Project Planning My Wedding
One year ago today, I accepted my now-husband’s marriage proposal. If you don’t know me well yet, it’s important I disclose two things. First, I love planning and hosting events. Bringing people together for shared experiences and emotions is my jam. Second, I am PM4L (project management for life). A close friend and former coworker coined me the “High Priestess of Process” because when it comes to clear goals and principled execution, I take that shit personally.
So after a night filled with great food and even better company, I eagerly kicked off research not-so-early the next morning. IYKYK. By mid-afternoon, I had prepared a high-level overview (or charter) with information like goals, costs, and risks for the wedding to provide us with a clear picture of what planning our wedding likely required and start the conversation on possible tradeoffs down the line. Get one who can do both. Am I right???
Developing that quick charter provided an early warning that time and supply were risks to address ASAP. At the time, restrictions on gathering sizes seemed (rightfully) imminent and few venues had availability with the coming wedding season and backlog of rescheduled events. While these risks were initially discouraging, they were also the most actionable insight from the charter because they clarified priorities and next steps. Armed with this information, my husband and I enjoyed our post-proposal canoodling (another key indicator from the charter) while prioritizing wedding-related actions where it mattered most: securing our date and venue.
12 days after my husband proposed, we signed the contract to secure our date and venue. One week after that, I purchased my wedding dress and four months later, we got married and stepped into our new lives together as husband and wife.
Having the wedding project plan didn’t stop life from happening over those four months. However, it did provide an anchor to guide our decisions and help us adapt quickly when changes came along. We always knew our North Star which was an evening of beauty, laughter, and plenty of libations. Not to brag but…we exceeded our targets on all fronts.
Want to learn more about how I used project management to plan our wedding? From curating color palettes and playlists to managing guests and budgets, I have a template for that. Let me know in the comments and I just might cover it in a future series on project planning your wedding.
