Reduce The Stress & Budget For Your Wedding!

There are only 9 days left until Christmas...yes, only 9!  For those of you who haven't finished your Christmas shopping this is probably inducing a certain amount of stress, especially if you're not 100% sure what to get your friends and family.  

I find it quite strange how we get ourselves worked up into such a frenzy around Christmas time.  If you look at it bluntly, it is one day.  One day out of an entire year's worth of 365 days!  Now I realise that the reason we put so much pressure on ourselves at this time of year is to ensure that our loved ones have something special to open.  We want to make sure that they have something they are going to truly enjoy and remember.  In some cases, we go way over budget, spend much more than we can afford, and lose sight of why we're doing it.  Something in our minds says "the bigger, the better".  Almost as if the more money that is thrown at something, the more likely it's going to be cherished; this frequently isn't the case.  In fact, the more thought you put into something, even something very inexpensive, the more likely it is going to be enjoyed.  When you think about it, Christmas holds many similarities to planning a wedding!  The main difference being that the stress of organising everything tends to start somewhat further in advance than one month before the event!  The truth of the matter is, then when we're planning for Christmas, or a wedding, we put far too much pressure on ourselves for everything to be "perfect".  What is perfect anyway?!  It's only a concept we've formed in our own minds, no one else knows what our idea of perfect is!

A few tips to reduce the stress (and budget!) for your wedding:

1. Make sure that your bridesmaids, ushers, best man are all people you can trust and rely on.  You need people who will make you feel calm and who will support you when in your own head you feel quite insane!
2. Set a budget...and make it realistic!  If you only have £2000 to spend, your wedding day can still be amazing, you just need to realign your ideas if your dream was to get married in a 5* hotel with 200 guests.  You could still get married in a 5* hotel, but maybe it'll just be 20 of you having a beautiful dinner.  The possibilities are there, you might just need to shop around a bit more and get busy with researching!
3. Make a list.  Write down what you have to do leading up to your wedding day and put everything in order of importance.  Don't be alarmed!  This will be a very long list to start with, but as time goes by you will be able to tick items off the list which will feel extremely satisfying!
4. If finances are tight, subscribe to wedding blogs for ideas instead of spending money on magazines and wedding shows.  There are some great reads out there which give you so many ideas and have some stunning photos.  Wedding blogs don't cost anything to subscribe to so access to ideas and inspiration can come right within budget!
5. DIY!  Where possible, make items yourself.  Again, there are hundreds of ideas scattered across the web.  If you're not sure where to start, take these three examples for a little inspiration: 

• "Pinwheel Accents" from Finishing Touch Event Design as a great example of DIY decorations.  

Melissa McCrotty photo of Finishing Touch's Pinwheels 

• Make your own "Shabby Chic" invitations, as featured on the Love My Dress blog.

Photograph Copyright © 2011 Shabby Chic Bride

• Make your own table centrepieces like these from Martha Stewart Weddings.  Not only will you save costs on flowers, but you can make these weeks in advance as they're created by using dried grasses, so they won't wilt or die.  You could even let guests take them home as gifts!

Photograph courtesy of Martha Stewart Weddings

Overall, planning a wedding should be exciting and enjoyable.  One piece of advice that everyone who is planning a wedding should bear in mind...this is one day only.  Yes you want it to be as close to perfect as possible, but don't lose sight of why you're doing it.  You're marrying the person you're closest to in the world, the person you don't want to live without.  Your wedding day is about the two of you making a commitment to one another and symbolises the beginning of the next chapter of your lives together.  If you're sad about the fact that you don't have a huge budget and can't afford to make your wedding day quite as lavish as you'd like...well, why not have a wedding renewal ceremony/reception on your 10th anniversary!