The Best Wedding Planner

Buying Guide

Weddings are more than just a celebration of love. They are a coming together of families and traditions, and an opportunity for loved ones to show their support for the happy couple. However, planning the big day is no easy task. From flowers, to décor, clothes, menus, cake and beyond, there are so many details to iron out and coordinate. Many of these details can take months – and sometimes years – to come together. Having a wedding planner book is a great way to ensure you stay organized and on task so that the wedding goes off without a hitch.

A wedding planner book is much like it sounds – a book to help you plan your wedding. Wedding planners can be organized in different ways, but many of them come with multiple different sections, such as a countdown calendar and a wedding to-do checklist. Some also have a separate section for the guest list, vendor contacts and other details. Others have helpful tips for things like setting a budget and figuring out your theme or colors. You can also find wedding planners that have sections for a day-of itinerary so you can plan the details down to the minute.

When looking for a wedding planner, consider what type of organization, time management and event planning skills you have and where you need the most support. If you’re highly organized and know how to throw a party, you may only need a simple wedding planner with sections to keep vendor contact information and a day-of itinerary. However, if you’ve never planned a big event before and don’t do well with time management, you might like a wedding planner that comes with checklists for each month before the wedding so you don’t miss any tasks.

• Can you use a regular day planner to plan your wedding? The short answer is probably not. The long answer is more complicated. Regular day planners are organized chronologically and typically don’t include multiple different sections. When planning a wedding, you will need more than a to-do list for each day leading up to the wedding. You’ll also need a place to gather your thoughts about certain aspects like flowers or bridesmaid dresses, and you will also want to have a countdown to the big day. Regular day planners can’t provide that. So while you can use a regular day planner in addition to a wedding planner to keep you organized, you probably shouldn’t use a regular day planner for this purpose on its own.
• While having organizational tools in a wedding planner is key, if you want to go above and beyond the expected, look for a wedding planner that comes with inspirational tools as well. Many planners have images of the latest wedding dress and suit styles, en vogue color palettes and popular décor pieces. These can help you visualize your big day and determine what kind of aesthetic you’re going for. Then, you can use the organizational tools to plan it all out.
• Some wedding planner books can also serve as a memory capsule. After all, the journey is as important as the destination, and many couples like to commemorate the planning of the wedding as well as the day itself. Some planners include spots for photographs and journal entries so you can remember the journey to the altar.