Checklists. Who Needs Them? by Allison Bleyenberg
If you are planning an event and didn’t raise your hand, you must be superhuman! Planning all the details of your big event can truly be a daunting task. One of the best ways to keep your thoughts straight is to keep a (or many) checklist. But where do you even begin!?
When a person begins thinking about their event it’s easy to feel scattered and overwhelmed. Sometimes that’s the best time to start your list! Even though the list might not make sense at the time because it is filled with random thoughts and ideas, getting them recorded is the best way to start planning your event. Once you get your initial thoughts down, it’s time to use the resources the internet gives us!
The checklists we are focusing on today will be wedding related. But you will see that those can most definitely be transferred to almost any event you are planning! A quick search online brings up hundreds of wedding checklist options. I can tell you after researching for this blog post, they are all pretty much the same. The great thing about this - you don’t have to reinvent the wheel for your event!
Most wedding checklists focus on month-by-month tasks to help you keep a schedule as you approach your big day. Many of them start as far out as 18 months prior to your event and bring you all the way to the day of your event. If this has you thinking, holy smokes I need to get crackin’, it’s okay you have time to catch up! But don’t wait too long to get started. If you get too far behind, you’ll find it harder and harder to catch up - and talk about overwhelming!
When you find the right checklist for you, it will most likely make your head spin with the amount of information listed. There is a couple different ways to take in all this information. The first is to power through and read it all in one sitting. If you do it that way, you will have a good idea of what to expect as the months roll by. Another way to handle these huge lists would be to only look at the month or week in time that you are working on. For example: if you are twelve months out from your wedding, you ONLY focus on the twelve month checklist.
Of course there will probably be things on these pre made lists that don’t pertain to you or your event. Cross that baby off the list and never worry about it again! That’s the best feeling! These lists will also help remind you to do things you may have otherwise forgotten. Like - order great aunt Sally’s special corsage because she’s allergic to the flowers you have for your bouquets - things like that!
If you feel you are drowning in information from these lists, remember you have a strong team of people to help you get through them. Your wedding party is the circle of people you depend on most, and they want to help you. Even beyond that, there will be people who offer to help. If you’re feeling that way, take them up on their offer and delegate some tasks! They wouldn’t offer if they didn’t want to help. The checklists are there to keep you sane and your tribe is there to keep you going! You should never feel alone during the planning process.
Before I close this post out, I have to give honorable mention to one of the awesome things I found while researching. Apps! Yes, something I never would have thought of, but wish I did! They have numerous checklist apps to download. Now if that isn’t a list makers dream, I don’t know what is! If you choose this route you can search “wedding checklist” in your preferred App Store.
Whatever your preferred mode of list making, there are resources all over to help. It is very important that you stay on track so you do not get too far behind. Thankfully, that’s what the checklists do! Now, check this blog post off your list and get working on the next item up!
