The Perfect Wedding Planner...the hunt begins

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So instead of being twirled about at a great height on roller coasters for the first time at Alton Towers today I am sat in my kitchen with all my school books studying hard. Or at least I was until it was clearly coffee break time and my mind started wandering. So in the interests of retaining focus I figured a quick 15 minute study respite was in order. So with coffee made and kitkat consumed I felt inspired to write a quick post on a planner decision I need to make....

As you will have read in my previous post this week I recently became engaged to the very lovely Mr P.  To summarise he asked while we were in Paris, after I'd checked for joking/concussion/madness and established he was for some reason serious I accepted and with a massive grin still plastered across my face for the past 2 weeks I started to dream of weddings.

Hurrah all lovely don't you think?

Of course for a stationery and organisational freak like me this means only one thing. NEW PLANNER NEEDED! I mean with so much to think about - venue, service, vows, guests, music, food, drinks, dress, flowers.....of course I need a planner that can both help organise me but also act as an inspiration binder. One that can have copious pages of lists but also cut outs, pictures, samples etc etc

So I had a little scan of Amazon and also researched a couple more and of yes, of course, there is a Filofax in the current shortlist! So HELP PLEASE which planner do you think could be a contender, do you have any suggestions?

First up the Dodo Book of the Big Day

Available from the Dodo Pad website this is similar in style to their other celebration binders with lots of dividers and sections, useful pockets, tips all in a handy A5 size! Plenty of room for samples and lists....and the with lovely graphics and humour that we love about the Dodo Pad brand.

I love my Dodo Pad Christmas binder but is this one special enough to warrant being my wedding planner????

So I continued to look. The second contender is the Smythson Panama Wedding Planner

Available on the Smythson Website this is the ultimate in luxury notebooks. With the Smythson leather cover, the very beautiful Ivory colour and useful tabs for all the key planning topics such as Reception, Flowers etc. However this doesn't have any useful pockets for each section for tear sheets or the like...

Perhaps then I needed something more like the Complete Wedding Planner & Organizer

This planner can be found on Amazon and comes highly recommended by the lovely Crazy Life of J and in fact she has just written the most amazing post all about it here which just goes to show how amazing this binder is, and she shows just how useful and practical it is too!! It's a definite contender as personal recommendations are so important in these things (all Filofax fans know this from Philofaxy and how well the Malden has down purely down to that site and everyone raving about it!!!!)

Of course maybe I am thinking this through too much and with all the Filofax binders I have I could fashion my own planner. Or maybe I could use a pretty wedding notebook like this Our Very Huge Big Day notebook in conjunction with a storage box or ring binder to hold all my tear sheets?

Also available on Amazon here I love this range of stationery I have had several items over the years and the paper quality is good, they hold up well and I do love the brand....

Then I got to thinking about how Mr P and I are quite laid back and I certainly don't want to become a bridezilla to quote that popular cable TV show so this planner appeals quite a lot too:

The Anti-bride Wedding Planner is all about creating the wedding day that you want and making sure you organise it without a hitch. So if you don't want the formal church/sit down meal/flowers and instead are aiming for relaxed, fun and musical this is apparently the planner for you! So this therefore could be the planner for me...it looks fun, has the ethos of wedding planning that I want to adhere to (fun not fanatical) and of course it's PINK! Available again on Amazon here it's another serious contender.

Of course this wouldn't be a blog post without a Filofax mention. And as planning my wedding day to Mr P is likely to take a couple of years (well the saving up for it part at least will I'm sure) and planning is something I love doing so much then maybe I should throw caution (and hard earned money) to the wind and choose this as my wedding planner...

The Osterley Filofax, in A5 size, in Grey

Available on the Filofax website of course this is such a stunning binder that I've been a little bit in love for a while. However had no desire to purchase as I am perfectly in sync with the Amethyst Deco (see here for more on that) but in A5 this could be the perfect planner. Lots of room to have notes, to do's and planning pages. I could personalise the tabs and with the introduction of the clear pockets lots of space for tear sheets and samples.
Of course the Filofax doesn't come with any of the pre-organised tips, notes, guides or planners that the Dodo Pad, Anti Bride and Complete Wedding Planner do - which gives those types of planners lots of appeal.

So my lovely readers what do you think? Which of these lovely planners do you think could plan the perfect wedding without turning me into a bridezilla which would in turn most likely cause Mr P to retract his kind offer?

A dilemma I'm sure you'll agree

Lx