How To Get Started xx, Lea

HOW TO GET STARTED

No good wedding can start without a plan….that is why the first thing I did when Lou got engaged was make her a wedding binder! Zazzle allows you to customize your wedding binder with a cute photo (personalization is always a plus) and then you can pick your binder size from there! I went with the 1.5” binder, which seems to be perfect.  The most useful item I included in the binder, from Lou’s opinion, was the wedding checklist, which lists the tasks that should be completed each month leading up to your wedding.  Since I was not engaged at the time Lou was, I used online advice to choose what to include in the binder... I was informed later that a lot of the recommended documents ended up being useless.  However, some of the more popular items were a business card organizer for all of your wedding contacts, a divider section for each vendor (or you can add the section as you book them) and a zipper pouch for fabric samples, pictures you have torn out of magazines, etc. All of this is so important because it helps you STAY ORGANIZED! Organization is essential when wedding planning.  If you decide to use a wedding planner (which is a perfect option for many brides) you should certainly use them to keep you organized, heck, that is their job! But when it’s just you and the impending wedding sneaking up on you organization is mandatory for the sake of sanity!

Lou's wedding binder & sparkly notebook to keep all details in one spot!

The most fun part about being engaged is gathering inspiration for your wedding and getting the wheels in motion to make your vision a reality.  This was made so much easier with Pinterest! If you are not on Pinterest yet, dig yourself out of the cave you have been hibernating in and join!

Some inspiration from Lea's Pinterest page

Here are just a couple of reasons why Pinterest is so major:

1. Instead of buying $10.00 bridal magazines, to tear up and flag corners, you can virtually post every image you love to a "board"
2. You can search for pretty much anything on Pinterest and SOMETHING will be there.  It is essentially a more precious and crafty version of Google for searching! Vampire wedding? You got it. Redneck wedding? You got it! Sports themed weddings? You got it…you get the idea, it’s fabulous for whatever your taste may be.
3. Pinterest now has secret boards. You can make the boards completely private or include a couple of besties you want to view with you.  Lou and I have private and public boards for our weddings. There may be certain decorations you "pin" and decide you want to recreate for your own ceremony but do not want your guests, who follow you on Pinterest, to have “seen it before”. This is the perfect use for a private board.
4. The best feature is how easy the app makes Pinterest to use.  When I was wedding dress shopping, I pulled out my phone to show my consultant my wedding dress “board” for things I was interested in trying on.  When chatting with my florist, she asked me to send her a link to my Pinterest board for ideas of what I am looking for!

I will stop my preaching because I am sure you either agree or will soon when you join! Needless to say, Pinterest is a great help to stay organized!  If you start feeling overwhelmed, look back at your Pinterest boards and realize that in a few short months those could be pictures from your wedding that get pinned on other people’s Pinterest walls! When all else fails, go to the “Humor” section on Pinterest and laugh!

xx, Lea

Wedding Binder [www.zazzle.com]
Rose Gold Sparkle Notebook [www.jcrew.com]
All Other Pictures [www.pinterest.com]