09 November 2013

DIY Wedding Planning Book

My favorite (and only biological) sister is getting married. :) She expressed to me that she has no idea what she is doing when it comes to planning a wedding. Unlike some brides who have their entire weddings planned out by the age of 12, I also had no idea what I was doing when it came to planning my wedding. My biggest help was a wedding planning book I had purchased in addition to an e-book I had downloaded. Some of it was very useful to me, and some of it was stuff I did not use. Since I was not working full-time hours when I started my wedding planning, I ended up creating documents on the computer for my own use.

Thank you, Target! This binder seemed sturdy enough to hold all of my sister's wedding planning sheets.

 I just finished putting together a wedding planning book for my sister similar to what I used for all of my wedding plans. Hopefully, it will be of use to her as my wedding planning book was of use to me. I ended up changing the font and format slightly to better suit her personality, and I told her she could use as much or as little of the pages she desired. If it helps her at all in her wedding planning process, all of the work put into the book will have been worth it. Chalk one up for the Matron of Honor!

I separated the pages into different sections with pocket dividers. The pockets will most likely come in handy for my sister once the vendor literature starts to accumulate. Some of those pamphlets are worth holding on to.

 Everything was organized into a sturdy 3-ring binder. The one I purchased for my sister had a clasp for holding a paper notepad on the inside of the front cover. Having paper to take notes on during wedding planning is a must. I divided the different planning sheets into eight sections since I had purchased an 8-pack of sturdy pocket dividers. If there are any tiny pamphlets she acquires, which there most likely will be, I figured my sister could keep them in the pockets of the dividers. The papers were slid into sheet protectors. While possibly cumbersome to have to pull out the paper to write on, I thought it best to do it this way to protect the paper from the numerous times one goes through the pages in a wedding planning book.

I used sheet protectors because of how frequently I flipped through the pages of my own wedding
planning book.

 If anyone else is seeking assistance in planning a wedding, feel free to download as many or as few of the pages I included in the book I made for my sister as you want. Every bride creates a wedding that is her own, and there really is no correct or incorrect way to plan.

Basic Information

 "Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same." - Emily Brontë

These pages were placed at the beginning of the 3-ring binder in front of the pocket dividers. I found it handy to have some of this information at the front of the book instead of having to go into each separate section every time. I kept my budget information near the beginning of the binder as well for quick access. Although, I did not really use a budget that much. It was easy for me to keep things at an affordable price when much of it was a DIY wedding.


Ceremony

 "Mawidge is a dweam wiffin a dweam. The dweam of wuv wapped wiffin the gweater dweam of everwasting west. Eternity is our fwiend, wemember that, and wuv wiw fowwow you fowever." - William Goldman

My family is Catholic, and these pages are designed for a Catholic wedding sacrament outside of the Mass. My siblings and I have all managed to marry non-Catholics thus far. Having a wedding mass is something usually avoided under those circumstances to avoid any confusion among the guests of the wedding about who can/cannot receive communion. A Catholic wedding outside of the mass looks exactly like most Christian based wedding ceremonies. I did not really have to shop around for a ceremony site because Captain America and I were married at my family's church. My sister will be getting married at the same church, but the pages could be useful to anyone that may need to choose a locale from a few options. Traditionally, the receiving line used to be done at the reception, but I believe it has become more common place now to see it done immediately after the ceremony, especially a church ceremony.


Reception

 "To love is to place our happiness in the happiness of another." - Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibinz

What is the best advice I can offer a future bride? Find a reception hall that includes catering for your reception. Not only is is a huge time saver, but it can be a huge budget saver as well. Also, make sure you read the contract details very closely. I went off of what the site coordinator told us when we met to finalize the dinner plans. I believe he accidentally misspoke at the time when he said we only need to worry about bringing the wine and champagne because on the day of the wedding we found ourselves without any hard liquor since we were supposed to provide it according to our contract. My dad had to make a run for liquor, and thankfully we were able to return anything that was unopened. (Hooray for small town America!) It felt stressful at the time. But it made for a great wedding story, and my uncle joked we were hosting the Wedding Feast of Cana since we served the cheap stuff first for everyone to get drink then brought out the good stuff. We also forgot cake plates, but the reception site coordinator was able to provide some at no cost to us as recompense for the snafu over the liquor. Moral of the story: read and refresh your memory on all of your contracts in the weeks leading up to your wedding!


Attire

 "Every bride is beautiful. It's like newborn babies or puppies.
They can't help it." - Emme Rollins
I am fairly certain my dress choice made just about every woman over the age of 40 cry. Instead of trying on a bunch of dresses at a bunch of different stores, I asked my mother to sew my wedding dress for me. She graciously agreed, but I wondered closer to the wedding date if she regretted that decision after I unexpectedly lost quite a bit of weight. She had to take my dress in twice because my slender build really had no weight to lose in the first place. I sort of forget to eat when I get anxious, and I kept falling ill beginning at two months out from the wedding. (Oops.) The dress fit like a glove the day of the wedding; so it all worked out in the end. And since mom sews, she also served as my seamstress for alterations with the dresses of my bridesmaids. I was one very lucky bride!

 Bridal Attire Checklist
Bridal Boutique Comparison Chart

Flowers/Décor

 "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach." - Elizabeth Barrett Browning
This was tough for me to plan since I really had no idea what to do for flowers, so this chart was very helpful during the process of seeking out a florist. I ended up using a modern interpretation of the bouquets my mother and aunt carried at their weddings, which were both an adaptation of the bouquet their mother, my grandmother, carried at her wedding. It was a fun touch, but that was likely the heaviest bouquet on the face of the planet. My florist did a great job with the minimal specifications I gave her. As for the reception décor, my mother-in-law has a friend who is very crafty, and she offered to make table centerpieces for me. I directed her to my Pinterest wedding board to help give her ideas, but I left the rest of the creative decision making up to her after that. She made some very stunning pieces that fit an autumn wedding perfectly. I think the guests liked them as much as I did because there were no centerpieces left at the end of the night when my family cleaned up the ballroom.

 Florist Comparison Chart
Bouquets and Flowers
Table Seating Arrangements

Photography

 "Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired." - Robert Frost
There are so many options of various kinds of photographers out there. Again, it was nice to have the chart to compare a few options. I did not want to spend the money required for a videographer, but the chart could be used to compare those as well. This is probably one of the most expensive parts about planning a wedding, and thankfully I found an old school classmate that is trying to build up her own photography business. She did a nice job at a reasonable rate compared to the prices many professional studios charge. The best part is the memories are captured forever in some fabulous images, which is great since I cannot remember most of my wedding day.

 Photographer Comparison Chart

Stationary

 "At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet." - Plato

The DIY bride can make cute invitations at a much cheaper expense than hiring a stationer, but if I had to do it all over again, I would utilize a site like Vistaprint to create professional invitations at a reasonable cost. I had time to work on making invitations the summer before my wedding, but I had not figured out a great design at that time. When I finally decided on something that would work, the school year had resumed, the invitations needed to be sent out in just a few weeks, and I had little time to work on them. Thankfully, I had some help from a few wonderful girlfriends. I only wish I had read before my wedding the tip about printing on the envelopes in a very faint ink so that the lettering can be traced. Hand addressing over 200 envelopes by myself because my girlfriends disliked their handwriting was doable, but it would have been nicer not to have done all of it myself. Thank you, Catholic schooling, for teaching me penmanship skills! And yes, even in the age of computers, proper wedding etiquette states envelopes should be hand addressed, just like thank you notes should be hand written.

 Stationary Checklist
Stationary Description
Stationary Wording
Guest & Gift List
Wedding Announcement List

Transportation

 "To get full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with." - Mark Twain
Mode of transportation was something of an afterthought after most of the wedding planning was completed. Technically, the bride and groom are responsible for transporting their wedding party from the ceremony to the reception. Thankfully, my brothers' friend, who is practically my brother, saved the day and arranged for a white school bus to transport the wedding party. Talk about going old school! If there are out of town guests, it is considerate to arrange for transportation of those guests as well.

 Transportation Comparison Chart
Wedding Day Transportation List
Guest Accommodation List

Miscellaneous

 "Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get - only with what you are expecting to give - which is everything." - Katharine Hepburn
There are many other items which could be included. One popular trend is creating a wedding gift registry. Most brides and grooms love to do this together. I hated doing this, and my husband has no patience for the painstaking process of registering for numerous household items one at a time. My solution was to take the advice of a registry consultant and add the number of items Bed, Bath & Beyond suggested we should have on our registry. The number was exceedingly high, and most likely daunting for guests to peruse through, but it allowed me to never have to look at the registry again once I completed it. I did find a decent registry checklist for my sister to utilize and have included it here. She and her fiance, who looks a lot like Alan Tudyk, the actor who plays the character Wash in the TV series Firefly, will probably enjoy the registry part more so than Captain America and I did.


Please excuse the spots on the pages. No matter how hard I try to clean the scanner at home, I cannot remove the tar left behind from my husband's work correspondence. In the event I purchase a new scanner in the near future, I will redo all of the pages.
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1 comment:

  1. Drew WattsSat Sep 17, 02:22:00 AM CDT

    Thanks my friend for helping me out for DIY Wedding Planning Book. You have helped me a lot by sharing this handy book. Actually I am also planning to have a DIY wedding at one of local garden Los angeles wedding venues. I hope this guide will cover all aspects of DIY ceremonies.

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