I am a few months into wedding planning, and I feel like it's time to share my wedding planning binder! I have always been the type of person to keep everything organized. I am the true Excel spreadsheet queen. I have shown this binder to family members and several potential vendors. They have all said the same thing, with a concerned look on their face.... "Wow, you are realllllllly organized." I am not sure if this is OCD or just a Type A personality trait, but hopefully sharing what I currently have in my wedding binder could help someone else stay organized when planning for their wedding. Below is a video of my wedding planning binder. Then details of what is in it! I hope you enjoy!
Tab 1: Timeline
I found a great website where you can find printables to go into your binder. I have talked about this in a previous post, the link to all the printables discussed is: https://www.botanicalpaperworks.com/blog/read,article/741/free-printables-new-wedding-planning-binder-download-with-extra-pages )
The timeline is just a basic outline of where you should be each month. For example 10 months before you should have a rough guest list, venue, caterer, DJ, officiant, photographer, and videographer. I also made a spreadsheet that is an all in one Wedding Check List, so I can go through and check off what I have done. This way I can see all on one sheet what has been checked off.
Tab 2: Budget
I used the same printable website as above to find a Wedding Budget Planner. This list has anything you could think of that you need in a wedding budget. It ranges from how much you to allocate to your venue to something as small as postage for your invitations. To go along with my wedding budget, I created an excel spreadsheet with each of the most costly wedding categories (i.e. Venue, Photographer, Caterer, etc.). Each of the categories has a space for the name of the vendor, the packages offered, and the price of the package. At a single glance, I can compare Photographers/Venues/Videographer/etc.
Tab 3: Logs
The logs tab is where I log appointments, orders, and payments. The orders and appointments log are from the printable website. The payments log, I created myself. It has the vendor I hired, vendor contact, the deposit required, the amount left to pay, due date, and additional notes where I can note that I made a payment. The payment log is where I can see the final cost of the big-ticket items and what is left to pay.
Tab 4: Guests
The Botanical Paperworks website has a great printable to get you started listing out who you want to attend your wedding. The printout breaks your guests out into family, friends, colleagues, and others on the brides and grooms side. Filling out this guest list is helpful to do before going to venues because the first question they have is what is your headcount. There is also a guest seating guide and a wedding stationery guide that is helpful when you get to that point in your planning process. I went a step further to have an Excel spreadsheet that has the name of guests, address, and if they are attending or not attending.
Tab 5: Receipts
When wedding planning you are going to have tons of receipts. You start getting ideas for decor and start buying items. You also are making payments to vendors. I like to have all the receipts and payments in one places. I have created a spreadsheet to list these items and what the cost was of each one. Having this spreadsheet helps me keep track of how much I have spent so far.
Tab 6: Venue
There are many contracts that you have to sign. For example, the venue that we have booked has a detailed contract. It has details of what is allowed and not allowed. Having this contract in my wedding binder allows me to reference it whenever I need to. It also makes sure that it does not get misplaced. This tab also includes general venue information and what the venue rents out.
Tab 7: Photographer/Videographer
This tab has contracts and checklists from our photographer and videographer. The checklist that our photographer gave us when we met with her was very detailed. It was a long list where we can write out what is most important to us to capture.
Tab 8: Florist
I have not yet signed a contract with a florist, but I do have it narrowed down to two. In this tab, I have the two price lists of each of the florist. I will also be getting a detailed quote from one of the florists that I will put into this tab.
Tab 9: DJ
This tab has contracts and checklists from our DJ. This tab is where I can put any music ideas. Anywhere from my walk down the aisle to our exit song.
Tab 10: Caterer/Baker
I do not have much in this tab yet. When I meet with caterers and bakers, I will put any information relating to that in this tab.
Tab 11: Hair/Makeup
Like the caterer/baker tab, I don't have any information in this tab yet.
Tab 12-21: Research
These next few tabs are every piece of information and business cards that I have accumulated at open houses and expos. Each tab is broken up into a specific wedding category. I can look at all the information or business card and send emails to inquire about what they offer. Or look at their websites to get pricing, etc. In the future, if I attend open houses or expos I can put any information given into these tabs.
This is my Wedding Planning Binder! If you have any questions or want to take a look at any of the spreadsheets I have created just shoot me an email! I hope you enjoyed this post!
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