Creating a Wedding Binder

Don and I are recently engaged, yay! I'll try to get around to writing a recap of the proposal sometime soon, but my project from the last two days has been to create a freaking fabulous wedding binder. We are planning a relatively long engagement. Think more than two years long. So to keep myself sane for the next two-and-a-half years, I am going to be working a lot with this baby.

I know that for the less adventurous, bookstores carry tons of wedding planners. However, I think it's good to customize it, especially if your engagement or wedding is nontraditional in any way. Not only are we having a long engagement, but we are also strongly considering a Saturday morning wedding with a brunch reception. Breakfast planning is not something that typical wedding planners account for, so it made even more sense to create my own.

Big shout out to Katherine, over at Just Lovely, who inspired the creation of this notebook. You can read her article here:
http://justlovelykatherine.blogspot.com/2012/06/www-how-to-put-together-wedding.html

I started by choosing a durable, three-ring binder from Walmart. Right now, I am thinking of a fall wedding with purple, orange, and bright green included in the floral arrangements. I've wanted my bridesmaids to have purple dresses since I was a kid, so I went with a purple binder with a clear insert on the front. It was about three bucks. I printed all of my materials at home, so I also had to buy a new black ink cartridge.

For the cover, I found a free monogram website and designed our married monogram in our (tentative) fall wedding colors. You can do this at PrintableMonogram.com. Here is a link to the template I used: http://printablemonogram.com/monogram/quatrefoil-monogram-orange-lime/

I have the inside divided into ten sections with pocket tab dividers.

At the very front,  I printed out our joint wedding Pinterest board, and used the margins to make notes about what I like. This helps me picture my overall vision for the wedding a little bit better, and I can point out specific pictures and notes to vendors.

For the pages in my sections, I primarily used printables from two sources, Russell and Hazel, and Wedplan.com. Every page is linked to its original web source with the page number for large PDFs. 

1. Important

--Two Year Wedding Planning Timeline (you should include a timeline that's pertinent to your length of engagement)

--Vendor Contact List

--Wedding Party Contact Sheet

--Wedding Day Timeline Worksheet Russell and Hazel pg. 5

--Wedding Day Details Wedding Day Details pg. 17 

--Emergency Kits Russell and Hazel pg. 21

2. Budgeting

--Splitting the Wedding Tab

--Wedding-Budget Worksheet

3. Guests

I plan to draft my guest lists in this section, and eventually, to create a spreadsheet keeping track of invitations and replies.

4. Attire

--The Bride's Trousseau Wedplan pg. 6

--Beauty Worksheet-Hair Russell and Hazel pg. 6

--Beauty Worksheet-Makeup pg. 7

--The Attendants  Wedplan pg. 7 

--The Groomsmen/Ushers pg. 8

5. Ceremony

--What to Ask Your Wedding Officiant

--The Wedding Day Wedplan pg. 24

--Ceremony Worksheet Russell and Hazel pg. 17

--Your Personal Wedding Vows Wedplan pg. 25

6. Reception

--Planning Made Easy: Venue

--The Reception and Catering Tips Wedplan pg. 26

--Menu Worksheet Russell and Hazel pg. 30

--Wedding Cake Worksheet Russell and Hazel pg. 53

--Sample Menus from Caterers in My Area

7. Rehearsal

--The Rehearsal Details and Guest List Wedplan pg. 16

--Rehearsal Dinner Planning Checklist

--Menu Worksheet Russell and Hazel pg. 30

8. Vendors

--Pre-Wedding Details Wedplan pg. 9 

--Photography (Ceremony and Reception) Wedplan pg. 19-21

--The Decor Wedplan pg. 22-23

--Music Wedplan pg. 18

--Music Worksheet Russell and Hazel pg. 32

9. Registry

--Gift Registry Wedplan pg. 11-13

--Showers Wedplan pg. 14-15

10. Miscellaneous

--Invitation Announcement Worksheet Wedplan pg. 10

I will be adding to my binder as the wedding planning moves forward, but I think that this is a good place to start. Let me know how making your binder turns out!