What I Learned From Planning A Wedding
Happy Wednesday!
I hope you had a wonderful weekend as we make our way through the first full week of September. I can’t believe we are already looking towards fall and a new month!
I’m not ready to say goodbye to summer yet, thankfully, we still have some warm days ahead.
I am in the midst of a transition time, people heading back to school or moving away, so I’m currently finding myself getting settled in a new routine. I’m still keeping busy as I’m TWO weeks out from my first marathon, so that has been keeping me busy in the middle of change.
Today’s post is a bit of a reflective one, I like to sprinkle them throughout the blog besides things I’m loving, what I’m doing, or life hacks.
Now that I am about a month out from being married, I am looking back on the wedding planning process. It was different than I expected, I learned a lot and many of the things can be applied to life and not just planning a large scale event.
My first take away/ piece of advice to any bride is to lean into the season as much or as little as you want, there are no rules.
You can go all out and buy all the bride merchandise and celebrate all engagement long, but you don’t have to. You can choose how you want to celebrate this special time.
Engagement Celebrations- I know some people plan engagement parties, do photo shoots, and go the whole nine yards, that’s awesome! My husband and I opted for engagement photos, but didn’t want to do a big party. It’s totally up to you and your preferences. We were very happy with our decision to keep it simple
Bachelor and Bachelorette Events-I have had friends who went on week long Bachelorette trips to tropical islands, I opted for an afternoon with friends in town to do an activity together followed by dinner the night before my bridal shower. It was fun and intimate, lowkey and convenient, right up my speed. I had the best time and it was perfect for me and my friends. But I know some girls who had the time of their lives with their girls on a weekend or weeklong trip.
Dress Shopping- I know some girls who brought a lot of friends and family to go dress shopping. They loved having important people there for their shopping experience. I personally just brought my mom. We had so much fun going to new places and trying on lots of styles before finding one. There’s no right or wrong, do what works best for you. Include as many or as few people as you want.
Wedding Must Do’s- The whole purpose of the wedding is the marriage, everything else is extra and up to you about how much you want to do. You don’t have to do anything that you think you have to do. You can choose how much you want to do. For example, wedding websites are helpful for having all your information, details, and RSVP in one spot. Some websites have a ton of features that help you with planning. We used some of the features when it comes to RSVP’s and registries, but didn’t use all the features that we didn’t need. Use the tools and features that work best for you, but don’t feel pressured to do all the things. You don’t have to go out for all the things that may not be a top priority for you, but they might be a priority for someone else. Once again, there’s no right or wrong answer.
Another piece of advice is to not make things more complicated than they need to be. For months leading up to the wedding I made a lot of signs or printed materials with pretty fonts and colors on Canva. I had a lot of fun doing it and enjoyed the creative process, but it was time consuming. When it came time to print, there was an issue with the font and size for some of the printed materials and they had to get redone by the local printer we used. They did a phenomenal job and they turned out better than what I spent hours thinking and working on. Looking back, even though I enjoyed the creative process, I wish I didn’t waste all the time when someone could have done it faster, simpler, with a better result. A good life lesson learned, don’t make things more complicated than they need to be.
My last piece of advice is to be present through the whole experience, especially the day of.
Leading up to my wedding, I made a wedding playlist with love themed songs to play when I was doing wedding things. It was fun to be in the moment while doing tasks.
I also had a list of wedding themed movies that I wanted to watch ahead of the big day. My mom and I made it a point to watch them at night or while we were doing wedding prep. It was a timeless memory that I will cherish forever. These were fun ways I was able to lean into the wedding and engagement season.
During the prep process and the week of, I took lots of pictures and did a lot of journaling so I wouldn’t forget any details big or small. On the day of, I took lots of pictures, but I was very present in the moment. I wanted to make sure I remembered everything that I could. I knew this time only happens once and I tried to be present and in the moment. I had the best day and a lot of it had to do with staying calm, positive, and present.
I am by no means an expert at wedding planning. I learned a lot about myself along the way. I enjoyed the process, but am glad that I don’t have to plan another wedding. If you are a married woman, what is your advice to future brides?
