As you plan your wedding day, you’re probably starting to gather all your correspondences, ripped out magazine pages and contracts with vendors in a pile somewhere, hoping to keep your ideas and plans together in one place. While you may not have a problem finding that one important piece of information YET, I recommend reducing your future stresses with, what I call, The Less Stress Binder. I did this for my own wedding day, and it was a real time saver. It also saved me from an enormously stressful situation on my wedding day. The flowers arrived. Dead. Because my sister-in-law had my version of The Less Stress Binder in her hot little hands, she was able to call the florists, email a photo of the flowers, fax a copy of the contract and have replacements delivered and set out, all before I showed up at the wedding. I did not learn about the fiasco until after my honeymoon and was saved an enormous amount of stress on my wedding day as a result.
So what is The Less Stress Binder? Gather all those papers you’ve accumulated and separate them into piles according to vendor category. Everything cake related goes in the cake section, everything DJ related goes in the music section, everything place card related goes in the stationary section…and so on. You figure out what divider tabs you need based on what you are planning to hire and incorporate. Now, when you meet with vendors you have pictures and ideas to show them. As you sign contracts, put the signed contract AT THE FRONT of the section. Keep the oldest ideas and papers at the back of the section and the newest ones at the front.
Now, here is the best part about the Less Stress Binder project! On the day of your wedding, give the binder to SOMEONE ELSE and ask them to be in charge of that information and the use of it on the wedding day. Ideally, you have a planner you can give it to. If not, chose a friend or relative who you know can handle a stressful situation and be an advocate on your behalf. My sister-in-law can be really sweet, but she can also be a real battle axe, and that worked out well for me with the flower debacle!
While it may take a little bit of effort to pull The Less Stress Binder together, it could result in being your free pass for enjoying the most out of your Big Day. And that’s ultimately what it’s all about!