Something Different To Help Combat Wedding Planning Overwhelm!
Well, hello there guys, thanks for joining me for this, quite special blog post! I’ve teamed up with Alex from Alexandra Plans Weddings to give you a taste of something a little bit different…
Instead of the same advice that we think most people will be dolling out, we’ve opted to centre our wedding planning tips around what’s going to remove the stress and overwhelm from your planning journey.
We wish it could cover everything, but as we can’t do that here… (Hit Alex up for full wedding day planning if you want absolutely NO stress!). We hope that these tips will set you forth and help you have a stress-free wedding planning journey.
Say goodbye to wedding planning overwhelm, and hello to wedding planning excitement! Sounds good, yes?
Tip #1: Plan Your Wedding Guest List
We know, we know, planning your wedding guest list, isn’t the most sexiest of tasks. But Alex is confident that starting your journey here, is going to save you stress later.
She tells me, that this guest list is going to inform so many of those crucial first decisions. By knowing your numbers ahead of time, you save stress and heartache later. Why?
Well venues sometimes have minimum and maximum capacities that they can cater for, so you’ll know if a venue is worth looking at if they fit into your guest list desires.
Some venues do and don’t have accommodation, which depending on where those guests of yours might be coming from, may also inform your decision. And if you dunno if they’re coming, you’re not sure if it’ll work right?
Knowing your numbers is also going to largely inform your budget decisions when you come to choose a venue too.
So really, you can see the benefit of doing this task first and saving a bazillion questions later, right?
Tip #2: To Please the People, Or Not Please the People?!
We think you know our answer. Don’t please the people! Please yourselves!
Okay we get it, people pleasing might be a slightly controversial subject. And you love your family, so you want them to be happy too.
But this is YOUR wedding.
It’s so easily done, getting swept up in the opinions of Mum, Dad & Aunty Jean, but it’s not their day, it’s yours!
It sounds kinda obvious, but it’s about the TWO of YOU. Not who’s paying the bill.
Alex and I believe even if family are contributing, they should be happy to see you having the wedding of YOUR dreams, and not theirs.
We get it can be easy, (and hella confusing!!) listening to the advice coming from your already married family and friends, they’ve done it before right?! I’m sure they’ve got opinions on EVERYTHING! (Am I right?!)
But we’re here to tell you it’s okay to take those opinions with a pinch of salt. The beauty of weddings, is everyone is different. Do it your way anyway!
And if that confusing feeling comes in with the overwhelming amount of advice, take a step back. What is your gut telling you to do. Y’know the little voice we often ignore in favour of opinions and anxiety? Listen to that voice!
We’re not tryna say those people don’t matter, they’re your dearly loved, of course they do! But you and your desires for this day matter as well!
Tip #3: Please Plan to Stop Planning!
K, bare with us here. This one is a doozey, but it’s worth listening to if you’re serious about having a stress-free planning experience. So let’s combat that wedding planning overwhelm!
Alright, so what exactly does Alex mean when she says we should “plan to stop planning”? Well oftentimes when couples plan weddings, they leave a lot of bits to the end, and that last week before the wedding can feel extremely stressful and overwhelming.
You’re fussing trying to get all the bits sorted, and it just all feels… like a lot!
So if you plan to stop planning, set a date, a week or a month before your wedding date to have everything completed by. A deadline ahead of the deadline, if you will!
This will stop that overwhelming panic that hits the last week of, and will give you and your partner a chance to spend some time together to get excited about the wedding! And remind yourself of the reasons you’re getting married in the first place!
You might choose to plan to have a little mini moon ahead of the wedding, a couple days just to chill, or simply just some time together to relax instead of getting swept up in the anxiety of the details!
And if you’re struggling with seeing how to get to this point, one of my couples recommended me a great way to think about it.
Take the “one thing a week” approach. You might have 15 suppliers you’d like to book, well one thing a week’ll take 15 weeks. Being more realistic might mean 1 thing every 2 weeks, in which you’d be done in 30 weeks.
It all depends how many suppliers you’ve got, and how much time, but it’s a great way to break it down and take away the stress!
Tip #4: Hire A Wedding Planner!
The easiest way to combat wedding planning overwhelm? Is get someone else to do it! We know, you want creative control. But you don’t loose that here, you’re simply given the gift of relaxation while someone else does the hard work for you. Doesn’t that sound awesome?
A wedding planner, is more than a venue coordinator, and more than a maid of honour. She’s these things and more, combined.
I say she not to be generalist, but because I’m specifically talking here about Alex of Alexandra Plans Weddings.
If you’d like to relinquish control to a self-confessed control freak whose mission it is to make your wedding perfect for you, hire a wedding planner!
You see, it’s Alex’s dream to help you plan the wedding of yours! So if you’re interested, visit her website, check out her offering and have a chat with her.
She’ll help you see what you might be missing out on by not having an Alex at your side on the day of your wedding!
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