Ten Tips That Will Remove 90% of Your Wedding Headaches

Planning a wedding presents a whole host of opportunities to wreck your credit, destroy your friendships, and drive you to a nervous breakdown; but following these common sense tips can smooth out that bumpy road, and ensure a relatively stress-free planning experience.

1. Don’t go solo. If you really wanted to do everything yourself, you wouldn’t be getting married, right? Don’t be afraid to accept the generous offers of friends and relatives to help you with your planning. Assign a specific, manageable task to each person; and be generous with your gratitude for all those wonderful helpers.
 
2. Know when to say no. Every vendor will try to upsell you, whether it’s your florist, caterer, entertainer, decorator, etc. Even your parents and best friends will push you to add all sorts of extras. If you’re not comfortable with an idea, or you think it’s simply horrible, be friendly but firm and final, in saying it’s not right for you. The people who truly care about you will get over their hurt feelings and support your vision of your dream wedding.
 
3. Negotiate. It’s okay to ask your vendors for discounts or free upgrades. The worst they can do is say no; and maybe, just maybe, you can score some real bargains.  
 
4. Let the pros do it. Dreaming up do-it-yourself decorating tips is a nice way to keep a lot of frustrated artists occupied and out of trouble; but that doesn’t mean you have to use their ideas. Unless you’re artistically inclined, and you have hours and hours and hours of leisure time to cut and pin and paste and fold and paint, let the professionals do it. They’ll get it right the first time. They may have creative ideas you missed. And when your planning comes down to crunch time, you’ll appreciate every free minute you saved yourself.
 
5. Don’t ignore tradition. Remember, the wedding has already been invented. You don’t have to carry the burden of completely reinventing it all by yourself. It’s nice to have some special surprises that set your wedding apart from ordinary weddings. But don’t be too quick to dismiss everything that anyone has ever done before you. Trying to be absolutely unique may make your wedding the talk of the town, but it may not be the kind of talk you want.
 
6. Don’t fuss over favors. No one has ever said, “My most enduring memory of the wedding was the favor I received.” Most favors get tossed into dusty drawers, or simply thrown out. Food always makes a good favor, whether it’s candy, chocolate, nuts, maple syrup, honey, or a special blend of coffee. It’s a nice treat that’s always used, and always appreciated.
 
7. Write your thank-you cards in advance. Each time a new gift comes in, write the card and tuck it away with the others. That way, you won’t be swamped with the chore of writing a hundred cards all at once when you should be relaxing and enjoying married life.
 
8. One notebook is worth a thousand Post-Its. Keep an organized planning notebook with lots of sections for your gown, your venue, your florist, your DJ, your photographer, and so on. Be sure to get some of those plastic pocket pages that can hold business cards and small pieces of paper. You’ll save countless hours of searching when you have all your data in one place.
 
9. Let your bridesmaids pick their dresses. They don’t have to be identical. Good designers can show you an overall theme and color for bridesmaid dresses, and offer you a choice or 4 or 5 dresses that fit that theme and color. Different body types look better in different dresses. And giving your bridesmaids a choice will make them love you forever.
 
10. Remember why your guests are there. They’re coming to see the two of you get married, not to see what chair covers you chose, or which flowers you selected, or how carefully you’ve timed out every second of the evening. Don’t allow yourself to get mired in the minutiae of your wedding. If your guests have fun, and you get to celebrate with the people who mean the most to you, nothing else matters.
 
See? That was easy. Following these simple guidelines can eliminate more than 90% of the stress that goes with planning a wedding. And arriving at your wedding relaxed and smiling is your reward.

To learn more about Fourth Estate Audio’s incomparable service, call me at 630.654.4440. I’m here to help.

© Fourth Estate Audio, 2015 – Jay Congdon is president of Fourth Estate Audio, a professional Chicago DJ and Chicago Wedding DJ company.

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