Wedding Planning: 5 Bitter Lessons (P.S. I’m sorry I abandoned you!)

First of all I’d like to say welcome back to me! As you may or may not have noticed, I’ve been absent for a good few months planning and partaking in my wedding day. Hence, I feel it’s only appropriate that my first post back be wedding-related so here it is…

Danny and I’s wedding in Capri, Italy. Yes it was beautiful but was it worth the stress? I don’t think so.

Weddings, weddings, weddings. Whether you’ve always dreamed of a small, intimate wedding, or a cinderella-style fiasco, many people consider their wedding day to be one of the most important days of their lives. Unfortunately, with this belief, usually comes a pressure that one can rarely prepare for. That’s why I’ve compiled a list of 5 things I’ve learned from planning my own wedding day that hopefully you can learn something from.

1. The marriage is more important than the wedding day.

Remember, the wedding day is just that, one day. The marriage is for life! “Der” I hear some of you muttering but trust me it’s easier than you think, when planning your dream wedding, to forget the whole point of it in the first place. It’s not worth stressing out yourself and those around you emotionally and financially for your wedding day as it’s supposed to be a happy occassion and a good memory, not one that leaves you in debt or makes you cringe every time you even hear the word “wedding”.

2. Have a Gift Registry Option

Some people don’t like the idea of a gift registry, as one girl explained to me, “I don’t like choosing for people what gifts they should get me, it’s so impersonal.” That’s of course a valid point and some guests may prefer to pick out a gift for you as they consider it more sentimental. However, some guests actually prefer gift registries as it makes picking a gift that much easier and at least they know they’re buying you something you want/need. We had a gift registry for those guests who wished to use it and I’m so glad we did as who needs three toasters anyway?

3. Guests don’t give a shit about the details.

Sure the “details” are nice and one or two over-eager, anal guests might notice but put simply, most people don’t give a shit enough to notice or even remember the tiny details of your wedding day so there’s no point stressing about any of it. Guests only care about and remember how much fun they had! So discipline yourself to learn when you need to stop.

4. Delegate Tasks.

It’s easy to become a control-freak when it comes to planning your dream day. In some ways it’s fair enough because it is an important day and you just want everything to go smoothly but at some point you have to learn to allow others to help. I made the mistake of trying to do everything myself and it left me burnt out and bitter. Learn to loosen the reigns a bit and include others as you’ll be surprised at how much people will be happy to help.

5. Wedding people suck.

At least in my experience, I found most people in the wedding planning industry money-hungry, incompetent, and frankly, quite bitchy. There are a hand-full of people that are “good” but generally expect the worst as that’s just how the industry works. My theory is that they are aware that most brides are vulnerable both emotionally and financially so just be weary as a lot of businesses will try to take advantage of that. Ultimately however it’s just something we have to accept, just don’t take it personally.

I’d love to hear about any of your experiences related to weddings. And feel free to ask me any questions as I’m convinced I’ve become an expert