Our Wedding: List Number One

Today I'm sharing a bit of wedding organization with you guys! We really hit the ground running since we are planning a wedding in eight months- we have less then seven months to go so I thought I would share how I'm organizing all my planning.

I decided to make three lists to split up my wedding tasks. The first list I am planning to complete before May, the second must be completed by the end of August and the third is the final list to be completed by our wedding day.  Today I want to share what was on list number one and what we've already completed, I will be sharing my next two lists in the upcoming months as well- don't worry I'm taking you along for every step of this journey!

Wedding To Do List #1

• Go to bridal expo  We really enjoyed this! It gave us quite a few ideas and we got a ton of free stuff! To see our day at the wedding expo you can check that out here.
• make bridesmaid proposal gifts and give them out  You can see my bridesmaid proposals here!
• meet and hire photographer We hired Carissa from Ella Grace Photography and are THRILLED with our decision- she is fantastic!
• meet with Peggy at The Rotunda We met up with Peggy one Saturday to view the inside. She was great and gave us some great insight on using the floor plan!
• make appointment at Davids Bridal I made an appointment for April 14th and I can't wait to spend quality time with Rachel and my mom trying on dresses
• engagement shoot We had the best time working with Carissa even though it was freezing on this day!
• insure ring this was super easy to do- I signed up through Jewelers Mutual and it was much cheaper then I thought and certainly gives me peace of mind!
• get ring resized again, super easy to do and I was just putting it off because I didn't want to give up my ring. I went to Simply Majestic and had a great experience- it was done so quickly!
• create wedding website I just used the free website TheKnot does and have started to put our information on there
• book Kayla for hair- I briefly spoke to her about this but want to make sure she is completely booked for my day! I actually will see her later today and plan on checking with her then
• book Laura for makeup I checked with Laura and we will be setting up my trial soon!
• book hotel for wedding night- Tim is currently working on this!
• block hotel rooms for guests done! The credit for this goes all to Tim- he has been dealing with the hotels which has been so helpful!
• book caterer Once again, the credit for this goes to Tim! I did put the deposit down for this and went with Tim to drop off the contract- so it was a team effort!
• order save the dates and get them mailed out- We are waiting for our pictures to come back and then this will get checked off- hopefully in the next couple of weeks!
• book videographer My brothers best friend will be our videographer for our wedding day! I'm happy to have someone we trust and know well to do this important task! 
• book DJ Another point for Tim- he's the one who contacted Dr Graeme and booked him. 
• register for gifts we have three registries going right now and although we will be revisiting them in the future to add I'm sure I'm counting this as done!

We've had a very busy first month planning and have almost this entire list crossed off! In a few weeks I'll share list number 2 as I start to work on that next!

What were the most important things on your wedding to do list?

Have a great day everybody!

Erin Condren Life Planner

Hey everybody!

Today, I want to share with you the brand new organization product in my life and it's name is My Life Planner. Back in June I heard that Erin Condren was going to be releasing her new Life Planners and I was so excited. For the past few years I have sworn by my Lily Pulitzer planner and before that I used simple ones from Staples. Well you know me, once I set my mind to something it's hard to talk me out of it and I researched the hell out of these planners. Almost every day I checked the Erin Condren website or watched a promotional YouTube video or read a blog showing pictures of them.

The main reason I wanted to switch up my planner? My Lily planner was TOO small.

Now, you might think I'm crazy but I like a ton of room to write things in on my planner. I like to have them almost like a scrapbook. I want to be able to see everything I need to do and then to write in last minute things as they come up. I want to be able to remember what days I went to play trivia and when I met up with my best friends. So I wanted more room to write and as I will explain that a little more as this post goes on. So let's get onto some pretty pictures why don't we!

This is the front of my planner. I love it because the design looks almost like waves (which if you've been reading for awhile you know I'm totally a beach girl). I also had it customized to have my name at the bottom and I absolutely love the font that my first name is written. I do kind of wish that both had been written in the same font, I'm not quite sure why that happened but it's not a big deal!

When you open up the planner this is the first page you see.

Now, the daily pages in this calendar are different then the Lily Pulitizer planner and I love these so much more. Erin Condren has split each day into morning, day and night which is great because as you can see in the picture above I'm able to split my tasks into separate sections. Also if I have a lot going on during a particular day it's not all jumbled into one small section, I can split it up by time of day.

I thought I had taken a picture of the main month calendar but I guess I must not have taken one. It's pretty typical, with a small box for each day. It's perfect for putting important dates/appointments, then you can see the weekly page in order to provide more information on the event.

There is also a folder in the back, making a nice place to hold anything important you need to keep with your planner.

I really  love the little book called "forget me not" in the back of my planner.

There are important holiday dates listed but there is also a page for every month of the year that is dated where you can insert any anniversaries, birthdays, etc that you would like to remember each year. Then you can just transfer this book into any future planner you have.

In the way back there is a clear case where I suppose you could put planner tools such as pens.

Overall, I'm extremely impressed by this planner but am definitely still getting used to the change.

Do you have a planner? What kind of planner do you use?

Organizing My Life!

Have I mentioned that June is my busiest month of the year?

I'm not sure if I mentioned this previously, but I am dance teacher and gymnastics coach at a local studio and so June is the month where we have all of our end of the year shows- basically everything I work on from September- June is compiled into June, making me VERY stressed!

Basically my life gets extremely crazy in June, combining all my work commitments in with little errands I  have to complete for work, throw in friends birthdays, family time, and other important dates like fathers day and I'm done for! I thought I would briefly share two items that save my life during this busy time of the year, and if I'm being honest- all year long!

The first item that I love to death is VERY VERY simple, my to-do list.

I swear by using a to-do list and am constantly rewriting things and adding to my to-do lists all day long. After I snapped this picture I added eight more items to this list and I'm sure I will have more to write on there within the hour.

Sometimes I make smaller to-do lists organizing them by category- so I might have a work to do list, home to do list, errands to do list, etc...but since June is crazy as it is, I just compiled everything onto one list. 

I am toying with the idea of having a to-do notebook that I keep with me in my purse, but we will see how crazy I get.

The second item that saves my life on a daily basis is my planner...

I love this Lilly Pulitzer planner, it is perfect for me.

Here is what the monthly calendar looks like:

And a weekly look:

In this planner I write down everything that is time sensitive. I write down my work schedule, birthdays, special dates, appointments, plans I have with friends and family, etc...

For example you can see above, that my work schedule for this week is written, but I also have on Sunday that I have a recital to attend, and an appointment to get my haircut. This helps me keep track of where I need to be and when.

As the week goes on, I also like to write other information in, for example I have written my workout for Monday and the fact that I took Tuesday off from working out. I also have written in today that I have to go to Michaels craft store and need to run errands. I also plan on checking items off my to do list today so since I have a little more time this Wednesday I can get some items on my to-do list done.

I tend to get a little more in-depth on my weekly pages. The monthly calendar I only include specific appointments and timed information because I don't like to crowd that page more than it already is.

I also have been playing with the idea of highlighting items, that is what I always did in the past, but I may go out and buy colored pens so I can designate a color to each item I write in my planner so it will color-coordinated but not take up as much room as highlighting. It would also look more uniform.

I am aware I am a little OCD and crazy about the way I organize my to-do list and planner. You might also think I'm completely nuts for wanting a to-do list notebook to carry around with me, but that's okay! =)

How do you organize your time, planner, calendar, etc?! Let me know!

Planning for a European vacation...

My grandpa invited my mom and I to join him and his girlfriend on a trip to France in September and on Monday we met up with them to begin the planning process.

Vivian (my papa's girlfriend) was the one who chose France because she is very interested in her heritage and has never been to France. My papa and Vivian have traveled extensively throughout Europe (and other places as well) and my papa traveled with my grandma all over the place before she passed away as well.

My mom has never been to Europe and is so excited about this trip and I am just thrilled to have this amazing opportunity.

We drove up to meet papa and Vivian in Dayville, CT on Monday and found out about the travel group we are going to be a part of.

Vivian and my papa chose Collette travel group and the trip we will be taking is called France Magnifique. The trip looks amazing, we are traveling from Paris, to Normandy, to Omaha Beach, to Blois, to Nice with other stops along the way all within a 12 day period. I am so excited!

I have never been on a trip that involved group travel but I am very excited to try it out. The only other time I have been to Europe was during college when I visited my friend in Spain and we also took a weekend trip to England while I was there. Staying in hostels is a bit different then staying in hotels =)

Have you ever been on a group travel trip? Have you ever been to France?

Please let me know if there is any place in particular you would recommend to go in France? I know most of my time there will be dictated by the group travel but I am looking for ideas for the down time we will have!