Don’t Forget – Using an Online Calendar Management System for Wedding Planning

Even if you are the bride-to-be equivalent of a fully-grown elephant, it is likely you will need some extra help tracking your dates and staying informed of important pre-wedding events. Yes, you can use your Outlook or email provider calendar to track those dates or you can do it the old-fashioned way, with a pen and paper. But are they really reliable?

I don’t think so. Here is the lowdown on why email calendars and traditional pen and paper calendars won’t work for your wedding!

Email Calendar

When you use Outlook or an email provider’s calendar, notices pop up on your screen to remind you of important events. This works well, but only if your computer is turned ON when they send the reminder.

I can’t tell you how many important notices I’ve missed-mostly because, well, yes, I forgot them-because Gmail’s calendar only sends notifications if and when you are logged into Gmail.

Pen and paper

There is nothing wrong with a sturdy notebook and dark ink pen, but when it comes to setting important wedding dates and arranging vendor meetings, you need something that will stand the test of time. And by time, I mean, being changed, added, deleted and canceled over the course of several weeks, months or even a year of wedding planning.

So what can you do? Just fire up the ole' laptop and head to AmericanGreetings.Com

Long famed for romantic greeting cards and evite messages, American Greetings also has a thorough-and reliable-calendar system for tracking important dates and meetings.

Here is how it works.

- Sign up for a free account at AmericanGreetings.Com.

- Ensure that you sign up with the email address you most often use and double-check the spelling for accuracy.

- You will receive an email confirmation from American Greetings. If you don’t receive your
confirmation email, return to their site and re-enter your contact information.

- Once you are on their site, you can enter details for all of the important dates you have already scheduled. Be sure to add all holidays and/or important birthdays, as well so you don’t accidentally schedule a meeting that coincides with an important date.

- Using the “Other” symbol (the final symbol in the “Add Events” dropdown box) add all of your wedding meetings and appointments.

Fun Features:

1. You can share important events with key wedding people without sharing your entire calendar. This is a great way for you to confirm appointments with vendors or remind your family, fiancé or friends about meetings they’ve agreed to attend.

2. The American Greetings Toolbar can be downloaded to your browser, keeping your appointments calendar and other American Greetings website tools, within a click of your finger.

3. Using this online calendar system, you can quickly and easily request attendance from your friends or fiancé for important events. Since you can do everything in one place, you no longer have to write a meeting on your calendar, then call your mom and see if she can go, then email your fiancé to double-check with him. With the “Request Events” section of the site, all vital parties can stay up to date and in the know of all wedding-related events.

Are you currently planning your wedding? What calendar tool did you use to track your dates, meetings and appointments?

Photo courtesy of Deannster