As a Philadelphia wedding photographer, I am passionate about ensuring my couples have an amazing wedding experience! This season of engagement is a special time for you and as a bride-to-be, there are definitely some things you can do to make planning your wedding the most incredible experience.
Today, I’m breaking down some simple tips to help take the stress out of planning your upcoming wedding:
Planning a wedding is exciting and fun but it can also be one of the busiest times of your life! If you don’t want to end up being a bundle of stress a week before your big day, learn to prioritize and decline any new commitments that would take away from other important wedding-related tasks. It’s really ok to say “no” every now and then!
The more organized you are, the better your wedding planning experience will be. Let me say that again: The more organized you are, the better your wedding planning experience will be.
Make a list of your planning goals and tackle a few each month. Putting off tasks and waiting to plan will leave you overwhelmed and hating the process.
Keep a digital copy of all of your important documents, contracts and information in one file on your computer so that you can easily refer back to them when you need to. If you want to be able to bring important documents along to meetings with vendors, you can always create a wedding binder that contains all of the information you need. Plus it makes for a great backup copy, too.
Exercise does wonders when you’ve got a lot on your plate and just need to take a breather and focus on your health. This doesn’t mean that you need to schedule in an hour at the gym every day either. If you’re strapped for time, a simple 15-20 minute walk or yoga session will make all the difference to your stress and energy levels.
There’s no need for you to be a frazzled bride. Take out your calendar and schedule a few fun days in-between all of your planning. Sometimes it’s important to come back down to earth and remember why you’re choosing to marry your partner and that trying to control every single aspect of your day is only going to leave you wishing it was over. Go out and enjoy an afternoon with the girls or with your honey where you don’t talk about the wedding at all!
It can be tempting to have that “I’ve got this!” attitude when it comes to handling the large planning to-do list. Delegating some wedding planning tasks to your bridesmaids, mom, or future Mother-in-law can really help bring your stress level down. (Trust me, your future MIL will appreciate being included in the planning!)
Another alternative is to hire a wedding planner. Leave the stress behind and hand the coordination over to a professional! (Take a peek at the reasons why I believe every bride should invest in wedding planning services.)