Staying Organized and Keeping My Sanity

A coworker asked me this afternoon how the wedding planning was going.

That's a pretty dangerous question, and I usually try to answer with something simple and nondescript like "good"... mainly because I don't want to bore people with all the details

But this coworker of mine recently got engaged... so she knows the deal.

I told her we had all our big stuff done and out of the way, and now I'm just procrastinating starting all the little details.

She responded, "Yeah... we're still working on all the 'big stuff'. I don't know about you... but this wedding planning stuff is stressful!"

Source

I nodded politely and mumbled something resembling a "yeah".

Why the cold shoulder? Mainly because I don't agree. I haven't felt any real wedding-related stress since this whole process started 7+ months ago. I've actually had a really good time with the whole thing.

Luck? Perhaps. But more likely it's my obsessive organization.

I've got a massive always-changing Excel spreadsheet. I keep it on a small flashdrive, and bring it with me everywhere. It has a bunch of different tabs where I keep all our important information, links, ideas, etc...

Expenses:

*Click any photo to enlarge*

Appointments and To Do:


Guests:


Budget:


Wedding Day Timeline:


Gift Registries:


What can I say? I love lists!

Every time I'm trying to decide between vendors, I add another tab to my spreadsheet where I can compare the costs, inclusions, and pros and cons of each different company.

I bought a nice wedding planning binder when we first got engaged, but I haven't used it much. First of all, it's huge... and second, my Excel sheet is just way easier. The binder is handy for keeping track of all of our information packets and contracts, though.

If you could use a little organization infusion, you can download a blank version of my magical wedding spreadsheet by clicking here! (Yeah... I'm just that nice.)

What are you doing to stay organized?