Congratulations on your engagement! There’s a lot of planning that goes into a wedding but there’s no need to get overwhelmed – you’re in the right place! I originally developed Paper del Sol for brides that want to plan their wedding easily while keeping costs low. Planning a wedding can become overwhelming, but once you get started I promise you will enjoy planning your wedding (I certainly did)! You will also save TONS of money!

This tutorial is going to show you how you can make your own DIY wedding binder. Now, let’s stop wasting time… you’ve got a wedding to plan!

Making Your DIY Wedding Planning Binder

To make your own wedding binder you will need to gather supplies. To keep costs low you can pick up everything listed below at Dollar Tree. For ease of access, I’ve linked to Amazon products that I’ve used and highly recommend!

What you’ll need:

• 1” binder
• Dividers
• Sticky notes
• Pens
• Highlighters
• Clear Sheet Covers
• Wedding planner (free printable here)
• Calendar

Optional Items:

• Washi tape
• A clear zip pouch for storing notes and business cards.

Once you have everything, it’s time to put it together. For the dividers we created the following categories. You can divide the categories further or add categories of your own!

Binder Categories:

1. Contracts – I like to keep all contracts in one place. If you prefer you can keep contracts within each category (which is listed out below).
2. Budget – all things money related.
3. Guests – guest list, addresses, RSVP’s, bridal party, their contact info, hotel block, invitation ideas and seating chart.
4. Rehearsal dinner – the venue, food, guest list and contract.
5. Ceremony – decoration ideas, venue information, rentals, contracts, officiant, and vows.
6. Reception – decoration ideas, venue information, rentals, food, catering contract, music/band/DJ contract.
7. Beauty – your wedding dress (including where to look for your dress), groom’s suit, bridal party dresses and/or suits including ideas you like and where to shop, hair contract, makeup contract, accessories for the bridal party.
8. Photographer/Videographer – poses you would like, ideas from Pinterest, business cards and the contract.
9. Flowers – inspiring images, flowers and arrangements you like, business cards, vendor information and contract.
10. Ideas – this is an area where you can add anything that you would like to incorporate in your wedding such as Pinterest images, inspiring designs, etc.
11. Honeymoon  – flight and hotel information, activities and registry information.

This may seem like a lot but once you start chipping away at your to do list you’ll be surprised how fun wedding planning can be! As I mentioned, I have a free wedding planner to get you started. Also, if you want some budget inspiration, check out how I planned Southern California wedding under $5,000!

FREE Wedding Timeline To Make Wedding Planning Easy

Certain vendors prefer to be booked in advance. Also bridesmaids dresses require alterations which can take a couple months to process. To keep you on track and to ease your mind the free wedding planner includes a timeline to keep all of your plans organized. The free timeline will ensure that you’re on top of your wedding planning the whole time! Checkout the timeline and enjoy planning your wedding!