Is this a normal feeling?

This is normal. I also am not a fan of wedding planning, I find it very stressful. For organization I really have just been using the Weddingwire app timeline and I also have my own personal lists keeping me straight. Overall I have found it helps to plan early. My wedding is at the end of the year but we almost have all of our vendors booked. Getting things done early has helped with the feelings.

I bought a planner - to keep appointments straight. I also use this app and theknot.com planners to keep up with things.

View Quoted Comment Yes we did things kind of backwards. We have a tighter budget so the venue for the reception determined our date. But we have the reception venue, photographer, and DJ booked as of now and made an appointment with a priest on Monday. But the little details stress me out. Such as the decorations, the bridesmaids dress, my dress, the flowers. I wish I could afford for someone to plan my wedding for me! But I do like your idea on how to stay organized ❤️

View Quoted Comment I do not have TheKnot app yet! I will definitely check that out. Where did you get your planner? Is it a wedding planning book?

View Quoted Comment

They have wedding specific planners on amazon. I am just using a walmart/target one. It has a thick cover and month

sections First page of each month is a to do style list, happy quotes, and goals. It keeps me on my toes and interested to have a visual timeline

When I got engaged my mom bought me a wedding planner. I have linked the planner below that I got. It helped me stay organized. I also created a separate folder in my email where I put all wedding related emails. As for your dress, I would book an appointment and try on all different styles if you don't like a particular style. Hopefully by trying dresses you will decide on a dress. For bridesmaids dresses you need to decide if you want everyone in the same dress or if you don't care. If you don't care if they are in the same dress then I would recommend picking a color, length and fabric. I would tell them where to get them and then let them decide. My girls got their dresses from David's Bridal. Another popular place is Azazie, but it is online only. However, they have the option to try on dresses before you buy them. You can also create a showroom and add your girls to it where you can either pick styles for them to choose from or they can pick a style they like and you can see what each girl plans on wearing. For flowers and decorations, I would look for a florist and they can help you decide on things. If you have a general idea of what you like I am sure they can offer you ideas even if you just have a color you like. Pinterest is also really helpful for ideas of things. I know when I was trying to figure out decorations and flowers I looked up my color scheme on Pinterest and it gave me a ton of ideas. I also found using a combination of The Knot and WeddingWire very helpful. I used WeddingWire for finding vendors as well as posting things on the forums for when I was stuck on something and wanted advice. I used The Knot for my wedding website, guest list and things like that.

https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Wedding-Planner-Organizer-binder/dp/0770433367/ref=asc_df_0770433367/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312132076760&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9601296096270408596&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9007924&hvtargid=aud-801381245258:pla-434335069873&psc=1

The brand is Eccolo Ltd. I know its for sure sold at Target.

Some people aren't event planners, getting engaged doesn't change that. Perfectly normal. Is hiring a planner in your budget?

We did several things to help us stay organized. First we kept a wedding planning binder with vendor contracts, our guest list, and important phone numbers. We kept an Excel spreadsheet with our guest list that included columns for invitations sent, RSVPs received, gifts received, thank you's sent, etc. We also kept running to-do lists and designated which of us would be completing each task.

The wedding planning podcast!! Cannot rave about this enough!!

I hate it! The planning stresses me out and I always find myself thinking of all the things that could go wrong or all the things that haven’t been done despite making good progress. I use sticky notes to plan my life and use check boxes. Mostly I think I just have to grin and bear it and be glad it will only be a year of my life. I find that I have to take a break too or the stress makes me miserable and it’s not worth it! Take breaks and know it will eventually be over!

I don't mind planning. But just before Thanksgiving I made a detailed to do list and broke it down for each month of what I need to do. That way it's not so overwhelming and I know what I need to accomplish each month until the big day.

Nope I feel the same way too. We have all the big ticket items done and I think the details and timeline are what's stressing me out more. We have to bring everything into our venue too. I've found that google spreadsheets helps a lot, can keep everything organized in separate tabs under one document

I personally loved wedding planning but I'm a huge planner. I plan all our vacations, handle contractors for house renovations, plan & throw parties often, etc. I would tackle one thing at a time. So decide to find a venue & spend a few hours a week (that you pre-scheduled) looking at venues. Come up with a list with your fiance of must haves for each venue. Once that is done, move onto a vendor. Don't try to do too many things at once.

View Quoted Comment I 100% agree with this! It's very easy to get overwhelmed when you see all the things on your to do list. Focus on one or two things at a time and accomplish those before you move on. And definitely split up tasks and communicate with your fiancé about things he can/wants to do. You don't have to do this alone! Good luck! 😊

I hate wedding planning so much, we got engaged and then married in less than 8 months.

Some people love it, some people hate it - I found a lot of it to be ridiculous, overly stressful, and generally pointless.... and I *love* attending weddings, *and* being the center of attention.

But the wedding industrial complex is designed to stress you out, make you spend too much, and care about things like the precise shade of your napkins (which, and I cannot stress this enough, does *not* matter), all to make a splash on social media, or impress your friends/family/their dates. It's ... ugh.

That said, we used a wedding planning book from the Knot, and we used both this website/app and the Knot website/app, because we found they had the best tools/easiest research to help keep us organized.

What helps is identifying the Most Important Things to you, and focusing on those. Everything else is bonus.

For us:

1. Being legally married at the end of the day.

2. Good food.

3. Entertaining our guests.

4. Having a swordfight during the reception.

We put our energy into finding a venue with good reviews on food, took our DJ from our friends' wedding (didn't leave the dance floor at their wedding, so that was an obvious "steal"), worked with our friends to create a skit because we are all in theatre, and made sure to get our marriage license.

Mission accomplished, everyone had a blast, we keep hearing it was a great wedding, and we are legally married. Yay!

View Quoted Comment I really like this idea! I’m always struggling with staying organized and I don’t even know where to begin with organization.

View Quoted Comment I like that you pointed out that most of this is to impress people/social media. That really hit hard bc I’m constantly thinking about what others want and I shut down. Thank you for reminding me that none of this matters and all that does matter is that everyone has a good time! Your wedding sounds fun!!!!!!