Mindful, Personalized Wedding Planning To Ease Stress

There are many approaches to wedding planning, but mindful decision-making is one of the most important. Find out more about it here.

It can be easy to get swept up in what everyone else seems to want or expect when it comes to wedding planning. You might hear suggestions from family members, friends, and even total strangers that can make you feel like you need to include certain things in your celebration. But at the end of the day, a wedding should be all about what you and your partner want. That’s why mindful wedding planning is so important.

Here are a few tips for keeping your focus on what matters most:

Make your Priorities Clear Right from the Start

Being on the same page and with an idea of what you want is important. Make your priorities clear from the beginning, so there are no surprises when you’re deep into wedding planning. Do you want a big wedding or a small wedding? Set priorities around money, theme, colors, and photographers. Things like that give you a rough idea of what you want for your wedding.

Sit down as a Couple and Figure out what Truly Matters to you Both 

For example, whether you want an elaborate party with a big guest list or something more intimate and low-key. Then communicate these priorities clearly to everyone involved in the planning process to know exactly what’s important and what isn’t. Set a wedding budget so that financial expectations are out in the open right away.

Right now is also a good time to discuss if you feel you’d like a wedding planner to help you with your big day. A wedding planner might be a great way to reduce stress as you plan for your big day. 

Don’t Buy into the Hype. 

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from our own experience with wedding planning, it’s that people will try to convince you that certain aspects of your wedding are “must-haves,” whether it’s a certain type of food or a color scheme that has been trendy for years now. But if this isn’t what you and your partner want, don’t feel like you need to go along with it just because it’s what others seem to expect.

Be Flexible but not too Flexible. 

One of the best pieces of advice we’ve ever received is to be open to change and have a few non-negotiables. For example, if you want to get married outdoors, then make that your priority and be willing to adjust other aspects of your wedding accordingly. But if there’s something that you’re not willing to budge on – like, say, getting married in your hometown rather than traveling elsewhere – then make that clear from the start.

Sometimes things don’t go as planned, so it’s a good idea to be open to change so that if something happens with a vendor or your wedding party, you’ve already prepared yourself to adjust if you need to. 

Choose your Battles. 

With so many different aspects of wedding planning to think about, it’s important to be able to pick and choose which ones are worth your time, energy, and money. If there’s something that you’re not particularly passionate about, see if you can delegate it to someone else or simply let it go altogether. 

Planning a wedding is a lot of work, and there’s no shame in asking for help. Talk to your friends and family members about what they’re willing and able to do. You may be surprised at how many people are happy to lend a hand. 

Create a To-Do List

This seems a little obvious, but having a wedding checklist for you and everyone helping you plan will help ensure nothing is forgotten. Many great wedding websites have checklists for you to print off. There’s so much to do for weddings, from registries to the ceremony planning, decorations, rehearsals, caterers, florists, wedding invitations, videographers, bridesmaids’ dresses, wedding dress shopping, etc. 

Don’t forget there is also the honeymoon planning which we will save for another post, but that also requires a planning checklist. 

Find Inspiration that Matches What You Want

It’s easy to get swept away into what’s trending on Instagram and Pinterest but try to find things that speak to you and your personality as a couple. This is your wedding, no one else’s. You can easily create a wedding vision board with images of things you love to create a mood board for your wedding. Once you have a vision in place, you will be able to narrow certain wedding things down to what you want. 

Focus on what will Make You Happy

So often, couples can get so caught up in making sure that everyone else has a good time that they forget to focus on their enjoyment. But at the end of the day, this is your wedding day, and you should both be able to look back on it with fond memories. 

So make sure that you’re doing things that will truly make you both happy, whether dancing the night away or taking a few moments alone during the reception to soak everything in. This might mean skipping out on some of the more traditional elements of a wedding in favor of more unique things for you as a couple.