Sources of Wedding Related Stress

Planning events can be stressful. In fact, when Forbes magazine released the 10 most stressful jobs of 2016, Event Coordination ranked #5 on the list. If your first try at event planning is your own once-in-a-lifetime event, there are bound to be some stressful situations that ensue. Here are some of the most common sources of wedding stress that we see and some tips to avoid those cringe-worthy moments. In our opinion, you and your fiancé should have just as much fun planning your wedding as the wedding day itself!

Money, Money, Money

Weddings are expensive; there is no question about that. All too often we receive phone calls from couples and family members stuck in planning disasters asking for our help. Here is often the scenario: the couple has booked the venue and the entertainment and over half of the budget is spent. They realize they can’t plan the wedding while managing their full time lives and want our help. Our hearts break for couples in this scenario because there is still so much they haven’t considered and we know it will be next to impossible for them to stay within their budget. Even though they have only committed to two things, they didn’t create a plan in advance. The easiest way to take the financial stress out of the equation is to create a budget at the very, very beginning of the process and stick to it! If there are multiple people contributing to the wedding, ask them from the onset what they are comfortable spending, so there are no unpleasant surprises at the end.  You can learn more about creating your plan in my previous posts: how to get started on your wedding budget and what to include in your wedding budget.

Anxiety about Wedding Timeline

How do we make time to talk to all of our guests? Will we be able to eat dinner? What family photos should we include on our list? When should toasts occur? Although your actual wedding day may start bright and early and end late at night, the day will absolutely fly by right before your eyes. It’s not uncommon to worry and stress about how to fit everything into the timeline for the day. Our best advice is to map it out very early on in the process. This always helps us determine vendor contracts, ceremony start time (which has to be listed on the invitation) and create the shell for all the other decisions. The biggest factor that plays into how much time you get to spend with your guests after the ceremony and how the rest of your day flows is if you choose to do a first look or not. This concept is still relatively new, so even if you think you know what I am talking about I encourage you to read more about it here: first look.

Perry Vaile Photography

Scheduling

Your full time job, grocery shopping, CrossFit, ballroom dancing classes, laundry, and Thursday night dinner with friends may seem overwhelming in a regular week. If you’ve decided to take on planning your own wedding, you are taking on another full time job on top of your already busy schedule. You have to be prepared to ask other people for help, let some things go, or say no to things you might have usually agreed to do (like that all day Saturday craft beer festival). You need to be realistic with your time commitments and stay organized. The areas where we usually see the most stressful meltdown are often in DIY projects. You may enjoy craft projects but will you enjoy the same project 120 times to produce enough for each of your guests? Remember stuffing and stamping your invitations may feel like DIY project enough. The last thing you want to do is stay up until 2:00am during your wedding week just to tie 100 tiny bows. I encourage you to be realistic and to overestimate the amount of time you will need on anything related to your wedding.

Our team has over 20 collective years of experience in the wedding and special events industry and we still, on occasion, experience stressful moments. Our best advice is to take on projects you love and be okay letting other things go. Either ask for help or hire a professional. If you are looking for some a la’ carte products or services for your wedding, we’d love for you to check out our little sister brand, Rebecca Rose Creative.

Wishing you stress free and worry free planning!

Betsy