Intro to Aisle Planner
Full Service Planning & Design
What to expect in this guide
Below, you’ll find a breakdown of the different components of the Aisle Planner program. Browse and read each section, and keep this guide on-hand to refer back to at any time!
Table of Contents:
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Wedding Checklist
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Calendar
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Timeline
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Design Studio & Style Guide
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Guest List & Seating
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Contacts
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Budget
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Notes
1. Wedding Checklist
Included is a comprehensive list of items that need to be checked off and they can be organized by category or by due date based on how you click to view. There will be some tasks that do not apply – you can delete them (or just check them off). Each of these items can be assigned to someone and also be added to the calendar. I will go through to tailor some of the items and assign them to myself so you know I will be doing those. This is something I will be using as we have our check in and planning meetings to keep us on track. When you have an assigned task, you will automatically receive an email when the deadline approaches.
PLEASE focus on what is listed for your current month and maybe the next month. Moving too far forward can make you feel like there are a million things to do AT ONCE. That is not the case. We have organized it so you won’t feel overwhelmed and so you can check things off at an easy pace.
Whenever you check something off or our team does, we will each receive email notifications so we know what is being done and we can be on the same page.
2. Calendar
This feature is connected to the wedding checklist, you can add items to your calendar, as well as deadlines. The calendar can be synced to your main electronic calendar if you wish. Please enter in your travel dates, shower, bachelorette, etc as well. This part of Aisle Planner is pretty self explanatory but if you don’t want to use it, that’s OK too.
3. Timeline
This will serve as the game plan and detailed timeline for your wedding. We create one master timeline for all vendors and then we create a “back-of-the-house” production schedule for set up and tear down.
The Process
At our kick off meeting, we will start a preliminary timeline draft and we will continue to build from there. We will talk about preferred ceremony time, if you want to do certain things like cake cutting, parent dances or bouquet toss, talk about what you would like to do ideally for first look and getting ready, etc. As we solidify plans, I will continue to fine tune. We will be finalizing 2-3 weeks prior to the big day so don’t fret if it isn’t built up prior to then. Your vendor needs and arrivals/departures sometimes aren’t added to the very end depending on the vendor. It’s a slower process to finish and that’s OK.
Every Last Detail
We use the timeline to coordinate all your details, vendors, hair and makeup, transportation and even set up and tear down details. This will become very comprehensive so that every vendor who looks at it will know exactly what to expect on wedding day. The timeline can be as long as six or seven pages after everything is entered.
6. Contacts
Under the CONTACTS tab is where we will house your contracts and vendor contact information. We will update the list as we book vendors during the process and if you ever receive a contract, make sure it has been sent to us as well. Sometimes vendors forget to CC us on emails when they send documents so just be sure to send us a copy.
The vendor contact list will be in the final packet we send to your venue and important vendors along with your timeline and layout so we will be sure we have all pieces of info entered here.
8. Notes
Here’s what you need to know about the NOTES tab!
VENDOR RECOMMENDATIONS
As we start booking vendors, you will start to see your Vendor Recommendations in their own notes with links to more info on them. This makes it easy to refer back to while you make decisions.
GRATUITY
This is the number one thing I used to be asked about… unfortunately, it was happening two days before the wedding. So, we started sending this at the beginning for consideration in the budget upfront. This is a no-pressure, yet informative, tool for your use, as desired. Though, while many categories are optional, some are not, so please do look it over.
PHOTOGRAPHY LIST
We know you will work with your photographer on what portraits and family photos are important to you but you can use this note to get those started. When you finalize your list, please make sure it is in this note. We always keep a copy of it in the actual timeline just in case we need to help or if the photographer misplaces theirs.
MEETING NOTES
A lot of times I will type notes directly into AP when we have meetings or zoom calls. It’s good to be able to refer back easily about what we talked about it and you can access it too. I’ll usually title it MEETING XX/XX for the date.
OTHER NOTES
You can make your own notes too of course. If you want to communicate something to us, keep a list of things you want to do (i.e., who do you want to buy gifts for, things you liked or didn’t like about the design, etc.), or just take notes from a meeting, use this tool. You can also hide it so only you can see it or edit it.
CEREMONY PROCESSIONAL/RECESSIONAL
You’ll see two sections here that will help you determine your processing order. Please decide if you want the groomsmen to enter together or to escort the bridesmaids and fill in the one you want.
WEDDING WEEKEND ITINERARY
This is a document we will send to your VIPs, typically the week of the wedding. We will start to build it up 30-60 days prior to wedding but when we thinks it’s ready, we will get your approval to email it to your VIPs (wedding party, parents, other VIPs).
Phone: 513-268-2611
Email: [email protected]
Mailing Address:
2692 Madison Road, Ste N1 #339
Cincinnati, Ohio 45208
Business Hours:
Monday Thru Thursday 10am-6pm EST
Friday Thru Sunday Closed
That’s it!
I know this was a lot! All you need to worry about right now is filling out your Client Info and Initial Kick Off Questionnaire then familiarizing yourself with the resources in Aisle Planner. Check out the checklist to give yourself an idea of where we will be starting.
And last but not least, will you please upload or send a picture to me so we can use for your AP profile photo?
Im excited to get the ball rolling! Please let me know if you have any questions. This journey is going to be fun and we thank you so much for trusting us with your big day!
Karen Collins and the KMC Team
