5 Strategies to Avoid Pre-Wedding Stress

5 Strategies to Avoid Pre-Wedding Stress

In recent years, more and more millennials put together a last-minute barbecue or weekend gathering where they say “oh, by the way, we just got married.” The reason so many people take this tactic or even go so far as to elope in Las Vegas is that wedding stress is undeniable. Ask anyone planning to get married and you’ll find that they consider the process of planning a wedding to be stressful.

If you want to avoid stress, you need to follow these five simple rules.

1. Don’t Be Afraid to Delegate

When it’s time to plan your wedding, many people have this perfect image of the day in mind. This rigidity is hard to maintain on your own. If you’re already working a full-time job, this is going to feel like a second full-time job on top of that.

Instead of taking on all the stress while seeing very little reward for a long time, delegate some of the tasks out. You should give some tasks to your partner, to your friends, and to your family. Letting them know what they can do to help makes them more invested in the wedding.

When they get to the wedding day and see the work that they’ve done, they’ll feel like they contributed to something special. And you’ll know that they did.

Rather than panicking and stressing yourself out, give friends and families things to do. This will free you up to do the tasks that only you can do, like shop for rings.

2. Stay Flexible

As alluded to above, you can’t be a control freak about your wedding and still hope to be happy by the time your wedding day rolls around. You need to set your expectations around your budget and around what’s available. IF you’re looking to plan a wedding that happens in a month or two, you’re not going to get everything you want.

You need to be flexible when shopping for a dress or seeking out what kind of entertainment you’re going to have. Having your favorite childhood band might not be in the budget, but having a band that can cover some of your favorite songs might be in the budget.

If your plan is too rigid, you’ll be stressed out and constantly disappointed. There’s nothing worse than trying to make the impossible happen when you don’t have the time or the budget.

Planning is key. The longer you have to plan, the more options that you’ll have and the less likely you’ll be disappointed in the end.

3. Don’t Jump Around

When you’re trying to find the perfect place for your wedding breakfast, rehearsal dinner, and the reception, you might have three distinct places in mind. This is three times the organizational work that you’ll have to do when it comes to finding venues. It’s hard to coordinate three different venues on the same day, as they might all have different availabilities.

One location can do a lot and make life easier for everyone. If you’re bringing in people from out of town, it’s also hard to get them to multiple venues. They might not know how to get around, miscalculate their trip, and get lost in the process.

If your friends and family have traveled from a long way to get to you, it’s a lot to ask to get them to run around to several different venues. In fact, it might even be rude, which can put everyone in a bad mood. The last thing you want is to be waiting for your grandparents to get it together to get from the hip brunch spot, back to the hotel, to the wedding venue.

4. List People Alphabetically

When you’re putting together the guest list, some people get forgotten. This upsets certain people or members of your family. Instead of trying to remember everyone, do things alphabetically.

When you think of a family’s last name, you can gather together all of their members more easily. Listing people alphabetically can help to jog your memory so that you don’t leave anyone out. Your draft guest list will let you know who you left off so that you don’t make that mistake with the final list.

Rather than invitations not getting to people or having them get them too late, your draft is going to be more likely to include everyone.

5. Avoid Dieting

When people buy their wedding outfit, they’ll sometimes buy one that’s one or two sizes too small. Both brides and grooms tend to do this, and it’s the best way to end up stressed out.

Hoping to lose weight is one thing. Actually losing it is another. If you’re dieting while you’re stressed out, you’re going to be hangry everywhere you go.

Get comfortable with yourself and what you look like today. If you don’t like it, then put off finding your outfit until you’re in a place where you’re happy. However, if you’re tired and hungry while you’re trying to plan your wedding, you’ll be very stressed and unhappy.

Instead, find something that allows you to look good on how you look today. Don’t let yourself fall into the trap of dieting when you should be planning for a joyful day. How are you going to enjoy all of the food and cake tastings if you feel guilty about eating it in the first place?

Wedding Stress Doesn’t Have to be Inevitable

When you’re planning for your big day, wedding stress isn’t an inevitable part of the process. You could have a happy and fun wedding planning process if you make the right decisions ahead of time. The main thing to do is to ensure that you leave yourself time and you’re open to change. Wedding etiquette is changing, however, so follow our guide to make sure you make your wedding fun for everyone.