Blushing Bride or Bridezilla?
Congratulations on your engagement! There are so many plans to make before you walk down the aisle on the day you have dreamed about since you were a little girl. You are determined to create the perfect wedding…careful…there is a fine line between “organized bride” and “bridezilla”! Avoid the three major pitfalls that can turn the happiest time of your life into tension-filled disaster.
There is a tendency for brides to think that they can do it all. Resist the urge to become a “Superbride”, spending every moment on wedding planning, you will burn out! Delegate the stuffing of envelopes and bundling of party favors to the loving friends that want to help and then, let them do it! Don’t be bossy and controlling. You have chosen the special people in your life to stand beside you at the altar, just as they have stood beside you in life. They are not your brides “maids”, they are your best friends. You are asking them to spend money on dresses and parties; be appreciative. Finally, and most importantly, remember your fiancé. Let the one person who has agreed to spend the rest of their life with you be involved in the preparations and make sure to take time together to enjoy the anticipation of your future! Wedding planning is just the beginning of forever. Make it something you both want to remember!
Wedding Hair… Dazzling or Disastrous??
Your wedding day is a few months away, the gown of your dreams is ordered and now you are wondering what to do with your hair on the biggest day of your life. Remember those prom pictures with the fussy updo that made you look like your mom…or the not-so-classy photos of you as the maid of honor at your best friend’s reception, when you wore your hair down in long, soft curls that turned to tacky frizz by the end of the night? With trends ranging from elegantly glamorous to irresistibly innocent, it is not only the style that you must consider; many factors will influence whether your hair compliments your bridal beauty or whether you will never want to open that wedding album…ever!
Many brides are tempted to use their wedding day as an excuse to take “let’s play dress-up” to the extreme. Crazy, headache-inducing hairstyles, fake eyelashes that have never been tried before and spray tans are great ways to insure that not only will your fiancé not recognize you at the alter, but these fashion faux pas will haunt you each time you pass by the wedding portrait prominently displayed on top of your bedroom dresser. To avoid disappointment:
- Cut out pictures in bridal magazines of hairstyles that you like on women with similarly shaped faces and hair length/texture.
- Find a stylist that you trust and ask to see photos of their work.
- Make an appointment months before the wedding for a trial run—bring magazine pictures, a photo of your dress, any hair accessories you plan to use and a camera.
- Discuss issues with your stylist such as expected weather and how wildly you plan on dancing at the reception.
- Do not make any radical changes in color, texture or length of your hair.
- After your sample wedding day hair is done, have your stylist take pictures of you from every angle so that it can be recreated and because your wedding day photos will not all be taken from the front.
If your hair is everything you ever wanted, gorgeous from every angle and you still recognize yourself…go dancing! Make sure it holds up. Then, go home, take out all the bobby pins, look in the mirror and see if this is the way you want to look for the most memorable moments of your big day, the ones spent in the bridal lingerie! If not, make another appointment!
Wedding Stress??
So you are engaged…on top of all the things you were juggling, now you have a wedding to plan and finance! Your anxiety levels will definitely rise during this “happy time” and it is imperative that you make space in your day to balance the new pressure with moments of “you time”. Whether it’s yoga, reading a good book or quiet moments spent in meditation, schedule calendar time for your peace of mind and the health of your relationship. Let’s face it; life is demanding. Once the wedding has been paid for and all that tension has passed, don’t expect the rest of your days together to be a blissful, prolonged honeymoon. With each new blessing comes a new hurdle.
Home mortgages, colicky babies, inflexible in-laws—just a few of the pesky little problems that could arise at one time or another in every marriage. There is no better time to develop constructive coping skills, both as an individual and as a couple than during your engagement. It is impossible to offer your best self to your partner when your tolerance capacity is at its limit. Take a walk on the beach, spend some time with a friend or schedule a lavender-scented massage…for two!
The dangers of letting stress control you on your wedding day
3 Signs You Are Stressing Too Hard Over Your Wedding
1) Skipping out on sleep and eating to work on your wedding: I know you can’t stop going every little thing that may go wrong, but you have to give yourself time to enjoy a meal and rest or else your stress levels will get the best of you.
2) You are double-guessing all of your decisions: Making final decisions is tough, but don’t double-guess yourdecisions too much. It’s healthy to question and critically analyze your decisions, but don’t let it drive you nuts.
3) Where’d the fun go?! Remember that you are planning one of the happiest days of your life, not a work event. Wedding planning should be fun! Make sure you enjoy it.
Wedding planning pro-tips: Start planning your wedding early. Enjoy your engagement, but don’t put off the planning for too long or you may find yourself pulling your hair out of it’s roots. And, I can’t say this enough, invest in a good wedding planner! Your planner will take on a great percentage of the stress which will allow you to better enjoy your engagement.
How to not stress over your wedding
Planning your wedding day and all of the related activities is a challenge.
There is a lot of organizing, scheduling, and financial responsibility.
If you don’t take care of yourself, you might lose your mind.
So, to help out, we have listed 3 fundamental tips on how to reduce wedding stress and how to make the planning experience more enjoyable overall.
- Start planning early: After you have become engaged, get ready to start putting everything together. The sooner you start, the smoother things will go. You also give yourself more time to fix anything that might go haywire.
- Share responsibilities with your fiance: Don’t take on every aspect of your wedding alone. Have your significant other take on as much responsibility as they can. Work together and work well.
- Hire a wedding planner: If your budget allows it, work with a bridal coordinator or wedding planner early on in your engagement. Your planner will take away, depending on how good she is, 50-70% of the stress involved with planning your wedding. Make sure you like your planner on a personal level, too.
Your wedding should be one of the best days of your life, so planning it should be enjoyable as well! Don’t let it get to you and don’t take on more than you can handle. It’s ok to depend on your significant other. You are getting married after all!
Best
