How to use Planly Bridal Crew

Your planner lives privately in your own Google Drive, so the first step is making your personal copy.

1. Open the PDF from your Etsy purchase (Etsy → You → Purchases and reviews → Download files).
2. Click the “Make my copy” button. If you're asked, sign in to your Google account.
3. Google shows a “Copy document” screen. Click the blue “Make a copy” button.
4. Your copy opens. Rename it if you like (click the title in the top-left), e.g. “Emma's Bridal Crew”.

The light cells at the top of SETUP feed the rest of the planner: the dashboard title, the countdown and every to-do due date.

1. Open the SETUP tab.
2. In C6, type the Bride's name. In C7, enter the Wedding date.
3. In C8, pick Your role from the dropdown: Maid of honor, Matron of honor, Bridesmaid, Best man, Groomsman or Other.
4. Pick your Currency in C9 ($, £, €, CA$, A$, NZ$, R, ₹, ¥, kr, CHF or zł). Every money heading then shows your symbol, e.g. “Amount (£)”, and SETTLE UP writes balances like “Owes £25.00”.
5. Check the DASHBOARD title: it now reads “Emma's bridal crew” (with the bride's name), and the line under it shows the wedding date and your role.

The crew list on the right side of SETUP (columns E to J, rows 6 to 17) is the heart of the planner. These names fill the Host, Paid by and Who dropdowns, and they become the people costs are split between.

1. In Your crew (E6 to E17), type each person's name, one per row. Up to 12 people fit.
2. Pick a Role for each person (Maid of honor, Bridesmaid, Junior bridesmaid, Mother of the bride and so on) and add their Phone, Email and Dress size.
3. Look at Chipping in (column J). Every box starts ticked, which means that person shares the costs.
4. Untick Chipping in for anyone who isn't paying toward shared costs. Most crews don't ask the bride to pay for her own shower or bachelorette, so if you add her to the list, untick her box.
5. Type each name the same way everywhere. The planner matches names exactly, so “Grace” and “Grace W.” count as two different people.

The Expense categories list (L6 to L17) fills the Category dropdown on EXPENSES and the spending donut on DASHBOARD.

1. Ten spending categories are ready to go: Venue, Food & drinks, Decor, Activities, Gifts, Outfits, Stationery, Travel, Lodging and Other.
2. The last one, Repayment, is special: use it when someone pays another person back. Keep it in the list with that exact name.
3. Rename any of the others to suit your crew, or add your own in the empty row. A new name shows up in the dropdown and on the spending donut right away.

EVENTS lists every get-together you're helping with. Five are already there: Dress shopping, Bridal shower, Bachelorette, Getting ready and Group gift.

1. Rename, delete or add events in the Event column (up to 15). These names fill the Event dropdown on EXPENSES, TO-DO and SHOWER GIFTS.
2. Enter the Date, Time and Where for each one.
3. Pick a Host from the dropdown (it reads your crew list) and type the number of Guests.
4. Enter a Budget for each event.
5. Spent fills in by itself: it adds up every cost on EXPENSES tagged with that event. Left is Budget minus Spent and turns pink if you go over.
6. Set the Status as plans move along: Idea, Planning, Booked or Done.
7. Check the cards at the top: Events, Total budget, Spent and Left.

Every time someone pays for something the crew is sharing, add a row on EXPENSES. This is what SETTLE UP uses to work out who owes what.

1. Enter the Date, What for (e.g. “Tea room deposit”), a Category and the Event it belongs to.
2. Type the Amount.
3. Pick who paid in Paid by. The dropdown reads your crew list.
4. To share the cost between everyone with Chipping in ticked on SETUP, leave all the name boxes on that row unticked. People shows how many that is, and Each shows the share per person.
5. If only some people are sharing a cost, tick the boxes under their names on that row. The cost then splits between only the people you ticked. The name columns sit between Paid by and People, with each crew member's name at the top.
6. Watch the cards at the top: Total spent, Items, People splitting and Each, if split evenly.

Planly Bridal Crew · Shared expenses with cost splitting

SETTLE UP does the math nobody wants to do in the group chat. There's nothing to type here.

1. Each person on your crew list gets a row with what they Paid, their Fair share and their Balance (paid minus fair share).
2. Status says it plainly: “Gets back $40.00” (green) if they paid more than their share, “Owes $25.00” (pink) if they paid less, or “All square”.
3. The Still to settle card shows the total that still needs to change hands.
4. To settle, anyone who owes pays whoever gets money back, starting with the biggest amounts.
5. Record each repayment on EXPENSES so the balances update: add a row with the amount, set Category to Repayment, set Paid by to the person paying back and tick only the person who was repaid.
6. When every Status shows All square, you're done.

Planly Bridal Crew · Settle up balances

27 tasks are already written for you, from starting the group chat to returning dresses, and every one has a due date that counts back from the wedding date.

1. Look at the When column and the small table to its right (When and Days before). Each phase, from 6+ months to After, has a number of days before the wedding.
2. Due date fills in by itself: the wedding date minus the days for that task's When. Change When to move a task to a different phase.
3. Type your own date over a Due date if a task needs a specific day.
4. Pick an Event for tasks that belong to one (several already are), and pick Who from your crew list.
5. Tick Done when a task is finished. It turns grey with a line through it. Use Notes for details.
6. Add your own tasks in the empty rows: pick a When and type the Task, and a due date appears.
7. Watch the cards at the top: Tasks, Done, Progress and Overdue.

Hand this tab to whoever is writing down gifts at the shower. It makes the bride's thank-you notes much easier.

1. As each gift is opened, type who it's From and what the Gift is.
2. Pick the Event (usually Bridal shower) and tick Opened.
3. When a thank-you note goes out, tick Thank-you sent. Gifts still waiting for a note are highlighted in pink.
4. Check the cards at the top: Gifts, Thank-yous sent and Still to write.

The dashboard pulls everything together. There's nothing to type here.

1. The cards show Days to the wedding, Spent so far, Each, if split evenly, Still to settle, To-dos done and Next event.
2. Budget vs spent by event compares each event's budget with what's been spent on it.
3. Spending by category shows where the money is going.
4. Paid vs fair share shows each person's two numbers side by side. Anyone who hasn't paid anything and has no share (often the bride) is left off.
5. To-do progress shows tasks done vs still to do.

Planly Bridal Crew · Bridal crew dashboard