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Planning a Wedding Before There Was Pinterest

Welcome to Part 1 of my D.I.Y. Wedding series!
If you missed my anniversary post and intro to this series, click here.

I remember when there was an art to making a mix tape, carefully timing the recordings around the babbling voice of the radio D.J.

Somebody that you used to know.
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I remember when you couldn’t be on the Internet and the house phone at the same time…and the Internet made robot noises.

I remember that sound well.
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I remember when you had to memorize phone numbers in order to make a call on a grimy pay phone for a quarter.

Remember when we used to have to memorize phone numbers?  Yeah, that was a long time ago.
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I remember when research projects involved things called books, encyclopedias, and micro fische.

prehistoric googling
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I also remember planning a wedding before there was Pinterest.  (Gasp.)  It’s shocking, I know.  But we did it.  On a budget, with d.i.y. elements and all!  And I lived to tell the tale….

Planning a Wedding Before There Was Pinterest via The Thinking Closet
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Surely if Pinterest had come out in March 2009 instead of March 2010, I would have jumped at the opportunity to use it!  Pinterest is a fantastic resource, and I’ll sing its praises ’till the cows come home.  But we managed alright without it…which says a lot considering our timeline!

The Context

Planning a Wedding Before There Was Pinterest by The Thinking Closet

Mark and I got engaged on February 14th, 2009 in the snowy woods of Ohio and set our wedding date 5 months later, for July 18th, 2009 on the Jersey shore where my family has vacationed for many-a-summer.  5 months is plenty of time for planning a wedding, right?  No problemo!

Well, to give some context, I was in what was probably the busiest season of my life: student teaching freshman English on the lower-east side of Manhattan, finishing grad school, nurturing a long-distance relationship, trying to find a teaching job out of state, and preparing to move from New York to Ohio.  Meanwhile, Mark was 600 miles away in his second year of residency working intense rotations at insane hours.  So, add wedding planning into the mix, and it was nothing short of a whirlwind for us both.

And when my life resembles a whirlwind, I do what my type A personality does best: I make lists and spreadsheets.  It gives me some semblance of order amidst the chaos.  It’s how I get by.

So, here’s how we planned our d.i.y. wedding in 5 months time…all before there was Pinterest:

My Own Version of Pinterest

Basically, I invented my own Pinterest.  Before there was Pinterest.  Well…sort of.

I had a 17 page Word document with categories containing various links to blog posts or websites that inspired me.  The categories covered everything from hair to attire to favors to centerpieces.  It was, as my creatively titled document reads, my “Free Open Space for Idea Collecting and Brainstorming.”  The only thing missing from my “Pinterest” were the thumbnail photos!  So, pretty much the same thing, right?  {Wink.}

Planning a Wedding Before There Was Pinterest by The Thinking Closet

Timeline

Most of the really detailed planning took place in the 3 months before the wedding, so I created a timeline and to do list 7 pages long to help me stay on track and make sure I didn’t forget to print the programs or get our marriage license in time.

Planning a Wedding Before There Was Pinterest by The Thinking Closet

Excel Spreadsheets Galore

I’m not ashamed to say that I’m an Excel spreadsheet gal.  Always have been and probably always will be!  I used various spreadsheets to keep track of our wedding budget, wedding gifts, and travel info for guests.  This was key to making sure we stayed on track with finances, thanked the right people for the right gift, and that our wedding party and family had beds to sleep on at our “semi” destination wedding.

Having these documents in electronic form was key for when I needed to send a document to Mark in Ohio or access it when I was in the city at N.Y.U.

Planning a Wedding Before There Was Pinterest by The Thinking Closet

Magazines & Books

While I did find a lot of inspiration online, I also took to the pages of bridal magazines to see what my eye was drawn to.  (Ironically, I ended up with a wedding dress that was the opposite of what I had been dog-earing, but that’s a different post.)  I remember Real Simple’s wedding issue being particularly ridden with inspirational images.  But are we surprised?

Real Simple
realsimple.com

I also read some helpful books that shared tips and tricks from other budget-savvy brides.  One I remember being particularly useful was Cheap Ways to Tie the Knot: How to Plan a Church Wedding for Less Than $5000.  Our wedding was neither a church wedding nor less than $5000 (unfortunately), buuuuuuut, I still picked up a lot of great tips for how to nab bargains and plan a wedding in a time-crunch.  My copy of the book is saturated with highlighting and margin notes.  So, yes, I recommend it!

Cheap Ways to Tie the Knot
Cheap Ways to Tie the Knot – Kindle Edition on Amazon (affiliate link)

Wedding Website

Another useful tool in wedding planning was our wedding website, which I created through Wedding Tracker, a site that no longer exists, but it was a lot like The Knot in that you could customize your site with your story, wedding details, accommodations info, a virtual guest book…and it even could record guests’ R.S.V.Ps.

I paid a small fee to get our own domain name, which was (take a deep breath): http://www.markandlaurenaregettinghitched.com.  The site is no longer accessible, but to give you a sense of what it was like, imagine a beach sunset background…then a picture of us after my first surf lesson with Mark.  When you clicked on the site, it automatically started playing Dashboard Confessional’s song, “Stolen.”  That was our song that summer.  In fact, let me recreate it in part for you right here, right now.  (Click the play button in the widget below.)

Since I had to include at least 8 songs when creating a playlist, you’ll also hear a few more of our favorite songs from that summer.  (How strange that many of these are now “oldies but goodies.”)

If I were planning a wedding now…

…of course I would use Pinterest!  I’d create secret boards when pinning things I wanted to keep private and group boards to pin with my bridesmaids.  I’d also utilize Evernote when clipping “notes” instead of images.

But in many ways, I wonder if it was a blessing that I didn’t have access to Pinterest back then.  It forced us to turn to resources outside of the computer screen for inspiration, and I didn’t spend countless hours pinning away.  Because, as we all know:

Be there in a minute.
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Your Turn:

Dear reader, what are your favorite wedding or party planning tools and resources?  How do you stay organized amidst the chaos of life?

 Click here to read the next post in this series, Message in a Bottle: Will You Be My Bridesmaid?

Linking up here.

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42 Comments

  1. I’m laughing my booty off over here. It’s like we are the same person. As I read I’m thinking, “Yep, did that, did that, doing that.” It’s nice to think that there’s someone else out there just as crazy as me. Thanks!

  2. I’m crestfallen to find out that your wedding website doesn’t exist anymore. That’s so sad to me…but I guess this wedding series trumps that site anyway. And you did recreate it a bit with the 8tracks widget! I loved getting a glimpse of your Excel skillz…man, I’ve got so much to learn from you in the planning department! Man, good thing I can call up a sister whenever I’m in a song organization mess for my zumba class (thanks for your help with that by the way…soooo helpful!!)! And is that a pretty pink border and picture up there on one of your spreadsheets?? You WERE making your own pinterest before there was pinterest! 🙂

    1. “Crestfallen” is now the word of the day. And I too was majorly bummed out that I hadn’t paid the $10 or whatever it was to keep that website up and running over the years. But oh well, onwards and upwards, right? And it was fun thinking through some spreadsheet ideas for your Zumba songs. Let me know what system ends up working best for you (I’m curious). And yes, you can call me anytime!

      1. I’ve got to get on planning my routines for October; I don’t want to get behind. I think that was a key component, planning out the month ahead of time. It’s gotten a little more complex now that I’ve started teaching a 2nd class at another gym…more routines to keep track of. But I think I can adjust. Will keep ya posted!

  3. …the really best thing in this post are the first few pictures 😉
    Oh, and if I ever go to jail I can still call my parents. But no one else, I fear!

    And one’s missing: I still now the link between pencils and cassettes!! 🙂

    I’m excited to see, how your wedding looked – I imagine it gorgeous!

    1. Ha ha. I actually made sure to memorize Mark’s phone number when we got new numbers recently…because I kept thinking, “What will I do if I lose my phone?” We’re so helpless nowadays. And you’re right about the link between pencils and cassettes! I definitely had to re-wind my fair share of cassette tapes as a wee lass. It was almost like a rite of passage into adolescence. And I can’t wait to share all the pics of the big day! (Thanks for actually caring, Midsommarflicka, and getting excited along with me.) It’s really hard for me not jump right to the end with the big day…but I’ve gotta pace myself, right? 😉

  4. Believe it or not, people still (choose to) do this! I just planned my roommate’s wedding reception without the aid of Pinterest. I’m guessing here, since I’m not yet a Pinterest user (and won’t be one until I finish my master’s degree), but not being confronted with a bajillion possibilities was probably more good than bad for my situation. Could things have been even more beautiful/clever/DIY-tastic with the aid of Pinterest? Almost certainly. But the bride and groom loved their reception, and I kept my sanity. Success!

    1. Becky you are so wise to choose to hold off from Pinterest until after your Master’s is completed. I’ve definitely lost weeks of my life to Pinterest. And girl, you’ve got creativity for days, so I have no doubt that the reception you planned was absolutely lovely…and probably, in many ways, very original and creative! Did you hear that Pinterest? We don’t need you…. (That felt strangely empowering to type.)

  5. First let me say, oh how I’ve missed your blog! I’ve been so busy lately with behind the scenes blog stuff and LIFE that my Blog Lovin’ reader is overflowing! I was just talking to Mike the other day about how we planned a wedding pre-pinterest. It really is like another era in party planning, right? I’m actually planning to do a little walk down memory lane of our wedding in September, when we will be celebrating 5 years. Whoo-hoo! I am a list loving Excel girl myself, so your screen shots had me giddy!

    1. You’re so sweet, Kelly! I’ve missed you, too! I totally understand about the crazy thing…this is sad to say, but I’ve had to give up completely on bloglovin’ these past few weeks. There’s just not enough time in the day to keep it up. But know that I ALWAYS love to hear from you and just came back from a visit to your blog to discover you’re getting ready for that big migration to self-hosted. Woot woot! So very excited for you and all that lies ahead…especially your wedding series this fall. I’ll be following along for sure!

  6. Such a lovely Story Lauren! My wedding in that aspect was kind of weird because I almost didn’t plan anything {say what? LOL} The thing is that Joni and I wanted to get married and we had so many plans for us together but we didn’t have any budget for a wedding so we were willing to go {I don’t know how you call it in English} to the place where there is people with the power to get you married LOL and just do it. But… My Hubby’s family didn’t let us do that so they all put our wedding together and my family gave us money as a gift for our plans. I don’t have words to explain how much I love my Hubby’s family. Each one of them brought something, an aunt brought the cake, another, the music and so on. My hubby and I made the invitations. My mother in law made some candles and her sister decorated them. Many of them put together money and paid for the tables and decoration of them. dome family bought his outfit and my wedding dress was a lovely dress I found at JC Penney for $36. It was weir but fun and so full of love. There is this Champagne that I love {I don’t drink much}, it’s called Asti Ricadonna {kind of expensive}, well my mother in law bought a couple of bottles and told the waiter to keep my glass always full and to not give it to anybody else LOL. Even though I didn’t actually plan my wedding it was fun putting everything together and all of them always took in consideration our taste and our opinion so I felt so happy during those 5 months =D.

    You always make revive wonderful moments of my life as a couple maybe because we only have one month apart wedding anniversaries LOL. Thanks so much for sharing this with me at Bewitch Me & Titi! Hope to have you back tomorrow with more awesome shares! Hope you are having a great weekend!!!…. psssst a hint……. shhh don’t tell anybody……. {whispering} you are gonna be featured!!! LOL

    Hugs
    Cami @ TitiCrafty by Camila

    1. Okay, so I got waves of chills reading this comment again. Camila, what a beautiful story! And THIS is what a wedding should be. It’s not about the glitz and glam and how much you spent on monogrammed napkins…it’s about two families coming together and celebrating the sacred commitments you and Joni were making to each other.

      And yes, I feel especially bonded to you knowing we shared 5 month engagements and weddings only one month apart. 😉 And thanks again for the feature! You rock, girl!

      P.S. Thanks for giving me the warm fuzzies with this comment. (Well, you do that with every comment.)

  7. Thanks for creating this series! Brings back wonderful memories! The song Stolen sounds different from the one that is in my sub-conscious memory that was on your wedding website!

    1. You know, I wonder if the version of “Stolen” from our website was a bit slower and more mellow…your sub-conscious may indeed be on to something there!

      And thanks for all that you’ve done already to help me tackle this series! Couldn’t do it without you, my wedding planner partner-in-crime. 😉

    2. Guess who is looking at this series for some refreshing of the memory?!!! This could be a FUTURE e-book maybe written with your sister after her wedding (and maybe some chapters by the fellas)…with some printables, etc. Just a thought!

  8. I am so excited for this series, Lauren! Even though I could not be further away from planning a wedding, I just love all the things that go into it! Confession: I also have a secret wedding board! So cliché haha but who cares! And of course, we are alike again in that I also love lists and spreadsheets and anything else that helps you organize – I will definitely get back to you if/when I am in a place where I am planning a wedding. 🙂

    1. Hey cliches are cliches for a reason: they are often good ideas! So, pin to that secret board with reckless abandon, my friend. And of course, I’d love to offer you support and spreadsheet-love if and when the time comes for you to plan a wedding of your own! Yippee!

  9. Wow, such fun getting a glimpse into the inner workings of Lauren’s oh-so organized mind. I’m quite impressed! Like you I got married in a very busy season of grad school/intern rotations, but unlike you I didn’t care about doing the planning, so I left it to my mom and showed up to get hitched! I was just so happy to finally be married after the 8 years of dating through high school and college. Looking at all your planning lists now, 10 years later, I think “oh, my poor mom!”. I know you did a fabulous job and I look forward to the future installments. One benefit of planning in the pre-Pinterest days is it seems there was less pressure for everything to be so “perfect” and “Pinterest worthy”. Thanks for sharing your process!
    And I am also a big Dashboard fan…that’s a sweet song to share with your Mark.

    1. Jessica! Always such a joy to hear from you, my friend. Thanks for your thoughtful comment! Ya know, in many ways, I wish I was less of a control freak so I could let others take the reigns more…especially in busy seasons of life! It really would relieve a lot of stress. And what a blessing that your Mama was your wedding planner! I’m sure it was a lovely day and that your Mom delighted to give you that gift!

      And I think you’re right – – I imagine that it could feel really overwhelming seeing SO much inspiration on Pinterest when planning a wedding now. Especially because with most things we see on Pinterest, it’s for a home decor project or recipe that we can do-over if we mess it up. But a wedding?! It’s ONCE. So, the Pinterest pressure is totally on. Glad we were spared!

      Also, I love seeing all these Dashboard fans come out of the woodwork! Maybe we can all meet up at a D.C. concert!

  10. OH, I’ve been waiting for this! You’ve teased us about your DIY wedding – hope you have a whole series of posts ready for us!
    First, dear, I remember when phone calls cost a DIME, and my mom made me wear one in my shoe every time I went to town, just in case.
    Second, oh, how I miss the card catalog, with REAL cards, where our fingers could do the walking.
    Now, the wedding planner. your system is fabulous! Planning our daughter’s wedding I used a simple spiral notebook. A thick, 3/4-sized one. I made tabs to divide sections labeled things like ‘budget’ ‘invitations’ ‘clothing’ ‘reception’ ‘ceremony’ etc. It had a pockets for receipts and fliers. I decorated up the cover with scrapbook paper in their wedding colors. We stapled magazine pics and swatches and business cards, drew pics and charts and whatever.
    Of course, I do have a wedding board on pinterest, and we have a folder of bookmarked sites on our ‘puter, too.

    1. I’m glad you’re excited about this series, Linda! I have a whole series of posts mapped out in my mind and outlined on paper…they have yet to be transformed into posts, but I’m tackling them one at a time. At this rate, the series will end in October (averaging at about 1 post a week), so there’s plenty yet to come!

      I love the approach you took to planning your daughter’s wedding! That spiral notebook most definitely doubles as a treasure of a scrapbook, full of memories of that special season of life! I love that you went the extra mile in decorating it…such a great idea.

      And that’s it, the next time I have to refer to a computer, I’m using the term, ‘puter…because it’s just so gosh darned cute! 😉 Thanks for the smile, Linda.

  11. Not only did I enjoy your article, I completely relate! “Pinterest-Before-Pinterest” for me was a shoe box full of carefully clipped magazine pictures and articles. With the use of my scanner and computer, that shoebox has been transformed to a flash drive. 🙂 I do love Pinterest, though!

    1. Meg! I love that you’ve ensured your wedding inspiration box has been preserved by saving it all to a flash-drive. Smart woman!

  12. My heart still skips a beat when I see my husband and it has nothing to do with looks. He just makes my heart happy Yes it is wonderful being a JP. I feel like I am at the start of a family. Unfortunately I always cry when I get to the end of the ceremony because I am so happy they found each other. I tell them all to think marriage – marriage – marriage NOT wedding – wedding – wedding. Thanks for your kind comments.

    Patty

    1. Thanks for your reply, Patty! I don’t know what touches my heart more: the fact that you’re still head-over-heels for your hubby or the way you open up your heart in the ceremony’s you officiate. Sigh. Thanks for the warm fuzzies tonight.

  13. Gee we got married in 1971 before most of you were born. I think we did okay because we are still together and I am now a Justice of the Peace.

    1. Yes, I dare say you did alright, Patty! (And it’s not about the wedding, right? It’s about the covenantal commitment between the husband and wife before God, the pastor/justice of the peace, and family/friends.)

      What’s it like being a justice of the peace? I imagine it would feel like a very rewarding job!

  14. Trust me, a wedding in the Pinterest era is NOT cheaper! The pressure to throw a pinterest-worthy wedding sends your DIY store bills sky high! However, like you, I had oodles of spreadsheets and word documents and clips in Evernote. I couldn’t find a Wedding Planner (notebook) that fit my criteria, so I just made my own! That thing was my life; it went where I went for 10 months. With a thumb drive attached for backups of everything. Despite my organization, it was stressful and somewhat chaotic. But so worth every little stressful detail! I literally made my dream wedding come true! My wedding week was the first week of July, come check it out!
    http://thefrilloflife.blogspot.com/2013/07/wedding-week-big-day.html

    1. I could totally see how that could happen, Heather! Which is another reason why it might have been a blessing in disguise that we didn’t have Pinterest when I was wedding planning.

      Love that you made your own wedding planner! Way to go! And yes, I can understand about the stressful and chaotic part. While I still have so many happy memories from that wedding weekend, I would never want to do it again. Thank goodness, wedding planning is a one time deal!

      And thanks for the link to your wedding post! I got lost looking through the beautiful photos of your big day. (Great choice with the magenta shoes! I love the bright boldness of it…and how it tied you in with your bridesmaids.) Congrats!

  15. Oh my goodness, I am in love with Stolen. Have you watched the music video?! Be still my heart.

    I love that you are sharing your wedding with us! I love wedding stuff. Hopeless romantic right here. I’ve told my sister that I get to plan her wedding because I didn’t have Pinterest access back in the day 😉 Overall though I wouldn’t change much about it if I could plan it again. I’m excited to hear all about your dress and decorations, and mostly about all of the romantic little details. So cute!

    1. Ya know, I hadn’t watched the music video before until now! Gave me goosebumps! Will link to it here in case anyone else wants to see it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j82FBbgpUy4

      I’m glad that this series won’t bore you, Robyn! Your love of weddings and romance doesn’t surprise me considering your affinity for one of the greatest love stories ever penned, Pride and Prejudice. Sometime, I’d like to hear more of your wedding story…I can just envision your classic and elegant wedding now…and oh, your hair!

      And I feel the same way about my sister. One day, when she gets hitched, I plan to go Pinterest-crazy, making up for the pinning I missed out on. Ha ha.

  16. Lauren, you are so funny, if only you had stock in Pinterest and helped create it- which I think you would certainly be capable of by the way! This is neat and man, you put lots of work and time into your wedding…Every time your husband does not agree with you on something, say “i spent X amount of hours planning our wedding blah blah blah” It will work! I tell my husband all the time that I carried the twins in my belly etc and he always lets me make the final decision on things, hahah!~

    1. Wow, Kelly! That’s high praise…and though I’m not sure I’m deserving of it, I’ll thank you for boosting my confidence today nonetheless. 😉 Ha ha. And I’m not surprised that playing the “twins” card works for you! Who could argue with that? #ultimatetrumpcard

  17. What a lovely story. I am sure your wedding was magical. I was married in 2001 after being engaged for two years (and together for six). That’s right, I’ve been with my guy since 1995. 🙂 I glanced at a few wedding magazines and a few diy wedding books. Sure, things spoke to me, but in the end, I realized that my husband’s family was huge (and expected alcohol at the reception) and my family was big (just not as large as my husband-to-be’s family; and contained a few ‘problematic’/alcoholic guests). Right away my fiance’ and I were faced with the problem of too many people on our list (even though they were family) and a disagreement about providing alcohol (i.e. a dry reception).
    All along the planning stages, we joked about just eloping and going to Vegas to circumvent all of the headaches. In the end, after 9/11, we decided to keep it simple and go to Vegas and get married, just the two of us. Our belief that our journey was about the marriage and not the wedding made sense with our decision. While I regret my husband’s parents not attending, we did tell our friends and family of our plans, and were lucky to have many in attendance at their own insistence. I am such a blessed girl.
    As to the wedding, it took all of 15 minutes (if that) and was planned simply by choosing one package from the hotel’s website one month before. I did not stress over one single detail. I even wore the first dress I tried on.

    If you know me, you’d know that I obsess over every detail, so my wedding was unconventional for me. I loved every minute of my care-free wedding and enjoyed just being in the moment.

    (There, now that I bored you with my story.) 😀

    1. Wow! That was FAR from boring, Christine…I loved hearing about your beautiful wedding story. It sounds like you two made a wise decision and certainly saved yourselves the headache, time investment, and financial sacrifice of planning a big wedding. And I can imagine that 9/11 would have really put things in perspective for you guys and helped distill things down to what was most important (which is easy to lose sight of sometimes, especially in this “bigger is better” society). I WISH my wedding dress search had been as easy as yours! (I’m a horribly picky shopper…and I’m not proud of that fact.) And I love that some of your family and friends even made the trip to Vegas with you! What a faithful tribe!

      Truth be told, if I could do it again, I’d probably try go even more simple than we did. All those minute decisions that you stress over really don’t matter in the end. Like you said, it’s about the marriage, not the wedding. In fact, I think someone needs to write a book with that title. (Hint hint.)

  18. I was just saying the other day how much my husband and I could’ve saved if I’d had pinterest then (way back in 2008). A couple other things caught my attention too: You used to be in Ohio! We were practically neighbors! (cause, you know, we were in the same state), and Dashboard Confessional… I met Chris Carrabba back in 2006. <3 them.

    1. Yay for Ohio-ans! I really loved our time there even though it was only for three years. We still go back and visit our friends and family in the Columbus area, so maybe I can “bump” into you sometime. Remind me what part of Ohio you’re in again, Emily?

      And you MET Chris Carrabba? Holy awesome-sauce, Batman!

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