Introducing... Weekly Wedding Tips - 1st Wedding Tip in the series

Having been a bride once before... (almost 9 years ago) and having planned numerous events as well as photographed them, I must say that I have some insight on a thing or two about weddings. I wanted to ensure that I pass on this useful knowledge to my clients (old & new), fellow photogs, vendors and my twitter followers, blog readers and facebook fans. Each week (I'm shooting for Mondays), I will be posting a "Weekly Wedding Tip" that I hope will assist future bride & grooms or those looking for inspiration in their upcoming wedding. The tips will include everything from general information to info meant mainly for Hawaii Brides & Grooms. I also hope to have a few inspirational quotes listed from time to time. I hope that this will benefit everyone in their plans for the special event.

My goal is to provide important information and ways to help make the planning process go smoothly. ;-)

If you have a special tip that you would like listed, send me a comment or an email with the info.

WEDDING TIP #1:

"Use a binder to jot your notes, vendors contact information, meetings, ideas & to stay organized. "

With many Brides & Grooms taking charge and planning their own wedding, whether it be because they need to be more budget conscious or because they like to be in charge... this is a sure way to keep everything organized and neat. Wedding Planning Binders can be costly or sometimes they are not published with information pertaining to your location... so this can be the perfect substitute. Though - I must say, if you are able to get your hands on a Wedding Planning Binder from the store and it is tailored to your every need, make use of them... they have very valuable information. ;-)

By the time I walked down the isle in 2001... my binder was so HUGE - it couldn't even close. But, I had every idea for the wedding in one place and I knew exactly where all the information was. My binder consisted of some of the following things:

• Date, Time, Location and other information pertaining to the wedding ceremony, reception and rehearsal.
• Vendors that I had previously contacted for services, their prices, my pros & cons with hiring them, samples of their work and if I did hire them... a copy of their contracts.
• Invitation and stationary samples... this one is important, especially if you are choosing corresponding ribbons to go with napkin rings/holders, decor, etc.
• Wedding Vows (I wrote my wedding vows more than 5 times and they were all different. In the end I was able to combine words from each one to make the perfect vows for the wedding... though I was so nervous, I didn't end up using them... hehe!)
• Favors, decorations, Ribbons & Balloons and Floral Samples... everything you can think of that will go with the decor from actual samples to photographs should be included. This will allow you to pick and choose and always reflect back to what you decided upon. This is equally important if you decide upon a design - pay a vendor for that look (that they said they could recreate) and Heaven forbid, they aren't able to pull it off... this is a great documentation to use later.
  
• Any Documentation from a vendor: including but not limited to emails, mailers, approvals, quotes, etc. If you agree on a certain design or photograph of something, have the vendor initial and date (you do this too) on the photograph acknowledging that they know what you want. This will protect you later.
  
• Bridal party attire - photos & sample material swatches. It makes a whole lot of difference on how something will look on someone, depending on the type of fabric and cut that is used. This is a perfect area to also list the measurements of everyone in your bridal party so that you will always have this info on hand. That way, if someone is not available, you already have their measurements for last minute questions.
• Music Choices. You can write/list the name of the song and the artist and if you want, you can even separate them by Genre. This comes in handy and this list should be provided to your DJ for his/her reference.
  
• Photography/Videography information. I used this area to put CD/DVD samples, flyers and samples from the Photographer & Videographer.
  
• Transportation - if you are renting limousines, town cars, etc. - this is a perfect place to put photographs of the vehicles you choose to ride in, vendor contracts, etc.
• Cake & Caterer - contracts, photographs, set up outlines and designs... menus, etc. All of that will be placed here for your reference. You can also have a list of vendors that you did taste testing with and your comments next to the items on how you enjoyed or disliked the tasting.
• Officiant - you can combine this information with your vows if you like. This is a perfect place to keep your information on the Marriage License, wedding vows, certificates, etc.
  

There can be many more tabs and dividers that can be used for your Binder along with other topics pertaining specifically to your wedding... and you can decorate it to match your theme or however you decide. It is good habit to take your binder with you to your vendor meetings and when doing Wedding errands to keep you organized. You can easily purchase a binder from any office depot, officemart or officemax store for a few dollars or more and you can make your own dividers or buy premade ones there as well. Another good thing to have are binder wallets that you can seal with a velcro or string to keep your samples from falling out of the binder (especially DVD or CD samples) and many office supply stores have filing envelopes that you can reuse for this very purpose. Business Card Sheets and Sheet Protectors are an awesome way to keep things neat, organized and clean too. Don't forget to have a pen handy and a note pad that already has 3 holes punched in it for easy filing into your binder.

If you have any questions regarding other things you can input into your Wedding Binder... feel free to let me know. I wish you awesome Wedding Planning & Organizing and hope these tips help you along your journey.