My friend Lauren wrote a fun post on Elle & Company about what she can’t design without, and I just loved it! With a full wedding season as DSE under my belt, I thought I’d put together my own list of silly things, serious things and things I just have to have while Wedding Planning!
1. My Simplified Planner. This organizes my entire life & I am so grateful!! I can keep my personal life, planning life & everything in between organized with washi tape and color-coded schedules. It a big ol’ mess but I love it:)
2. My Workflow Charts. I blogged these a few months ago & plan to re-blog them again soon since a few things have changed. I love being able to keep track of my bridal workflow, and having them broken down by package is very helpful! It keeps balancing 20 brides SO easier to handle!!:)
3. Gmail App on iPhone. Taylor introduced me to this app a few months ago & I’m obsessed!! To me, it’s more organized than the Apple Mail app… it’s easy to use on the go & I appreciate the efficiency!
4. Diet Dr. Pepper + Hazelnut Iced Coffee. Pretty much just lots & lots of caffeine:)
5. My MacBook Air. I use my Mac Air for everything! I don’t have a desktop computer & don’t know if I ever will. My Air is so light & portable & absolutely wonderful for all the traveling I do!
6. Friends on DVD. I like background noise. Matt and I could never study together in HS or College because he needs dead silence & silence kills me. I need filler noise in order to be more productive; and that’s where owning every season of Friends should be a business expense for me!:) I will have an episode on in the background while I work through floral orders, design packages & emails.
7. Adobe Illustrator. I use Illustrator to create design boards for clients, and I’m slowly but surely becoming more savy with it!! I have the entire suite (InDesign, Photoshop + Illustrator) but Illustrator is really the only one I use regularly & feel the most comfortable with.
8. My Notebook. I carry a notebook around in my purse at all times. It’s full of random lists, notes about brides & information on styled shoots; it helps me stay on track when I feel like my brain is on overload! (This one is a recent favorite!)
9. An Organized Inbox. When my inbox is chaotic, my entire life feels hectic. Email is my main method of communication with brides & vendors, so I need to have a very clear organizational system so that I can find information efficiently. I also need to know where I’ve stored information to be more effective in my communication & with my time!
10. Grace. I am not perfect. I have missed deadlines & been unproductive. Giving myself grace, asking my sweet brides for grace, and remembering the bigger picture get me through it every time.
xo! kat
Kat – I LOVE this! It’s so fun to look at other people’s lists to see what they need for their working days!
Love your list! I cannot be productive in dead silence either! I think you should do a post on how you organize your inbox!
Love this! Especially #10.
6 & 10 for sure!!! It’s so funny because Will and I are total opposites on background noise as well! So glad someone has this weird need also!! 🙂
Love your list! I would love to hear about how you’ve update your workflows! That’s something I struggle with – organization wise. And it you ever need help with InDesign or Photoshop, I’m your girl! 🙂
Great list! I recently began using a project timeline app where I schedule in key milestones for each client (based on their package). It also sends automated messages to my email each time something’s coming due. I LOVE it!
I love to read about what other people use to get organized 🙂 Great list!
I LOVE this list! I also just became obsessed with your workflow checklist. This would help me out immensely with tracking my wedding clients, as well! And I completely agree — #4 & #10 are on the top of my list too! =)