As you may have heard, organizing a wedding is not exactly a piece of cake, even if you don’t plan on throwing the house out the window. The wedding marks an important moment in a couple’s life, so it’s only normal for the future bride and groom to want to make this day as special as possible, and that’s definitely not an easy thing to achieve.
As the wedding day approaches and the tasks keep piling up, the pressure starts increasing and the stress levels can reach astronomic heights. Between shopping for the bridal attire, reserving ceremony and reception venues, making the guest list, and choosing the menu, you’ll soon find yourself overwhelmed by the reality of what planning a wedding implies.
Needless to say, all the stress and effort that come with planning can take the joy out of this event and even ruin your big day, but only if you allow it. So, here are a few effective tips that will stop you from turning into a bridezilla or groomzilla and make wedding planning a stress-free experience.
Start early
So, you got engaged and now you’re daydreaming about how your wedding day will be like. Well, it’s time to stop dreaming and start acting, because no wedding is going to plan itself, and there’s an endless amount of work to be done before you walk down the aisle.
If there’s one golden rule that every bride and groom to be should know about, it is never to leave things to the last minute. You should start planning your wedding as soon as possible, to make sure you have enough time to take care of all the things that need to be done, down to the very last detail. The last weeks before the wedding day should be dedicated to making small adjustments or taking care of unexpected events – and we can assure you there will be lots of surprises along the way.
Have a wedding planning checklist
If you want everything to run smoothly, you have to be organized. This sounds like the most logical and reasonable thing to do, yet you’d be surprised at how often people ignore this aspect. A lot of couples think it’s enough to make a mental checklist with all the tasks they need to fulfill before the big day, but that’s just overestimating their capacity to focus and remember things.
A much smarter approach is to create a written wedding checklist where you can include every little aspect that goes into planning the event of your dreams. That way, you can make sure nothing escapes your attention, and you won’t blame yourself (or others) later for forgetting to invite someone or misplacing your wedding bands.
Delegate tasks
The wedding is all about the bride and the groom starting a new life together – well, it’s more about the bride, to be honest, but that’s beside the point. However, this doesn’t mean that you and your partner must do everything on your own. You could try this, of course, but at the expense of your mental sanity.
What are friends and family for if not for helping you get ready for your special day? So, gather everyone around and start delegating some of the wedding planning tasks that don’t require your personal involvement. Just make sure everyone knows what they have to do, to keep confusion and chaos at bay.
Hire a virtual personal assistant
Even if you have the support of all your friends and family, planning a wedding can still feel overwhelming. That’s when you need a professional to step in and save the day, quite literally. If working with a wedding planner seems a bit too much, you can always hire a virtual personal assistant for the job.
VAs are trained professionals who can take care of all the behind-the-scenes work needed to pull off a great event. Finding a good virtual PA service in the UK to help you with your wedding planning is not hard. However, you should make sure that you and the VA are on the same page before embarking on this adventure together if you want everything to work out perfectly.
Set realistic expectations
You’ve probably been dreaming of your wedding day your whole life, and even if you haven’t you surely expect it to be like a scene from a fairytale. That’s all well and good, but you have to be realistic about your possibilities and learn how to manage your expectations.
You might imagine a grand banquet hall with thousands of guests gathered to congratulate you on the most important day of your life, but you also have to check if your budget supports your plans. You can still have the wedding of your dreams even if you’re on a tight budget. You just have to be practical and focus on what matters the most to you.
Take a break (or more)
Even if you’re perfectly organized and you do everything by the book, stress can still creep up on you. When that happens, the best thing you can do is to take a step back and give yourself a break.
You don’t have to be in control all the time, running around and getting things done from dusk till dawn to make things work. Try to be kind to yourself, and fit some relaxation time into your busy schedule. After all, you don’t want to look like you haven’t slept in ages when you walk down the aisle.
Talk to your partner
Remember that wedding planning can be just as stressful for your partner as it is for you. So, if you find yourself overwhelmed by all the things you have to get done before the big day, talk to your partner about it.
Your wedding will mark a new stage in your life as a couple, so think of wedding planning as your first big challenge. Working together as a team will not only reduce the wedding planning stress but will also help you enjoy the process and make wonderful memories along the way.