Category — Advice

Planning your wedding is supposed to be the best time of your life…and sometimes it is…but it’s also one of the most stressful things you will EVER do.

I went through six weeks of HELL before my wedding. I had headaches, stomach aches and wedding nightmares worrying about…

Trying to make everyone happy.

Getting everything done on time.

Sticking to my budget AND getting what I wanted.

Dealing with family “drama.”

Sound familiar?

When you feel wedding stress coming on, STOP and follow these 5 Steps to Wedding Stress Relief.

1. Get Clear On What You Want. When overwhelmed with details, other people’s loud and obnoxious opinions, and the pressure of planning your Dream Wedding, ask yourself, “What do I want? What is important to ME?”

2. Think About the Big Picture. What is this wedding all about? Why all the fuss? Five, ten or twenty years down the road, what will you remember as important to you?

3. Visualize Your Big Day. Close your eyes, breathe, and imagine yourself coming down the aisle. You are at your most beautiful, inside and out, and you see your beauty reflected in the eyes of your loved ones and your sweetheart as you walk toward him. Get a clear, vivid, emotional picture of what it’s really all about. Dwell on the “good stuff.”

4. Count Your Blessings. Take out a piece of paper and write down all the things you are thankful for. Don’t stop until you’ve filled that piece of paper front and back with all the blessings–big and little–in your life.

5. Consider Other Perspectives. Ask yourself, “What ELSE could this mean?”

It’s okay to feel stressed out. It happened to me, too. Allow yourself to feel it, then choose your focus. You CAN plan your wedding and enjoy it, too.

Your Friend,

Stephanie

P.S. What’s stressing you out and how are you dealing with it? Leave me a comment.

My first blog post. Yippee!

(Can you tell I’m excited?)

This is a GREAT way for you to ask me questions and leave comments about my Dream Wedding newsletter or anything wedding-related that’s on your mind.

Here’s a recent question that came in from a bride:

Question: I’d like to hear from past brides. What would they have done differently?

Answer: I surveyed my brides from the past year after their weddings. Here’s what some of them said about what they would have done differently if they had it to do all over again.

“I would have done the guest list FIRST. I procrastinated about it because I thought it would be such a pain—and it was—but it would have made everything so much easier.”

“I freaked out and realized at the end of the wedding that my photographer never took pictures of our grandmothers—and now we’ll never get that opportunity again. If we had a VERY specific list for him, maybe that could have been avoided.”

“I did wait until a little late to order my dress because I thought that if I did it too early I would wish I got something else…I really waited too long for a lot of the pieces. I guess really you never have too much time. It could have gone smoother if I had made decisions early on.”

“Maybe I would have done more if money was not a concern, but I would have eventually looked back and regretted wasted money on a photobooth, etc. I loved my wedding, but wished I could have been less rushed in the morning and calmer throughout the getting ready and picture part. By the time I calmed down the wedding was flying by.”

“8 months of planning was not enough…I felt rushed by most vendors to book now!”

“I was excited about Do It Yourself projects in the beginning; I made my invitations and centerpieces. I had so much time planning, but then I stressed because I waited until the last minute.”

So now, what are YOUR frustrations in planning your Dream Wedding? What answers are YOU looking for?

I will find the answers for you and post them here. So ask away!