the path from “yes” to “i do” – part 2
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Welcome back! In part one of the series, I described how you could reduce the stress of planning your wedding by taking a project management-inspired approach. Projects and weddings have many similarities in that they have a final goal, a lot of things to do in order to get to that goal, and of course, a limited amount of time and money. Because of these similarities, it makes sense to take a similar approach to managing projects when it comes to managing your very special project: your wedding day.
In this segment of the series, we will discuss the first aspect of the triple constraint: scope. Simply put, it is the work that needs to be accomplished in order to achieve everything that you planned to do for your wedding.
Scope is something that even experienced Project Managers have difficulty managing because it can slowly increase on you, a phenomenon called “scope creep.” Political pressures from friends and family, last-minute ideas, little extras here and there are all examples of how your scope can creep up on you. Left unchecked, scope creep can get you to a point where something has to give: you blow your budget, you have to let go of something else that you wanted, or you miss some sort of deadline. Clearly, none of those options seem favorable!
So how can you manage scope? Below are some suggestions on how to manage scope creep in your weddings:
Know your scope
Picture your wedding day. Imagine everything that you would like to have — the dress you’ve always wanted, the perfect little invitations, the beautiful flowers that grace your ceremony venue, the gorgeous centerpieces that adorn your tables, the sweet sounds from your musicians, and your wedding photographer recording your day… Everything is perfect. Can you see it?
Write those details down — this is the beginning of defining your scope. Everything you would like to have — they all have to be selected and they all have to be bought or booked.
Once you’ve listed off everything you’d like in your perfect wedding, it’s time to categorize things and build your work breakdown structure (WBS). It sounds fancy, but it’s really only a categorized list of all the work that needs to be done to prepare for your wedding.
To further add value to this WBS, prioritize your list from your ideal wedding into three categories:
- must have
- should have
- would like to have
This is where you need to be honest with yourself and determine what you can realistically do, given your budget, and how much time you have left (remember the other two constraints!) You may have to do some cutting, compromising, or reorganizing on priorities at this point. For example, do you really need to hire a helicopter so that the groom can rappel down to the church? (by the way, if the answer is yes, I would love to be your wedding photographer!!!)
Once you have your prioritized list, categorize them into logical groups. For example, they could be:
- Venues
includes: ceremony venue, photo shoot location(s), and reception venue, giveaways - Guests
includes: guest lists, invitations, seating charts - Media
includes: photographers, videographers, websites, DJs, musicians - Details
includes: flowers, centerpieces, decorations
The list above is to help you get started. Feel free to add or modify your own categories. These categories will form your milestones. Categorizing your list will help you approach each aspect of your wedding purposefully. As an added bonus, you will feel a great sense of accomplishment once you complete a milestone — it’ll feel great to say that “All the venues are booked and ready to go!”
Track your scope
As you go about shopping around and completing items from your scope, you will, no doubt, be faced with a myriad of options, choices, and upgrades from your friends, vendors, and even from yourself! You may be tempted to do go along with some of those extras, and that’s okay — as long as you consider the impacts to other aspects of your wedding. Being honest with yourself before you shop around makes it easier to say no when you already have a bunch of things that you’ve prioritized.
Plan to mitigate your risks
As you think about everything that you’d like to do, make sure you take some time to think about the “what ifs” and ask yourself how that will impact your plans. A risk matrix, shown below, will help you prioritize your risks and build a strong plan against them.
- List the risks off (go ahead, go crazy)
- Organize them in terms of likelihood. Make a box like the one above and plot your risks there (lowest likelihood to the bottom; lowest impact to the left)
- For at least your “biggies” — the top right hand corner (high impact, high likelihood of occurring), have realistic plans about how you would address those risks.
With some scope and risk-management techniques, figuring out how to plan your wedding will be more intuitive, less scary, and even more fun!
In the next segment we’ll look at how to manage the time 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
