included the vision for my florals, as well as what florals were actually needed in each space.

Music Planner:

• Songs that I heard and thought might be a good song to play at the wedding I included on this tab. I also had categories that included when the song would be played. For example, during the ceremony, introduction to the reception, first dance, etc. 

Rehearsal Dinner:

• While I didn't use this tab frequently, I included it in our spreadsheet to jot down ideas and keep track of what had been decided for our rehearsal dinner such as menu, tablescape, flow of the dinner, etc.

Timeline:

• This will be a progression throughout the entire planning process, but this tab is extremely helpful to solidify all the information from every vendor into one place and be able to visualize the day. Most vendors will be asking what time everything is at, and being able to reference it quickly instead of scrolling through emails will save you a lot of time and stress.

I hope this is helpful for you to stay organized with your planning process wherever you are at in it!