How to Have a Stress-Free Wedding

When Adam and I were married (12 years ago on this May 28th), I was 19 and he was 21 O.o

We were in love <3

We met when I was a junior in high school and he was a sophomore in college. We started dating and one year later (right after I graduated from high school) we were engaged.

I’m sure from the outside… we looked CRAZY!!

We had about 11 months to plan our wedding and it was still the most stressful thing for me.

I already shared about it raining on our wedding day, so obviously even with all the planning you can’t control everything!

I WISHED that I had known some ways to stay calm and reduce the stress of planning that big day.

Yoga

When I get stressed now, I do a few yoga stretches and deep breathing. That practice helps me to calm all those racing thoughts and helps me focus on what I need to accomplish right now.

There are apps for your phone you can download to coach you through different relaxing stretches or you can do a search for a good routine. That way you can stop and do some stretches at any point when  you feel that stressful tension come over you.

Plan

I am a planner at heart… and I know that some people who are not may get MORE stressed out with a plan. I like to have a super short list to follow – maybe 3-6 things you need to accomplish the next day.

The night before, write down your 3-6 action steps for the next day. When you wake up, you know EXACTLY what you need to focus on. Plus, you can feel accomplished at the end of the day when you can mark everything off your list. Smaller lists keeps your stress levels down and checking things off is the best feeling ever.

I also bought a few wedding planner books online to help stay organized as we booked everything for the big day. It also was a place to keep ideas that I wanted to refer to when talking to the different services I was hiring.

Hire help

If you can afford a wedding planner, Do it. You can give them general ideas for what you want to experience on the big day… and then they can do some of the harder jobs like calling venues and providers. Sometimes a close friend who has great connections or someone who just got married can be a great asset.

My mom was amazing for helping me plan our wedding. She knew so much from helping plan my sister’s wedding (and even learned some what not to do’s as well). Even though she wasn’t “hired, ” she was an amazing partner.

Laugh

Remember to laugh along the way. Your marriage is super important – and you should take that seriously, but don’t forget that you don’t have to take yourself too seriously.

Laugh when you have bumps along the way in your wedding planning… which everyone has! Laugh when things don’t go perfectly – because they won’t!

Take care of you

Stay active (goes along with Yoga) but exercise in general is a great way to reduce stress. Make it a way to connect with your future spouse. Go hiking, bike riding, take up a sport, go on a walk – use this time to connect on a different level.

Don’t forget to Pamper yourself. Book a day at the spa to treat yourself and get a massage. I carry so much tension in my shoulders and back, so it is on  my must do list when I have a lot of stressful events in  my life.

For more tips on how I stay stress-free check out my two favorite products Here and Here.

What are your best tips on how to manage stress when planning a wedding?