MENTAL preparedness
Planning a wedding can be extremely fun, but not many couples factor in the stress. The question has been popped, love is in the air and you’re off to the race. Next thing you know, the wedding date is a month away and you’re running way behind. You haven’t done your engagement photos, your guests don’t have “save the date” invites and now your venue has thrown you a curveball and said they double booked.
What do you do?
If you haven’t read our 9 Wedding Planning Tips, now would be a good time. If you have, here are a few bonus tips catered specifically to being mentally prepared.
DON’T VIEW YOUR WEDDING AS A 1 DAY EVENT
View every aspect of your itinerary as a specific event leading up to the main event. If you put too much emphasis on the day of event and not enough on the small things that need to be accomplished, you may end up behind schedule. 9, 12, 15 or maybe even 24 months may seem like a long time to prepare, in reality, it’s not. We’ve come across many couples who didn’t have a photographer or videographer 2 weeks prior to their wedding day. We were able to accommodate many, but some didn’t allow us to plan as a company and we had to respectfully decline. We can’t imagine the stress they were feeling knowing they may not have the best representation on documenting their wedding. So that’s why we stress to you, to alleviate your stress, view every event on your itinerary as your wedding day. You’ll thank us later. 😉
CONTINGENCY PLAN
Couples don’t like to prepare for a “what if” scenario. The harsh reality of weddings isn’t always cupcakes and rainbows. We can’t recall one wedding going 100% as planned. Don’t get us wrong, it wasn’t a disaster, but a 15 minute delay could determine if we got the shot or not. That’s why we always have a contingency plan for getting the shot we desire. As should you on every decision made about your wedding. From picking the dress to the color of the linens on the table, always have a backup plan. Verifying all your t’s are crossed and i’s are dotted will make a world of difference for your mental health. Trust us, we learned the hard way one time and fortunately, we made the adjustments so it wouldn’t happen again. Unfortunately for you, you may not get a second chance. Don’t worry, our mistake can be your lesson learned.
BLOCK OUT THE NOISE
Everyone has an opinion and it almost seems like, the bigger the decision to be made, the stronger the opinions become. We truly believe the opinions are coming from a place of love. With so many differing views, it sometimes becomes a distraction. Take every opinion with a grain of salt and concentrate on what the two of you have envisioned. I’ll use a key example, in our line of work, every photographer/videographer is a “professional.” We will get the opinion of, “why did you frame it this way?” Or, “I would have edited it another way.” These are all thoughtful opinions, just not the opinion we could utilize when envisioning our final product. That’s the same mindset you two must take when planning your wedding. Remain gracious and humbled when receiving such differing opinions. Feelings get involved when offering up said advice and the last thing you want to do is offend any loved one.
These 3 tips aren’t the end all be all. Implementing these strategies into your planning process will do wonders for your mental preparedness. Also, don’t forget to eat healthy and get plenty of rest, but you don’t need us to tell you that. Happy planning!