Refocusing When Wedding Planning Gets Stressful

We’re all guilty at one point or another of developing negative feelings towards wedding planning. It can be exhausting at times, there’s no denying that. But, a simple shift in perspective can serve as a wonderful reality check as to how wonderful this phase of life is. You’re getting married! You’re engaged to the love of your life and all of your friends and family are so excited to celebrate you and your fiancé. Who you marry will be on of the most life changing decisions you make. This life event is something to be celebrated, but too often the stress of booking a venue, debating which second cousin to knock off the guest list, and trying to get your husband-to-be to care about the linens can really pile up and push a bride-to-be over the edge and right into bridezilla land. Wedding planning stress will get the best of all brides-to-be at some point. And that’s okay! But, the important thing is to refocus and remember the reason why you’re planning this whole celebration in the first place.

Photo via Style Me Pretty

Rethink on your timeline. Are you giving yourself enough time to truly take care of all the details you want to get to before the big day? Are you giving yourself too much time, or maybe not enough time? No specific range is the perfect amount of time to be engaged. Every couple is running their own race. Nobody is ahead and nobody is behind, it’s different for everyone. But, if you’re trying to plan a Martha Stewart magazine-worthy celebration in 4 months and your wedding dress is on back order and still needs alterations done, you might be putting yourself in too much of a time crunch. Before you send out those save-the-dates, make sure you’re giving yourself enough time to truly enjoy the process and finish up planning in a timely way, but with a timeline that allows you to still enjoy the process.

Photo via Zoe Report

Understand that things will go wrong. Everybody knows that planning a wedding never actually goes according to plan. Something will go wrong, it’s basically inevitable. Something may go wrong half way through the planning and something else may go wrong on the day of the wedding. But that doesn’t mean your whole wedding is ruined. Even if your favorite DJ is booked on your wedding date, that doesn’t mean you can’t still have an incredible dance party after you cut the cake. It is also highly probable that something may go wrong on the actual day of your wedding, but if it does, the good news is it isn’t your job to fix it. Nobody should be contacting the bride with problems on her wedding day! That’s what the maid of honor is for. And when things do go wrong, remember that those things are not a defining moment for this wedding. At the end of the day, you’re still getting married no matter what happens and you still get to spend the rest of your life with your best friend.

Photo via Issuu

Don’t be afraid to simplify. Sometimes wedding planning excitement can cause some brides to bite off more than they can chew, if that’s you then don’t be afraid to take a step back and decide against a few ideas or decorations that you wanted to implement at your wedding. Whether you’re deciding to scale back your budget or simply go with less decorations, deciding to take a minimalistic approach can be a life saver when you’re starting to stress over all the small decorative details you initially thought were an absolute must for your fast-approaching nuptials.

Photo via Brit + Co

DIYing isn’t everything. Of course you have a wedding planning Pinterest board. And of course you’ve been adding to that board since you were a freshman in college and you’ve collected upward of 800 pins with over half of them being all the best wedding DIY ideas you’ve ever seen. Buuuut, putting those things into action and replicating all of those wedding ideas can really be exhausting and overwhelming. And DIYs are not always as cost efficient as they seem. Too much DIYing can really break the bank when you least expect it. Plus, consider the opportunity cost. In some situations it may be more of a hassle than it’s worth to make something entirely from scratch. Don’t be afraid to say “no” to some of your DIY ideas!

Photo via Junebug Weddings

Remember What’s Important. Why are you even planning this wedding in the first place? Is it really so that you’ll have a picture perfect wedding to show off on your social media? Hopefully not, or at least it definitely shouldn’t be. You’re getting married so that you can spend the rest of your life with this amazing person that has now become your person. And you’re having a wedding to celebrate that beautiful life that you’re going to have together.