By Elizabeth

Editor's disclosure: Shiny Orb, a shopping site for inexpensive bridesmaid dresses, receives no form of compensation from Google Spreadsheets. Also, Elizabeth had previously worked at Google, though not on Google Spreadsheets.

My husband and I used Google Spreadsheets to keep track of our wedding planning. It made collaboration super easy, because we could edit just one document online rather than sending an Excel spreadsheet back and forth over email. We used Google Spreadsheets to keep track of wedding-planning, our guest list, vendors, and our budget. We even used it to build an online RSVP system, which allowed us to receive responses asap. In fact, 50% of our invited guests RSVPed within the first few days of creating the RSVP system, and we were off by just one dinner plate at the reception! Having an online RSVP system was convenient, easy for us to create and manage, and completely free.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Google Spreadsheets, it's just like a collaborative version of MSFT Excel stored online. Anyone who has a Gmail or Google account can easily get started with the following steps:

• Get started
  • Go to http://docs.google.com/ and log into your Google account
  • In the upper left corner, click the button that reads "Create new" -> select "Spreadsheets"
  • Set up the rows and columns like on a MSFT Excel spreadsheet
  • In the upper right corner, click the button that reads "Share" -> select invite people -> enter in email addresses of all the people you want to collaborate with on this document (e.g. your spouse) 
• Set up worksheets
  • Click on the tab at the bottom of the screen that reads "Sheet 1", select "Rename" and enter a new name for your spreadsheet
  • To add a worksheet, click on the button at the bottom left corner that reads "Add sheet" -> enter in the name of that worksheet
  • Congrats! Now you can use this one document keep track of your invited guests, attending guests, list of vendors, schedule of events, and budget in separate worksheets.

All in all, Google spreadsheets was a HUGE help as we planned our wedding. Although at times it can be a little slow and a bit buggy, I'd highly recommend using it.  Stay tuned for part II on how to set up an RSVP system in Google Spreadsheets...