Planning your wedding can involve endless details, deadlines, family drama, and far too often enough stress to make you want to just elope. Check out the advice below, and perhaps look into a wedding planner to help you pull it all together. An exciting, fun, creative thing to do? Or, a terrifyingly daunting prospect? (especially to those unfamiliar with extensive planning).
When you’re planning your wedding, keep it simple. Extravagance can come at a later date. Titivation (I love that word) comes when you have any spare funds available to titivate with. Whatever it is you’re imagining, get it down on paper. Make a start. There’s no guarantee that your plans will stay as they are written. Have a plan A, B and even a plan C.
Here are some ways to keep yourself cool, calm and collected when it comes to planning your wedding. You’ll have everyone amazed at how you put on such a fabulous wedding without the emotional rollercoaster that far too commonly comes hand in hand!
Planning your wedding:
Lists.
It may sound simple, but creating lists is possibly the most effective way of keeping track of all your planning; ultimately removing the possibility and worry of anything being forgotten about. Maria Konnikova quoted it in the New Yorker that processing information in list-form is “a bit like sipping green juice instead of munching on a bundle of kale.” Far easier to digest! Physically writing everything down can be somewhat therapeutic and definitive. With everything laid out right in front of you, it will be far less taxing and you’ll feel totally in control. When you’ve completed a task, you can give yourself a very satisfying tick (or a super messy scribble if you’d prefer) so it is crystal clear what has been taken care of and what is still left to organise.
Plan B.
I hate to say it, but once all the planning is done… plan some more. It is important that you are prepared for things to go wrong and so making a ‘Plan B’, perhaps a possible C (and D for emergencies) is a wise decision. Be willing to compromise and be prepared to be flexible. This will keep you at ease whilst you’re planning your wedding, and it means that any issues that may arise will be easily and quickly resolved. Having a positive attitude during the planning stages will benefit you enormously.
Take some time off.
Don’t obsess over it. Do something un-wedding:
Go to the cinema to see that film you’ve been wanting to watch. Go and have a massage. Take a long walk somewhere picturesque. Do whatever you want, but just take some time to relax. Whether you’re on your own, with your intended or with friends, just go and be absorbed in something else for a while. You’ll find that if you do, you’ll be far more focussed, and far less stressed.
Delegate.
Everyone is there for both of you, and they’re probably desperate to get involved and help out. So let them! Give them tasks to do, but make sure you spell out exactly what you want from them. Great jobs to delegate are things like getting samples of favours, visiting florists, finding suit hire companies, balloons, chair covers etc etc. All these things need organising, but if someone else can step in, it takes a bit of pressure off you. Of course, if you can’t stand any of the pressure, you could always hire a wedding planner, like Jane Clynes. Check out her website to find out how she can help you organise your big day.
Book the big stuff early.
You should book all the things you need/want at your wedding as soon as you can. The venue, the marriage officiant, the toastmaster. Maybe you want something a little different. What about a teepee? (speak to Dan Larkin at Bar Events UK for the bar and an amazing teepee) What about a photo booth, magician, candy cart? Have a look at The Entertainment Group, there’s all sorts you can hire that you’ve probably not even thought of! Give them a call and ask for Hannah Butcher, she’ll steer you in the right direction. You should book all of these well in advance to ensure you can get exactly what you want. Obviously the band/DJ is THE most important thing (haha), and that’s where LiveBand Entertainment come in! We cover all bases with all sorts of bands for all sorts of tastes. Check out our YouTube channel for some great ideas!
Don’t sweat the small stuff.
If you stick to all the above, chances are your big day will go like a dream. If there are any glitches, like your balloons are the wrong colour (who did you delegate that to??), the buttonholes are carnations instead of roses, or you walked down the aisle to the wrong soundtrack, it’s not the end of the world. Everybody is there to share in your magical day. You’re marrying the love of your life and that’s the most important thing! And the likelihood is, there’s only you that will know something wasn’t quite as planned!
Last of all, pay your bills.
For some people, the hardest part of planning your wedding is parting with your hard earned cash. However, you should make sure that you’ve settled all your bills before your big day. The last thing you want is to jet off on your amazing honeymoon all loved up, and then realise that you’ve got an unsettled bill. It’s bad enough coming back off your honeymoon, let alone coming back to a bill!
If you want to have a chat about booking your wedding band, feel free to give us a call on 07828 435299, fill in our contact form, or email us: [email protected]
