Mistakes happen. No matter how organized you are and how much you pride yourself on being completely prepared for any contingency, you’re still going to make mistakes once in a while. It’s OK – it happens to all of us. But if there’s one day in your life during which you really want to do everything you can and then some to avoid making a mistake, it’s your Big Day. Everything has to be absolutely perfect on that day.
I’m talking, of course, about your wedding. You’ve dreamed about it all your life, found the future husband or wife of your dreams and made the commitment. Now it’s time for the planning. (Well, after you spend some time making everyone jealous of your gorgeous cubic zirconia engagement ring, of course.) But how do you make sure you get it all just the way you want it? That’s where we come in. Following are some of the biggest and most common wedding-planning mistakes couples make and what you can do to avoid them. Good luck!
Doing Literally Anything Before Making the Guest List
Are you looking at flowers? Venues? Gowns? Picking dates? Thinking about a theme? Well, stop it. Yes, you need to stop it right away – if you haven’t put together the guest list first, that is. This is not an optional first step; it’s the one every happy couple needs to address first and foremost. Almost every other element of your wedding is in some way dependent on the guest list, which means you’d be crazy not to prioritize it.
It’s not always going to be super fun: you’re going to have to skip over a few people you wish you could invite once you figure out what number of guests make sense for your budget, but it has to be done. The good news, at least, is this will kick-start fun discussions with your fiancé about your wedding theme and atmosphere.
Being in Charge of Everything
It’s your wedding, so you want to be in charge, right? That’s normal, but it’s not necessarily reasonable. At some point, everyone has to delegate some tasks. The key to feeling good about doing so is doing your due diligence in selecting the people you choose to make the decisions you don’t have time for and trusting them to do the job you gave them and do it well. Choose a couple projects that are nearest and dearest to your heart and take full ownership of them. Delegate the rest and thank us later.
Busting Your Budget
You probably (hopefully) came up with a budget early on in the planning process… only to realize it wasn’t high enough. That stinks, but it’s understandable, as planning a wedding budget and sticking to it is a Herculean task. Don’t just accept it when you start creeping up to or over the number, though. Look around at other items and see what you can cut and/or trim. If you absolutely have to go over and incur some debt, be sure to do so responsibly. Discuss it with your fiancé first and assemble a payoff plan.
Losing It Because Someone Else Wears Your Gown
How dare she? That was your gown. You picked it out. Everyone told you it was perfect for you. Then someone else went and wore the same exact one. Unacceptable! Before you lose your cool and go all Bridezilla, though, try to think of a creative solution. For instance, what if both of you wear completely different accessories like brooches or sashes or one of you gets some creative embroidery work done?
Thinking Your Groom-to-Be Cares About Bridal Magazines
Ladies, trust me: he does not care about bridal magazines, and there is nothing you can do to make him care about them. It’s just not going to happen, so you might want to stop wasting your time on it. That doesn’t mean he should spend all his free time watching football while you’re planning the wedding, of course. Your future groom should absolutely be involved in the planning and should have a chance to inject some of his own personality into the wedding too, but he doesn’t want or need to be involved in flipping through wedding magazine pages or planning some of the more minute details. You both need to compromise on this, and you’ll both be happier you did in the end.
Realizing You Have the Wrong Color – Too Late
Is the wedding in a month, and you’re just now realizing that purple is not as you as you thought it was? Yikes. The good news is that it’s usually not actually “too late” to make changes. Talk to your florist if you hate the color scheme of the flowers. He may not be able to change the whole thing, but he’ll likely at least be able to mix things up a bit in a way that will make you happier. Don’t like your bridesmaids’ dresses as much as you thought you did? Try adding some accessories to liven them up!