Some romantic comedies would have you believe that every wedding planning process is magical, effortless, and stress-free…but we know better.

For many brides, wedding planning is stressful and even leaves some couples feeling depressed. But it doesn’t have to be that way. 

Here are 7 tips to make wedding planning less stressful.

1. Don’t make your entire engagement about the wedding

It goes without saying that planning the wedding day is a big part of an engagement, but remember not to make it everything. Plan other events and date nights with your significant other outside of wedding planning. Spend time talking about everyday life and not just the big day. 

Remember your life before your engagement (and after you’re married) to keep perspective prior to your wedding.

2. Block out specified wedding planning time

Additionally, make sure you block out specific wedding planning time. That way, you’ll get everything you need to get done and can then focus on your life outside of wedding planning.

Do your best to plan your wedding outside of work and specified time with your fiance. Set aside a specific day (or days) and time every week to focus on planning. 

3. Set boundaries

Friends and family are happy for you and they often love to get involved in your special day. Sometimes that also means injecting their personal opinions for what you “should” or “have to” do for your big day.

Take all the advice for whatever you need from it, but remember to set boundaries if it’s getting to be too much. Try being honest and compassionate and explain that, while you appreciate the advice, you and your fiance are going a different direction with the wedding day or hold different priorities to a higher standard.

4. Set manageable expectations

Similarly, you can get even more proactive by setting expectations for your friends and family ahead of time.

For instance, if you and your significant other chose to have a nondenominational wedding ceremony, it’s best to share that in advance with your religious family members. 

Or, you might manage expectations with a destination wedding by sharing the destination as far in advance as possible.

5. Manage your own expectations

For better or worse, many brides hold high expectations of the “perfect” wedding day. As you well know, perfection isn’t a reality in everyday life, nor is it a reality for your big day.

That doesn’t mean you can’t have a wonderful close-to-perfect day; it simply means that releasing perfection for when things can (and will) go wrong or be challenging will help any potential disappointment you may feel.

6. Be an expert communicator

One of the best things you can do during the wedding planning process – and during your marriage – is get really, really good at communicating.

By communicating with your significant other, family and friends, and vendors throughout the planning experience, you’ll find that you will significantly reduce the amount of stress you feel.

7. Hire the right vendor team

Last, but certainly not least, build a great team of vendors. Hiring experienced wedding event rental vendors that you know, like, and trust will ensure you feel prepared and taken care of on your big day.

There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to a wedding or special event, so knowing that you have professionals to take care of each component will check things off your to-do list and ease your planning stress. 

Follow these 7 tips to keep wedding stress at bay. They’ll help you enjoy your engagement and the wedding planning process the best you can!

And for help with New England wedding rentals, give us a call at Sperry Tents Seacoast!