Today, with two weeks until my wedding, I’m writing on a topic that I wish I would have received advice on when I first got engaged: enjoying the experience. My mom gave me just about every bride-to-be/wedding planning book and binder. While every last detail of how to plan the big day was jammed in those, none of them contained advice on how to enjoy the entire process. I’m not expert but these are some things that I did “differently” that may help you or a bride you know 🙂
ENJOY THE ENGAGEMENT:
The first thing Anthony and I did differently was that we felt no pressure to set a date and begin planning. Of course, as an overly-excited bride, I picked up a bridal magazine at the grocery store the day after I got engaged, which, by the way, I suggest embracing because I’ve yet to experience a more blissful day. Still, Anthony and I soaked in at least 3-4 months of just being engaged before we began planning. In fact, it wasn’t until 6 months later that we set a date and selected a venue. Once the planning starts, a little stress sneaks in, so I highly suggest just enjoying being engaged for a little while; it definitely kicked off lots of enjoyment for us.
ONLY PLAN WHEN IT’S FUN:
For the most part, I would only do wedding planning when it was fun. If you’re anything like me, the actually planning begins as ridiculously fun and becomes increasingly stressful when you start getting into the details. Each time I hit a stressful block, I would take a few days up to a few weeks off of planning. Of course, there are times when you just have to push through, but if I could post-pone planning when I could reenter with a fresh, fun mindset, I did so! It’s tricky to plan a wedding while living ((lol)) – work, family and personal obligations don’t stop just because there’s a wedding, and I certainly learned this when I wrote The Guilt Free Food Guide ebook while attempting to plan my wedding. I would use the spare moment when I was feeling excited and energetic for planning!
MAKE IT ENJOYABLE FOR ALL:
Speaking of making it fun for you, if everyone around you is having an enjoyable experience with your wedding, it makes it even more wonderful for you as the bride-to-be. I found this to be especially true with the bridal party. In my first “bridesmaids email,” I gave my bridesmaids a choice over their dresses ((they each have slightly different versions)) because having my girlfriends feel confident and amazing on the big day is incredibly important to me! I also strictly forbid them from getting me any gifts ((all but 1 listened lol)) because being a bridesmaid shouldn’t be a huge financial commitment…the best gift I could receive is my girls enjoying the special moments with me! The more I tried to make it enjoyable for everyone, the more enjoyable it was for Anthony and me!
MAKE DECISIONS FAST:
This advice is coming from a girl who locked down all the big wedding details in a week. Remember when Anthony and I traveled to Wisconsin over Christmas, went to 2-3 wedding appointments per day, and literally selected all the big stuff?! It’s was a little nutty, but I’m so glad we did it because it forced us to make quick decisions and left more time for just enjoying it all. When it came to flowers, I did some Pinterest hunting for a few hours then had 2 hours at an appointment to make decisions….the result: I got everything I wanted and it was stress-free and fun. When it came to invites, I had much more time….the result: I was stuck between 4 different shades of cream, 2 different finishes and 2 different paperweights, and felt overwhelmed, taking nearly week to finalize that one decision.
MOST IMPORTANTLY, DO YOU:
There
are so many dos and don’ts of a wedding that seem 1,000,000 years old and there’s a pressure to fit the wedding mold. I wish from the
beginning someone told me, “just do whatever the eff you want to do.” There were things throughout my engagement that I didn’t want to do how everyone else did, and to no surprise, every time I followed my heart I felt much better than I did when I went with what was “supposed” to be done.
are so many dos and don’ts of a wedding that seem 1,000,000 years old and there’s a pressure to fit the wedding mold. I wish from the
beginning someone told me, “just do whatever the eff you want to do.” There were things throughout my engagement that I didn’t want to do how everyone else did, and to no surprise, every time I followed my heart I felt much better than I did when I went with what was “supposed” to be done.
Today, I had my wedding hair and make up trial. I am SO picky when it comes to that stuff because I prefer little make up and simple curls…here is little preview 😉
…I teased Anthony that I was wearing a ponytail and he replied “I love when you wear a bun” hahaha.
Do you have any enjoyability tips for the wedding??
I've just got engaged last month and we haven't made any plans yet. In fact, as soon as I start thinking about it I panic a little. I am definitely going to just enjoy being engaged for a while!
Best of luck with the rest of your wedding prep 🙂