Online wedding planning is a trend more brides are joining in on every day.

Of course, COVID-19 restrictions made planning your wedding online a necessity, but many couples found the convenience of planning their big day from the comfort of home a welcomed relief. And thanks to online social channels, it’s now easier than ever to share and coordinate your plans with friends and family all around the world.

While certainly more convenient, planning a wedding online comes with its own quirks and unique concerns.

Here are some tips to make planning your wedding online process flow as simple as possible.

Make Wedding Planning a Collaboration

It’s no secret, wedding planning is challenging—even under the best circumstances.

Tensions run high trying to coordinate everything and everyone for the big day, and it will demand all your patience and mediation skills.

But planning your wedding online can simplify one crucial aspect of this complicated juggling act: communication.

Communication is crucial when coordinating dozens of vendors, attendees, and varying participants. Keeping in contact via social channels or a group chat is so much easier than in person. Some couples even opt for using a dedicated wedding planning website or online project planning platform as a centralized communication hub.

Coordinating schedules with everyone is a lot of work. Between managing all the people who repeatedly reschedule, forget meeting times, constantly run late, or always dip out early—wedding planning can feel like a full-time job!

Try going digital with your wedding planning instead. Then everyone can join in for a harmonious collaborative process.

The Best Online Wedding Planning Tools

You’re probably familiar with Google Drive as digital office storage, but it can also be the ultimate tool for wedding organization! The cloud-based interface allows you to create, upload, share, and edit documents, photos, and files in real-time. Any authorized contributor from your wedding team can access and update the drive. Keep all your wedding files organized in one clean virtual space—rather than chasing down invoices, contracts, and receipts.

You might also consider distributing wedding information to your guests by building your own personalized wedding website! Assembling your own website allows you to manage all your wedding information—date, time, attire, tone, RSVP links, wish lists, et cetera—in one central place. Spare yourself the hours you’d otherwise spend answering phone calls and text messages about basic day-of info. We recommend platforms like The Knot, Wix, Strikingly, or even WordPress. They’re easy to set up and customize, and you can create free domains or purchase custom-built ones.

Pinterest is your wedding inspiration hub. Use the media platform to build and share mood boards with planners, friends, and family to build your dream wedding. You can also use the search function to scope out wedding venues and vendors in your area.

Coordinate With All Your Vendors

One of the trickiest parts of wedding planning is coordinating with all the vendors required to ensure your big day is a success. Finding the right photographer, caterer, florist, makeup artist, hairstylist, and more takes time and effort.

With so many moving parts, you must keep your lines of communication open with all your vendors and the venue. If you're working with a variety of vendors, organizing deliveries and setup may require a lot of back and forth communication—as what works for one vendor may not work for another.

Coordinate your schedule in one centralized calendar, so logistically you can be sure all vendors are afforded the proper amount of time needed for their setup and breakdown procedures.

Logistically, florists should arrive later in the day so your flowers won’t wilt. You will probably need the cabana mounted before furniture and catering get started. Likewise, other factors to consider for after the ceremony—if your reception venue is outdoors, you’ll want to remove the stage lights last so your guests and vendors can see during their breakdown and clean-up procedures. And your DJ or sound team should also be among the last to leave, so your party is lively through to the very end of the evening.

Prepare a Live Stream Before the Wedding

The COVID-19 pandemic also popularized the handy wedding live stream!

A live stream of your wedding allows people unable to attend in person to still participate in your special day. All you need is a fast internet connection, a camera, and a streaming service. Platforms like Zoom, Facebook Live, or YouTube Live can do the trick.

Alternatively, you can try out one of any number of wedding-specific streaming services. One free option specialized in live stream weddings is Lovecast—an app that creates a user-friendly interactive experience for your guests. Other apps, such as WebWed Mobile, provide private wedding live streams, as well as operating as a one-stop-shop to search for officiants to obtain a marriage license. Of course, if you don’t have time to sort through all the options, you can always hire a company like Wedfuly to handle all the tech and facilitate streaming your ceremony.

Always, always do a trial run before the big event. At the very least, test your setup and WiFi connection. Perhaps even invite some e-guests for a mock rehearsal so everyone gets a feel for how to interact with a wedding party from behind a screen.

Shop Online for Wedding Dresses to Save Time

Wedding dress shopping can be an exciting adventure, but physically browsing through stores is exhausting.

In a traditional retail store, your style and price options are also heavily limited. When you factor in pushy salespeople just trying to secure a quick sale—physically shopping for your dream dress can quickly become a nightmare.

That’s why more and more brides are opting to do their wedding dress shopping online!

It’s much easier to bounce through 20 websites than 20 storefronts, and the internet offers significantly more options and prices. Without the overhead of a physical store, online vendors can offer more customizable features at budget-friendly prices. Some online wedding dress vendors like Afarose offer try-at-home programs to ensure you get a perfect style and fit from the start.

Afarose’s experts will present you with a series of options based on your style and preferences, and you can then order sample dresses for you and your bridesmaids to try on. Rentals start at $15 each which includes shipping both directions. We even throw in free fabric swatches with sample dresses, because what we really care about is making sure you and your bridal party look perfect on your wedding day.

Get started by booking a virtual consultation with a professional stylist at Afarose.

Shop for the Perfect Dress with Afarose

Wedding planning can be a daunting task, and while planning online may simplify the process—it's not without its own set of stressful nuances.

Communication, collaboration, and organization are key components for keeping all involved parties in the loop.

Afarose aims to make the bridal shopping experience as effortless as possible. Take the stress out of coordinating wedding attire with your bridal party by shopping Afarose’s made-to-order, affordable try-at-home wedding dress services and accessories for your entire bridal party.

Contact Afarose today to schedule your personalized virtual bridal consultation!