My exact words eight months ago, “I won’t get stressed at all during wedding planning. We’re pretty low-key. This should be fun and easy! What is there to stress about?”
I have come to learn that stress and wedding planning may go hand-in-hand, especially if you want things done right- aka ‘your way’. Both Ben and I are super-relaxed people with Type A personalities. (That’s not an oxymoron, right?) I am not one of those girls who envisioned my wedding as a five year-old girl. I never daydreamed about it actually. When Ben and I got engaged, we started creating the vision together. The more we talk about our big day, the more excited I get. I get teared up just thinking about all the incredible memories we will make that day. But wow, does that vision require quite a bit of research, planning, and organizing.
So, the past two weeks, I’ve started to feel my first bit of wedding stress. (Hence my lack of blog content) Then, I share my craziness with Ben and allow myself to breathe, take a step back, and reflect. When all is said and done, a wedding is about a promise, a marriage, and a lifetime- not a party. Regardless, I will probably still send a dozen emails about our macaroon tower and make fifteen trips to CVS to print photos. I may even have a hissy-fit if our Chiavari chairs don’t work at our venue. But, in that chaos, is so much excitement. I don’t want stress to put a damper on that excitement. At the end of the day, I am grateful- beyond grateful.
On top my Top 3 tips to minimize wedding planning stress…
Tip #1- Utilize AMAZON and ETSY
I seriously thought my mom was going to have a mild heart-attack when I told her I was ordering my shoes from Amazon and considering getting my veil off Etsy. Utilizing both sites is a great way to save money. I am a shoe-gal, and I appreciate a great designer shoe. (I did get a pair of Manolos as a graduation gift.) That being said, I wanted my wedding shoes to be comfortable and functional. I have always admired Badgley Mischka’s bridal shoes. I used Amazon Prime Wardrobe to order four pairs of bridal shoes. I ended up with a gorgeous pair of bridal wedges and saved about $70 off the original price.
We ordered both of our flower-girl dresses from Etsy. They are absolutely adorable, and were less than $60! I am still debating where I will get my veil, but I do have an Etsy one in my current shopping cart. (Mom, if you’re reading this, we can talk about it. Don’t worry.)
Tip #2- Make a master list
Ben made me sit down and write out all the things we had to do for the wedding. We put the list in order from urgent to last-minute details. As silly as it sounds, it has been so helpful to see the list. It feels much more manageable.
Tip #3- Book “The Big Things”
Whenever people ask how wedding-planning is going, I usually respond with, “We’re having a blast, but there is still so much to do!” To which people usually say, “Do you have a caterer? Band? Photographer/Videographer? Church?” I respond “Yes!” to all of those questions. They usually follow-up with something like, “You’re all set then!” The reality is, we already have the ‘big’ things booked. Once you have ‘the big things booked, you should breathe a sigh of relief.
