Wedding Wednesday: Best Wedding Planning Resources

Today is March 1st, can you believe it?! It’s also #NationalWeddingPlanningDay… yep that’s a thing! From November to February, nearly 4 in 10 couples get engaged! Engagement season is seriously SO fun but after the celebrations end, wedding planning begins full speed. For today’s Wedding Wednesday post I thought I would share the best wedding planning resources that I’ve found as I’ve been planning my own wedding.

When I started this series I had no idea how many readers were also engaged & in the midst of planning their wedding! It’s been so fun to swap tips, advice & just chat all things wedding with you all! Feel free to share your favorite wedding planning resources in the comments!

THEKNOT.COM

One of the first things I did when Nick and I got engaged (besides post the obligatory #engaged pic!) was create an account on The Knot! I highly suggest creating an account if you’re engaged (or think you’ll be getting engaged soon) because their site has a LOT of resources!

• After we got engaged we immediately started researching venues, since that’s the first piece of the wedding planning puzzle! We were able to see venues near us and even discover venues we didn’t know existed! Right on the site we could send the venues a message to set up an appointment, ask questions, etc. It was really convenient to be able to contact them, see reviews, and add as a “favorite” right on the site. As you’ll soon find out, wedding planning can be overwhelming, so to have everything in one place is a relief.
• Once we had our venue and date booked we searched and looked at reviews of other vendors, such as photographers, videographers, florists, etc. Like I said above, it was so nice to be able to see everything in one spot!

• I’ll go more into this in a few weeks, but we also created our wedding website on The Knot. It’s free to create (once you create an account) and it’s a great resource for your guests. They have a lot of really great website themes and some are designed by Minted that coordinate with save the dates & invitations!
• Ideas & Advice As you’re planning you’ll realize you don’t know everything (yep, that’s a hard pill to swallow haha!) and need advice or tips for what to do or how to handle a certain situation! They have so many categories that will quickly give you advice from wedding experts. What I also love is that they also have plenty of real wedding inspiration. Not sure what kind of dress you want or what you want your bridesmaids to wear? There’s a category for that!
• P.S. If you create an account today (hello, all you engaged ladies) you get…
  • 25% off The Knot Shop (perfect for bridesmaids, groomsmen, or your parents!)
  • 15% off your order on Minted (think: save the dates & invites)
  • free 8×10 book from Shutterfly

A WEDDING BINDER/PLANNER

I received two different wedding planners as gifts when we first got engaged and I love them both for different reasons! I have used both of them interchangeably because they both have really useful information. Both are binders so you can add paper with your notes, venue/vendor details, etc. to them!

The Knot Wedding Planner is filled with questionnaires, worksheets, FAQs and etiquette information. This was a really great guide (especially when we embarked on planning) as what percentage is supposed to be spent on what, who pays for what, etc. I have used this to keep track of vendors info, etc. Note: I have been using Evernote as well to keep track of everything since it can easily be shared with your fiancé and parents!

The Southern Weddings Planner is another great resource for documenting and keeping track of your wedding! This one has similar features and also has southern etiquette and traditions! It also has an entire section dedicated to date night ideas during the wedding planning process. It has ideas, questions and topics to talk about with each other. I really loved this because it’s easy to let wedding planing be the topic of every conversation! We’ve already experienced this with our family and finally had to tell them we wanted to talk about something other than the wedding!

WEDDING MAGAZINES

When I picked up my first wedding magazines I just assumed there would be pretty pictures, but not a whole lot of information. Boy, was I wrong! The magazines I’ve purchased have had so much useful information. Anytime I look through wedding magazines I use post-it notes to save an important page and write why I bookmarked it on the post it note! I’ve gone back to a few of them and found vendors or useful tips when meeting with vendors. 

THE KNOT APP

This has been one of the most important resources because it allows me to have access to everything at my fingertips. Within the app there’s a checklist that gives you a look at things you need to take care of that month. The checklist has come in handy because some things I had totally not thought about yet and so it puts them on my radar! You’re also given a concierge within the app to help with any questions you may have! You can also keep track of vendor’s contact info within the app as well, so it’s easy to access. I use it daily!

It also sends you a weekly reminder with a countdown to your wedding (I LOVE receiving these emails!) with a checklist of what you need to accomplish that week. I live by to-do lists so this has been tremendously helpful to me!

I would love to hear what wedding planning resources you’ve used! Let me know in the comments below! Thanks so much for stopping by today. xx

This post is in partnership with The Knot. All thoughts, writing & styling are my own.