Yesterday, while in a meeting for my internship at
Fresno READS we got on the topic of list making.
If you know me at all, you'll know how much I LOVE to make lists. It's a small obsession, a compulsive disorder of which I have no desire to cure. On occasion my list making can get a little crazy, but I believe that for the most part, my lists come in handy in organizing what can sometimes be chaotic times. (Though they mostly just keep me organized in less than chaotic times.) We'll just say that I have numerous lists around our house (in notebooks, on loose sheets of paper, and on two dry erase boards) for a variety of reasons. In addition to lists of homework assignments, grocery lists, and craft lists, Zac and I have created a list of items to get and projects to complete for the house. We have managed to get a lot of the list taken care of but there have been a whole new set of items added to that list including:
-Getting furniture for the main living room
-Getting a more comfortable sofa bed for the office (so that when the guest room is already occupied, other guests don't have to deal with sleeping on the futon)
-Moving the washer and dryer into the garage and expanding the downstairs guest bathroom (I am so excited about this change!)
-Finish digging the trenches and leveling the ground in the back left corner of our backyard, so that we (and by 'we' I mean Zac) can begin construction on the outdoor fireplace, sitting area, and fish pond. It's going to be such a wonderful adult space to hang out, relax, and entertain guests.
There are a bunch of other items still left of the list which we will eventually get to. In the meantime we are enjoying all of the items we have already been able to complete. (Perhaps later, I'll post some before and after photos of some of the rooms in our house.) It gives me such pleasure to take a pen (or dry erase marker) to each list and begin to cross items off. It makes me happy and gives me a little sense of accomplishment. (I'm sure some therapy would tell me what that's all about! :P)
Planning a wedding involves a fair share of list making. Once I started thinking of all of the things that we would need to put together, organize, and do to prepare for the big day, I started to feel a little overwhelmed. (When I wasn't feeling uber excited to get started.) I wanted to put together a list to get me going.....but where to start? I also wanted to be sure that I wasn't missing any important 'to do's. The first step was browsing wedding planning to - do lists online. I also purchased a copy of "Bridal Bargains Wedding Planner". (I got the same one for Sarah and Amy when they got engaged, and it seemed to be at least a little helpful to the process of organizing.)
The book has a section with a master checklist that covers everything from announcing your engagement to sending out 'thank you' cards after the wedding. The large checklist is divided up into several smaller sections that are labeled by month. It definitely makes the overall list of things to get done a lot less overwhelming.
Just to make sure that I had all of my bases covered, I looked at the checklist provided on
theknot.com. Just like the list in the wedding planner, they had a large list of things to get done, that were divided up by month. So I compiled the lists together, weeding out the items I didn't need to worry about (like hiring a wedding coordinator) and created a checklist that was appropriate for our event. After dividing it up into monthly sections, I had a few small lists that I could start working on. Here is a look at the first two.
12 months +
- Get organized! Start a notebook/file folder to house all your wedding-planning paperwork in one place.
- Announce your engagement to family and friends.
- Envision your wedding style and/or wedding color scheme.
- Decide on a wedding budget and determine who will be contributing to thes budget.
- Choose a wedding date.
- Envision your wedding dress. Begin browsing through photos to determine the style of dress you would like to try on.
- Put together a rough draft of a guest list to give you an idea of how many guests you expect to invite.
- Get in wedding day shape.
9 - 11 months
- Research and choose a ceremony site.
- Research and choose a reception site.
- Start interviewing caterers.
- Look for a ceremony officiant.
- Begin to narrow down and finalize your guest list.
- Start shopping for your wedding dress.
- Settle on wedding colors (if you haven't already).
- Set up appointments with florists.
- Look for reception bands.
- Research photographers.
- Research videographers.
- Start your registry.
- Start thinking about your honeymoon. (Planning in advance can help you get better prices on airfare and hotels.)
- Choose your bridal party.
As of now these lists look like this:
12 months +
- Get organized! Start a notebook/file folder to house all your wedding-planning paperwork in one place.
- Announce your engagement to family and friends.
- Envision your wedding style and/or wedding color scheme.
- Decide on a wedding budget and determine who will be contributing to thes budget.
- Choose a wedding date.
- Envision your wedding dress. Begin browsing through photos to determine the style of dress you would like to try on.
- Put together a rough draft of a guest list to give you an idea of how many guests you expect to invite.
- Get in wedding day shape.
9 - 11 months
- Research and choose a ceremony site.
- Research and choose a reception site.
- Start interviewing caterers.
- Look for a ceremony officiant.
- Begin to narrow down and finalize your guest list.
- Start shopping for your wedding dress.
- Settle on wedding colors (if you haven't already).
- Set up appointments with florists.
- Look for reception bands.
- Research photographers.
- Research videographers.
- Start your registry.
- Start thinking about your honeymoon. (Planning in advance can help you get better prices on airfare and hotels.)
- Choose your bridal party.
Look at all of those lovely slash marks! I made the last item on the first list bold and highlighted because I wanted to keep it as a reminder. I've started to make some changes (though, admittedly, not as hardcore as the changes I made at this time last year) but I still need the reminder of this task. Getting back in shape is an ongoing process and I won't cross it off of my list until I am completely satisfied.
We are just about to come up on one year until the wedding and I am happy to say that we have completed all of the big, important tasks. We have chosen a date, chosen our bridal party, found and booked a site for the ceremony and the reception (since the venue includes catering we don't have to worry about interviewing or hiring a separate caterer), and booked a photographer. According to the lists, we're ahead of the game! :) After graduation, I will have more time to dedicate toward getting everything together. I'm hoping to get as many of the smaller details accomplished as soon as possible so that the last few months before the wedding can be as relaxing as possible. (Don't worry, I was laughing as I typed that last sentence. Please trust that I am not delusional. :D)
For now I'll sort through my lists and get my pen ready to start making slashes through items as we get them taken care of......the compulsive behavior continues!
