Wednesday, April 7, 2010

My Bible


One of the first things I did after getting engaged was put together a wedding binder to keep all of my inspiration pictures/ideas and pricing/contracts from vendors. I wanted everything in one handy, organized location. After all this is hands down the biggest, most expensive party I have ever and probably will ever throw. It was imperative for me to be as organized as possible for fear of losing my mind completely otherwise.

Overall I would say I'm fairly organized in my daily life though I definitely would not classify myself as OCD or anal retentive. Planning this wedding has really put my organizational skills to the test and I find that it has carried over into other areas of my life...not that you would know it if you could see my desk at work right now.

Initially I thought of buying one of those fancy schmancy pre-made wedding organizers. I found a few at Barnes and Noble but none that were really setup in a way that I preferred and many of them had a bunch of extra information that I didn't really need. So I saved myself about $20 and went old school style with a big white binder, some dividers and sheet protectors and now I'm able to add/delete as I need to.

Here are some pics of my Wedding Bible which btw I rarely leave home without.

I'm not super artistic so my cover is pretty boring.

All of my different dividers. I've had to clean out this binder about 3 times already to keep it from exploding.


An example of some of my inspiration photos I have inside

The way I have my notebook setup is that when you first open it I have my checklist. Then it's goes in the following order:

-Budget/Guest List- including everyone's addresses and now our RSVP tracking spreadsheet

-Venue- has the pricing from the venues I visited and my contract with my actual venue

-Attire- has pictures of my bridesmaid, flower girl and mother of the bride dresses. A pic of my dress is NOT in there. Also, includes pics of my shoes and hairstyles I like and my dress receipts as well as the Tux information.

-Catering/Cake- has our catering and cake contract and pictures of cakes that I like

-Flowers/Decor- lots of inspiration pictures in this section along with my contract for my florist

-Stationery- inspiration photos of invitations, programs etc.

-Photography/Music- contracts for the photographer (needs to be updated) and DJ and our growing list of Do No Play songs

-Miscellanous- This has my honeymoon information, hotel room block contract and now my limo contract along with anything else I decide to stick back there.

I plan to add a new section this weekend for the ceremony which will include our readings and the vows we like and other aspects we want to incorporate into the actual ceremony.

My wedding binder has been a lifesaver on several occasions. I take it with me to all my vendor meetings and even will bring it with me to work many times. I do think that Kristian gets a little nervous everytime I pull it out though and he seems hesitant to go near it for fear of messing it up somehow.

14 comments:

Kristen said...

LOVE it! I have yet to start my binder, but i desperetly need to!

Thanks for the tips of what to include, I will be using your layout :-)

Unknown said...

You are so organized!

Alicia said...

ohhhh this make the OCD in me SO happy!! i love it! what is it about organizing something that is just so soothing?! lol..

Chocolate Lover said...

I made a binder too! I haven't needed to use it in a while but I love it!

d.a.r. said...

I did the same thing!! And then happily passed it on to my sister in law who is getting married in a few weeks :)

BG said...

this is great!! i have something similar but it's all digital...which makes it kind of hard to carry around with me. i may have to upgrade. :)

Heather said...

Nice! I have a huge filing bin that has become my wedding bible. So has the kitchen table… And the home office… LOL!

Jen said...

Such a good idea! An old coworker of mine did this for her wedding, and now she does it for other brides via her own wedding planning business! I'm bookmarking this in my "wedding" folder for my future nuptials!

Angie said...

What a great idea! I am definitely gonna have to use this! I was wanting to do some kind of binder for my wedding planning, but wasn't sure where to even begin so this really helps. Love it!

Meagan said...

Our binders are very similar! I had a check list that I got out of a magazine on the front and back cover of mine. It saved my life a lot and everyone was so impressed with me. I even called myself "professional" sounds stupid because it was my one and only wedding but it was cause I had been in a lot of weddings like you.

BonBon Rose Girls Kristin said...

WOW. You are way more organized than I was. Way to be lady!

Mrs T said...

That thing is AWESOME! I bought a wedding binder - but I ended up using my computer more - had wedding folders everywhere.

P.s. You should totally have photos with your cats!

bananas. said...

Oh my gosh, you are too cute! And so organized!!! exactly the reason why your wedding will be perfect.

Ela said...

I loves a girl that knows what she wants. And writes it all down ;) You are super organized and I love it!