My Favourite Wedding Resources {Wedding Wednesday}

When Garrett and I first started planning the wedding, we thought we had a good idea of what we’d do. We’d been to lots of great weddings for friends and family over the years and we’d talked about things we’d like to do when it was our turn to get hitched. Then we actually started looking at all the ideas on Pinterest (because that is where I went first, of course) and I have to admit that I was totally overwhelmed. There were so many ideas, tips, options and opinions that suddenly those ideas we had weren’t as easy as we thought.

Then I started to come across these awesome websites that gave you spreadsheets for planning (right up my alley), inspiration galleries organized by styles and DIY projects that we could actually accomplish. If you’re planning a wedding, helping someone plan a wedding or are just interested in wedding stuff in general, you might want to check these out. I’ve found them all so helpful in guiding us into figuring out our “wedding style” and giving us the tools and info we need to get it done.

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1. A Practical Wedding

By far, this is the #1 website that I’ve used when planning the wedding. We’re doing all of it ourselves with the help of our family and friends, so having information like how much alcohol to buy and how to arrange your seating chart has been so helpful. I love their spreadsheets, which have kept us on top of everything from the guest list to our vendor information. Right now we’re working on the music for the reception and their playlists have been a great place for inspiration. They also have a section on real weddings, because as much as I love the stylished magazine shoots, it’s nice to see what real people do too.

 

2. Wedding Chicks

Wedding Chicks is always so fun to browse through. They have posts on real weddings, a fun shop filled with custom t-shirts, invites and favours, local vendors,  DIY projects and free printables (wedding invites, save the dates, etc). And I love the name. Cute.

 

3. Green Wedding Shoes

Both my mom and I got into using this site to send each other inspiration ideas from their galleries full of everything from favors and paper goods to bouquets and boutonnieres. The real weddings are where I’d get lost for hours. They sort them by type of wedding, which is genius – elopements, glam weddings, celeb weddings, rustic weddings, vintage weddings, etc.  They also have some great DIY projects and honeymoon ideas.

 

4. Recycle Your Wedding

Brought to you by the folks at Ruffled (also a great place for wedding inspiration), comes Recycle Your Wedding. You can find so many great previously used wedding items being sold from around the world. Usually they’re posted cheaper than you’d find them in stores and I’ve seen stuff here that I never would have found elsewhere. Then when you’re done your own wedding, you can post your own stuff with their free classifieds. Win-win!

 

5. Martha Stewart Weddings

I grew up watching Martha Stewart with my mom, and to me she has always been a great resource for gardening, baking and crafting, so it would come as no surprise that I’d look to Martha Stewart Weddings for ideas too. Whenever I go here for ideas, I make a big cup of tea and settle in, because I know I’m going to get sucked right into all the details and tutorials. We’ve used a number of her templates and designs for different elements of the wedding, and I’m always going back to reference floral designs and invitation etiquette. You’ve done it again, Martha.

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If you have any must-read wedding websites, please post them in the comments below. I’m always looking for new places to get inspiration, whether it’s for our wedding or just for a party in general!