Weddingbee boards

Honestly, there's not that much stuff you truly *need*. Yes, there's a lot of stuff that theknot or projectwedding or whatever other site is going to tell you that you NEED. But when you boil it down, a lot of it is just *want*. Yes, you may need invitations, but DIY and spending 2271 hours assembling them is a want. Yes, you may need something to wear, but going to 12 different bridal shops until you find OMG THE ONE!!!!!!! is a want. 

Try to not get overwhelmed. I'm using theknot's checklist. It starts you out with something like 185 tasks, and I freaked out a little. So, I went through all of them and just check off the stuff I knew we weren't going to bother with (i.e. videographer, newspaper engagement announcements, etc), and I've pared it down to 120 tasks. Which still seems a little insane, until you figure that I have 12 months to accomplish them all.

Just breathe :) You can do this. I also never thought about my wedding until I got engaged, and I'm doing just fine.

I'm using the checklist on weddingwire.com I use all their tools, except their wedding website I use project wedding for that. Just make sure to use a checklist where you can edit and remove items and move them on your timeline. A lot of the tasks won't apply to you. I got my list down to about 120 as well. You've got plenty of time, so just take it one step at a time. And take breaks from planning when you need to! (I should take that last piece of advice myself right now:-))

I figured out that most of the checklists on the knot, wedding wire, etc are all the same.  Pick a website you like and follow it.  

Because I'm a little OCD about to do lists and my FI is too, we created a "project plan".  This is helpful to us, but if its stressful sounding to you, then don't consider it.  Basically we imported all the to do tasks from the knot and put it on a big spreadsheet.  We deleted things that didn't apply to us and added things that weren't included that did apply to us (requirements to get married at our church, projects I want to include, etc).  After we had all the tasks on the spreadsheet we divided them up into categories (attire, wedding party, church, photography, etc).  Then we made one of us (FI or me) responsible for each task and we assigned a due date to everything.  That way we could see what all needed to be done and when and who was responsible for what and how we are doing.  

Once FI and I sat down and looked this over, we both realized that we need to plan ahead and make sure we don't wait to the last minute.  Because he's now a part of the process, FI has been proactive taking care of tasks assigned to him well before the due date (honeymoon is planned and DJs and photographers have been interviewed).  

Really, all you need to do is figure out a system that works for you and follow it.  That way things won't get left off the list.

Keep in mind that at the end of the day, its your wedding and if you don't want to do something, its fine.