Bride life.

It has been a little bit since I have blogged about wedding related anything. So lucky you - today is the day! Last week, all week, I was gearing up to organize my ever growing piles of wedding related anything. Yes, I have found some fun wedding apps & websites that I like and use the internet for many wedding planning related activities, but I am far from a paperless planning kind of bride. I have this need to write things down, see them in print, cross to-do lists items off...etc. This all to say, me organizing all the wedding planning related anything = DIY Wedding Binder. 

{I should also mention that I am aware that there are already made books and binders for wedding planning out there, but I just did not ever come across any that I loved and making my own seemed more exciting. From start to finish this project consumed most of my day on Saturday - but not in a bad way, just in a my wedding stuff was really disorganized kind of way.} 

To start this whole process I searched online for other bloggers/brides who had made their own wedding binders. Some advice I found helpful, other advice not so much. I made my whole binder with supplies I already had on hand, fueled by a lot of coffee I might add. It took me a couple tries to decide what order I wanted my sections in, but those were easy enough to move around. After it was finished, I was extra excited and relieved to know that all my planning was in one spot. WIN! 

The best advice from my project I have made into a [hopefully] handy DIY pdf that you can download and use: DIY Wedding Binder [or just skim over the picture of it below and rock n roll with your own steps - either way just have fun!] Bonus: lots of pictures of what this looked like for me + my finished sections! Bride life is just wonderful.

-Kyla 

Click to download this step-by-step guide!

Some of the most helpful links to timelines/worksheets/checklists I found:

• Free wedding downloads - yay! < Most of the downloads from this site were in line with how I personally think/organize things, so I was super excited to find this link!!!
• Other ideas would be to print off checklists from TheKnot, RealSimple - Weddings, or Martha Stewart Weddings

Evolution of my living room floor during all of this. 

First 2 sections in my binder: Basics & Inspiration

Ceremony & Reception [woohoo!]

Vendors, Bridal Party, Guests - all important!

Extra fun section :)

done.done.done.

So exciting!!

My Top 5

Brief update on my goals this week!

Breakfast: 4/4

Running/Working out: 3/4

Stopping work before bed: 2/4

soo...room for improvement still :)

As I have been officially jumping into the world of wedding planning (in between classes and homework of course), I wanted to share a few wedding planning resources that so far I LOVE and are maybe not as well known (for example)! Enjoy :)

#1. OneWed.com 

What it's like: Designed with the idea in mind that there is A LOT of pressure if you are too focused on planning THE perfect wedding, instead they want to give brides & grooms and their families lots of easy to use online tools. Like TheKnot.com they have search functions for finding vendors, ideas, and discussion forums...etc. But what they offer is a social networking side along with the ideas.


Why I love it: I can choose who I want to add to my wedding planning account (its called a wedding pre-party). This means my Mom and bridesmaids (for example) and add ideas, see my to-do checklists, and help and add input with lots of planning details

#2. WeddingGawker

What it's like: Set-up visually very similar to the ever beloved Pinterest - Never ending stream of pictures and wedding ideas/tips, you can sort images and ideas by category, save your favorites, and every idea has the option to share it on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest...etc


Why I love it: Every picture links to a blog that is usually FULL of tons of other wedding related information/pictures. All submissions to the website are editor approved so its guaranteed that when I click on something, its actually linked to the original source *disclaimer: because every idea/picture links to a blog, ladies, you will spend COUNTLESS time on here, fair warning!*

#3. Wedding 911 app

What it's like: Exclusively focused on bride's questions and answers - both from Wedding professionals and other brides. Anyone registered can post questions and respond to other's questions, instant repines and feedback on just about anything a girl could think of about a wedding.


Why I love it: Fun to see what other brides are curious about, as well as really helpful if I want instant feedback on an idea or question - the app is in an easy to use format too! It's an app sponsored by TheKnot - however it is not connected to any of their site's online planning tools. Free download too!

#4. Weddingwire.com

What it's like: Similar to OneWed and TheKnot - this is geared at being an online planning resource for brides, also important - everything on the site is bride rated!


Why I love it: Primarily because of the Inspiration board feature! I don't really use any of the other planning related tools on this website, because I like the format of OneWed's tools much better- however, the inspiration board feature allows my to upload lots of pictures I have collected and combine ideas together. Plus its nice that I can email and share the boards with others (again, like my Mom).

#5. Preston Bailey: Color Story

What it's like: Preston Bailey is an major event planner (read his bio here). Website is organized into a bride section, weddings, events, flowers, Preston's blog (tons of ideas), videos - and most importantly - tools. The Color Story tool allows you to pick a color, answer a few questions about what you are thinking for your event, and then it create a color palette idea!


Why I love it: The tools sections: The Color Story tool, a design tool, and a planning tool - all easy to use. There are so many ideas from events Preston has done - most over the top, but all helpful in thinking outside the box when it comes to decorating and creating a wedding