the path from “yes” to “i do” – part 3
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Welcome back! In part two of the series, I talked about scope, how to define it, how to categorize it, how to prioritize it, and how to manage it. In this segment, we’ll explore another aspect of the triple constraint: time.
We all know about this constraint, don’t we? There just never seems to be enough time to do everything! Apart from working, walking your dog, picking up your dry cleaning, spending time with loved ones, oh — and, feeding yourself — somehow, you have to fit in planning your wedding! If only days could be longer than 24 hours! Unfortunately, because we don’t live in Venus, which has 5,832 hours in a day, the longest in the solar system (yes, I looked it up!), we’re stuck with 24 hours.
Work backwards
This, of course, is the easiest method. Your wedding day is one of the first things that most couples will nail down. There are exceptions, of course, particularly if you want a specific venue, or have a favorite wedding photographer that isn’t available on your day. Once you have your date set, take your list of tasks (see the article on scope for more information) and arrange them backwards in the order that you need them to be completed all the way to today’s date. This technique, in project-management-speak, is called timeboxing.
As you lay down your tasks into a timeline, be mindful of dependencies! Some tasks need to be done before others. For example, you’ll need to get your ceremony and reception venues booked before you send off your invitations, but those venues don’t necessarily affect when you send off Save the Date cards.
To help you get started, here is a list of guidelines on when things should get finished:
The day before the wedding
- decorate venue
- rehearsal ceremony
- rehearsal dinner
The week before the wedding
- make final payments to your vendors (officiant, photographer, videographer, musicians, florist, etc…)
- purchase and wrap wedding party gifts
- confirm honeymoon plans
- inform caterer of final headcount
Two weeks before the wedding
- pick up rings
- pack for honeymoon
- meet with photographer
One month before the wedding
- seating plans and place cards
- get wedding license
- wedding dress – final fitting
Two months before the wedding
- mail invitations
Three months before the wedding
- address and stamp invitations
Six months before the wedding
- book photographer
- book videographer
- book caterer
- book musicians
- book florist
More than six months before the wedding
- prepare guest list
- book ceremony venue
- book reception venue
- select wedding dress
- short list photographers
- short list videographers
- short-list caterers
- short-list florists
Hopefully, once you’re done, you haven’t passed today’s date! If you have past today’s date, you may not have a lot of time to get everything you would like done for your wedding! Don’t worry yet, we’ll cover how to address this constraint in the next section.
Taking time
You may, at some point, realize that there isn’t enough time to complete everything on your plan. Perhaps due to some unforeseen circumstance, or an underestimated activity, you find yourself behind. Now what? You may have three options:
- Crashing
Crashing, quite simply, means throwing more resources at the task that needs to be done. This may be as simple as giving up more of your free time to work on something, or asking a friend or two (or more!) to help you out. Hey, that’s what your bridal party is there for! You can also hire a professional to do it for you. Of course, because this will alleviate pressure on the time side, this may create pressure on the budget side, so be careful! - Fast tracking
Another option is to have a look at some of those dependencies we talked about earlier and asking yourself, “how dependent are they, really?” You may find that by starting a dependent task before completing a the first task may help you buy some time. An example of this is preparing invitations for your close friends and family before your reception guest list is finalised. You can get your ‘A’ list out of the way while you negotiate the ‘B’ and ‘C’ listers. - Reducing scope
Sometimes, though, even those two techniques aren’t enough to buy enough time. Your last resort in this case, is to cut scope. Take your prioritized list (you did make one, right?) and start trimming off the lower-priority items that would help buy you some time. By reducing scope, you may be able to relieve your time pressure. By having your prioritized list early, the decision to reduce scope will not be as difficult because you have already decided, at a time when you are less emotionally involved (and less stressed!), what may be cut out of the plan in the event that you need to reduce scope.
Armed with some tools to help you manage your time constraint, you’re now better equipped to plan your wedding and, in a pinch, you may be able to buy yourself some time!
In the next segment, we’ll have a look at the budget constraint.
Stay tuned for the next installments of the series, The Path From “Yes” to “I Do” where each element will be described in further detail:
Part five: Putting it all together
