Planning your wedding is a joyful experience, but it can be an intense one, too.

Figuring out how to carve out time for planning, work responsibilities, family responsibilities, friends—and enjoying time with your partner—can be challenging to say the least. That’s not even factoring in time to take care of yourself.

While we can’t magically erase all of the stress that comes with keeping all of your balls in the air, we can offer some tips for using your planning time effectively.

Plan Your Planning Process

Even if you’re not a to-do list kind of person, a checklist can truly be your friend when you’re adding wedding planning to an already busy season of life. Create a list with major tasks (like hiring a photographer) and related subtasks (like researching photographers online and checking references). Give yourself a deadline for each major task.

Next, map out times to achieve the goals you’ve just set for yourself, along with your other responsibilities.

If you work full time, for example, try creating weekly schedules that allot specific amounts of time for completing work projects, like the report that’s due next week, along with wedding tasks like food tastings and selecting invitations when you’re not on the job. Don’t forget to give yourself some extra time, or buffers, to make up for unexpected events that don’t care about your carefully scheduled week, from a client meeting that runs long to car issues that demand immediate attention.

Another point to keep in mind: Finding large blocks of time for the centerpieces you want to make or selecting the perfect venue might not be realistic. Instead, schedule smaller chunks of time, maybe 15 or 30 minutes, and continue working toward your goal gradually.

As far as prioritizing goes, try to get the toughest, most complicated tasks done sooner rather than later. What those things are will depend a little on you and your personality. Some couples may dread creating a budget while others worry about writing personalized vows. Getting the most challenging tasks done early will reduce the temptation to procrastinate and smooth the remainder of your planning.

Organization Can Be a Stress Buster

You may be a Type A person who believes everything has its place (“Doesn’t everyone color code?”)—or a bit more relaxed (“The piles on my desk are the perfect filing system.”)

It’s not realistic, or desirable, to change who you are so you can plan your wedding. But even if you fall into the more relaxed category, we encourage you to embrace a few basic organizational principles for now. It will save you time and stress in the long run.

For one thing, try keeping all of your wedding information in one or two designated places. You might have a binder for printed materials and documents and a folder on your laptop or a Pinterest board for digital information.

If someone is helping with your efforts, possibly a professional planner, you can set up a Dropbox or Google Drive folder for sharing checklists, contracts, and other documents.

And while we’re talking about help from others, designating tasks is an excellent organizational strategy and a sanity saver. Giving small projects, like stuffing invitation envelopes, to friends and family will free you up to accomplish your own to-dos.

Another organizational strategy: Give yourself as much time as possible. Granted, life happens, and sometimes you just don’t get the amount of time you’d like to plan your wedding. But as much as possible, start tasks early.

A few more tips:

-Avoid wedding burnout by planning “wedding-free days” for you and your partner. If your wedding becomes all-consuming, it only will wear on your well-being, and over time, make you less effective.

-Capitalize on your vendors’ and venue’s expertise. Instead of spending hours looking for good videographers, for example, ask the photographer you’ve lined up for recommendations. Your venue likely will be able to recommend businesses—and provide additional wedding planning tips and resources, too.

-Use your lunch hour. This can be an ideal time to conduct online research, call vendors, or work on your wedding website. Bridalguide.com suggests preparing for lunch-hour tasks so you can make the most of your limited time window. If you’ll be interviewing vendors, for example, write out a list of questions in advance.

-Harness technology. You may want to enlist the help of an app or wedding planning software. Ask friends and colleagues what they used, if anything, and how it worked out. Apps are available to help you create lists of to-dos and check items off, keep up with deadlines (from selecting a menu to finalizing your invitations), and stay on top of payments and deposits.

-Don’t neglect yourself. Self-care is critical. It seems counter-intuitive to make time for yoga or extra sleep when you’re super busy, but that’s when you need it most. When you get back to your to-dos, you’ll be more energized and focused.

The Bell Tower on 34th is a stylish wedding venue serving the greater Houston area. Our Instagrammable venue, featuring a beautiful garden setting, is near Cypress, Texas.

Contact us to learn more about our event packages.