Guide to staying sane whilst planning your wedding – Part 1

There’s no doubt about it, wedding planning is stressful. Granted, some of us deal with it better than others and will sail through it, whilst others will sometimes end up making themselves feel ill! As a qualified nurse I have a lot of experience in using therapies such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy {CBT} and Solution Focussed Therapy. This experience has come in very useful since I have begun working with stressed out brides, grooms and wedding party members! {It was this that prompted us to set up a Bridal Coaching service}.

I would go out on a limb and state that, when most brides and grooms set their wedding date, the first thing the bride does is start to obsess about the wedding and also how she will look her best on the day. This may involve simply getting fit, losing a couple of pounds or wanting to lose 5 stone! Check out our guide to staying sane whilst wedding planning…..

My advice first of all would be to come up with a starting point. Now, if you read this blog regularly, you will know that I love an inspiration board!! This is so easy to do these days with sites such as Pinterest at your fingertips. Choosing a theme and colour scheme for your wedding is important but there is a lot that can inform these decisions. Firstly you should picture your perfect wedding day.

Visualise how you want it to look and feel. Incorporate smells, sights, flavours and feelings. Another useful tip is to think about weddings you have been a guest at. Was there anything you really didn’t like or something that made you leave feeling the day was a bit of a let down? Similarly, have you been to a really fantastic wedding where you not only loved many of the decorative details, but you left with a good feeling and really enjoyed being part of the day?

Use this information to your advantage to create your ideal day. Write a few paragraphs or create a board on Pinterest where you can keep pictures which inspire you as well as make notes. Think outside the box and don’t just pin pics of wedding stuff. Inspiration can come from many places!

Use Wordle to create a word shower to inspire you.

Some would argue with me here when I say that the most important thing is to have your head in the right place before you take on any big project {and remember that, in lots of ways your wedding is just that, a project}. I know where people are coming from when they say that if you look good you feel good. This may be true but, in order to make any big changes you need to understand the process of change and have clear goals and an understanding of how you will get there.

To start with you need to get organised! Whether this is a file, a box, a spreadsheet this is up to you. Once you have your inspiration board as your starting point, you can begin to document ideas, collect samples/swatches and collate information. Make a list of things you need to arrange and timings {most wedding magazines and lots of sites have free planning checklists you can use and adapt for your needs}.

During the sometimes lengthy planning process you will also have to carry on with normal life! You still have to go to work, wash the dishes, do the food shop, take the cat to the vet and all those other routine day to day jobs! Making sure you take time to relax is extremely important as you will end up driving yourself mad. You don’t need to spend every weekend trawling wedding fairs or every evening scouring wedding magazines and blogs. Attend a select few fairs. See if your venue is hosting a fair. This is a good starting point. Also check listings for fairs online and select a couple you may like to attend. Pick one magazine you like the look of and subscribe. This is cheaper and much less time consuming as you won’t spend hours in the supermarket flicking through them all. There is also an abundance of fantastic wedding blogs these days with constantly changing and up to date wedding inspiration. {You’re looking at one now!}

If you do find yourself feeling overwhelmed, this can manifest itself in various ways such as becoming irritable and snappy and also having sleepless nights. Taking the time to learn some relaxation techniques can be invaluable. Simple techniques such as 7/11 breathing can be done anywhere at anytime and is very effective. Simply inhale for a count of 7 and exhale for a count of 11. Repeat this several times and this should help you to relax. Progressive muscle relaxation is also great to help relax if you’re lying awake in bed. If you can master either of these techniques you are well on your way to managing any wedding planning stress you may encounter.

So that’s the mind bit sorted…..part 2 of this post will look at making changes to your body See you soon. x

{Photo credits: Top; Bottom}

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