The Knot – The Knot pretty much has everything you could imagine. From timelines, checklists, budget calculators, guest list managers, photo galleries and your own personal website, I found this to be the most comprehensive resource to use during the planning process. The “Ask Carley,” Editor picks and community discussion boards provided inspiration and answers to “real-life” situations that aren’t in any etiquette book I could find.
Wedding Wire – Aside from the typical tools such as checklists, budget calculator, Wedding Wire also had seating chart creator and great variety of reviews of local vendors.
Wedding Mapper – We started to use this tool to create a custom map for our wedding programs and invitations. After a little time, we decided to design the map completely on our own. But, Wedding Mapper would have worked well if we went the other route with easy-to-use maps and cute wedding-themed location markers.
Magazines:
The Knot (Ohio)
Martha Stewart Weddings
Real Simple Weddings
Books (from a very sweet maid of honor!):
The Knot Book of Wedding Lists – While a lot of the content in this book overlapped with the content online, it was handy to have it right in my purse to review before meeting with a vendor. It was nice to have a physical checklist of items that should be in the contract, shopping lists, and questions to ask potential vendors all in one place.
Simple Stunning Wedding Etiquette – Just an interesting read to get started. This book provided a good overview of standard wedding etiquette. As we sifted through the process though, it was easier to talk with bridal communities, our vendors or research online the answer to specific etiquette questions. Good one to check out of the library.
What No One Tells the Bride - The narrator of this “self-help” for brides book is really easy to read and relate to, no matter your age or circumstance. While not every situation applied to my personal life or situation, I enjoyed the insights Stark and the other women she interview shared. Plus, it makes for a nice break from reading wedding to-do lists.
Wedding inspiration:
