As summer hits its halfway point, I’m mentally preparing for the peak of wedding season – two weddings down, five to go, plus the bachelorettes and showers on my calendar.

I’m not complaining – every time I get invited to a wedding, I’m touched that my friends thought to include me on their special day. Still, without being in any of the bridal parties, it’s a lot to keep track of between dates, locations, gifts and outfits. (Honestly, I’m surprised that I’ve only lost one RSVP card so far.)

To stay on top of everything, I’ve relied on a spreadsheet. I’m not exactly known for my organizational skills, so this is a big deal to me. You can even download it here, because no one wants to be that friend who forgets a wedding gift, or worse, the actual wedding.

I keep my spreadsheet organized by date, instead of events related to a couple. For me, the key to actually using a checklist or spreadsheet is not having too many categories. Here are some of the ones I’ve found most helpful:

• Website: because no one has time to figure out if a couple is registered on The Knot, Zola or elsewhere every single time they need to look up wedding info.
• Where: this will help determine if you need to book accommodations, transportation and other details.
• Gift Purchase & Value: If you’re looking for advice on how to determine how much to spend on wedding gifts, I can’t help you with that. Sometimes I do write out a check, but when I buy off a registry, it can happen months in advance. I mark this down, along with the value of a gift. I find this important in case you buy something on sale, you’re buying multiple, smaller gifts or even gifting a service.
• Dress Code: When you have three black-tie optional weddings in a row, you might want to make sure you’re not wearing the same dress back-to-back. Or maybe that’s just me 🙃

Download the wedding season checklist here.

Next up, I have a bridal shower and then two weddings in August! There is some constant spreadsheet updating happening. I hope it was helpful for someone – you can download it here, no email address required! Tell me, are there a lot of weddings and celebrations on your social calendar?

~ Sarah