Bit by bit...

More often than not, wedding planning gets misconstrued as one giant series of tasks, needing to be checked off in the proper order according to the proper timeline.  Sure, that works in some instances, as you'll probably find yourself SOL if you try to book a photographer 48 hours before the big day, for example.  Pretty much every wedding planning website out there gives you a lovingly-detailed to-do list, walking you through the process.  Don't get me wrong - I appreciate that help and guidance.  But allow me to throw a minor temper tantrum at this point in time.

Everything with wedding planning seems so... binary.  You either have the task completed, or you don't.  You have the contract signed, or you don't.  You have your caterer booked and your menu established, or you don't.  Yes, no, yes, no.  Success, fail, success, fail.  Why are there no opportunities for congratulatory feedback when you've knocked off part of a task?  No to-do list that I've seen ever states a task like "Narrow down your florist options to 3 or fewer."  Instead, you get "Research florists" and "Book florist"... um, no.  There are more than two steps to each of these phases, at least in my mind.  How about a little partial credit?!

 Image via Bob in Foxtrot / Cartoon by Bill Amend

So, here I am, stuck in wedding-planning limbo.  I have almost all of the big, big, big stuff taken care of, but we're still a good ways out from the wedding to begin focusing on the teeny, tiny stuff.  I'm slowly but surely taking care of business, but I have nothing to show for it in the grand, checklist scheme of things.  For example, we decided to send STDs, which I designed and ordered last week.  However, because they haven't arrived, been addressed, and sent out, I'm still in task purgatory.  Similarly, I think I've honed in on the winning BM dress, but I haven't had the opportunity to grab a BM and go try it on to seal the deal.  Never mind that even after I do pick the dress, I'll have to coordinate ordering 7 of them... in other words, picking the dress still only earns me half-credit, at best, in the world of wedding planning.  I ordered some shoe contenders, but I don't know if they'll fit, be comfortable, or match what I'm looking for, and they still only represent one of many accessories I have to square away for the big day.  Harrumph.

I guess what I'm really driving at is that we (and by "we" I mean the wedding world on a whole) should spend some more time focusing on the baby steps that certain phases of planning require.  Sure, you may not be able to knock out a half-dozen things in a day, but getting closer to a decision on those half-dozen items is still important and noteworthy.  So, here's to the baby steps that are instrumental in getting the job done!

 Image via Time to Budget

Are you a baby step planner or more of a git 'r done type of bride-to-be?