Be Your Own Wedding Planner with TheKnot.com

Just engaged? Planning a wedding? It's pretty overwhelming isn't it. Well, there are ways around the stress. But as I've written before, if it's free, it isn't easy, and if it's easy, it isn't free. Wedding planners are becoming more and more popular as reality tv becomes more popular. However, I would advise against a wedding planner if you have the option. While they can take the burden off of your shoulders in some respects, they can add stress in others. And most of all, they get a commission off of the total price of your wedding, ranging around 10%-15% depending on how much you actually use them for. The average American wedding is nearing $30,000 in total cost (which to me is insanely ridiculous) meaning you'd be forking over between $3,000 and $4,500 for just the planner! Yikes!

So you may be saying, Annie, how am I going to keep everything straight with no wedding planner? How will I know what to do when? How can I be sure I'm covering all of my bases? Well, do what I did. Hire yourself as a wedding planner and charge nothing. Sounds silly, I know. But that's not all. I promise you that you will need guidance in this important and expensive endeavor. That's where TheKnot.com comes in. Everything you need at the tips of your fingers as they tickle the keys of your laptop.

What's TheKnot.com? Only almost everything you would get from a wedding planner but for FREE. Just check it out for yourself. The website boasts various helpful features, some I use, some I don't. But that's the neat thing about the site. It's up to my fiance and me, not anyone else. My absolute most favorite tool is the Guest List Tool. This tool allows you to input any and all names that you want on your guest list, their addresses, contact numbers, which events you want them invited to (i.e. reception, bachelor party, rehearsal dinner, shower, etc.), and many other custom options to make it fit your event. There is a column allowing you to specify each guest as A List or B List, whether or not they've accepted or declined, and even a quick and easy delete feature in case you go over your desired guest list number or maybe if someone has recently left your good side and you want them OUT! You can specify each invitee to be a guest of the bride, groom, bride's family, groom's family, or bride and groom. Then you can easily modify the list to pull up just the guests of the groom or just the guests in the bride's family. The best feature of the guest list is that you can easily import the list along with addresses into excel for an easy to print portable list. And you can use the list in mail merge to print labels for envelopes if you desire to do so.

Also featured on TheKnot.com is a handy budgeting tool. A lot of engaged couples are on tight budgets, but don't know exactly how much of their budget they should be spending where. TheKnot.com allows you to put your own budget amount into the website and it will list about what you should be spending on flowers, or dresses, or entertainment, and so forth. Of course you're free to add a little to one thing and take a little from another. But at least you're provided with a guide that gives you an idea of what you're doing. You can track all of what you owe, payments you've made, and payments to be made. This tool can take a lot of the stress out of planning.

Another tool that I find possibly scarier than helpful is the countdown. When you register, you give them your wedding date. From then on, whenever you are logged in, you can see exactly how many days left until you're officially a bride (or groom). That number usually frightens me though. It just keeps getting smaller!

The site also offers many suggestions, FAQ's, connections with local vendors, and many other features that you'll find very helpful as you begin planning your big day. Get logged on to www.theknot.com and start the fun. Save your 10%-15% for a wedding planner and go on a nice honeymoon! You'll be very glad you did.