For many, late Spring marks the kick-off to wedding season, when every weekend may be filled with celebrations for future brides and grooms, or the big day itself. Not surprisingly, it seems these days that most of the wedding planning and the build-up to the marriage takes place online - whether that’s creating invitations, connecting with vendors, or simply using social media to build excitement before and during the nuptials.
Anyone who has planned a wedding for themselves or helped out a loved one knows there are a lot of moving parts. Outside of planning the actual event, there are also a lot of logistics involved with combining assets with your new spouse and the legal steps required to tie the knot. With so much of this happening via your PC, tablet and mobile device, it can feel like a lot to manage.
Here are some tips for brides and grooms to streamline their wedding planning on the web - while staying safe in the process
Create a joint email address just for the big day. Couples planning their wedding use email for much of the coordination - from checking in with a DJ or wedding planner, to signing up for newsletters from sites like TheKnot.com, to tracking your online registries. Your Inbox may get overloaded very quickly, so instead of using one of your personal accounts, create a new account strictly for planning your wedding. That way both you and your partner have easy access to all emails and, when the wedding planning is done, you won’t continue to be spammed by vendors and retailers.
Stay on task with a task manager. The modern wedding can come with a long list of to-do’s. Sign up for a list manager like Wunderlist and be proactive in adding your tasks. You can share the to-do list with your spouse-to-be, your wedding planner, or with loved ones who are helping you plan for the big day. Look for a task manager that has attachment support so you can easily save contracts, invitee addresses, and images directly for reference.
Keep in touch with Slack. It’s not just for businesses. Slack makes it super easy to set up a group chat and invite all of the people who need to stay in-the-know on your plans, like your wedding planner, wedding party, parents, or other family members. It’s easy to drag-and-drop documents into a chat and message with multiple people at once, or one-on-one. Their mobile apps and web portal ensure you’ll always be able to check your messages.
Track purchases with a budget app. The costs for a wedding add up quickly, and it’s easy to forget the little purchases. A budget-tracking app like Mint will help you keep track of all your line items so you can be sure to stay on target with your spending, and keep track of who’s paying which bills.
Simplify password management. It’s no secret that planning a wedding can be pricey. Since you’re planning most of this online, it’s critical to ensure your accounts are fully-protected. Use a password manager such as LastPass to safely store and generate unique passwords, as well as share passwords with your spouse. What’s more, it will be helpful if you plan to combine bills like your mortgage, car insurance and others with your partner after the wedding. This should really be your first step, because you’ll be signing up for so many things during your wedding planning that you’ll want to be sure you don’t lose any passwords along the way.
Get to know Google Docs. There’s a lot to keep track of during the wedding planning process, especially when it comes to the guest list. Keep as much as you can in Google Docs or a similar service - you can access your guest list anywhere, it will automatically sync and save, and it makes sharing and updating documents easy. If a friend or family members moves from the time you send a save the date until when you want to send a thank-you note, using live docs will ensure you aren’t accidentally in an old version. Once you have your wedding guest list with addresses included, it will be easier to track RSVPs and eventually you can use it as a permanent address book for moving announcements, holiday cards and more.
There are so many valuable tools available as you’re planning your wedding. Be sure to follow the tips above to make the process more convenient, safe and efficient.
Join us! Attention couples and wedding guests: Join a #ChatSTC chat this Thursday, 6/9 at 3 p.m. EDT to get online safety tips for the big day.
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