Let’s get organized
June 01 • 2011
We continue following the wedding plans of Maine transplant Jen Pepper.
While I have been super excited about all the creative and artistic decisions that go into planning our wedding, I am less than thrilled about keeping everything organized! Organization has never been one of my star qualities. Just ask my fiance Matt! He will tell you spectacular stories about me hiding things from myself, or throwing important documents away in a cleaning spree. In fact I did just that with one of our vendor contracts!
Matt had signed the contract for our schooner charter one afternoon while I was at work and then left it on the coffee table, among wedding magazines, sketchbooks and a stack of coasters. A few days later when I was cleaning things up, I picked up the contract—thinking it was an extra copy—and threw it away.
Luckily Matt realized what I had done. So we printed a new copy and immediately sent it off in the mail. It got me thinking that even though our wedding was small, and we were doing so much ourselves, we really did need a place to keep all our paperwork and notes related to wedding planning.
I’m not sure why paper makes me so disorganized. When it comes to digital files I have a very streamline way of filing everything. We started a new email address just to contact vendors so that we would be sure not to miss any communication. Even my wedding inspiration finds are categorized into separate folders for decor, food, cakes—everything in its place. So I bought a little expanding file folder to keep all of our important documents, I haven’t put anything in it yet, but at least I know it’s ready and waiting! I hope this helps keep everything in order—before we throw away something really important (like our wedding license)!
If you have any tips for wedding organization, be sure to share them in the comments section below.
(2) COMMENTS Leave A Comment share the love
07/09/2011 at 2:19 pm Permalink
Hi Jen!
I purchased a book from Barnes & Noble about a year before our wedding. It was actually a binder that had dividers with pockets, a hole punch and a little pocket., and a ton of information on weddings. (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ultimate-wedding-planner-and-organizer-elizabeth-lluch/1102082138?ean=9781934386408&itm=2&usri=the%2bultimate%2bwedding%2bplanner) I really didn’t love the hot pink binder that said “Bride” with flowers on the front, so I scrapped that and grabbed a plain white one that was lying around.
I kept a million things in here, and I would clean it out when it got too heavy. I would print photos, e-mails, contracts and check copies for deposits in it. The best part was that if my husband needed to know anything, he knew it was in the binder and which clearly labeled section to find it in.
I also found that because it was the ONE place we kept things, nothing was ever lost. I had a ton of photos of my vision, and they were always with me, so I could show vendors my ideas. This really helped when describing things just didn’t cut it. I always had photos of my colors (paint samples are AMAZING!) flowers, centerpieces and accessories. I found that having these photos together really helped me solidify the feel I wanted for our day.
Hope this helps!
-Emily
14/10/2011 at 2:16 pm Permalink
Hey Emily-
Thanks so much for the tip! I will check this out! Things are starting to get so much more complicated now and we have to find a way to stay organized! And I LOVE the idea of Matt being able to have one place to find things if he needs them!