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Are you feeling overwhelmed planning your wedding? We know, wedding planning stress is a real thing and it's only natural that you might be feeling anxiety and stressing during through out your wedding journey. It's common that every bride and groom or engaged person feels some stress and anxiety through the wedding planning process. We're here to help. For this wedding planning advice post, we're sharing our expertise after helping engaged couples for years. There are some tips we'd love to share with you to help minimize the stress from the start.
From the moment you say 'yes' to the ring, to the moment you walk down the aisle...there is bound to be some stressful situations. After all, you've likely never been through getting married before. Feeling stress and overwhelm is completely normal. Through the wedding planning process it's important that raise your emotional awareness. Be sure to identify the emotions you are experiencing, and your partner, too.
Photo Credit: Alyssa Rados Photography and Vanessa Musilek Photography
Whether it's the stress and overwhelm of the planning process or the nerves for your big wedding day to anxiety over such a major life change, you'll want to use our tips to help you navigate the anxiety during wedding planning and enjoy the moments! Here's what to do if you're feeling overwhelmed planning your wedding...
Before you do anything, sit down with your partner and make some wedding planning goals and priorities. Yes, before you even start planning! Trust us, taking the time to discuss with your partner and establish goals, budgets, priorities will really help to alleviate stress throughout the whole wedding planning process. It keeps things running smoother and makes decision making just that much easier.
Starting with a conversation with your partner and coming together to set your wedding priorities is also a key way to ensure you love your wedding choices forever, something we've written a whole blog post about for you, too!
Take time for self care. While we know you may love the wedding planning process, it's important to take time for yourself away from wedding planing and even away from simply 'thinking' about the wedding.
What does self care look like for you? Perhaps a spa day at home or even a good workout or yoga session! Even just a simple (and short) meditation at the end of the day can help you take care of you during your wedding planning journey.
The key to taking care of yourself and protecting your mental health during your wedding planning isn't the length of time that you do self care, it is simply that you do it.
If you can, hire a wedding planner to work with you throughout your wedding planning process. (Not just a day of coordinator or a coordinator for the venue. Consider a wedding planner who works with you and only you, not the venue, and who will be with your every step of th way through the entire planning process.)
This strategic wedding planner hire can really make a difference in your stress level and in your time. (And in your wedding budget, but that's another post for another day!)
Wedding planners walk through the tough decisions with you, provide their expertise and experience, and take on tasks for you to alleviate the overwhelm. They are a sounding board, a best friend and a trusted expert, which will be so important to keeping you stress-free and your mental health in check during the planning phases.
Wedding planners are also there to help you relieve stress and anxiety on your wedding day too, not just throughout the planning process. They will take care of issues on the day of the wedding that you didn't even know existed and keep you on schedule, so that all you have to do is relax and celebrate on your wedding day. After all the months of planning and the dram and the stress, you deserve to enjoy your wedding day.
When it comes to hiring for the rest of your wedding, hire the best and most professional wedding vendors you can afford. The more experienced a wedding vendor, the better for you in the long run. Experienced wedding vendors know how to navigate those challenges that arise during the planning process and on wedding day...because they've been there before. They also know how to prepare better than anyone else to avoid as many issues as they can in the first place.
One of the best ways to avoid overwhelm and reduce wedding planning anxiety, is to seek out the most experienced wedding professionals that you can find. Trust your wedding vendors and let them take care of you and help you have a stress-free wedding.
You don't have to do it all. We repeat, you don't have to do it all. This is true in life, but especially true in wedding planning. One of the best ways to take care of your mental health and reduce anxiety during your wedding is to delegate.
Decide what you want to do (and like to do) for your wedding and delegate the rest. If you have a particular skill or interest, be sure to let yourself enjoy those wedding planning activities. But, if other tasks feel daunting to you, delegate them out!
P.S. When you delegate those wedding tasks and to do's, don't micromanage...just, let it go! That's the whole point of delegating in the first place.
Photo Credit: Alyssa Rados Photography and Vanessa Musilek Photography
Oh social media, we love and hate it sometimes. Social media can be really fun and a great way to relax, but it can also feed into feelings of inadequacy and perhaps even jealousy, especially when it comes to your mental health and your wedding.
If you're feeling stressed out, overwhelmed or anxious around your wedding, one simple thing to do is limit your social media. Shutting off the social media will calm your mind and help you relax.
Your wedding planning life is no different than in your day-to-day life. You must take care of your mental health when on social media. Specifically for engaged couples, protect yourself on social media so you don't compare your wedding to others.
If perusing social media during your engagement and wedding planning days is making you second guess your wedding decisions or has you longing for something outside of your budget then consider staying off of social media, limiting your time on social media, or muting those profiles causing your angst.
LET YOUR DECISIONS BE FINAL
Once you sign those contracts and make you wedding design decisions, stay off of Pinterest or delete your wedding Pinterest boards. We know, this may surprise you since we highly recommend Pinterest for wedding planning...but doing any more research or searching post-decision making will lead to buyer's remorse and second-guessing. And who wants second guessing when it comes to your wedding?
For more tips on how to use Pinterest to plan your wedding, be sure to check out our post.
But, remember, one sure-fire way to reduce the stress and overwhelm when it comes to wedding planning is to cut off the Pinterest once you sign those contracts with wedding vendors or make wedding related decisions.
For example, once you buy your wedding dress, delete your wedding attire Pinterest board. Or, once you sign your wedding catering contract, there's no need to keep scrolling Pinterest for wedding menu ideas or signature cocktail recipes. Let your wedding vendors take it from there and trust that you made the right decision. Continued used of Pinterest after you've made your decisions in wedding planning can lead to over-inspiration and second guessing your choices.
Before you know it, the wedding will start to take over your life and become the only thing you look at on social media and all you talk about with your friends, family and coworkers. Be sure to set clear boundaries for yourself. Balance is key in life and especially in wedding planning.
Do whatever you have to do to create clear boundaries for yourself around wedding planning and talking about your wedding so that you don't create too much focus on one day.
Everyone responds to boundaries in different ways, so trust yourself to create whatever boundaries work for you and your life. Just know that having boundaries around your wedding planning will help you to reduce stress and anxiety so that the wedding doesn't take over your whole life.
Just like you would for your your job or school work, set aside time each day or week to work on wedding tasks. When that time is up, be done with the wedding planning until the next time you have set aside.
Time blocking when it comes to your wedding is an easy way to not only create boundaries (see above tip), but to also protect your mental health during your wedding planning process.
There will no-doubt be endless tasks and to do's when it comes to your wedding, such and researching, contract reading, decision making, touring, interviewing, shopping and on and on an on. The wedding tasks can feel overwhelming, especially when you're trying to fit it (OK, squeeze) into your already busy life.
Consider blocking your time, aka setting aside a dedicated time each day or week, to work on wedding only to do's. Time blocking your wedding tasks will help you be more efficient and will help to reduce your stress and anxiety.
Photo Credit: Alyssa Rados Photography and Vanessa Musilek Photography
Do you feel less stressed already? We hope this post of wedding advice will help you navigate the stress and anxiety of wedding planning.
Remember, the wedding is a joyous occasion. Wedding planning can quickly feel overwhelming but use our tips to make sure it's also an enjoyable process!
Looking for more friendly advice for a stress-free wedding? Be sure to check out these other wedding advice blog posts:
Don't forget, we have so much helpful and practical wedding planning advice on our blog. Whether it's with our our tips or our wedding heirlooms, our main goal in life is to share our expertise and help you have a joyful and stress-free wedding planning experience. You can shop our wedding garters and bridal accessories anytime and you can find all of our wedding planning tips on the blog.
