Wedding planning is a world of its own. When I got engaged, one of the things that I realize is that there are so many resources out there for brides! There’s so many different ideas, styles and budgets and to put it simply, it can be overwhelming.   So in the midst of all my own planning, I wanted to share some of my favorite wedding planning tips to help as you’re making your decisions with your new spouse but also navigating between your family and friends!

Decide What is Best for You

Although I have been a part of so many weddings, it was hard to filter through all of the information and decide what was best for me. The wedding industry is full of opinions. Your mom may want to have someone invited that you didn’t know existed. Your best friend may have strong opinions about your dress.  At the end of the day, you HAVE to decide on what is best for you and your day because your wedding is supposed to reflect YOU. For example, I personally didn’t want to have a lot of flowers for decor and loved the idea of using floating candles so we’re combining the two. It definitely works for me and my style.

Identify Your Stressors & Delegate Where You Can

One thing that I had the privilege of learning during my time in college was delegation and it has been something that has alleviated so much stress for me. What are my stressors? Colors, Design & Decor. I have taken quite a bit of design classes, but I personally would stay away from it if I have to. It STRESSES me out. So when it came to my wedding, I had the hardest time deciding on wedding invitations and I had decided to get them made for me. Deciding on what colors my bridesmaids should wear in combination of tuxedos overwhelmed me, so I delegated that to my sister. I also put her in charge of deciding my decor.

Organize The Best You Can

This is the winner for me because I love organizing. My favorite part of wedding planning was budgeting, structuring the guest list, having a list of all our vendors, meetings, and the works. I utilized Google Docs/Sheets mostly because it was easier to share with my Fiance’ and my sister (who is also my wedding planner).  The Knot also has an amazing wedding planner that is helpful for those that wants to have something written down tangibly.  A fun tip when it comes to your wedding invitations, assign all of your guests a number and write it on the back of their assigned RSVP card.  Guests sometimes forget to write their names on the card and it makes it easier to figure out instead of having to chase people around to find out who it was!

Get A Day Of Coordinator

Your wedding day will fly by so quickly and the last thing you want is being stressed out about time and you also don’t want to take the day away from your family members. Having a DOC is so beneficial for making sure the day goes smoothly, getting everything set up, and also making sure everyone is informed with what needs to be happening. If there’s anything (outside of photography of course haha) that I would emphasize a bride should get for their wedding day, it’s a day of coordinator.

Take Some Time Away From Planning

Wedding planning can feel like a full time job. It is all consuming in every aspect of your life. It was brought up in almost every conversation, most life decisions were made with the wedding in mind.  It really can get stressful. So schedule a day to go out and not talk or think about the wedding. Do something that you enjoy whether it’s reading a book, watching tv, going to the movies. Definitely prioritize those dates nights.

Remember What is Most Important: Your Marriage

Because of the time commitment that is required to plan your wedding. You have to be proactive in reminding yourself that at the end of the day, if things don’t go 100% the way you want them to, that the most important thing that would be coming from that day you being married to the person that you love and committed the rest of your life to. With this in mind, you’ll be faced with having to compromise and say no to things. Remember to take time to plan for your marriage apart from your wedding. Talk about habits, finances, hurts, and pains. Nail down the things that are needed to start your marriage strong.

Learn more about being a part of the JCP Wedding Experience!