When you get engaged you don’t just change your relationship title, you also take on a new job title: Wedding Planner. For many brides-to-be, this means having to find a balance between a real, full-time job and planning for the biggest day of their life- whew! To say this can be a stressful dynamic might be the understatement of the century, but its nothing a little organization and a lot of multitasking can’t solve. Utilize all the hours in the days leading up to your wedding and stay on your boss’s good-side with these quick tips for efficiently planning your wedding at work.
Finding The Time: When To Plan What
Researching & Contacting Vendors: Unfortunately, the best time to look for & contact wedding vendors is during business hours. So make use of that spare 5 minutes you have a before a meeting or a speedy lunch hour, and hop online to begin the search for vendors in your area.
When you use Ever After to find your wedding venue or plan your destination wedding, we will do a lot of the legwork for you – confirming wedding date availability, setting up venue tours, and getting package pricing. We also are available on weekends, making communication more convenient for you! 
Helpful Hint: Make sure to look up your company’s policy on personal computer use. Even if your work policy allows for personal use, you may want to scale back your at-work wedding planning to avoid pushing the limits too far– don’t worry, you’ll still find a way to get it all done!
Making Lists: “Playlists, guest lists, and even to-do lists — whether you manage them online or on paper, keep these at your fingertips so whenever you think of something, you can update them.” Wedding Expert Kate Wood says lists are the one part of planning for a wedding that can be done anywhere, anytime. 
Helpful Hint: “Many hands make light the work” — utilize the help of willing friends and family in your wedding planning process. Using shared documents on programs such as GoogleDocs (free with a gmail account) you can keep organized lists of weekly planning goals, delegate tasks to specific helpers, and share photos of completed projects.
Visiting Vendors: Unless you have reserved your lunch hour for a quick drive-by or meet-up with a vendor, all vendor visits should be done on your days off or the weekend. You’ll most likely want your partner in crime with you for all major decision making as it is, so allotting a specific time when both of you have free-time will make for faster decision making anyways!
Your Ever After Venue Expert will make venue tours easy and efficient: in most cases, we accompany you on venue tours, making sure you don’t get lost on the way, walking you through the highlights of each venue, and getting you pricing and perks you couldn’t get on your own. Did we mention our services are complimentary – it’s just like using a real estate agent.
Finding Inspiration: Hitting that 3 o’clock slump or simply need to step out of work mode for a second?
Pinterest, Lover.ly and Tumblr are just a few of the infinite amount of wedding related websites that were designed to help brides plan for their perfect day, with thousands of inspirational images and ideas for hosting an unforgettable affair.
Helpful Hint: Since you’re not being paid to plan your wedding (even though that would be amazing), its best that you try to be as discreet as possible while planning in the office. Don’t bring your wedding binder, keep all your planning computer-based and of course, making sure to not leave wedding websites or documents up on your computer for others to see!
DIY Projects: Lets be honest, you’re not going to be addressing wedding invitations or tying bows on your bridesmaid gifts at your desk. Wedding projects should be done at home and not on the clock, so uncork a bottle of your favorite chardonnay and get ready for nightly binge of Netflix & crafting.
Its also important to remember that planning a wedding is all about time management! Maximize your entire work day (not just time spent at your desk) with a few of these simple, yet essential tips for finding the perfect work/wedding balance.
- Your Daily Commute: If you’re a commuting bride, trains, buses and subways are your best friend. Bring your tablet, laptop or bridal magazines on your daily commute for an extra hour of researching at the beginning & end of your work day! Drive to work- you can plan too! Use the voice feature on your cell-phone to record ideas, task lists or reminders for things you want to get done later on.
- Your Cherished Lunch Hour: While you will most likely not have time to visit vendors on your lunch break, you most certainly have time to reach out with a couple phone calls! Using your daily commute, plan out who you want to call & what you’re hoping to achieve with each call. It may seem logical, but knowing your phone call goals ahead of time will keep you from getting of track and allow you to contact more vendors!
- Your Daily Burn: Stay occupied during your daily workout by printing out vital wedding planning lists, documents or articles to read while you get your bridal body ready on the treadmill. Have a hard time reading on the go? Most gyms have individual TV’s available, so tune into TLC wedding segments or the Marta Stewart’s Show for a little wedding inspiration!
- Your Nightly Meal: Whether the oven’s preheating, the water is boiling, or the pizza man is on his way, use these short increments of time to talk about wedding plans with your fiance, scroll through inspiration boards or make last minute vendor phone calls. While these blurbs of time may seem insignificant at the time, you’ll thank yourself later for not letting all the little details pile up!
You’re now armed with all the certified tricks of the trade for planning your wedding at work! By staying mindful of your surroundings & managing your time wisely, your 9-5 job will be a minor bump in the road on your way to happily ever after…
Our Local Venue Experts make finding your wedding venue easy and fast — we’ll find your perfect venue within 2 weeks! Let’s get started at www.perfectweddingvenue.com.
