Wedding planning in your bullet journal + DON'T forget these 3 things!

Hey everyone! Erin Floto here from Erin Floto Designs. I was one lucky girl on December 23, 2017 when my boyfriend (who had been my best friend since we met in 2011) proposed to me!

Without getting too into the details, our cats and candy was involved in this proposal. Maybe not you thing, but it was definitely mine. My wedding bullet Journal. This post is part of a wedding series that My Inner Creative is doing – you can see the first post on memory planning and wedding mood boards here

Getting started with wedding planning in my bullet journal

We got lucky and found the venue of our dreams in February 2018 and booked our date for May 4, 2019.

Of course, I immediately logged that information into both my personal bullet journal and my new wedding bullet journal. So I had well over a year to plan the wedding. Perfect, easy, I could relax and take things slow.

Nope. Not when life catches up to you and that is when you realize that there are 6 months to go and you have actually done VERY LITTLE to plan your wedding. So here I am thinking, “sure, the venue was taking care of a lot of the particulars for me, I found a wedding dress with 9 months to go, and I have a color palette picked out.”

But when I told myself I was going to DIY almost every single part of the wedding back in February and hadn’t done much by December, it felt like I was going to lose my mind.

Creating a wedding budget in my bullet journal

And when I lose my mind – I plan. And I finally got around to doing a budget page that I had set up in March 2018.

I did my part of the budget with 6 months to go (my parents and his parents had already budgeted for their portions and thank goodness we had their support!) which meant making some hard decisions about where I was going to source my supplies and what my budget was for each. Let me tell you what – I went over.

But honestly, not as much as I thought I went over while I was swiping the card at checkout. If you want to know more about budgeting, check out this post about keeping your budget and finances in check!

I used the WeddingWire as my main source for putting together the budget page of my bullet journal. I went through line by line and figured out what was and was not applicable to my wedding. The main things in the spread that helped me budget were:

Category (i.e. photography, caterer, beauty and makeup, etc.)
Estimated Spending (the realistic budget)
Actual Spending
+/- Column (to see at-a-glance where you have spent too much and where you need to sacrifice in the rest of your budget)

Wedding planning checklist in my bullet journal

Okay! Now I’m on a roll. I have a budget and now I needed to figure out a timeline to get things done.

I called this page my “Checklist for Sanity” because it was one page that I could go to that was color coded with a timeline and had every major to do item for the wedding. I used a combination of sources to create that checklist including WeddingWire and Here Comes the Guide.

Not only did I break each section down by the timeline, I also color coded by the timeline so it was clear and obvious what I needed to do and when it needed to be done.

This was a really simple way for me to create a wedding budget in my bujo. Creating a wedding on a budget and tracking it can sometimes feel really tedious, but at the end of the journey, you’ll know that you manage money well going into the relationship.

My “less than 5 months to go’ wedding checklist in my bullet journal:

On this checklist there is a section for 3 – 5 months away from the wedding. This time period is extremely crucial because it is finalizing a lot of items at once and really bringing together the picture for what the big day is going to look like. The key things that should be done 3 months away:

Finalize the rehearsal dinner
Send out invitations
Purchase your wedding bands (AND GET THEM SIZED! I did not and it caused a lot of stress one month away)

My one month wedding checklist in my bullet journal

Speaking of one month away. There are some VITAL things that should be done that do not include painting every single sign and lantern centerpiece like I was doing because I procrastinated.

MARRIAGE LICENSE – if you are going through all this trouble, make sure it is legal!
Gifts for the wedding party and moms – they took your nonsense for 6+ months, get them something nice and thoughtful!
Final dress fitting

How I scheduled self care into my wedding planning bullet journal

With all that being said, the best thing you can do for yourself one month away from the wedding date is plan for self care. SCHEDULE self care into your day. Just because you are on a budget paying for a wedding doesn’t mean you can’t do something to take care of yourself.

I would literally tell my mom in the morning that I was not thinking/speaking/doing wedding stuff for a day and schedule the entire day around things that were SUPER unrelated to the wedding. When you are one month away everyone assumes you want to talk about it nonstop.

But I promise you that there are days that you just want to forget everything about the wedding. Or to go to Vegas or Atlantic City and get hitched. That was a topic of conversation A LOT the last month or 2 before our wedding.

So take time for you. Here are some recommendations of self care on a budget:

Run a bath/bath bomb
Read a book
Watch movies
Happy hour with friends
Girls night out
Walk around the neighborhood
Go to the park
HAVE A CHEAT DAY (your wedding dress will still fit after a couple cheat days!)
Write in a journal
Yoga
Meditation
Lighting candles
Paint/Draw

Now, I was lucky. I had a team of amazing people who loved and supported me who asked me at every single turn what they could do to help. Spend the last month before your wedding thanking those people every day.

They are the ones you picked to witness the happiest day of your life. When my family and friends asked why I was so calm one month away, I told them because at the end of the day, Tyler and I were saying yes to each other and there was no doubt in my mind I was on the right path in my life.

Never keep your eye off the reason you are doing this planning – to have the people you love witness your life beginning its next chapter with the person you love.

For some extra inspiration here are some bullet journal wedding planning ideas and layout ideas:

I just adore this wedding planning bujo spread – its perfectly floral and shows the excitement leading up to the big day!

Such a simple way to track your wedding dress details in your bullet journal!

Beautiful wedding layout in your bullet journal. Capturing the memories from the day or even to capture the vowes!

Love this wedding planning bullet journal spread for a plan on everything to do AFTER the wedding, like name changes and more.

Great way to track your wedding songs and playlist in your bullet journal!

Cute wedding countdown tracker in your bullet journal

Simple wedding favors ideas page in your bullet journal

Simple wedding planning to-do list in your bullet journal!

Another great idea for your wedding budget in your bujo!

Really sweet ring tracker in your bujo to track the days until you say “i do!”

This is just to much beautiful for one wedding spread! Wedding planning in your bullet journal can be simple or super gorgeous much like this! Love the details and the budgeting and the wedding countdown!