8 Ways to Reduce Your Wedding Stress!

by Jennifer Cram, Brisbane Marriage Celebrant   © (16/11/2018) 
Categories: | Wedding Planning |

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Getting married is cause for celebration.
But planning a wedding can be incredibly stressful if you let it be so - even for the most organised, calm, and laid-back couple. But if you stick to your guns about the type of wedding you want, and do the following you will avoid a lot of the wedding-stress.

1. Remember why you are getting married.
   Apart from the moment when you stand up in front of friends and loved one and make the vows that will create your legal marriage, together with the promises that will be a blueprint for your relationship, everything else is a party which, in the long run, is your celebration of the event, not the event itself. 
2. Invite people you really care about, and only people you care about.
   If you don't have an emotional connection, don't send an invitation.
   
3. Hire vendors you like - but anyone just because you like them.
   Your wedding vendors - celebrant, photographer, videographer, cake-maker, stylists, hair and makeup people, and so on - are the team that will ensure that everything comes together and runs smoothly on the day. You need to be able to trust them, and liking them, and being able to be confident that they are on your side, makes the whole experience so much more pleasant. However, at the end of the day, you need to choose vendors who are good at what they do.  So check out competence before you fall for compatibility!
4. Make your own decisions, based on what will bring the two of you joy
   Weddings make people nervous about "making mistakes". As a result, they become very vulnerable to influence of others, particularly if the dreaded What will people think?  question raises its ugly head. Remember that anything that became a tradition just started with what was a good idea at the time. But times change. If it doesn't feel good, don't do it. Choosing to ditch a tradition that means nothing to you won't make your marriage invalid (Number 1 again).
5. Go small on your wedding party.
   There are so many roles good friends can play in your wedding. They don't all have to be dressed identically and standing up the front with you. The bigger the bridal party, the more stress (and the more expense for you, another source of stress.
6. Set a budget and stick to it.
   Be shrewd, not cheap. Having a wedding is going cost, but it shouldn't cost you so much that you are stressed about how you are going to pay for it.
7. Learn how to delegate.
   Honestly, you don't have to personally do everything (DIY some things if you wish, but not everything). As long as you are making the decisions, other people can carry them out. Obviously, the vendors you hire as your wedding team, will be doing just that - but others can help as well. Want to display family wedding photos at your reception? Delegate someone to round them up, bring them to the venue, set them up, and pack them up and take them away again. Ask willing helpers to do the initial searching for suppliers of particular items and bring you a short list to make the final choice. And so on.
8. Adopt the mantra It doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful.
   Nothing is ever perfect. And the things you stress over are things most people won't notice anyway. What they do notice is how happy and relaxed (or not) the two of you are on the day. How welcome you made them feel. And how physically and emotionally comfortable they are. The perfect wedding is the happy wedding, not the perfect flowers, food, or fancy decor.
   

NOTE: When you book me as your celebrant I'll give you a booklet I've written called How to have a glitch-free, stress-free wedding. It has lots of wise advice and handy tips!

Thanks for reading!