The 4 best wedding apps and tools you need for a stress-free wedding

Is wedding planning stressing you out? Have you woken up in the middle of the night in a panic thinking about your wedding website? Or how you're going to keep track of who has RSVPed to your wedding so far?

Wedding planning can go from a breeze to a stress-induced nightmare if you're not careful, but there are plenty of apps and tools out there to help you keep track of planning and organizing your wedding. With a little effort and some dedication, you can ensure that wedding planning remains a pleasant experience up until the moment that it's time to start the ceremony.

We've rounded up the four best apps and tools to make your wedding planning fun and easy. Here's why they're so effective and how to get the most out of them.

Hitchd

While you can certainly find traditional wedding registries through just about any big-box store, what do you do if you and your partner don't want sheets, towels and spare pillows? What if you have all the home essentials?

Meet Hitchd, the happy couple's best friend for building the perfect honeymoon registry or cash fund. A honeymoon registry replaces those home goods with gifts related to the honeymoon, such as dinners, drinks, tours and even airfare. With Hitchd, you can ask guests to send you on a city tour of Berlin or snorkeling in Costa Rica as gift, which helps you save towards that dream honeymoon you and your partner have been planning.

Hitchd can also function as a cash fund, which is a fund that couples start with the intention of using the money collected towards a certain big purchase. Many of our users want to save to put a down payment on a house, so they create a cash fund, which lets guests contribute any amount they'd like to the fund. It's a great way to save for that house or even collect money for charity if you're planning to ask for donations in lieu of gifts.

Honeymoon funds like Hitchd provide couples with a polite, more thoughtful way of asking wedding guests to give cash as a gift. Because you choose and design each gift, you can show guests exactly what they'll be giving you by including links to the vendors or businesses as well as photos. This helps assure guests that the gift they give will be spent on what they see, and not just pocketed to pay for bills or other personal costs.

Although Hitchd does charge a one-time fee when you launch your site, you won't have to worry about fees on transactions (except for a small credit card fee, but that goes to the credit card company and we do not profit from it) or any surprise fees to remove ads from your website or access your gift money before the wedding. Once the money hits your account, it's yours to use so you can start booking flights and reserving hotel rooms.

Wedsites

Most couples find that the most difficult part of planning a wedding involves all of the minor details that you wouldn't ordinarily think about. More than likely, this is the first wedding you've ever planned, so of course you might not know when to send out save-the-dates or why you need to keep track of who's sent in their RSVPs. This is a brand-new experience for you.

Luckily, there's Wedsites, the wedding website creator and planning and organizing tool. Think of it as your own virtual wedding planner, able to keep track of guest lists, budgets, payment schedules, invitations, RSVPs and so much more.

Wedsites offers two paid packages and a free one. The free package gives you access to Wedsites incredible wedding website tools. You'll create the ultimate wedding website where guests can find everything they need to know about your big day, including:

• Date, time and location of the ceremony.
• A timeline of events so everyone knows how the big day will go.
• Accommodation and travel information if needed.
• An online guestbook where guests can share messages and upload photos during the wedding.
• Gift registry information so guests know where to find gifts.
• Wedding party bios to help guests get to know who's who in the ceremony.
• Live streaming options.

For $119, the Standard package gives you all of the free benefits plus its guest list manager tool, which helps you organize your guest list and manage details such as plus-ones and food allergies. You can send friends and family members a link to a form so they can fill in their address, email and phone number, which will make sending out invitations a breeze, and you can categorize and group guests to make seating charts. You'll also be able to track when save-the-dates, invitations and thank-you cards go out and who responds all in one place.

If you're thinking of hiring a wedding planner, consider upgrading to Wedsites' $199 Pro package. Once you enter the date of your wedding, the site will generate a do-list right away of tasks that need to be done, such as hiring a venue, sending out save-the-date cards and choose the wedding party (some tasks are obviously easier than others).

The Pro package can also help you set and manage your budget and create payment reminders so you never miss an important bill. The package also allows you to add multiple users to your account, so your partner, bridal party members and even wedding planner, if you choose to hire one, can access your dashboard and contribute as needed.

Simply Eloped

If you and your partner are planning to elope or have a small destination wedding, then you might be feeling left out with some of these tools. You don't have a guest list to organize, and since you're not having a big reception, there's no need to hire a DJ or order a ton of flowers.

But as anyone will tell you, there's still some serious planning involved with eloping, and contrary to popular belief, you don't have to treat it like an embarrassing secret. You should celebrate your upcoming nuptials just like any other couple.

That's where Simply Eloped comes in. This handy site creates elopement packages for the hottest destinations all over the United States from New York City and Las Vegas to Asherville, North Carolina and St. Augustine, Florida. No matter the location, Simply Eloped can help you find vendors that meet your needs.

The process works like this:

Step 1: Set the date and location and choose the package

As soon as you know the date you want to get married and the location, you can choose from the Simply Eloped packages to find one that fits your ideal wedding. Packages will vary depending on your location and how many people you plan to bring with you. Don't worry, the Simply Eloped team will be standing by to answer questions.

Step 2: Book your vendors using the Simply Eloped booking process

You'll be able to book your venue and any other relevant details needed to make your elopement special through the site's booking process. Everything will be in one place, so you won't have to keep track of how to contact every different vendor.

Step 3: Start planning with your elopement planner

Your elopement planner will help you navigate all the tiny details of your wedding. It will be your planner's job to bring your vision of your elopement to life, so share what you've been thinking and your planner will help make it happen.

Step 4: Connect with your vendors to personalise the ceremony

You may not be in the same city as your vendors, but with Simply Eloped, you can connect with them easily and provide the necessary details to make your wedding a special one.

Once the big day arrives, all you need to do is show up and say, “I do.”

Trello

Most people know Trello because they've used it in their workplaces — but did you know that it makes a handy wedding planner? If you love to be organized and want to keep everyone updated on their wedding assignments, then Trello may be your new best friend.

With Trello, you can set up your wedding as a “project” and invite your partner, bridal party and wedding planner to collaborate. You can share important information, such as the location and start time for the bridal party, and assign tasks to make sure everyone knows what is expected of them.

If you want the groomsmen in matching ties, then you can create a task for them with a link to the tie you want them to buy. Once each person has bought the tie, they'll mark their task completed. You won't feel like you have to hound everyone, and your bridal party will have a handy portal to keep track of all the wedding information they need.

Your wedding planner will also be able to communicate easily with you through Trello. He or she can assign tasks for you, ask questions and access information about each vendor or wedding details.

Best of all, individuals can use Trello for free. There's also a helpful app so you can access your project on the go.

You don't have to have a stressful time planning your wedding. When you become proactive with these apps and tools, you'll find that you never miss a vendor payment or forget your "something borrowed.""