5 Time - and Sanity - Saving Secrets from a Wedding Planner
You’re engaged! Congratulations, it’s time to start planning your wedding! Life has suddenly become a whirlwind of decisions, details, and deadlines, and before you know it, Pinterest boards and vendor contracts are king.
Let's be honest, planning a wedding can sometimes feel like a full-time job - after all, it is our full-time job. As professional wedding planners and coordinators, we've seen it all. While no two weddings are ever the same, planning weddings in Southern California offers an especially diverse range of wedding experiences. The unique weddings characterized by Southern California continually provides our team with plenty of learning opportunities to sort through the very best strategies to minimize stress and time waste for any and every wedding planning journey and wedding day.
Hiring a wedding planner to take over the bulk of preparations is the ultimate time and sanity saving hack, but not everyone has the luxury of a professional wedding planner. If you are going the wedding planning sans professional route there are still plenty of tips and tricks to aid in navigating the exciting (and occasionally overwhelming) wedding planning journey. Check out some of our favorite wedding planning stress relieving secrets below!
1 | The Magic of the Master Checklist
As you make strides in planning your wedding, forget scribbling notes on napkins or having a million scattered to-do lists. Your best friend during wedding planning is a comprehensive master checklist. Break down every single task you will conquer while wedding planning, big or small, and assign deadlines. This road map to your wedding planning journey will keep you on track and moving at a pace that works into the rest of your busy schedule.
Don’t know where to start on building a wedding planning schedule? Check out our ebook for a guide on how to create your own custom wedding planning timeline and schedule.
2 | Delegate where you can!
Don't be afraid to delegate! Your partner, family, and wedding party are there and often eager to help. Give your maid of honor the task of researching bridal shower venues, or ask your future father-in-law to look into transportation options. Not only does it lighten your load, but it also makes them feel included.
It is key to know what you are comfortable delegating and choosing the right person for appropriate wedding planning tasks. While (pending your relationship with your friends and family) it might be appropriate to have a bridesmaid send you bridal gown boutique suggestions or delegate sourcing your breakfast while getting ready in the morning, it is an overstep to ask any one person to scout all vendors.
Pro-tip: create an Excel document that can be shared with your vendors and bridesmaids. That way, everyone stays in the loop.
3 | Prioritize Your Top 3
Of course, there is a certain order of operations to follow when planning a wedding (i.e. the venue must be booked before the photographer to guarantee your photographer is available on your wedding date), but don’t let the order in which you plan dictate the significance of any element of your wedding!
Before you get lost in the weeds of every tiny detail, sit down with your partner and decide on your top 3 non-negotiables for the wedding. Is it serving amazing food at your wedding? A skilled wedding DJ? A stunning wedding venue? Once you've identified these, let those priorities guide your decisions and budget. Everything else can be secondary. This helps you focus your energy and ensures that the most important elements of your day are exactly as you envision them.
4 | Embrace The ‘No’
This might be the hardest one, but it's crucial. You'll be bombarded with opinions, suggestions, and well-meaning advice from everyone you know. While it's great to listen, you also need to learn to say no to things that don't align with your vision or budget. Don't feel pressured to invite distant cousins you haven't seen in a decade, or to have a wedding cake if you’d prefer cookie platters! This is your day, and saying "no" will save you time, money, and a lot of stress.
4 | Trust Your Vendors
You've (hopefully) spent time researching and choosing your dream team of vendors – your photographer, florist, caterer, etc. Now, trust them! After booking, ask them what information and/or materials they need from you, when the next point of contact will be, and what logistics they won’t take care of so that you can plan accordingly. From there, let your wedding professionals do what you hired them to do! Allowing vendors the creative freedom to do what they do best not only maximizes the services you are paying for but saves you time and effort!
Pro-tip: your wedding day really will be a whirlwind! The moments captured by your videographer and photographer will be your reminders of this day forever - so be sure to pick these vendors with the utmost care. Their work will be the treasured record of your special day!
Wedding planning doesn't have to be a race to the finish line where you're completely exhausted. By implementing these simple strategies, you can enjoy the journey, stay organized, and actually savor the excitement leading up to your big day.
Pro-tip: if one of your priorities is a stress-free and picture-perfect day, your best decision will be to hire a wedding planner or coordinator! Check out all of our packages here, and feel free to reach out if you’d like to chat about your perfect day with us!
