Every step, every click, in order. Tick them off as you go.
About 20 minutes. Set up on a computer; after that, everything works on your phone too.
All you need to start: a computer with Chrome.
You’ll set these up as you go. Each one has its own step below, so you don’t need them yet:
Your private copy and your Planner.
Make a free Gmail just for the wedding, for example oliviaandjameswedding@gmail.com. Use it for everything in this guide: your workbook, vendors, hotels, and RSVPs.
Create it at accounts.google.com/signup. Then add it in Wedding Details under Wedding email address, and choose Yes in Show on your website? if guests should see it.
Already using your own email with vendors? Forward wedding emails to the new address, or add the new one as a second account in Gmail so both are in one place.
Everything lives in your own Google account. If you don’t have one, create a free Gmail account at accounts.google.com.
Use the same Google account for every step in this guide. If you’re signed in to more than one (a work and a personal account), open a private window or a separate Chrome profile signed in to just the one you’ll use.
Click the button, then click Make a copy. The copy is saved in your Google Drive and belongs only to you.
Click the name at the top left (it starts with “Copy of”) and type your own, for example Olivia & James Wedding. Bookmark the page so you can always find it.
Open the Wedding Details tab, the second tab along the bottom. Fill in the pink cells: your names, date, venues, and RSVP deadline. In Show on your website? choose Yes or No for each detail.
The rest of the workbook builds itself from your answers. When you’re done you can hide the tab: right-click the tab name › Hide sheet.
Pink cells are yours to fill in. Sage cells calculate on their own and are locked. Blue headers are tables Safi keeps updated. Beige headers are tables you set up once. The full key is on the Start Here tab.
Wait a few seconds after the workbook loads. A Saffron Studios menu appears after Help. If it doesn’t, reload the page.
The Planner is your at-a-glance dashboard for the whole wedding. In a few steps you’ll give it its own link and bookmark it.
Saffron Studios›Open my plannerThe first time you open it, Google asks for permission. Click OK (or Continue) and choose the same Google account.
Next you’ll see “Google hasn’t verified this app.” This is normal and appears for any private code living inside your own spreadsheet. It only asks for access to this one workbook, and Saffron Studios never sees your data.
Review the access (your spreadsheet only) and click Allow. Then choose Saffron Studios›Open my planner again. Your countdown, guests, approvals, and budget open in a styled view, and changes you make there save straight to the workbook.
About one minute, once. This turns the Planner into its own page you can bookmark and add to your phone’s home screen.
This is your at-a-glance dashboard: your countdown, RSVPs, guests, hotels, payments, budget, and the decisions waiting for you. You can add guests, approve updates, and check who has paid right there, so for most things you never need to open the full spreadsheet.
That usually means you’re signed in to more than one Google account (for example work and personal), and Google is opening it with the wrong one. Open your bookmark in an incognito or private window (Cmd+Shift+N in Chrome) and sign in with only your wedding account. Or make a separate Chrome profile for the wedding account and keep the bookmark there.
Google never copies this link when a file is copied, so your Planner link is yours alone. Nobody else’s link can open your workbook.
Add hotels in Hotel Block, your planned amounts in Budget, everyone who pays in Payment Ledger (spell names exactly as you’ll use them), and guests in Guest List or the Planner’s + Add a guest. The Overview tab and the Planner update on their own.
Your briefing, on your schedule.
Your workbook can email you a short briefing: decisions waiting for you, RSVP numbers, and anything due in the next two weeks. It is sent from your own Gmail to yourself.
Saffron Studios›Set up my email briefingChoose how often (every day, every other day, every 3 days, or weekly) and a time, then click Save. Your first briefing arrives right away.
Google asks for permission once more so the workbook can email you and run on a schedule. Same steps as before: Advanced, Go to The Planner (unsafe), Allow.
Change it anytime from the same menu, send one now with Email me my briefing now, or turn it off with Stop my email briefing.
Most fixes take one click. Still stuck? Send us a note.