I've said it thousand times before: I love making lists. There's no greater feeling than scratching some task off and feeling like you could give the Old Spice guy a run for his money. Then there's JD. Who hates lists with equal proportion to root canals. I keep everything in this safe, he says as he taps the side of his head, his temple to be exact. And this? Drives. Me. Crazy.

We learned early on that we function and think differently. In light of this, we clearly separate what we're each responsible for as a way to avoid mistakes, mishaps, or missteps. Or attitude. I'm Puerto Rican…I specialize in attitude.

JD is entirely responsible for preparing the bags, so I thought I'd give a breakdown of what pre-wedding prep looks like for us. I'm not sure if this will help anyone, but when I first started out, I wished I had some sort of barometer to gauge if I was doing things wrong. Well, five years later I can't guarantee it's right, but it's not wrong. So let's get jiggy with it.

Friday Night
* JD cleans lenses and cameras, reformats all CF cards, charges camera/video lights batteries. He counts the CF cards to make sure we take plenty and put new batteries in our flashes and Pocketwizards.
* JD lays everything on the office floor so I can double check our gear before he packs the bag.
* I pack a protein bar.

Saturday Morning
* I check my email for any last-minute changes the bride or coordinator might have sent overnight.
* I review the wedding itinerary and ensure I have emergency contact numbers (which I requested in advance), as well as hotel room numbers.
* I program all addresses in our GPS of where we are scheduled to be.
* I sing a song.
* JD packs the camera bag, along with the off-camera flash setup, and places everything in the car.
* JD packs the laptop computer with card readers (for the same-day wedding slideshow).
* We get ready and eat a big meal…sometimes the meal is the only thing we'll eat for seven or eight hours, so clink our forks and get our grub on.
* Before leaving, part of our ritual is to go through a list (a list!! I WIN!!) to ensure we have everything, including backup gear and things we'll likely never use, but take anyway (like a reflector).

From trial and error, this system seems to work very well for us…and maybe it'll help you just a bit as well. If not, no worries. I'll simply make a list of ways I can get better! 😉