so you want to have a wedding...

A few friends of mine are getting married this summer, and I've been asked what resources I used in planning.

{image by K L Phy Photography, who was fantastic!}

Now, I wouldn't necessarily recommend my way of planning--scatterbrained messes that took over my room at home--and my mom was largely responsible for organization, but I found loads of inspiration, advice, and encouragements all across the internet.

So here, I have a little list for you, with links to my favorite sites.

I think I got on weddingbee every day for a few months, and loved the boards, where I found lots of honest talk from brides-to-be and veterans of wedding planning.  I sought inspiration from Once Wed and used a couple of their DIY tutorials.  Snippet and Ink is still a favorite read, because it's full of inspiration for all that is girly and stylish, regardless of whether you're planning a wedding or not.  When it came to organizing, the planner I got when setting up a registry at JC Penney (which I never used, in the end) was pretty useful.  Overall, though, my planning was mostly contained in a spiral notebook and binder, with dividers and pages pulled from the JC Penney planner.  My mom used what I think was an older version of this planner, but I'm not sure.  Either way, the books that have lots of space to write in as well as lots of pockets are the best.  Martha Stewart Weddings has a lot of good online wedding planning resources, including an account you can set up.  For purchasing, I frequented Goodwill (glasswares), Etsy (accessories, paper tape, etc.), and Hobby Lobby (paper supplies).  My mom also found ribbon in the exact color of the bridesmaids' dresses on E-Bay by searching for the David's Bridal colors by name (we picked Mermaid).

I have my journal of planning and all the fun things along the way on my old blog, so head over and read up if there's more you'd like to know.  Here's a super-sweet post from our photographer, Kathy Phy, as well.

Happy planning, girls!