Where to begin?!

[mrs.anthony2be]

Hi ladies,
Long time, no check in. I haven't been able to get myself motivated at all, and as a result have done absolutely nothing. I just dont know where to start, there's so much to do that it's overwhelming! we are doing everything ourselves, including the catering(only dessert buffet) and the bar (buying all the alcohol, providing our own to the reception site). I've hit a wall.
9.5 months out from the wedding, what should be done? If you're closer to your wedding, what do you wish you had have handled earlier?
For those closer to their date, if you could do it all over again, what would your "to do timeline" look like?

 

[vsc]

Hi,

I don't know how much I can help but here are a few things I can think of:
The earliest things to figure out would be the guest list (rough estimate), venue (to fit previously mentioned guest list), and dress (can take a while to find & alter).
Then figure out/plan out what you'll want to do, overall. For example, color scheme, types of decorations, time of day, types of food, etc.

Then for each DIY category I would list what you need, and start researching where to get it from, and what will be needed on your part. Sort out things you can do in advance (plan music, buy liquor) and things that will have to be last minute (prepare food/flowers, decorate venue).

For example:
Flowers:
What I need: 10 centerpieces, 20 roses and 10 carnations each + a vase + floral foam, flower food.
Where to find: order 200 roses and 100 carnations from Sam's club; get 10 vases from Big Lots; order 5 blocks floral foam, flower food from saveoncrafts.com
When to do: Sam's club order: between 1 month before and 2 weeks before. Vases and foam: ASAP. Bouquets assembled between 3 days and 2 days before event.
How to do: (look up videos, make own mockup, etc)

Make a calendar and write in those dates. Enlist people to help.
It can be a lot of work to do things yourselves, especially the design and testing part. The good news is that you won't have to deal with third party deadlines as you would with vendors. The bad news is that you might be really busy close to the wedding... I hope this helps

 

[PrincessNatalie]

I recommend you download the app iWedding for your iPhone if you have one, it has an amazingly handy to do list (plus a heap of other organisational features).