Name one thing more stressful than planning a wedding… we’ll wait. But in all seriousness, wedding planning can be tough no matter the month or year, and the mental stress can make what’s supposed to be the happiest time in your life a bit overwhelming. In honor of Mental Health Awareness Week, we’ve created a guide to support all our couples who are tackling the endeavor. We’re kicking off a week of helpful topics with our list of how to ease wedding planning stress. Read on for our tips!
Photo: Amy Ames Photography
1. Hire a Wedding Planner
While this is likely the least surprising suggestion on our list, we can’t deny the benefits of hiring a wedding planner! Beyond managing set-up and design of the wedding day, wedding planners go far beyond to offer couples additional support with tasks including managing your budget, keeping you on track with the planning timeline and managing proposals and legal contracts. They are also problem solving PROS, and are ultimately the men and women behind the scenes taking care of any little wedding day hiccups that come along so you are blissfully ignorant.
Read our reasons to hire a wedding planner post for more insight into their coordination efforts and value.
2. Delegate Tasks
Regardless of if you hire a wedding planner or not, do not be afraid to delegate tasks both leading up to and on the big day. Your friends and family are excited to celebrate you, and believe it or not, want to help you on your wedding day. Ask your bridesmaids to attend meetings when your spouse-to-be is unavailable, or have an envelope-stuffing party with your favorite people to get those invites out the door faster. Some wedding day tasks you may not have thought to delegate are:
- Have someone in charge of getting food to any wedding party member or family member on location over meals before the wedding begins
- Assign one person the task of getting your bags/stuff into your getaway car
- Give a friend your phone to answer any calls from guests (i.e. getting lost, etc.) so you’re not distracted while getting ready
- If you’re planting signage or balloons to direct your guests, ask a guest with a car to set it out at the beginning of the day
3. Invest in a Physical Planner
We’re talking about the other kind of planner – an agenda! This might seem old-school, but having one single place to keep track of your planning notes, meeting times and deadlines will prove so crucial! We suggest investing in a planner with lined space outside of the calendar to take notes and pockets to collect receipts and paperwork from vendors. If you’re more of a digital planner, make sure you’re taking advantage or an app or site that can collect ALL the details and dates – we love the Google apps and Microsoft OneNote – bonus points if you can connect your spouse-to-be!
4. Take Time for You (and your Partner)
While it may sound cheesy, your wedding day truly is all about you and your partner. Nothing can be more stress relieving that making space for yourselves. Carve out time for date night (yes, add it to the calendar in advance!) and schedule non-planning or non-wedding talk times just like you would social-free times. And we’d be remiss if we didn’t suggest a little “me time” for yourself. Book monthly facials or massages or plan regular brunch dates with your girlfriends – whatever gets you relaxed and gives you a mental break from wedding planning.
5. Keep Your Inspo Organized
We can’t imagine needing to encourage and bride or groom planning to save their wedding inspo… if you’re anything like us, you were saving ideas long before a proposal (wink wink). But it is important to keep your inspiration organized. Whether you prefer using Pinterest boards or Instagram collections, having one location to house all your wedding inspo with be a live saver as you begin to meet with wedding vendors. Go one step further and create boards inside boards (a file system, if you will) for the different wedding elements – flowers, cake, altar, etc. Have any vendors who need access to your inspiration? Create a shared Pinterest board for your planner or florist to access as they design your day.
6. Get Your Fiancé Involved in the Planning
Definitely DO get your fiancé involved in the wedding planning. They’ve got your back from here on out, and likely don’t want to see you stress out over the planning as much as you don’t want to! Get an idea of what they want from the wedding day (whether it be having a certain treat on the dessert bar or what the reception vibe will be) early on and let them assist in those to-dos OR give them one role to focus on, whichever is best for their personality. And remember, inviting your guy/gal to the most important meetings and including him/her in decisions is key to reminding them this day is BOTH of yours, not just the bride’s.
If you’ve got a partner who’s not into the wedding planning, read our guide for how to get your significant other involved in the process for ideas they will actually be on board with! Planning with an apathetic fiancé can be tough, but it’s also the perfect opportunity to get your mom or best girl friends in on all the fun.
Stay tuned for more mental health positive posts this week!
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