How to Make Your Wedding Planning Stress Free

Remember how much fun it was to talk about your future wedding when you were a little girl? How about back in high school? Picking out dresses, comparing rings, debating cake flavors with your best friend…

Unsurprisingly, the reality of wedding planning is a lot more complicated. There are budget decisions, venue proposals, dress shopping, and much more. It’s a lot and can get stressful – can you say Bridezillas?

The good news is, your wedding doesn’t have to be that dramatic. If you have the proper stress management techniques and a solid plan, it can be downright enjoyable.

At Pursell Farms, we believe you deserve the best possible lead-up to your wedding, so we’re sharing some of our favorite wedding planning stress management tips. Consider it an engagement gift.

Tip #1: Start by making a budget.

Budgeting isn’t the most fun part of your wedding planning. If it were, tiny little future brides would be sitting around with toy calculators as we speak. But for better or worse, you’re a grown-up, which means you know that sometimes you have to start with the boring parts.

Like budgeting. We promise if you take enough time to budget and approach the whole thing with an honest mindset – what can you afford? – then the rest of your wedding planning adventure will go much more smoothly.

Tip #2: Make the big decisions first.

Some choices narrow down your options for many more minor decisions.

• Do you want a big fancy wedding or a small, intimate affair?
• Do you want your ceremony to be indoors or outdoors?
• Do you need one venue for the ceremony and the reception, or will you be switching sites after the service?
• Where are you going to get married? Where you live, where his family is, where your family is, or would you prefer a destination wedding?

Talk it through as a couple, and make sure you bring up anything that’s a must-have or must-avoid for either of you. You don’t want to find out the day before the wedding that your future mother-in-law can’t eat wedding cake unless it’s gluten-free or that your guy won’t be happy unless he gets married in his childhood church!

Tip #3: Consider hiring a wedding planner.

Not every bride loves the idea of letting someone else handle the details of her special day – and that’s understandable. Remember, though, a planner doesn’t take over your wedding. They are a professional ally – someone who is committed to your vision for your wedding and ready to go to bat to get you what you want.

Having someone like this on your side can be great in the lead-up to the wedding, when your florist is trying to convince you to buy a more expensive bouquet or your caterer is telling you that every bride who’s anyone is serving cupcakes this year. But it’s even more important on your big day when last-minute decisions need to be made.

A wedding planner can solve all these issues so that people like your maid of honor, your mother, or your fiancé don’t have to. They can enjoy the day with you – which is the entire point, right?

Tip #4: Find the right venue

So much about your wedding depends on the site. How many guests do you have space to accommodate? How late will the reception go? Can Aunt Sally bring her toy poodle?

Make a list of the features your venue has to have – Guest rooms? Handicap accessibility? – and those you’d like it to have. (Swimming pool, anyone?) Bring it with you to tour several different venues.

Remember to ask venue reps what they think makes their site stand out. You might hear about a feature you didn’t think to put on your list, but now you know that it exists, you wonder why you ever considered having your wedding without it.

Tip #5: Collaborate and delegate

If your fiancé is trustworthy, get him to participate in planning the wedding. It’s the 21st century – you don’t have to do all the work! He may not be the best person to ask about flower arrangements or bridesmaids’ dress designs, but the chances are good that there’s something he can handle.

Look at your to-do list together and see what you’ll be best at handling and where he will shine. Would he be good at picking meal options for the caterer? Are you interviewing DJs? Shortlisting venues? Let him do that, and it’s one more thing off your plate.

Your Mantra for Stress-Free Wedding Planning

Your wedding is going to be incredible! Planning can and will get crazy, but you’ll get through it if you keep telling yourself this one thing:

No matter what, I’m marrying my favorite guy!