Today I'm going to share a few of online tools that we are using. There are so many useful tools out there and I can't review all of them, but these are the ones that I'm using because they are free, easy to use, and make wedding planning efficient. Sorry this post is so wordy. I'll share some photos later.
Registry
I have found myregistry.com to be a godsend. You can link all of your registries to this one site, or you can choose to keep it as an "everything else we want" list, which is what we are using it for. We are registered at Target and Macy's for the sake of our family and friends that don't like to shop online. There are people in our families that don't even have the internet. But with Myregistry.com, you can link to any item in any online store on the web and this includes places like etsy. I love it! The downfall is that things change so quickly on the internet and items sell out fast, especially on etsy. You have to check up on the items you list to make sure that they are still available. As someone that has shopped a lot of registry lists, it is very annoying when you find out what you want to buy is no longer available.
Planners
This is the part where I sing the praises of google docs! I have never really used google docs for the purpose of online collaboration, but a wedding in this day and age requires it. Style me Pretty has teamed up with google to make some pretty awesome and free tools. Before you get overwhelmed with the 20 different templates you can download, I would suggest looking at the wedding planner first. It has all of the templates in one workbook. We didn't need the whole planner so we are just using it for a guest list (we changed up some of the columns to match our preferences) and the address form. Let me tell you about the address form... If you know a lot of your wedding guests' emails, you can send a form to them and they can fill out the spreadsheet for you! I don't know a lot of the email addresses, but I have been able to use it by sending the form to my mom so she can add all the people that they want to invite to the wedding. Sheldon and I share the document, so any changes that either of us makes can be seen by the other person, that way we always have the most updated list.
A rep from myweddingworkbook.com recently tipped me off to a really great wedding organizational tool. My Wedding Workbook is a must for anyone planning a big traditional wedding with lots of vendors and many guests. I could see someone with a smaller wedding being able to use it, but I think a lot of it's functionality wouldn't get used. I have too much information in other places to want to move it all over at this point, but this is a wonderful tool that is robust enough for any wedding. I might have to use it for our budget, since we haven't got a lot of that in writing yet. We'll see.
Websites
Oh wedding websites... what a headache you have caused me. I really didn't want to pay for a website that was only going to be live for a year. Wedding websites, through the actual wedding website vendors are expensive compared to a regular website's costs per year. A few of the more popular sites are ewedding.com mywedding.com theknot.com weddingtracker.com and weddingjojo.com.
We went with mywedding.com because their site is 100% free and has a lot of functionality. I also found that they had way more theme options than the others. However, wedding websites are kind of corny and if you're a DIY gal like me, you're not going to be 100% happy with the themes that they have and then throw the fiance into the mix who thinks that "all wedding websites are lame" and you'll have issues. It took Sheldon and me quite awhile to agree on the template and in the end the one we are using is kind of boring, but it works. I really had to get past the fact that the website was in no way going to match our Save the Dates or Invites and that it was only going to be an information tool for our guests.
I hope you all enjoy this little detour from my normal crafty exploits. I promise Wedding Wednesdays will have a lot of my DIY projects in the future, but right now it is all about the planning. In fact, next week I have an exciting thing to share with you all... our save the date cards! Handmade the lazy way by yours truly :)
