Hi Everyone! It’s so good to be here. If you’re reading this, that means you are here, too! Thanks for the support! I’m really excited to launch this new website and venture. Having my own little Internet storefront has always been a goal of mine, and I really feel that this is the perfect fit.
Background
Before we get into things, let me first take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Ashley Gold. I am California-born & raised, currently residing in the Washington, DC Metro area. I live with my wonderful fiancé, Kevin, and our beautiful cat, Kona. Since moving out to the burbs/buying our first home, I have focused a lot of my energy on home renovation and design. I can’t believe how much I have learned. If you need someone to help you pick out supply lines and quarter-turn shut-off valves at the home center, I’m your gal!
I must be equal parts right- and left-brained, because as much as I love design, I love order and analysis. I enjoy making tools in Excel and using them to track, well…everything! For example, I have personal finance budgets for every year since college and all of our vacations have extremely detailed accompanying planning spreadsheets. There’s so much that spreadsheet programs can do, and it’s fun to keep learning and to get better at all the features, functions, and formulas!
I was honestly scared to start planning our own wedding because it sounded extremely daunting and intimidating. As it turned out, my equal love of design and analysis made it so wedding planning was actually fun for me.
Our Wedding
When it came time to start planning our wedding (which is on 3/31/23), I downloaded some free budgeting templates from online, but I didn’t like them that much. I used a couple different ones, edited them to make them better, but was still ultimately unhappy. I decided to make my own. One spreadsheet led to another, and soon enough I had a whole collection! I mean, how else could we track all our expenditures to automatically feed into our budget without a spreadsheet? Or compare multiple vendors side by side? It’s not that it’s impossible, but it’s easier and more enjoyable to use tools that are built for this kind of stuff. Tools that allow you to input minimal information that is automatically calculated and displayed in an organized format.
As much as I wish we had all the budget in the world to plan some super elaborate wedding, we don’t. (I think I might even be too practical to do that even if money weren’t an issue.) In the early days of planning, I got quotes for various levels of wedding planning services. It’s tempting to hand over at least part of the reins to someone who specializes in this for a living. As expected, they were very pricey. Besides the fact it wasn’t in the budget, I felt like it was something I could tackle – not only out of need, but want. I love to be able to say “I did that!” I found this awesome vendor. I made these décor items.
I don’t regret the decision to plan on our own one bit. It has been a super smooth and organized process. I used all the spreadsheets that I sell, except I made them better for the general public after I was done. All our major vendors were booked with about 9 months to go. It’s all details now.
Gold Standard Weddings
I launched Gold Standard Weddings in June 2022 as a way to help other couples plan their own wedding. I started out with just planning spreadsheet tools but quickly began offering various customizable invitations/paper suites, as well as gifts & apparel for wedding-related events. I’m continually adding new product. I’ve already spent hours and hours creating these tools and products so you don’t have to. I want you to be able to come here and download whatever wedding planning spreadsheet tools will help keep you organized (and sane), read some of my forthcoming DIY/tips & tricks blog posts, find invites that are suitable for events you are hosting, and enjoy apparel that matches your personality. Most of all, I want to help others through this wedding planning process because it’s a lot. It’s the biggest party you will ever throw, it’s expensive and time consuming to plan, but it’s also extremely meaningful and important.