My DIY Wedding Binder

One of my very first projects after Don and I got engaged was to create a wedding planning binder. Mine has changed a little bit since I took these photos, but the concept is still the same. I hope you can get some use out of my ideas! 

I know that for the less adventurous, bookstores carry tons of wedding planners. However, I think it's good to customize it, especially if your engagement or wedding is nontraditional in any way. Not only are we having a long engagement, but we are also strongly considering a Saturday morning wedding with a brunch reception. Breakfast planning is not something that typical wedding planners account for, so it made even more sense to create my own.

Big shout out to Katherine, over at Just Lovely, who inspired the creation of this notebook. You can read her article here.

I started by choosing a durable, three-ring binder from Walmart. At the time, I was thinking of a fall wedding with purple, orange, and bright green included in the floral arrangements. I've wanted my bridesmaids to have purple dresses since I was a kid, so I went with a purple binder with a clear insert on the front. It was about three bucks. I printed all of my materials at home, so I also had to buy a new black ink cartridge.

For the cover, I found a free monogram website and designed our married monogram in some more fall wedding colors. You can do this at PrintableMonogram.com. 

Of course, we moved our wedding date up soon after the creation of the first binder, but the beautiful thing about DIYing your own is that you can change up the covers and binders easily to fit your evolving tastes.

I have the inside divided into ten sections with pocket tab dividers.

At the very front,  I printed out our joint wedding Pinterest board, and used the margins to make notes about what I like. This helps me picture my overall vision for the wedding a little bit better, and I can point out specific pictures and notes to vendors.

For the pages in my sections, I primarily used printables from two sources, Russell and Hazel, and Wedplan.com. Every page is linked to its original web source with the page number for large PDFs. 

1. Important

--Two Year Wedding Planning Timeline (you should include a timeline that's pertinent to your length of engagement)

--Vendor Contact List

--Wedding Party Contact Sheet

--Wedding Day Timeline Worksheet Russell and Hazel pg. 5

--Wedding Day Details Wedding Day Details pg. 17 

--Emergency Kits Russell and Hazel pg. 21

2. Budgeting

--Splitting the Wedding Tab

--Wedding-Budget Worksheet

3. Guests

I plan to draft my guest lists in this section, and eventually, to create a spreadsheet keeping track of invitations and replies.

4. Attire

--The Bride's Trousseau Wedplan pg. 6

--Beauty Worksheet-Hair Russell and Hazel pg. 6

--Beauty Worksheet-Makeup pg. 7

--The Attendants  Wedplan pg. 7 

--The Groomsmen/Ushers pg. 8

5. Ceremony

--What to Ask Your Wedding Officiant

--The Wedding Day Wedplan pg. 24

--Ceremony Worksheet Russell and Hazel pg. 17

--Your Personal Wedding Vows Wedplan pg. 25

6. Reception

--Planning Made Easy: Venue

--The Reception and Catering Tips Wedplan pg. 26

--Menu Worksheet Russell and Hazel pg. 30

--Wedding Cake Worksheet Russell and Hazel pg. 53

--Sample Menus from Caterers in My Area

7. Rehearsal

--The Rehearsal Details and Guest List Wedplan pg. 16

--Rehearsal Dinner Planning Checklist

--Menu Worksheet Russell and Hazel pg. 30

8. Vendors

--Pre-Wedding Details Wedplan pg. 9 

--Photography (Ceremony and Reception) Wedplan pg. 19-21

--The Decor Wedplan pg. 22-23

--Music Wedplan pg. 18

--Music Worksheet Russell and Hazel pg. 32

9. Registry

--Gift Registry Wedplan pg. 11-13

--Showers Wedplan pg. 14-15

10. Miscellaneous

--Invitation Announcement Worksheet Wedplan pg. 10

I will be adding to my binder as the wedding planning moves forward, but I think that this is a good place to start. Let me know how making your binder turns out!

**All photos personal

Engagement Ring on a Budget

When Mr. Blue Moon and I were searching for the perfect engagement ring for me, I had two rules: I wanted it to be unique, and I wanted it to be affordable. During the time that we were engagement ring shopping, I was working two part-time jobs, and Mr. Blue Moon was working intermittently during his summers off. We did not have a lot of money to throw around (and on my teacher's salary, we still don't) so I knew it was going to be very difficult to find something we could both agree on.

I looked at a couple of different websites to find ideas. I know I frequented overstock.com to see if we could find a good deal there.

I loved this beautiful ring with vintage detail. It's so luscious! But at $1,035, it was out of our tiny budget.

Via Overstock.com

After quickly realizing that many of the diamond styles were either out of our budget, or much smaller/lower quality than what I was envisioning, we began to consider other stones. For awhile, I went on a black diamond kick. Sadly, Mr. Blue Moon hates the idea of black diamonds, and looking back, they are probably too modern looking to match my personal style, anyway. But aren't they drool-worthy?

I tend to gravitate towards rings with interesting detail on the band. This beauty is only $383.34. 

Via Overstock.com

I also considered white topaz for the center stone. Blue topaz is my December birthstone, so it made sense in my head. For this, I turned to Amazon. Yes, I'm lazy and like to browse for even the most important things online.

Although it's very affordable, it was hard to find white topaz to suite my style. All of the settings seemed either too chunky, or too plain for me. But it would still be so beautiful for a blingy bride on a budget!

$129.99 via Star K Amazon.com

Despite all my pestering and constant attempts to show Mr. Blue Moon new rings on my phone that I had saved, he was very adamant about saving up for a diamond. Mr. Blue Moon, as you will learn, is very traditional and I am more relaxed and free-spirited. But I knew how important it was for him to get me a ring that we will both cherish forever, so I turned to cheap options to figure out if we could afford a diamond I would love. Yes. We looked at engagement rings at Walmart. Good for all the Ramen noodles and beer we could consume, our college selves figured why not for an engagement ring, too?

Let me tell you that we did find a set that I really loved. I thought for a long time that this would be the one. I don't know what drew me to it. I have never found another bypass style that I liked. Something about this Walmart ring just called my name. 

Go figure. I don't know why I was so obsessed with this set. It's beautiful for sure, but again, not exactly aligned with my normal tastes. $249 via Walmart

Mr. Blue Moon HATED this bridal set. I secretly think that he just could not get down with buying me a ring from Walmart. More power to him. 

Around this time, one of my friends got engaged with a morganite ring. That led me to Etsy, where I drooled over beautiful morganites for a good three weeks. 

How pretty is this? The rose gold, the delicate band. I love everything about it.

$439 via Lovebird Jewelers at Etsy.com

True to form, Mr. Blue Moon loathed the idea of an engagement stone that was anything other than clear. Luckily, somewhere in my many Etsy searches, I discovered white sapphires. These seemed like a good fit. They are more durable than morganite and topaz, but less expensive than a diamond. It is also quite affordable to find a naturally-mined sapphire, which seemed important to him. For whatever man-reason (read: anything that Mr. Blue Moon can justify that I don't and will never understand), a stone out of the cold, hard earth was important to him. He did not want something created in a lab. 

Cue these gorgeous white sapphire engagement rings: 

Sapphire engagement ring in your choice of metal, starting at $279.

via WanLoveDesigns at Etsy

I love the bezel set and the leaf motifs, but Don hated this beyond belief. Traditional, remember?

$785 via Kryzia Kreations at Etsy

All of these gorgeous rings were really making my head spin. I'm lucky that I have a fiance who knows me better than I know myself. Mr. Blue Moon found this beauty during a late night online ring search. 

$455 via Stone Fever on Etsy

I knew right off the bat that this was the one. It's simple design and low setting is easy-going and unpretentious, just like me, but the gorgeous detail work on the band is really something special. And just like how Mr. Blue Moon wanted, the white sapphire is mined ethically in Sri Lanka. The artisan, California-based Stone Fever Jewelry, makes all of these rings by hand, so none of the bands are exactly the same. I am so proud to have a one-of-a-kind ring! 

All photos via Stone Fever on Etsy.com

Although I read a lot online about the durability and sparkle of white sapphires, my ring has held up for the last two years beautifully. I have not had to have it replated yet with the white gold, but it probably needs it soon. The stone is free from chips and scratches after heavy wear and lots of travel with my clumsy self. I am always bumping it into things! 

Blurry picture, but I need to show off my favorite neutral nail polish color. // Personal Photo

I'm so happy with our choice to go with a beautiful white sapphire. And even though I know other women have bigger, blingier, diamond rings, I am really glad that my ring serves as a perfect reminder of the time in our life when we got engaged. We were broke, but in love, and no matter how much we own, our greatest treasure will always be each other. 

How did you and your fiance choose your engagement ring?

Once in a Blue Moon: More of Our Love Story

This might be a long one, but I could seriously talk for weeks about my fiance.

Mr. Blue Moon and I met in high school. I know, right? I was never really the romantic type. I had a very Type A personality, though I would not describe myself that way now, and I was all about making good grades, obtaining leadership positions in my extracurricular activities, and basically building my resume for college. But as we established, my high school debate team was bae for a good portion of my life. And this is how we met.

All suited up for a debate tournament. Look at those posh suits and baby faces! // Personal Photo

Mr. Blue Moon is actually a year younger than me, so I was already the captain of the team by the time he joined. At his first tournament, he wore white tennis shoes with khaki pants. That's when I realized there was no hope for him and decided to take him under my wing. I mean, seriously...white tennis shoes with khakis, ya'll.

We remained good friends for the first several months. I actually tried to set Mr. Blue Moon up with one of my best girlfriends, but being their go-between made me realize how great of a guy he was. We went on our first date, really hit it off with maybe two or three hours of conversation, and the rest is history!

At one of our high school's football games. // Personal Photo

My senior prom. I was already practicing my budgeting skills- that dress was $10.00! // Personal Photo

When the time came for me to apply to college, I went a little bit crazy and applied to over thirty schools. My parents have some college education, but never finished, so I was really anxious about the decision. I vaguely thought that I might want to stay near Mr. Blue Moon, but being a little bit of a commitment-phobe at the time, it wasn't my top priority. I ended up getting an admissions offer and some great scholarships (including one for debate!) from Mercer University, a mid-sized university in Macon, Georgia. After I visited Mercer, I knew it was the one. 

Mr. Blue Moon and I weren't totally sure that we would end up staying together, but we agreed to give the long distance a shot. Mercer is about six hours away from my hometown, so I drove home about once a month to see him while he finished up his senior year at our high school. We usually fell asleep on the phone or on Skype every night, but the long distance was hard. An added stressor was Mr. Blue Moon's college application process, which could have taken him even farther away. 

Though Mr. Blue Moon was really hoping for Emory University, in Atlanta and 1.5 hours away from Mercer, it just wasn't in the stars (it was a real bummer at the time, but now we know it was probably for the best). But he did get accepted to a small school nearby to Emory- Oglethorpe University. He made the visit with his mom, and ended up falling in love with the campus. Before long, Mr. Blue Moon was graduated from high school and moving into his college dorm.

Less baby fat on the faces... // Personal Photo

Once Mr. Blue Moon was at Oglethorpe, we started doing exactly what our parents hoped we wouldn't do. That is, we were burning up the highway between Macon and Atlanta, running our cars into the ground, and spending every weekend together. Mr. Blue Moon started a debate team at Oglethorpe, and yes, we did debate against each other in tournaments (I have a perfect record against him, fyi). We also planned a ton of weekend trips and had a grand old time exploring our new state. While I was majoring in English and planning to be a teacher, Mr. Blue Moon was majoring in Biology and considering some kind of law school study. Life was good! 

Personal Photos

In our summers, we came back home to our parents' and worked lots of interesting jobs. One summer, we worked in the same fast food restaurant because we couldn't find anything else. You don't understand the meaning of love until you're sweating next to your soulmate at a cash register counter wearing non-slip granny shoes getting yelled at by customers. Another summer, we ran a debate camp for high schoolers together at a neighboring university, which was definitely good practice for when we have children of our own! In the meantime, we were talking about getting married and trying to come up with a timeline. We had been dating for almost four years at this point and didn't really want to wait to get engaged any longer. 

Personal Photos

On April 14, 2014, Mr. Blue Moon proposed on the beach during a weekend trip. He wrote "Marry Me" in the sand. I thought he was kidding and kept asking if he was sure. It took him about fifteen minutes to convince me that he was serious. 

While we were planning our future and starting to get concrete wedding plans in motion, there was one more big move in the works. Knowing that I wanted to be a teacher, and feeling that it is my life's purpose to work in underserved communities, I applied to Teach For America, which places teachers in some of the most underserved schools in the nation. I was accepted, and the decision was...Mississippi. TFA places candidates into regions based on need and qualification. 

It wasn't a question really, for me or for Mr. Blue Moon. I accepted the offer and prepared to move to Mississippi at the end of May. 

Now I'm here. I'm renting a cute little 100-year-old house, and it will become our first married home after the wedding. Mr. Blue Moon usually comes every weekend to spend it with me, and we go home occasionally to wedding-plan with our mothers. Mr. Blue Moon is currently applying for programs near our town to get his Masters of Public Health. He is incredibly brilliant, and I am so proud of him for pursuing his passions, too.

Although the long-distance still sucks, I know it's all worth it and I'm thankful to have someone who has supported me in every single thing I've ever wanted to do. I can't wait to build my life with my perfect partner!

How did you meet your future husband? Has it been difficult for both of you to pursue your separate goals, or easy?

Nice to Meet You!

Hello friends, old and new! I am so excited to share this blog with you. Although I know that millions of weddings are planned around the world every year, I am creating this space to follow my wedding journey, and I hope that some readers might enjoy it, too!

When I was younger, I really wasn't the type to constantly dream about my wedding. In fact, I thought for the longest time that I would never want to get married. Now that the day is quickly approaching, I can't believe how excited I am to plan and share all the special moments with my close family and friends.

Me as a flower-girl, circa 1990-something.

Before we dive in to my love story and my wedding planning adventure, I wanted to talk a little bit about who I am, which should be an interesting process, because lately I have been feeling like I don't really know.

I'm 22 years old. I was born and raised around Nashville, Tennessee. I have wonderful, loving parents, two younger brothers (20 and 15), and an extraordinary fiancé. His name is Don, but I am dedicating a whole post to him later. :) Together, we have two cats: Juno and Jensen. I graduated from Mercer University last May with a BA in English, and promptly moved to rural Mississippi on a flight of fancy to teach 7th grade reading through Teach For America. I've been a vegetarian for three years, and I love to read, spend time outdoors, and shop.

My parents and I on graduation day. I'm the first college graduate in my family!

That's pretty much all I know for certain about me right now. For eight years in high school and college, I was a debater. Last year, my partner and I were one of the top-ranked teams in the nation. Debate had been my identity for a long time. It was what I knew and loved, and I was good at it. About three years ago, this passion translated into a coaching job at a local high school, and that is when I decided I might want to be a teacher.

My grandmother was a teacher, and I loved working with teenagers through debate, so I started taking education classes and preparing to be certified. I was so excited to have a classroom of my very own and student to challenge, lead, and love. I applied to be part of Teach Of America, an organization that places recent college graduates into failing schools all around the country, and was ushered through the applications process. I was a shoo-in. When I finally got here to Mississippi, and into my own 7th grade classroom, it was much harder than I ever imagined and has shaken me and broken me to my core.

Just an average day of selfies in the classroom. 

Thankfully, I have the support of my amazing fiancé and my family. The wedding planning is a welcome distraction, and in the spring, we'll be setting up our home and our life together!

I'm so excited to share this journey with you. Thanks for stopping by!

Love,

Linds