One of life’s more nerve-wracking tasks for many people is planning their wedding day. It’s easy to become anxious about getting everything right and with good reason. Committing to your life partner in a ceremony surrounded by your closest family and friends is something you’ll naturally want to honour and commemorate in a way that feels perfect for you and your soon to be spouse. 

So today, we’ll offer 10 insights to make the process easier. Here are our top tried and tested methods for planning your wedding with less pesky pre-wedding stress!

1. Begin Early

Time is valuable; if you have ample amounts before the big day, it’s a huge asset you’ll want to use wisely.

Early strategising gives you a head start on preparing a wedding card design online, especially with the many wonderfully crafted options available. If you choose to draft your own layouts, you’ll still need extra time for revisions and asking your partner and parents for their opinions.

Touring potential venues and interviewing vendors is also challenging, requiring lots of running around and scheduling. The sooner you start, the better.

2. Set a Realistic Budget

One of the most important steps is to outline your budget – both for the wedding music, venue, catering, and all other festive elements but also for your bridal gown or saree and your rings or bands. You’ll need this information as you tackle nearly every step in your planning process. Talk with your partner openly to consider your financial positions and how you envision the ceremony and venue, and be honest yet realistic about your priorities.

Once you’ve settled on a figure, break it down into allocation percentages. Ask how much goes to things such as the venue, catering, waitstaff, band or entertainment, etc. Remember to consider the guest list size when allocating funds to each part.

3. Consider Professional Assistance

While you may be used to handling everything yourself, consider hiring a dedicated wedding planner to help organise your ceremony and reception.

They have significant experience and insider industry knowledge, which could save you a lot of headaches, especially if you’re in a new city. Planners would know the best locations, caterers, and bands in town, which could save you considerable time when making those decisions. If you choose to hire a planner, be sure they align with your style, personality, and, most importantly, your budget.

4. Venue Selection

There are countless wedding locations to choose from. From palaces, forts, grand ballrooms, modest banquet rooms, or even scenic outdoor spaces.

To begin with, consider your desired wedding style and theme, along with your lifestyle. Do you envision a romantic garden ceremony at an artistic and historic palace or perhaps the laid-back vibe of a beautiful beachfront location?

Also consider practicalities such as seating or standing capacity, amenities, and whether it is conveniently located for you and the guests. These are all facets you and your partner will need to work through. But remember, wedding season is busy, so the sooner you book the venue, the better.

5. Use a Checklist

At this point, it’s clear to see that there are countless tasks that must be ticked off in the process of planning a wedding. And ticking off a task often isn’t as simple as paying an invoice either. There are decisions that need to be made at every stage of the process, and some of those decisions are deeply rooted in attention to detail. 

With all this in mind, the best way to stay organised when planning a large wedding is simply by using your favourite personal productivity tool to juggle the countless tasks, deadlines, and decisions you’ll be making. Whatever method you’ll be using to collate and manage your checklist, this wedding planning resource will be your wedding “GPS” guiding you through each stage of the process, verifying no detail was overlooked.

6. Delegate Where Possible

Your friends and family will undoubtedly love the opportunity to help make your day unforgettable. Don’t be afraid to ask for their help. After all, it can take a village to plan the perfect wedding – especially if you’re expecting a big extended family’s worth of invitees on both the bride and groom’s sides!

To begin with, simply identify the people with specialised skills in their persona, like cooking, tailoring, organising, etc., which you can put to work. Remember: when in doubt, it’s best to play to everybody’s strengths.

7. Stay Healthy

Stress is a legitimate threat to our well-being. Implement a plan for managing it whenever you feel overwhelmed by mental or physical exhaustion.  Make self-care a non-negotiable part of your wedding-planning process by doing activities that let you unwind and recharge, albeit briefly.

Don’t be hard on yourself if you succumb to perfectionism. Remember this isn’t easy, and realise it’s perfectly normal to feel stress. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness.

8. Communicate Openly

Clear dialogue between yourself and your partner is the backbone of any successful union, especially when planning your once-in-a-lifetime special day. Use the running checklist and schedule regular sanity-check sessions to ensure everything goes smoothly. These discussions allow you to share your thoughts and ideas honestly and respectfully.

If you’re both working full-time alongside wedding planning, then our best piece of advice for those busier couples is to allocate a little time every week to just touch base and provide updates on your own wedding workloads. This can be as simple as a weekly sit-down over a cup of tea and a plate of biscuits. Just remember to not let wedding talk encroach on other dedicated quality time like date nights!

9. Anticipate Surprises

When last-minute emergencies or cancellations occur, remain calm and solution-oriented. Do not let panic set in. Stay cool and communicate clearly with whichever party is involved, whether it’s the vendors or venue staff.

Remember to lean on your support network, partner, planner, and family members. If you made backup plans during the vetting process, revisit those options as soon as possible, and perhaps a solution is attainable.

10. Enjoy The Process

It may seem humorous to say, but eventually, you and your spouse will look back on the planning process with fondness, even if it was hectic and wrought with fear of failure at the time.

Amid all the chaos, don’t lose sight of the big picture–committing to your special someone. Remember to celebrate milestones along the way by high-fiving each other or breaking away for a romantic date. Soon, if all goes well, you’ll be jetting off to the honeymoon.