Control Wedding Stress

We’ve summarised that there are four main tasks involved in managing your wedding stress. By following these four steps, you can minimize your anxiety on your wedding day.

Recognise and understand the signs of stress.

Identify and understand the sources of stress.

Learn to manage controllable sources of stress.

Learn to cope with situations beyond your control.

Recognise the Signs of Stress

Signs of stress can manifest themselves in a number of negative symptoms, sleeplessness, loss of appetite, breathlessness, mood swings, depression, lack of concentration, headaches, weight loss, dependence on alcohol and chest pain. During the lead up to your special day, you’ll want to be at your mental and physical peak to ensure you can appreciate the experience to the fullest. We all know that organising a wedding can be a very stressful time, but if you can turn those feelings of anxiety and nervousness into excitement instead, then you stand a greater chance of succeeding during the planning stages for your wedding day.

Recognise the Sources of Stress

Part of the preparation for a wedding can involve an awful lot of difficult decisions to be made, someone needs to watch the purse strings, expectations of others to handle and to manage, paperwork to keep in check once the marriage is complete. It’s difficult sometimes to realise the amount of stress and pressure you are under during this time and easy to miss the toll the process can also take out on you emotionally. If you fail to spot the sources of the anxiety then you can leave yourself open for it to take over. So, you want the perfect wedding? Who doesn’t? However perfection can be a very demanding and exacting standard to achieve. Most of those who strive for perfection will only find themselves eventually left wanting. That’s not a feeling you want on you special day is it? In doing so you are piling on the pressure and huge helping of stress.

A large part of the anxiety and stress leading up to a wedding, is managing the relationships you have with others (guests you do know, those you perhaps don’t so well). These are relationships that you will have to manage in the lead up to the big day. There are five main types of person who can give you issues in this respect. If you learn how to deal with these people correctly then this can cut out a huge amount of stress which can be caused by simply ignoring any issues, or worrying about them in advance.

Wedding Vendors – This is their business, and of course they want to try and entice you into the more expensive options available to you from them. You have a budget, so stick to it. Don’t let them talk you into something you neither want, nor can afford. You’ll feel more comfortable once the rules have been established.

Feuding or Divorced friends – It’s not up to you to keep everybody happy, it should be their role to respect the fact that this is your day and to behave accordingly. If they are kicking up a fuss then you need to express that you are very happy for them to attend the wedding, however they need to forget their own personal issues and promise not to fight on your day.

Family and Friends – They’ll be full of good advice to give you, and will try to convince you that their suggestions should be followed for the perfect day. They will provide plenty of input on what colours to choose and what flowers suit you the best to make your day go smoothly. However it’s not their day – it’s yours. Thank them for their advice, but do things they way you want to.

Parents – Your parents will find it hard not to get involved, as they are accustomed to having had an input in your life since you were born. Whilst it’s important to keep them involved in your wedding, give them specific tasks to sort out for you. Remember the day needs to turn out the way that you want it to, not the way that they do!

The both of you - In the lead up to the wedding day, with so much to organise is is inevitable that you and your partner won’t see eye to eye on everything. The planning for the big day is a stressful time for both of you. If you can look to share the tasks, so both of you have an equal involvement in the decision making, this can in turn alleviate the stress. It’s important to keep talking and consulting each other during the planning process, keeping the channels of communication open at all times.

There are plenty of events we deal with during our lives which are stressful, however none quite as much as our own wedding day.

If you are expecting the day and the events leading up to it to be stressful, then it’s more than likely you will be proven right.

Planning a wedding is an incredibly busy time. The stress can show how important you hold the special day and how excited you are at the prospect of getting married, however there are ways to try and keep the pressure to a minimum without having to step away from the planning process. Managing your Wedding Stress is a very important process in the events. You want to be in on all the planning and decision making, however too much stress can reduce the likelihood that the day will pass without incident.

>>you could find more help by looking closely at the Panic Away program<<

Image: ‘Worried bride’ | spaceodissey

If you can recognise the triggers which will cause stress whilst planning your wedding, you stand a much better chance of dodging the negative influences these will present. Sure, it’s okay to be a little stressed ( who wouldn’t be ), but don’t let in take over, as this will not help your health both physical and mental.

If your wedding stress is beginning to run away with you and is taking control, there are a few things you can look to do to immediately reduce the pressure and to bring it back under control. Look over what you are expecting from the day, and from the planning process, do they seem reasonable? If your expectations are too high, then it stands to reason that you will experience a higher level of stress in the planning and organisation. everybody wants their wedding day to be ‘just perfect’, but in striving to plan the perfect wedding, you ket the stress take the control from you

Have faith in others to carry out their roles well. If you cannot trust those around you to do the jobs you have given them, then you cannot expect to remain calm and stress free. If you have a wedding planner and they are looking after the flowers, let them get in with it. They are the professionals and should be trusted to do their part - so let them be. If your sister is organising the caterers, leave them alone to carry out the research. Providing they consult with you before making any big decisions, let them take on the donkey work, rather than allow yourself to be exhausted, spread the workload.

Talk to your partner and male sure that the wedding you think you need to plan is actually the wedding you need to be planning. By talking you can sometimes avert the need to jump into some grand arrangements, if your partner is not expecting such perfection ( nor desires it ) then why go overboard on the planning.

Book time of work if it starts to get too hectic in the last few weeks. You only get to do this once ( we hope ) so a few days off work is not going to hurt. This is your big day and you will have plenty of time to make the time up over the coming years.

Stress is a part of the process when planning a wedding, however it’s important to realise that it can get out of hand if you don’t prepare for it beforehand. By understanding the reasons and the sources for the stress, you can handle and control the outcome much more easily.

By reducing the pressure and learning to trust others to take the strain, who knows, you may even start to have fun organising your biggest of days!

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