The Guide to Planning an Unforgettable Wedding
Just Breathe
First of all congratulations!!!! Most women started planning their wedding day when they were little girls. Well the time has finally arrived and I know you are excited and elated with joy. Your mind is possibly racing and being flooded with everything you’ve seen on Pinterest, Instagram, and your favorite movies and TV Shows. If you already told your mom and girlfriends I’m sure they are bombarding you with everything you need to do, everything you must do, and everything you should do. They have become the overnight wedding planner. We want to give you the advice we give all of our Brides when they come to us JUST BREATHE. Take a deep breath in and deep breath out. No seriously, we can do it together, Breathe in and hold it for 5 seconds and Breathe out. We promise you if you practice this method it will help you throughout your wedding planning journey.
As a bride it is going to be easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle that comes along with wedding planning. It is up to you to take your moment and JUST BREATHE so you can gather your thoughts, release all the pressures, and anxiety’s you may have. Remember it’s your moment so take charge of keeping your peace and sometimes that comes with JUST BREATHING. I know it sounds trivial but take it from someone who practices this exercise daily. As a wedding planner sometimes I have to JUST BREATHE. I wish I had someone tell me to JUST BREATHE when I was planning my wedding. So take it from me or any of my other brides who use this method and if you don’t believe them, take the advice from stress management experts.
Breathing exercises are designed to help you relax because it makes your body feel the way it does when it’s already relaxed. Experts say deep breathing is an effective way to help reduce stress. While you are taking deep breaths a message is sent to your brain to calm down and relax. The brain sends a message to your body telling your heart rate to slow down, reduce your blood pressure, stop breathing fast, and relax. We love this exercise so much not only because it works lol but because it is free and easy to do. As silly as it may sound, we know it works because we use this method often.
What I Want, What He Wants, vs. What They Want
So you finally have a chance to breathe and gather all your thoughts. Now what should you do? Most planners would say create a budget, hire a wedding planner, find a venue, find your wedding dress. We say forget all of that!!! As my brother always says proper planning prevents poor performance!!! How can you plan to have your dream wedding when you are planning someone else’s dream. A lot of brides get caught up in pleasing other people, doing what they think other people will like, taking the opinions, and suggestions from their family and friends even though it’s not what they want. Well we are here to tell you there is a foolproof method to ensuring your dream wedding is your dream wedding and not a mixture of your dream, your best friend's dream, with a mixture of your mom's dream.
If you are asking how are you supposed to do that? Don’t worry, we are here to help!!!! We have a step by step guide designed to help our brides!!!! First things first, always remember that this is your day. It is not anybody else’s. You can respectfully decline and respectfully accept any and all suggestions given. But first you have to know exactly what it is that you and your fiancé want versus what everyone else wants. Below write out all the details that will make your wedding everything you have dreamed it would be. Remember no detail is too small.
Now that you have written everything out. Now it’s time to get with your future hubby to be and write down everything he wants. The wedding industry focuses a lot on what the bride wants but not so much on what the groom wants. He may say babe I don’t care, do whatever you want to do. Don’t get upset just say ok and make a mental note that once you start planning there will be moments and it may not be a lot where he will say he wants something. Make sure you write it down and do everything in your power to bring his request to life. If you are a bride who has a fiancé who knows what he wants immediately make that list.
Having clarity is a necessity in wedding planning. Mapping out your vision will help you execute your dreams. Once both list are completed compare and contrast and decide with one another what is significant to the both of you. Once you guys agree on what’s significant highlight them as a reminder. This way you always have something to remind you of what you once wanted. Please note that throughout your wedding planning process things will change, new inspirations will come, and certain life changes may happen. Always remember this step because you can use it in any part of your wedding planning process.
Now here comes the fun part. You have your vision, your future hubby's vision, and you guys have merged it together.
Now it’s time to put pictures to what you have written. One of our favorite scriptures is write the vision and make it plain on tablets so that those who read it may run with it. If you know what you want, how it looks, the ambience you are trying to create, and the experience you want your guest to have. The sky's the limit to executing your dream wedding. Now is the time and the perfect moment to create your vision board. Ladies, I am telling you Pinterest will be your best friend. It’s free which are the words we love to hear, it is easy to use, it has the ability to save all your images and write notes, and most importantly you can share your board with anyone you choose.
When you know what you want you will not be stuck celebrating someone else’s dream wedding. We hear so many horror stories about brides wishing the day would come and be over with. Well we think this map will help you along your journey so you can cherish every moment of the process. Just like any other map it will be here for you when you get lost, confused, or need a reminder of where your final destination is. So many brides are disappointed and stressed because they lose sight of their dream and what’s significant about it. Stay Calm, Stay Focused, & Follow your map, it’s created to get you to your destination.
THE SQUAD
Just know every bride has a squad. Her squad usually consists of a group of people who support her unconditionally. When I say unconditionally I mean unconditionally. Her squad is there with her in the trenches getting grimy and dirty lol. We like to tell our brides before you start anything first identify who your squad is. It’s important to know who is on your team and it’s even more important to know their strengths and weaknesses. Team work makes the dream work and a great team can bring that dream to life.
If your best friend is great at art and crafts making put her to work. If you have a friend who is organized and planning is her middle name, give her a task that will keep everything on track. Don’t make her the wedding planner unless that’s her career. The only reason why we say that is due to experience. It can go great or it can go really bad!!!! This is one of the most important days of your life that you will remember forever. You do not want to put that strain on any relationship you have. Unless this is their career then they have been equipped and prepared to handle the task at hand and we say dive right in.
We had a bride assign duties to her squad which we thought was so cute. They all felt special and involved and it released some pressure from our Bride. She told her Maid of Honor that she was in charge of the bridal shower, her matron of honor was in charge of the wedding bath; a wedding bath is an event where the the groomsmen and bridesmaids all come together for a social event to meet one another and get acquainted while celebrating the bride and groom, she gave the task of her bachelorette party to her only sister, and because she and the hubby to be were paying for the wedding themselves they asked their parents to plan the rehearsal dinner. This way everybody apart of her squad felt included and had a task and a way to contribute. Every ride is different and so is her squad so it’s important for you to find out who your squad is and what your squad would be great at to help add to your big day.
Congratulations!!!!!! You have finished the first steps to planning your dream wedding. Remember to JUST BREATHE along the way and Cherish Every Moment of the process.
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