Kelly Olson Creative

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know there are endless blog posts and pins all about wedding hacks, but I felt like we owed it to ourselves to write down the things that made the process easier.  No wedding planner, no coordinator.  We survived and we were able to actually enjoy our day- it’s possible! Here are a few things that come to mind for our wedding hacks:

1. GOOGLE SHEETS- we put everything into sheets.  Addresses, budgets, seating, to-do lists.  Dill’s a wizard and made it so easy to add things up and project costs and spending.  It was so helpful.
2. Pinterest- pin all the live long day.  We had a running board that D and I both pinned on, and we shared it with our Moms.  That way they could add pins, and look at what we were going with.  It was great to share our vision with others who would be helping down the line….because boy did they help us down the line!
3. Make it yours- We wanted our wedding to be beautiful, but we wanted it to be us.  We carefully selected our photographer and videographer based on their work and our matching aesthetic.  Listen to your heart and where you are leaning to.  Go with it, don’t settle for anyone else’s style.  From chocolate milk at our sweets table, to mismatched bridesmaid dresses, and everything in between like simple ceremony programs, celebrating Irish New Years at a local pub, or our grace at dinner which incorporated a prayer we said each day back in high school, and even our day after pictures (a post all about that coming soon!) Make it yours.
4. DIY, or not…- We did some projects ourselves. (candle blocks- WIN. table number holders- NOT A WIN)  You have to be prepared to put the time in for projects.  If they don’t exist somewhere, totally make them yourself. Dill and his dad killed the wooden candle blocks-cutting and staining them to match our vision.  Now the table numbers? Good grief.  We started the paint process and used the wrong paint on the initial work, which just made our process endless.  I think we were painting/spray painting up until the day of the wedding.  But, they turned out fine–just not worth the headache!
5. Appointments- plan your brows, hair cuts, and dentists, etc. well in advance.  I booked most of my appointments about 6 months in advance.  They were important to me and it felt great to get them locked down.
6. Calendar- I had a specific calendar just for wedding planning.  I broke down tasks into month by month goals, and then had a place to put all wedding related events and appointments.
7. Contacts- as I started booking vendors like the party bus, and hair/makeup it helped to save those contacts right in my phone so I wouldn’t have to search them up.  In the second line of the contact (where a second phone number could go), I would put our confirmation numbers for all of the vendors!  This totally helped when I’d call and confirm and have my info all in one place.
8. Marriage license- plan for this early, but not too early!  Ours was good for 60 days, so we were able to get it over Thanksgiving.
9. Ask for help- My mother is the best. About 3 months before the wedding I would call her and ask her to take care of a couple of things a week for me.  Handling a few calls, or helping to work through things made it so easy.  We also enlisted the help of many of our friends and family, without whom we would not have had the wedding of our dreams.
10. Know when to tap out- The last weeks before the wedding are hectic.  There is no changing that.  There are just so many things that you can’t do until just before the big day.  So with that said, know when to tap out.  The Tuesday before our wedding, I really felt the stress hit hard.  We had spent hours working on a number of things, I almost missed an appointment, and I just felt exhausted.  Dillon told me to be done for the day.  We stopped all wedding work, grabbed drinks, and thought about our honeymoon and how nice it would be to relax.  We did this throughout the week.  Tapping out from the wedding craziness helped focus us on what was important.  Our little dates that week made us both so relaxed leading up to the wedding.
11. Take care of yourself- Like I said, that week is absolutely crazy!  I took vitamin C, drank lots of water, and had Epsom salt baths.  I stayed healthy and comfortable.
12. Smile- I am a perfectionist to a T.  Up until the morning of the wedding, I had this sinking feeling I would be an anxious bridezilla the day of.  I could not have been more wrong about myself.  I woke up so relaxed and calm.  It felt like all of the work, though worth it, wasn’t important anymore.  I was marrying my best friend, and that was an easy decision to make.  I was calm throughout the entire day- even through the hiccups. (Cake not being ready, and my sister’s zipper malfunction just minutes before the ceremony!)  I smiled and laughed and happy cried all of the place.  It was by far the best day of my life.

If you stuck with me this far- bless you. I know that’s a lot of yammering on and on, but hey maybe it helped someone! Overall, I loved the planning.  I loved working with Dillon to make it totally us and totally ours.  I’ll happily assist any bride out there planning their wedding 🙂

Kelly