Good Etiquette and Planning Resources

ast284

I'm kind of at a loss. I've been engaged a little over a month now and we have only tentatively set a date for 2013. Yep, it's two years out, but we felt this was best because my FI won't graduate until December 2012. So what I have decided to do is start researching and reading until it is time to start planning. Hence why I have been lurking around here. I am looking for some good etiquette and planning guides to keep my planning urges at bay. I prefer something in hardcopy format simply because I operate better that way. (I love my day planner and being able to open a book and see what I have coming up!)  I've been looking online (mainly Amazon) and I found that TK has a planner out, but what I don't want is to buy something that I can get online for free. I would love some suggestions from you ladies. I'm especially interested in anything with lots of details. I need something to keep me preoccupied during my time off from school.

Loopyseven

My mom bought me a wedding planner book - I flipped through it to look at some of the pictures and it ended up in a closet.  What I used was a large Excel file on my laptop.  One tab had the guest list, one tab had pictures from the internet of flowers/bouquets I liked pasted into it, one tab had pictures from the internet of cupcake stands I liked, one tab had hairstyles and make-up that I liked, one tab had readings that I liked, one tab had the budget on it, etc.  One tab had a compare/contrast reception venue costs with comments about pros and cons.  As I finalized things, I deleted extra information and just kept the info on the place/contact/florist etc.  I took the laptop with me to every wedding appointment and could show who I was meeting with my ideas/concepts pretty easily.  

There are lots of wedding etiquette books - Cranes I think goes beyond weddings but includes anything you would need to know, Emily Post, Miss Manners.  I am not familiar with them enough to direct to one over another.

Happy planning!

crfische

Am I the only one who thinks reading books on wedding etiquette is kind of like watching paint dry? :: says the girl who hangs out on an etiquette board ::

mica178

I made the mistake of buying a wedding planner book.  The best thing about it was tucking random contracts in its folders and making a physical list of all wedding gifts and thank you note status.

I used the wedding planning timeline on weddingwire, which I liked better than the one on TK.  I used TK's guestlist function, but if I could do it over again, I'd just keep an excel chart of my guests since it was such a pain printing out stuff and changing addresses, etc.

louisvillebride21

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_good-etiquette-planning-resources?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:c5bf65ce-76bb-4cf8-903e-3b084bee0929Post:cccfe829-65bd-49af-83a9-c6ac86a59bb3">Re: Good Etiquette and Planning Resources</a>:
[QUOTE]Am I the only one who thinks reading books on wedding etiquette is kind of like watching paint dry? :: says the girl who hangs out on an etiquette board ::
Posted by crfische[/QUOTE]
USELESS!!!!

ootmother2

M was given the Martha Stewart Wedding Planner by her godmother when she got engaged.  It's about the only one I have seen that I would consider worthwhile using.

tons of pockets for cards & clippings and list reminders

cm42878

I bought the ultimate brides planner at Barnes and noble when FI and I first got engaged. It has several different dividers for all of the main components, I carried it with me everywhere we we first got engaged, not I think I have looked at it once this month. I did like that it had a list of questions to ask different vendors in columns so that you could compare vendors side by side. It also has a plastic sleeve to put all of my vendors business cards in, I do have all of my vendors cards in there so that they are easily accesable, even though I have most saved in my phone.

I just have my guest list organized on excel. I like using excel because I can copy and paste for different event list. Shower list for MOH, Bachelorette list for my sister Rehersal dinner list ect. and I dont have to re0type each time.

andy71781

check out weddingmapper.com for good contact organization and use theknot's timeline.  and come here for help.

Beachy730

Someone gave me a wedding planner book and I never used it.  I had a binder that I kept that had different tabs for flowers, cakes, centerpieces, etc.  I got tons of wedding magazines from friends and family and would rip out pictures of things I liked and put them in the binder.  As the planning progressed the tabs changed, and eventually it was all contracts in there. 

I also used an excel spreadsheet for my guest list, and used that to keep track of gifts from the shower and wedding also and when I sent out TY notes.

As far as a book on etiquette, I haven't heard of one that isn't outdated.  If you want the best etiquette advice on certain topics, post your questions on here.  We might be a little brutally honest at times, we will tell you the proper etiquette everytime. 

pearlaqua

Get "Bridal Bargains"!!!

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&biw=1280&bih=572&q=bridal+bargains&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=2890004595388917990&ei=FvUGTY2GMYP88Ab_6bWRDw&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDYQ8wIwAw#ps-sellers

It's not a  PLANNER per se, but a lot of their tips need a lot of foresight...which you have!