Singaporebrides | Essentials
October 2014
10 Time Saving Tips for Productive Wedding Planning
Whether you’re trying to maximise wedding planning time when you have a short engagement, or simply have such a busy lifestyle that you have precious little time to plan your wedding, these 10 productivity tips will help you become more efficient.
When you’re juggling work deadlines, bridal vendor meetings and wedding discussions with your in-laws-to-be, saying you have a lot on your plate would be an understatement. October is National Productivity Month, so before you get frazzled with the stress of your approaching big day, take a deep breath and check out some of our tips on increasing your productivity and making the most of your time. In fact, you can work these tips into your office life as well, to cut down on work related stress and help you enjoy the months leading up to your union.
1. Get your wedding planning off to a good start by first setting your budget and planning your guest list. These two factors will determine most of the decisions you have to make about your wedding, so you should definitely figure them out early to avoid wasting your weekends viewing shortlisted wedding venues that actually aren’t able to accommodate your guests.
2. Manage your time well for the most efficient wedding planning. Do this with free tools like ourwedding planning calendar and checklist, which recommend timelines for wedding gown fittings and finalising your seating plans. Knowing when to do what will help you be more productive with your planning and avoid last minute stress and hassle.
3. This is the time to bring all of your organisational skills to the fore. Record all of your research with a wedding binder, and carefully file away your shortlisted vendor business cards and package quotes so that you don’t have frustrated episodes of digging through paper piles muttering “I know I have it heresomewhere!” If you haven’t already organised all of your information in one place, take the time to do it before proceeding with other wedding preparations; you’ll reap hours of saved time.
4. Stop multitasking! It might sound counter-intuitive, but productivity suffers when your brain spreads itself too thin on many different tasks, wasting your time and energy jumping from thought to thought without making concrete decisions. In “Why Being More Productive Can Work Out For You”, Elizabeth Tan’s advice is to hone your focus on one thing at a time in order to produce quality, well-thought-out work that is a more effective use of your time.
5. Don’t become so anxious about wedding preparations that your performance at the office suffers, which will only lead to more stress as the paperwork piles grow higher. Take a cue from NTUC Labour Chief Lim Swee Say’s 2014 National Day closing message and increase productivity by optimising the use of technology and labour saving devices at work. “Our challenge is to speed up the pace of innovation and change, encourage and support more early adopters so that a new mindset can take shape,” says the Secretary General. As more companies take measures to improve productivity and profitability during this tight labour market, employees should take advantage of any new programs or technology to increase their efficiency and save precious time.
6. If you’re too busy to plan your wedding after work, try using your lunch break to source for wedding favour vendors, or do research on your bridesmaids dresses while on your commute to work.To really maximise your time, be so productive on the job that you leave work in time to focus on wedding planning tasks!
7. Account for the time you spend on tasks to avoid unknowingly spending 5 hours scrolling through invitation designs on the Internet. Accounting for your time translates to better performance and productivity at work as well. Plus, if your boss knows you to be an accountable and productive person who always complete projects on time, he or she will be more inclined to give you that morning off for your gown fitting, being assured that your work won’t suffer. For more tips on increasing productivity at work to benefit yourself, check out Elizabeth Tan’s article.
8. Use Pinterest to store your ideas and inspiration by pinning links to DIY tutorials or to bridal boutiques. With the mobile app, all of your wedding theme colours, dress styles and wedding décor ideas are handy, and it’s easy to show your hairstylist exactly what you hope to achieve on your wedding day with the visual references on your phone. The app is perfect for wedding planning on the go too, making full use of travel time.
9. Working brides and grooms will know that to effectively manage projects, decisions must be made. Save time and energy by making firm decisions instead of visiting 20 cupcake artisans and spending hours on the phone agonising over the perfect fondant monogram with your maid of honour. Smart couples know that while there may be a better choice out there, their time is better served trusting their instincts, making a decision, and moving forward.
10. Many hands make light work. Enlist the help of your friends and family to craft wedding favours or address invitations in a productive assembly line for the fastest results! To have an efficient craft party that doesn’t waste anyone’s precious time with last minute errand runs or forgotten items, make sure you have everything ready and delegate tasks clearly.
This article is part of a series of labour movement initiatives brought to you by NTUC, a national confederation of trade unions in the industrial, service and public sectors representing over 500,000 workers in Singapore. NTUC’s objectives are to help Singapore stay competitive and workers remain employable for life; enhance the social status and well-being of workers; and build a strong, responsible and caring labour movement.
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