It’s no secret that weddings can be stressful. Between organizing all the planning details, figuring out how to manage all the costs, and then dealing with your crazy family, it can be a lot to handle. Been there, done that. I get it. But your wedding doesn’t have to be a crazy ball of stress that makes you want to pull out your hair every time you think about it, and they’re all things inside your control. Here are my tips for having a stress free wedding.

1. Build in extra time to your timeline
There is nothing that adds to wedding day stress like running behind schedule. I always suggest to my brides to build in a little extra time just in case something runs late. If you think it’s going to take 10 minutes to get from your getting ready location to the venue, give yourself 20 in the timeline. And if we don’t end up needing that time, we’re ahead of schedule, which means more time for you and your new husband to spend together celebrating!

2. Communicate with your vendors

When your wedding vendors know exactly where they need to be and when they need to be there they can function like a well oiled machine. Make sure to communicate to your vendors the wedding day timeline and any other specific details they need to know before the wedding day. When they have all this ahead of time they won’t need to bug you the day of with stressful questions!

Bonus: A well seasoned wedding vendor of any type will make sure to reach out to you to get whatever info they need ahead of time

3. Communicate with the key people in your wedding

Along the same lines as communicating with your vendors, it’s also extremely important to communicate your expectations clearly with the key players of your wedding day – bridal party, family, and anyone else assigned an important wedding day task. Make sure they have plenty of advance notice of where they need to be and when, along with their specific tasks. When planning my own wedding I found it super helpful to email a copy of the timeline to family and bridal party that highlighted when they were needed. And no one was late!

4. Don’t let the little stuff bother you.

This is probably the thing that will have the biggest effect on your wedding. How you choose to react to the negative things that happen (because they will happen) can dictate the entire mood of the day. Expect some things to go wrong, no matter how much you’ve planned. No wedding day in the history of the world has happened without something going wrong, and yours won’t be any different.

But that doesn’t mean your wedding won’t be perfect.

I’ve been to over 100 weddings, and I’ve seen days where every possible thing could go wrong. I’ve seen brides who loose it and brides who have an amazing day despite all the bad things happening. And the only difference between the two is how they chose to respond to the negative.

At the end of this day, only one thing matters. That you and your fiance finally became husband and wife. That you’ve taken the very first step towards the rest of your lives together, and nothing, not cakes falling over or family members fighting, can change that.
You’re married.

Enjoy every second of it.

Need more wedding planning tips? Click here!

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Melissa Sue Photography is a Colorado and Destination wedding photographer who specializes in wedding and engagement photography. Melissa is based in Colorado, but travels worldwide, capturing local and destination weddings all over.

To learn more about me, my photography, and how I can best serve you on your wedding day click here or send me an email to set up a consultation.

I can’t wait to hear from you!