Let's Get Organized!

The day after Big and I got engaged, I limped (remember, I had run 26.2 the day before) to Borders and dropped a whopping $27 on wedding magazines. (Naturally.)

My mom (MOB) was just as bad, but more economical. With a bachelorette party in Michigan the following weekend, I'd previously planned to be home the weekend after our engagement -- three cheers to showing off the bling to family and friends! By Friday night, she'd rented eight library books on weddings/wedding planning

I mentioned everyone is really excited, right?


One book that she checked out from the library stuck: Emily Post's Wedding Planner. From the Web site: "a step by step guide helps couples set priorities, track details and smooth the way. An efficient, hands-on organizer, Emily Post’s Wedding Planner has space for jotting notes on cost estimates, meetings, gift lists, and registry information and handy pockets for filing receipts, invoices, menu samples, business cards, proposals and mementos from bridal showers and parties." MOB gave it to me for my birthday.

I'm using the book as more of a guide than the "hands-on organizer" it's meant to be. Still, I've found the timeline and questions for vendors (like I know what to ask a photographer) helpful and enjoyed crossing things of our pre-made to-do list!

(source)

I also recommend Real Simple Weddings.

 (source)

It's a cross between a magazine and a planning guide, as it features advice, as well as pretty pictures of weddings/wedding things. One of the best pages in that book is a flower guide that includes the most popular wedding flowers, their colors, how they are best used and when they are in season. This is uber-helpful to me, as I know I'll need to be creative with blooms given our December nuptials!

In addition, I picked up a larger-than-average accordion folder to organize contracts, business cards, photos, inspiration, etc. Tabs include wedding/pre-cana, ceremony, wedding party, bride (!), photography/videography, etc. etc. It "lives" in my closet in an oversized purse where I stow other wedding treats, a legal pad, etc.
  
Finally, I have a few fancy, high-tech bookmarking systems: 

1. Starred" posts in my Google Reader
2. "Wedding" Bookmark folder... one at home, and one at work
3. "Wedding" Tag in my Gmail account for correspondence with friends and family, as well as vendors
4. Dog-earred pages in magazines

What do you think (other than I'm a freak)? Thus far, I haven't had any problems and been able to locate information easily and, for the most part, maintained my sanity.

How are you/did you stay organized for the big day? What advice do you have? I/we need all the help we can get!

HOLY @#$%^&*!?!!!!

Big the other night:

HOLY @#$%^&* you read a lot of wedding blogs!

Guilty as charged. The ever-growing list is to the right.

But for those with limited time and interest, here's the short list, aka the creme de 'la creme, based on four-plus months of market research:

Style Me Pretty
The ultimate wedding blog. That it is. Wedding eye candy to the max, multiple updates per day. Swoon!

etsy wedding
Links to extraordinary finds on Etsy.com. (Love, love etsy....)

Green Wedding Shoes
So-Cal wedding inspiration. Buckets of inspiration and loads of beautiful photography.
 
Jessica Cornman Photography
Our photog. Seeing her works on a regular basis makes me even more excited to see the photos from our big day!

Weddingbee
A massive blog written by real brides from around the country planning the big day. My one complaint? It's impossible to read them all! To streamline things, I skim through my reader and cherry pick for what I need/am looking for using the tabs. However, I always, always read every post by my favorite bloggers, Miss Buttons and Miss Ribbons. I've "starred" posts featuring DIY projects, hairstyles, Web links and other wedding inspiration from all brides on this site.

I'd also like to toss an honorable mention to Pearls Events Blog. A Michigan-based wedding planner, the site features wedding inspiration from the mitten state. I'm always excited to see what insight and advice she has to share!

Sure, there are a lot of wedding blogs in the uni-sphere. But these are my favs. 

What's on your "must-read" blog list?