Wedding Planning Burnout
Wedding planning can be stressful. We all know that. There are tons of preparations to be made, tons of vendors to visit, the guest list, the seating plan... it can be quite overwhelming. What if you’re having trouble finding a venue for the date you want? If you can’t get a venue, will you have to move the date? If you move the date, will the vendors you already booked be available? You can see how things can quickly spiral into a pit of despair and frustration.
There’s good news, though. There are plenty of ways to go about organizing yourself so your wedding planning is more efficient (you can find a helpful guide here), but you’re still going to be dealing with a lot of stress. What’s important is to find ways to deal with it. To help you with that, I’ve got a few ideas you should consider to help deal with the stress of the day.
Budget
You should have a clear idea of what your wedding could cost and how much you’re willing to spend. Do some research before you start booking vendors so you have an idea what it might cost to do the things you were planning on doing. If you want to hire a band for the reception, for example, you should know what that will cost before you book your venue. It may actually put you over your budget otherwise.
Make sure that everyone who is contributing financially to the wedding knows what everything will cost. If family members are helping out, keep them informed. Financial disagreements are the source of stress in so many people’s lives. You don’t want, “Wait, you spent HOW much on live butterflies?” to be the source of friction between family members. What’s more, keeping an open line of communication will help you reduce your stress by sharing the burden.
Be Flexible
Perfection doesn’t exist in reality. You shouldn’t expect it to exist during your wedding. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t strive for it, but things can go wrong. That doesn’t mean that if something does go wrong, it’s going to be a disaster. It’ll probably be a little thing: the flower delivery is a bit late. The limo driver took a wrong turn. The best man can’t find his speech. These are really not major issues and they all work themselves out pretty quickly.
I once worked a wedding reception during a power failure. That’s something that can be considered a major problem, and it still worked out. There was enough generator power for the kitchen, basic lighting and the DJ. It was obviously a little hot as there was no air conditioning, but the show did go on.
Communicate
Remember, you’re not in this alone. At the very least, you have one other person who’s in this every bit as much as you are. If something is getting to you, talk about it. As with financial stress, you can relieve emotional stress by sharing the burden with the people you’re close to. You have close friends and family who are more than willing to listen to what’s on your mind and help you sort through it.
Step Back
Your wedding is probably a year from now, possibly two. There’s no need to get everything done as soon as possible. Prioritize what needs to be done and take care of those things first. If the stress is starting to get to you, take a break. If your wedding is in 10 months, you can afford to take a week or two off from your planning.