In Praise of WeddingChannel.com

I'd like to take a moment to recognize an excellent free website, WeddingChannel. All you have to do is enter your information and your wedding date, and it supplies you with an array of great planning tools, including a Budget Calculator and a Guest List Manager. My favorite is the Planning Checklist, which uses the date you enter to alert you when it is time to do all the tasks that need doing. Right now I have "Choose Attendants" and "Choose Ceremony Location" in the "Past Due" section, which is a helpful reminder to get off my duff. It also lets you save notes on each task, delete tasks you don't intend to do, and mark as "DONE" tasks you have completed. Absolutely excellent paperless tool.

It also has a large archive of articles that are useful, including advice on who to tip, how to word invitations, how to make your own bouquets, etc. The most useful of these so far was a detailed breakdown of the different varieties of pearl -- I can't wait to buy myself a string of Akoyas. There is also a huge selection of stock photos in categories such as flowers, hairstyles, and other design ideas, and any time you find one that appeals to you, you can save it to your "scrapbook," another excellent free paperless tool.

They also sell stuff through reasonably priced vendors that you can save to this scrapbook. So far I have saved some adorable bubbles and attractive disposable cameras, both competitive with prices elsewhere. From time to time, I receive optional emails from them as well with further discounts. I can't wait to use them.