How to Enjoy Planning Your Wedding

Flowers, dress, weather, cake, pictures, groomsmen, toasts, family, flower girls, ceremony, first dance, hair, make-up, slide show, food, wine—it ALL has to be perfect. After all, you've been dreaming of this day since you were six years old and playing dress up at your friend's house!

Many brides get so wrapped up in making everything perfect that they forget to ENJOY the process. Planning your wedding should be fun. It should be enjoyable. It should be relaxing. And no, I'm not crazy. We all want to be that bride that looks like they have it all under control, the bride that is not stressed out if the photographer arrives a half hour late or the florist forgets she was supposed to bring flowers for the cake. We all want to be that bride that does not even flinch if the flower girl starts crying half way down the aisle or if the ring bearer drops the rings.

Below are some key things to remember to help you be that bride!

Remember - Three big things WILL go wrong. If you go into your wedding with this attitude, you won't be disappointed when the inevitable things do go wrong. In fact, they will even make you count as you say "well, there is number one - only two more left!" This attitude will keep you light-hearted and remember, at the end of the day you'll be married to the man you love—is it really that big of a deal if there aren't flowers on the cake? It was expensive—why cover it up anyway?!

Even if you can't afford a wedding coordinator - hire a friend. Wedding coordinators are generally over-priced and impersonal. Hire a trusted (non-wedding party) friend and offer to pay them $100 to cover your day of details. When someone comes into the make-up room to tell you the photographer hasn't arrived yet, you can calmly say, "okay, you can find Kristy and she has all the contact information. She will take care of it." It is important that this person is not a member of EITHER family.

Make lists TWO months prior to your wedding - It may seem obsessive two months out to be making wedding lists, but it isn't. Sit down for an hour (or two!) and make all of your lists, separated by day, for the two weeks before the wedding. Because you are making the lists so far in advance, you're mind is clear and concise and you won't forget a thing. Then the day before the wedding, you won't be thinking about what you may have forgotten—as long as everything on the list is crossed off, it's all done! Remember to make your packing lists too! One for the wedding and one for the honeymoon. This detail is often forgotten and does nothing but add more stress in the days leading up to the wedding.

Focus on the groom! Remember, your fiancé doesn't care about the flowers on the cake. He cares about you, and at the end of the night, you'll be married and on your way to the honeymoon of your dreams. Who cares about flowers?!