These past few weeks engagement news has taken over my Instagram and Facebook feeds. ‘Tis the season for shiny blingy rings to make their way on to girls ring fingers. I LOVE seeing all of the engagement news because getting engaged and planning a wedding was truly one of the most fun times I have had to date. If you are like me and are as Type A as they come you have already read every “top 10” list, month-by-month countdown, “best of” vendors, and everything else you can find on the internet to help you plan that perfect day to a T.

But here’s the thing, I wish I would have been told that it wasn’t all fun and games all the time. I only ever read the fun stuff about planning a wedding, never did I read anything that made it seem like this wasn’t supposed to be the most fun thing all of the time. So I want to share a few things I wish I would have known while I was planning a wedding. This is a very honest post about my experience planning my most favorite day of my life.

First, no one prepares or warns you for how stressful this exciting time can be. Real talk, there will probably be tears somewhere along the way and they will not be happy tears. Personally, I was naïve going in to the wedding planning process and wish someone had prepared me or at least warned me that some stressful times were ahead.  Putting aside the obvious of setting a budget, finding vendors or sticking to your budget (because if you haven’t been told this already– you will probably go over it any way), the stress is inevitable when planning the day that you begin your lives as a married couple.

Second, there will be A LOT of opinions. When I say a lot of opinions, I mean A LOT OF FRIGGEN OPINIONS. From the people that my husband work with telling him “what are you doing getting married?! why would you do that?!” to others telling you that they have the BEST vendors that you have to use or asking WHY you would do something a certain way, everyone feels like they know what’s best. But guess what, this is the one weekend that it will be all about you two as a couple. This is truly the start of your life together no matter how long you have been together because now you have the new title of husband and wife, or wife and wife, or husband and husband.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not saying completely disregard the opinions. But it is definitely a balancing act between making everyone involved happy and staying true to who you are as a couple and what will make you two happy. Be prepared to balance.

Third, your life is going to become consumed with wedding planning. Leading up to the big day I had multiple dreams about our table linens… who dreams about table linens!? Brides to be dream about table linens, that’s who. And if you are laughing at that thought right now, just you wait… it will happen to you. 🙂

But just as fast as your life is consumed by the details, you have to cut it off and take a step back. The BEST advice that we got from one of our very best friends was to cut it off before the wedding. Give yourself a deadline where you and your fiancé agree you will be done talking anything and everything wedding. We got married on a Sunday so we decided that the Wednesday before, we would be done chatting about anything and everything wedding. We had planned our hearts out and nothing we were going to say or do 4 days before the wedding was going to change that. CUT IT OFF!

Fourth, your partner is your safe haven. It is SO easy to get caught up in all of the glitz, glam and details of planning a wedding but don’t for a second forget why you are planning a wedding in the first place. You found your one true love who you want to spend the rest of your life with. Don’t forget to make the day about the two of you, because it is quite easy to do.

Fifth, and finally, HAVE FUN!!!!! There were so many times that I felt like it was a job to plan the wedding because THERE’S SO MUCH TO DO!!!! I looked at my husband multiple times and said “should we just go to the courthouse?” The details are endless and the planning is non-stop but looking back at it I wouldn’t have changed a thing. It really was the most fun 14 months of my life planning our wedding.Our wedding day was everything I could have ever imagined. It was like a dream, so even though it involves a little stress, some tears, and a whole lot of planning- it is all totally and completely worth it in the end.

Enjoy yourself during this time. Have fun and congratulations!!!!!!

Until next time!!

xoxo

Blair

Follow me on Instagram @bewithblair