Planning the Wedding: 5 Months Down

Hello, friends! Another football Saturday is upon us and I can't wait to see my Jackets play at home tonight for the season opener! We need a good W after last weekend's late night loss.

Since it's a night game and a lot of my friends won't be there because of other commitments, I'm taking advantage of the afternoon to take care of other things before heading into town for the tailgate.

** Hooray, Auburn just scored a TD! War Eagle!! ** --> like watching Auburn play! ;)

It's been about five months (five?!) since we got engaged, and part of being engaged means that pretty much everyone asks you how the wedding planning process is going when they see you :P Luckily, we got out of the gates early, taking advantage of the quieter summer months and doing as much as we could right up front. These days, when people ask how the planning process is going, I can legitimately say that we are right on track, if not ahead of things, and that we are trying to enjoy every moment of it!

Recently, though, there's been a perfect storm of planning that all had to get done at once. The website. The Save the Dates (which list the website). The hotel booking (so that people can reserve rooms from the website). The engagement photos (which are on the website and our STD). The registry (yep, on the website, too). None of these things were hard to get done, but all together, it's been a busy end to the summer.

As you can see from the fun shot above, though, the engagement photos are done, the STDs are going out this week and we've had fun registering in-store and online at some of our favorite places. As you might imagine, I am pretty good at fake shopping ;)

I have talked about Erin Condren planners on here before, but I really think I might be losing it right now if it wasn't for her wedding planner.

Let me tell you: Erin is keeping this gal sane. I am a wedding blog-aholic, so whenever I am cruising the webs or Pinterest, I am easily distracted by uber-cute wedding DIY projects, favor ideas and decor items. And then I start to freak a little bit. Why haven't I thought about that yet? Should I have thought about this vs. that by now? What's the deadline to do this?

And then Erin brings be back down to the ground ASAP. I just have to flip open her planner to the front pages where there are these ingenious month-by-month To Do lists. Favors? I don't need to do anything about those until "4 to 2 months before" the wedding. Welcome baskets? 6 to 4 months before. And then I realize -- I have time! The mini crisis in my head goes away, and I can refocus energies.

Part of the benefit of having a whole year to plan this wedding is that we have plenty of time. It's going to be a big party, sure, and we want it all to be perfect, but we don't have to do it all now. While my OCD-self struggles with that thought, every time I run across one of those cute decor ideas, I just make a quick note of the site and idea in my planner's note pages, instead. That way, I don't have to freak out about forgetting to do anything, and I can keep my focus on the items for right now.

With seven months still to go, we are almost done with the "8 to 6 months before" list, with only sending the STDs and booking the florist and DJ left. I already have strong recommendations for both of those vendors, too, and that means I have all of this month to finalize that! Better yet, I have some of the "6 to 4 months before" list already done, too, like the bridesmaid dresses. It feels good to be ahead of the game.

Today, I started to get a little overwhelmed thinking about all the things I wanted to get done. The planning process started to suck me in. I have promised myself that I would actually enjoy this wedding planning process, though, and I want to stick to that goal. When else do you get to enjoy a time like this? I don't want to remember it as being a stressful time!

So a few minutes of feeling like AHHHH, I sat back, flipped through our engagement photos and focused my thoughts around how much fun it was that day and how much more fun our Big Day will be. Then, I opened up our planner and brainstormed some ideas. All things that we can tackle later, mind you :)

Fellow brides-to-be and married gals -- what things have or got you stressed out during the planning process? What kept you sane?