Organization will set you free… or so I’m told.

And as I’ve quickly discovered there’s a ton o’ organizin’ to be had for a wedding.

The first think that helped was Emily Post’s Wedding Planner, which has a really good listing of just what steps you have to take and when they have to be took.

The second, and most important thing, is Basecamp — a online project management app. It’s really built for the collaboration needed between a freelancer/firm (of any sort) and their various clients on various projects.

But it’s also really great for planning a wedding — especially when the bride and groom are in Atlanta, the family is in St. Louis and the best man is in Columbus, Ohio.

Pretty much every step from Peggy’s book is set as a “milestone” — which is Basecamp-speak for a todo item that has a date attached.

You can attach multiple todo lists to milestones — so you can set a general milestone like “Book location” with a date and then attach a bunch of todo items like “Research yet another location,” “Send your parents, with camera, to yet another spot,” and “Force feed your parents another meal at yet another reception location.” As you watch the todos click done, you know that you’re on course for the milestone.

It’s got all the usual accoutrements — messages, access controls, etc. Plus it has handy integration with Writeboards, for when you need a little wiki in your life.

I had heard a lot about Basecamp for a while, but I had never had reson to use it, so I was always just playing around with it. Now that I have real work to get done, and a lot of it, I can’t live without it.