For the girl who (strangely) looks forward to writing out her planner every morning, wedding planning sounded like fun! After the initial shock wore off once Luke and I got engaged, I could not WAIT to begin planning our wedding!
Overall, I adored the wedding planning process. I’m sure working in the wedding industry had something to do with that! In the early stages before we’d booked our venues, I was a little stressed, and I had my moments since. I can relate to my brides telling me about how they couldn’t sleep because their thoughts were going a mile a minute… I was up until 3:00am every so often stressing about how our ceremony space will be set up and whether I should wear a blush pink or floral robe to get ready. Important things, you know? ????
Overall, there were a few things that helped me most throughout the months of wedding planning, and I want to share a few of those with you today!!
Table of Contents
My Wedding Planner
My Southern Weddings wedding planner was a LIFESAVER. I had heard so much about this resource before I was engaged, so I knew I’d be using it one day. My mom surprised me with it as a gift after we got engaged, and it was amazing! My favorite part? While all the crucial to-do list items are included in this tool, the focus is on preparing for the marriage, rather than on one day!
The Knot’s Checklist
Can you tell I like my to-do list’s?! I wasn’t kidding! Creating an account with The Knot was one of the most helpful things I did. Their checklist is unique in that it tells you exactly what month you should be completing tasks in, based on your wedding date. I created one master checklist for our day by combining my Southern Weddings checklist and my Knot checklist.
Delegating Tasks & Decisions
I’m a lucky lady, because Luke was nothing but supportive in all this planning! He even came with me to a few wedding decorating meetings… naturally, I treated him to lunch afterwards as a thank you for enduring girl talk about chandeliers and chalkboards for an hour! This kind of support from Luke, our families, and our wedding party was hugely helpful to me. Everyone has offered to take over tasks for me, and saying YES is something that has helped me a ton. While I had input in most aspects of the day, not pressuring myself into “doing it all” is so freeing, and allowed me to enjoy the process more.
I know, duh. But Pinterest truly helped to connect all the people involved in our day! I had a (secret) board specific to our wedding day, and the only people who could view it were myself, my mom + Luke’s mom, a few family members, my bridesmaids, my decorator… you get the idea! Each image in that board had been carefully selected and thought through, unlike my other wedding board, which had hundreds of ideas from over the years. I’m very visual, so having this inspiration for exactly how I wanted different elements of the day to look and feel was amazing!
Perspective
It can be so, so easy to get caught up in things. Suddenly, an issue with bouquets or a decision about suit colors can become a small catastrophe. How silly is that?! Perhaps the best thing I did since getting engaged was to keep my mouth shut when a selfish comment wanted to pop out… ha! I’m sure I missed a task or a deadline, and that’s okay… because at the end of the day, I married my best friend, and that is all that matters. As long as God was honored and everyone around us felt loved on our big day in June, I’m a happy bride. That’s what matters most… not our timelines, my dress or my hair, or our music choices or our centerpieces.
Happy wedding planning! What helps YOU as you plan your big day? Xo!
