Organized Bride

No doubt there are a lot of things to keep together and organize when planning for a wedding. Contracts, photo ideas, price listings, etc. The papers start piling up and keeping it all together can get stressful. From day one I knew that I would need a place to keep everything organized. Not only would it make things a little easier on me, but I also thoroughly enjoy projects and organizing. (School supplies like binders, dividers, and cubbies have always made me very happy. I'm satisfied with my status of 'nerd'.)

After Zac proposed and we began planning I put together a little binder to place all of our ideas for venues, colors, decorations, and any other items that we would need to figure out. Rather than going to the store and purchasing a "Bridal Binder" or "Wedding Organizer" (which can be anywhere from $20-$30) I pulled a white 1.5" binder from my pile of school supplies and considered it done. Most organizers are essentially decorated binders anyway and I couldn't justify paying for something with the word "bride" or "wedding" on it when I could just as easily make the same thing...for free.

Once we booked the venue and the wedding date was official, I printed out a cover page for the binder with our names and the date to make the binder a little more "bridal".

I added one packet of plain white dividers (that I already had in my school supply pile) to keep everything in order.

As we started to collect more papers, fliers, and ideas it became clear that I was going to need more dividers to keep everything separated a little better. After 'Bridesmaid Day' with Samantha and Michelle, and taking a look at Samantha's wedding binder, I was inspired to add some colorful dividers to the mix. My white dividers were great in keeping everything in a proper place, but Samantha had some wonderful dividers with pockets in the front to hang on to all of the loose papers/fliers that couldn't be holepunched. I loved the pockets and headed to the store a few days later to reorganize my own wedding binder. Thanks to Samantha's inspiration and four packs of dividers later the binder is now much more organized.

You might also notice that the binder is a lot thicker now. Four packs of dividers equals twenty categories. It might seem a little crazy but it actually makes organizing everything much easier.

I used 18 of the 20 categories (one of which is a place to put all of the information I need for Samantha and Matt's wedding). The categories include: budget, checklists, guest list names and addresses, venue information, photography contracts/receipts, apparel, decor ideas, etc. Having the pockets really makes it easier to keep everything in their proper category.

Having all of our contracts, price listings, and comparison sheets together has really made organizing our budget and planning the wedding a lot less hectic. Only spending $8 on dividers instead of buying an organizer for $30 wasn't a bad deal either.