Life can be overwhelming. And when you add wedding planning to your everyday load, it is not surprising that also making wedding decisions, makes that feeling of overwhelm even greater. Here are 6 things to reduce feeling overwhelmed with wedding planning.
When you are feeling overwhelmed with wedding planning, pause. Know that it’s time to focus on what you can control and let go of the rest. After all, it is really difficult to make decisions or continue planning effectively if you are feeling stressed.
1. Don’t let wedding overwhelm interrupt your sleep
Getting a good amount of sleep is important at the best of times. Let alone when you are planning a wedding. When it comes to wedding planning, nothing is so important that it should keep you awake at night. If you are cramming your planning into your night time hours, it’s common to still be thinking about those decisions when you put your head on your pillow.
Before you head to bed at night, write a list of the next decisions you need to address. Then make an effort to leave that planning until your next allocated “timeslot”.
2. Divide and conquer to reduce wedding overwhelm
You don’t need to take on all of your wedding planning on your own. Work as a team with your partner. Divide tasks so that one of you doesn’t feel more overwhelmed than the other.
If the two of you are starting to feel a little stressed about all the things you need to do and the decisions you need to make, consider who else might be able to help you. Many hands make light work and those around you want to support you as you plan your wedding. So let them help, by giving them small tasks that the two of you feel comfortable outsourcing. Be clear with your instructions and if possible, give them a date by which you’d love the task completed.
If you are not sure whether this approach will work, start by delegating a small and easy task to others. If that goes well, you will build confidence to delegate more.
3. Set boundaries when vendor “shopping”
Honestly, there are so many AMAZING wedding vendors out there that you could search for ever and still not consider even the half of the talent available out there. So set a limit on the time you spend looking for each wedding vendor.
For example, “We’ll commit to spending 2 hours shortlisting musicians for our wedding day and reach out to 3 of them to hear more about their vibe and pricing. If after exploring each of these 3 options, we still don’t have a great fit, we’ll go back to the drawing board and research 3 more options for consideration.”
It is also really important to stick to the budget you have allocated in each wedding vendor category. It is pointless continuing to consider vendors who are very clearly outside of your wedding budget unless you are willing to make a compromise in another wedding vendor category.
4. Don’t push through the feeling of being overwhelmed
You wouldn’t be the first couple to have gotten into an argument because of wedding planning overwhelm. It can be a lot. Sometimes it makes sense to take a small break in your planning. Consider taking time out for a week or two, to reconnect and rebalance yourselves before you dive into wedding planning again.
If you are actively communicating with wedding vendors, you can simply reach out to let them know that you are feeling a little overwhelmed and will be taking a breather from planning for a couple of weeks. That means you won’t be further stressed by seeing emails that require your attention during that time.
5. Be discerning with what gets your time and attention
Open any social media app and look for wedding related content and you will see that there is a ridiculously large amount of content to wade through. It can be tempting to use social media to search for wedding planning ideas but you can also head down so many rabbit holes, you will sink a crazy amount of time.
So be discerning with how you use your time surfing the socials for wedding inspiration. Don’t just watch wedding reel after wedding reel. Instead focus your search by using specific hashtags to ensure the content you consume is more aligned with the specific ideas you want to include in your wedding day.
For example, pretty keen to have a champagne tower? Use hashtags like #weddingchampagnetower and #champagnetower rather than just randomly searching wedding reels of random couples that may or may not feature a champagne tower.
Use that research as inspiration to source wedding vendors who can help you achieve your vision.
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6. Pay attention to how each of you is feeling during the wedding planning process
Energy levels and motivation for wedding planning will not always be the same for both of you. Every day life stressors definitely impact how each of you will feel at any given time about getting onto wedding planning tasks.
It’s super important to respect how each of you are feeling during the wedding planning process. Just because you have all the energy in the world to find the perfect tone of blue for your table napkins, doesn’t mean your partner feels the same way. Pay attention to one another and notice when one of you is struggling with wedding overwhelm.
Openly communicating with one another throughout your wedding planning will help you to support one another when things become a little overwhelming. That might mean that you take on a larger load than your partner that week. Or you might decide to both take a break for wedding planning and focus on doing some fun things together instead.
By really tuning into how you are both feeling during the wedding planning process, asking for help when you need it and setting healthy boundaries, you will have a more positive experience as you head towards your wedding day.
Still overwhelmed with wedding planning and want some additional help to plan your wedding day? Get in touch. We can help.