Most brides and grooms to be want their wedding day to be the most perfect day of their lives. This is quite the common goal, and there’s all kinds of wedding prep that occurs to try and ensure this. But is it a realistic one? If you’re about to set a date for your wedding, that’s the best thing to ask right now.
Letting go of the unrealistic idea of perfection is one of the healthiest things you can do when wedding planning. If you can acknowledge that some things may not go to plan, and others may need to be rearranged at the last minute, you’ll be carrying far less stress around the time of the big day itself.
With that in mind, here are a few important ways to slash those unrealistic expectations in two, and replace them with more attainable, satisfactory ones.
Know What You Can Afford
Your wedding budget will instantly put down any ideas that exceed it. Because of that, it’s important to know what you can afford the moment you start to plan the wedding, and to track the costs as time goes on.
It’s key to also watch just how much of the budget is going in each direction. When choosing a wedding venue, try not to use up more than half the budget. Similarly, paying for the cake shouldn’t make up more than half of the total cost of all the catering. Overpaying without realizing is very easy to do, so keep an eye on this possibility from the beginning!
Predict Potential Tensions
A big part of planning a wedding is understanding what could go wrong before you’ve even booked anything in. Tensions can arise over the smallest of matters, such as where guests should sit during the wedding dinner, and that could become a more heated debate than it really needs to be.
Think on this ahead of time, and have an honest conversation with your fiance about what could go wrong even now. For example, when thinking about the guest list and seating arrangements, are there any long standing family disagreements, or even friendship group tensions to consider?
Take time to talk about this calmly now, when you’re both involved in the discussion, and come up with an action plan together.
Anticipate Awkward Moments
There are going to be moments during your wedding day itself that will feel awkward. Times when nothing else is going on, or your hair and makeup running, moving, or loosening as the day goes on. Anticipate situations like these to help prevent them from becoming awkward memories you might look back on with shame.
Indeed, you could have your hair and/or makeup artist around throughout by inviting them as a guest. It’s also an idea to play music during those ‘in between’ moments, which will prevent awkward silences and preserve that joyful wedding spirit.
Don’t let your wedding day fall flat due to astronomical expectations. Be realistic from the start.
