People jump into wedding planning without really getting themselves set up for success. Planning a wedding is a lot like taking on a second part time job where you’ll be spending hundreds of hours planning, in addition to all the other things you already have going on in your life, at work, with family and more.
Which is why, this special episode is all about guiding you toward the smoothest planning road possible. Today's show is hosted as a solo episode with Michelle, who knows a lot, and we mean a lot, about wedding planning. She’s not just giving you freebie checklists or sharing her favorite amazon must reads. You’ll learn exactly what to do now that you’ve embarked on the journey of planning your special day. Get ready to take notes, to listen, and to learn!
Big Takeaways:
This is what you should do BEFORE you get started with wedding planning tools.
Planning a wedding is like taking on a freelance gig, except you aren’t getting paid.
You are going to start reaching out to new types of services, vendors, stores, going to wedding shows, but after the wedding is over, you won’t have much need to keep in touch with any of these businesses or services, so you’ll want to be sure that your forever accounts are not being used for the wedding. Trust me. After the wedding, you will move on to other life events, so you may even want to repeat some of these tips in another year or so…
When you start your wedding planning journey, my wish for you is that it you are able to focus.
I want your Planning process to be
* Fun
* Smooth
* And memorable for all the right reasons
My 5 tips to get you set up and organized for your wedding planning journey.
#1 - New Email Address for the wedding only - I recommend signing up for a Google.
* You have a personal email, you have a work email, now you have a wedding email. When you’re done with wedding planning, you can close it.
* Only check it at certain times. Keeps you focused at work if you do.
* When you sign up on wedding websites for discounts, you won’t be spammed in your other email inboxes.
* It comes with Google Drive - all the tools you need - sheets, docs, slides.
* It comes with Google Calendar.
* This is your wedding planning calendar and you will both see what is coming up and be able to set up meetings, calls, etc…
* Go in and block times that you cannot do wedding related activities.
* Include Vacations
* Work travel
* Weekly meetings that you each have for work.
* Work hours
*#2 - Google Voice *
* Google Voice is a free service. A single phone number that you can call or text from. I have the app on my iPhone and it rings from there. You can set up a voicemail outgoing message as well. You can set up a Google Voice account on either your computer or mobile device, and immediately begin placing domestic and international calls, or sending texts.
* Privacy - You don’t have to give your personal number to potential vendors at a wedding expo. You may sign up for a discount that is only given if they can send you text messages.
* Keeps your personal or work phone clear of wedding communication. Again, this is another way to keep things organized
#3 - Social Media Accounts
* Helps keep your personal or business feed free of wedding related content. Remember, once the wedding is over, you won’t need to be seeing this stuff anymore. You can move on to your next life event.
* DM’ing may start happening with vendors too.
* Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tik Tok, Pinterest…
#4 - Weekly wedding planning sessions
* Talking about your wedding planning tasks all the time is no good for your relationship. Do yourselves a favor and keep notes on items that need to be covered for your scheduled wedding planning meetings.
* They may change to bi-weekly once all vendors are hired and you are in your lull phase of planning.
* Keep your life organized. Wedding Wednesdays?
* Add standing meetings to your google calendar.
#5 - Priorities
* It’s time to talk about what is important to each of you when it comes to the wedding. This is going to drive every decision you make AND influence your wedding budget.
* This is an exercise for you. Each of you does this first part alone. No influence from your partner. Scale of 1-10
* To get a free PDF of this exercise, go to www.thebigweddingplanningpodcast.com/priorities (https://www.thebigweddingplanningpodcast.com/priorities)
*Now you are ready to start wedding planning! *
Choose the resources that work best for you. There are many free wedding planning tools available online, books to purchase, organizers, etc..
You can even use a project management system that businesses use like Asana, Monday or Trello.
My recommendation? My Master Class of course!!
Links we referenced!
Master Class (https://www.thebigweddingplanningmasterclass.com)
Sign up for a free personal google account here: https://accounts.google.com/signup/v2/webcreateaccount?flowName=GlifWebSignIn&flowEntry=SignUp (https://accounts.google.com/signup/v2/webcreateaccount?flowName=GlifWebSignIn&flowEntry=SignUp)
www.thebigweddingplanningpodcast.com/priorities (https://www.thebigweddingplanningpodcast.com/priorities) - Free PDF
Plan your wedding using The Big Wedding Planning Master Class (https://www.thebigweddingplanningmasterclass.com/). A self-paced digital course created with love for you by Christy & Michelle.
The Big Wedding Planning Podcast is...
* Hosted and produced by Michelle Martinez.
* Edited by Veronica Gruba.
* Music by Steph Altman of Mophonics (https://www.mophonics.com/).
* On Instagram @thebigweddingplanningpodcast and be sure to use #planthatwedding when posting, so you can get our attention!
* Inviting you to become part of our Facebook Group! Join us and our amazing members. Just search for The Big Wedding Planning Podcast Community on Facebook.
* Easy to get in touch with. Email us at thebigweddingplanningpodcast@gmail.com or Call and leave a message at 415-723-1625 and you might hear your voice on an episode
* On Patreon. Become a member (https://www.patreon.com/thebigweddingplanningpodcast) and with as little as $6.99 per month, you get 2 exclusive, ad-free episodes, + Zoom Happy Hour with Michelle and fellow patrons every month!
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