My Wedding Companion
Score: 3/5
http://www.fivestarsoftware.com/
I downloaded this one a few months ago and really gave it a shot. Aesthetically, this software is terrible, terrible terrible. Its a very old windows application style. In the initial screen you almost think that maybe, just maybe it isn’t as bad as you thought it would be, but no! As soon as you click one of those pretty modern(ism) buttons you are slammed with fuschia and cyan. I mean, you can’t just throw together a bunch of colors and call it ok, people!!
Clearly, I am having a really hard time getting over the user interface badness.
To my credit, I did spend more than a few hours tweaking this software during my first trial download. I really really did try to use it.
That said, I’m gonna have to give this one a 3 out of 5. I’ll come back and elaborate why later.
As an aside….
Sometimes I want to quit my job and become a software user interface mercenary. There are a lot of good developers out there who come up with fantastic products but their user interfaces are so terrible that they scare people away. Sooo sad. 
The Organized Wedding
Score: 4/5
http://www.theorganizedwedding.com/
Ok, this one is starting out cool. It just asked to choose my Faith. The closest option it had was Greek Orthodox so I am going for it., Supposedly this choice will effect the tasks and events listing in the software.
Finished the setup, they had some interesting options, so far so good guys. Now the interface has come up. I’m cringing but trying to give it a chance.
The software has an appointments feature. I am a big fan of cross product compatibility but I am guessing that this software doesn’t integrate back into Outlook (the necessary evil in my life). So sad. [img]http://img116.exs.cx/img116/6469/g5cgrin.gif[/img]
Has a pretty darned cool seating feature - it actually draws a line from one couple to the other so that you can see if you accidentally separated them. Wish you could actually put the tables in the reception hall layout though. Kind of annoying that you can’t.
Addresses: This one has an addressbook import, but it is only from Outlook contacts. Which is almost OK, but it is a pain to import from csv to Outlook, so I am getting annoyed. It does have a Households concept, which I definitely like. As far as addressing goes though, it just falls short. It has great Etiquette options, but for those of us with particular tastes will be a bit disappointed. I want to be able to choose whether it uses Miss or Ms, and I want to be able to add kids to the outer envelope. This software does not allow you to customize the automatic format, although you can manually overwrite what it has come up with. Too much work for me. [img]http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/shared/emoticons/razz.gif[/img]
Done for now. I’ll probably revisit this one.
Filed under Wedding planning | Comment (0)Wedding Planner 5.4
Score: 0
http://www.weddingglobe.com/
This software, by Wedding Globe, boasts:
Don’t buy another software package that was developed in the stone age. The latest release of our software was updated November 30, 2003. It is developed to to have better compatibility and functionality for today’s users.
That awesome up-to-date software came up with a sweet error when being installed… Something to the effect of: This software is incompatible with this operating system. I gave it a shot anyway and it froze about 10 seconds into it.
Filed under Wedding planning | Comments (2)Software reviews
There are a whole lot of wedding planning software companies out there. Right now I am downloading and trying out each one. Let me tell you, as a software designer, this is a PAINFUL experience!! There are a lot of bad designs, I’ll see if I can wade through the mess and still find it usable.
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