Wedding planning spreadsheet vs app

Most weddings start in a spreadsheet. One tab for guests, one for the budget, then a vendor tab, a checklist tab, a seating tab, and one day you count twenty-six of them. Linenfold was built to replace exactly that workbook, so we're biased. But a spreadsheet is a good tool, and for some couples it's the right one.

Here is an honest look at both: what a spreadsheet does well, what an app adds, and how to move over if you decide to. Facts about spreadsheets come from Google's and Microsoft's own pages; facts about Linenfold describe what it ships today.

At a glance

When a spreadsheet is the better fit

• One of you runs the whole plan. If the other half of the couple is happy to be sent a link now and then, a spreadsheet you both can open is plenty. Sharing lets each person edit, comment or only view.
• You like building it. A spreadsheet does whatever its formulas say, and you can track things no app thought of. If making the sheet is half the fun, keep the sheet.
• You need it offline. Google Sheets can open and edit files with no connection. Linenfold can't.
• You want a full history. Google Sheets shows what changed and who last edited it, and can restore an earlier version.
• You want to spend nothing, ever. Google Sheets comes with a Google Account and Excel for the web is free. Linenfold's free plan covers a lot, but more than 75 guest rows, more than five vendors or logging payments needs Complete.

What an app adds

• Everything adds up by itself. The budget works from category targets and confirmed vendor contracts, and shows what's left to spend and what's left to budget. The headcount what-if shows how many guests your budget can carry. Nobody has to fix a formula that a pasted row broke.
• Dates that move with you. The checklist starts with 111 tasks dated back from the wedding. Change the date and every automatic due date moves too.
• Two people, two logins. You and your partner each sign in as yourselves. On Complete, a planner or family member can join as an editor or a viewer.
• Seating you can drag. Tables, a waiting list and print, on every plan, by mouse, touch or keyboard. Try the free seating chart maker without an account.
• Addresses without the group chat. Send one form link, and replies are matched to your guest list for you to review.
• One guest list behind everything. RSVPs, the seating plan, the headcount and the dashboard all read the same list, so they can't drift apart the way copied tabs do.

How to move over

You don't have to move everything at once, and you don't have to delete the spreadsheet.

1. Bring the whole workbook across. Save or download it as an Excel workbook (.xlsx) and pick it in the free spreadsheet importer. No login: it's read in your browser and shows your guests, budget, vendors and tasks as they'd come across. Your file stays in the browser until you save, and saving puts the rows into a free account as one import you can undo. Already signed up? The same importer is under Settings, Import a spreadsheet.
2. Or bring just the guest list. Download your guest tab as a CSV. In Google Sheets that's File, Download, Comma-separated values (current sheet). Then open Guests, choose Import, and match your columns to Linenfold's. You'll see duplicates and skipped rows before anything is saved, and Undo import takes the whole batch back out.
3. Try a tool, if you like. The budget calculator and the seating chart maker also work without an account, and either one can be saved into a new free account when you're ready.
4. Set up the budget, if it didn't come across. Put in your total and your category targets (the guide to setting a wedding budget walks through it), then add each vendor's contract as you book.
5. Add the vendors you're weighing. Put quotes side by side in the comparison grid, and rate venues on what matters to the two of you.
6. Keep the spreadsheet as your archive. Nothing in Linenfold touches it. And if you ever want your data back in a spreadsheet, export the whole wedding as CSVs on any plan. Google Sheets imports CSV files.

If the guest list is the part you're stuck on, the guide to deciding who to invite, tier by tier works whichever tool you use.

The short version

Stay with a spreadsheet if one of you runs the plan, you enjoy building it, or you need it offline. Move to an app when two of you are editing, when the guest list, budget and seating need to agree, and when you'd rather the maths and the dates looked after themselves. Linenfold's free plan lets you find out without paying anything.