Planning a wedding is a notoriously stressful task. It’s a gargantuan undertaking, and it’s easy to feel like stress is getting the better of you and impacting your relationship with your spouse-to-be. If you’re planning a wedding, follow these helpful tips to manage day-to-day stresses and worries and enjoy the planning process.
Work from a List
When planning a wedding, before you set a date or work out who you want to invite, the first thing you should do is to create a list of things you’ll need to do. It helps to group these into timeframes to know exactly when you need to get particular tasks done. You can write a list yourself or use this wedding checklist based on your timeline as a great jumping-off point.
Once you have a list, you’ll be able to clearly see what needs doing and when – and this will help you manage stress.
Create a Budget
It’s easy enough to pluck a number out of the air and claim that that’s how much you’ll spend on the wedding, but it’s much more difficult to create a detailed and accurate budget that you’ll actually be able to stick to. So, it’s a good idea to do some research into the average cost of each element of your wedding – the dress, the food, the venue, the accommodation.
Researching before you create a budget will help you know how much you can expect to pay for certain goods or services, meaning you can avoid nasty surprises that may push you over budget.
Delegate!
Many couples want to plan the whole wedding themselves, and that can work for some people. For others, though, it’s an easy way to feel overwhelmed and stressed out by the whole process.
If you feel like you’re taking on too much, don’t be afraid to delegate to trusted friends or family members. Ask loved ones for help with writing or sending invitations, designing a wedding website, or choosing the silverware. Any help that’s offered should be accepted gratefully!
Set Expectations
The downside to delegating is that family members and friends may become a little too invested in your wedding. It’s tempting, particularly for parents of the couple getting married, to get too involved in wedding decisions, inviting second cousins that you’ve never met and telling their friend Sally to come along because they’re sure you’ll be able to squeeze her in!
The only way to combat this type of intrusion is to set clear expectations from the beginning. It’s your day, and you’re the ones organising it, so don’t let other people hijack it!
Focus on the Big Picture
The best way to manage wedding planning stress is fairly simple. Each time you feel tense or overwhelmed with how much you still have to do, remind yourself why you’re doing it: to marry the person you love. During the planning process, it’s easy to forget that weddings are really about starting a marriage, but if you make an effort to spend some quality time with your partner (with no wedding talk allowed!), you’ll find that you remember exactly what all the fuss is for.
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