Common Wedding Planning Mistakes to Avoid

Planning a wedding is a special experience that comes but once in a lifetime. As your wedding visions transform into a reality, your excitement for the big day only grows. While the planning process can be quite fun and exciting, it can also be a bit stressful at times. There are many elements of a wedding that need fine-tuning before the big day, and sometimes, it can feel that there simply isn’t enough time to get it all done. Instead of allowing the pre-wedding stress to swallow you up, take a step back and calculate your most pressing worries for the big day. Familiarizing yourself with some of the most common wedding planning mistakes to avoid can help mitigate some of the larger fears that may surround the planning process. By successfully avoiding the bigger mistakes, you will likely find that everything else falls into place so you can enjoy the planning process in full.

Sweating the small stuff

Perhaps the most common wedding planning mistake to avoid is sweating the small stuff. Even the most well-planned weddings will likely encounter a small hurdle at some point. Such obstacles are inevitable when planning such a large event, and while they can be a bit disappointing, don’t let them ruin the entire process. Focus on the great parts of wedding planning, rather than the minor mishaps that may throw a wrench in your plans. In several years, you will likely look back on these blunders and laugh. Focusing on the good rather than the bad is the best way to reduce stress when planning a wedding and will ensure that your big day is full of laughter and love no matter what happens.

Copying another bride’s big day

Inspiration can come from anywhere, including the weddings of family, friends, and even celebrities. Implementing certain design aspects of other weddings into your own can help flush out some of the more minor details of wedding planning. However, take care not to create an exact replica of someone else’s big day. Your wedding day should be personal and reflect your own style and taste. Rather than replicating ideas from your vision board exactly, use these elements as a jumping off point. If you are attempting to replicate the aesthetic of your favorite celebrity’s wedding, for instance, consider choosing a dress that possesses many of the same design elements as theirs. Then make the gown your own and introduce some of your personality into the ensemble through unique wedding shoes, meaningful jewelry, or a hand-made headpiece.

Scrambling at the last second

Planning a wedding is not something that can happen in a day or even a week. In many cases, the planning process will span several months. Scrambling to make arrangements at the last second, therefore, is one of the most detrimental things you can do when planning a wedding. Leaving most of your wedding planning to the last moment will often result in miscommunication and mishaps, some of which may greatly affect your big day. To avoid any last-minute panic, be sure to create a structured wedding planning schedule to serve as your guide in the months leading up to your big day.

Trying to go it alone

One of the most important things to remember throughout the wedding planning process is that you are not alone. There are many people who will be more than happy to aid in preparations—all you have to do is ask. Perhaps the best person to ask for help is your soon-to-be spouse. Sharing wedding planning duties will not only help remove some of the stress from your own shoulders, but it will help bring you both closer than ever in the months leading up to your big day. Encouraging your fiancé’s advice and help in the planning process will also allow them to impart some of their own personality and personal tastes into the planning process. After all, your wedding day reflects your life as a couple, not individuals, so the wedding plans should be equally as inspired by your fiancé’s preferences as your own. If you feel like you could use a few more helping hands in the planning process, don’t be afraid to reach out to friends, family members, or even a professional wedding planner for help. Enlisting the help of your trusted inner circle will help ease wedding planning worries in no time.

Too many cooks in the kitchen

While it can be very beneficial to enlist the help of your loved ones when planning a wedding, it’s important that you don’t go overboard. Inviting too many cooks into the kitchen will often add more stress to the planning process. When it comes to planning a wedding, it seems that everyone has an opinion or bit of advice to impart. Though these opinions are often well-intended, they can still add unnecessary stress to the planning process. In trying to hear and implement everyone’s advice, it can be very easy to forget your own desires. Remember that, at the end of the day, the only opinions that matter are yours and your fiancé’s. Accept outside advice graciously, but take it with a grain of salt.

Becoming blinded by tradition

Tradition plays a large part in many wedding ceremonies and receptions and can be a great way to include family and friends into your big day. While the inclusion of traditions can add a special touch to your wedding, remember that you don’t need to abide by every wedding tradition. Many brides include certain traditions not because they like them but because they feel it’s necessary. This is your big day, and if you want to shirk tradition, so be it! Don’t be afraid to pick and choose the traditions that appeal to you, either. If you want to avoid seeing your soon-to-be spouse until you walk down the aisle but aren’t comfortable with a bouquet or garter toss, that’s fine. Do what feels right for you and your fiancé. In forgoing certain wedding traditions, you may even create a new trend that will sweep the wedding world.