Whether you are planning to have a small wedding with only your closest family and friends at a very remote location or a large wedding at the church that you attended in your youth, all couples have an image in their head of their perfect wedding. This can especially be true for the brides (bridelizals), but can also be common in the grooms and other bridal party major players. The image of the perfect flowers, to the perfect dance, to the perfect attire, to the perfect invitations , to the perfect venue. In some cases the image of the perfect wedding can take on a life of its own, and can certainly make some peoples’ lives miserable. To avoid this and other common pitfalls we accumulated a short list of the top 5 biggest pit falls of wedding planning.
1. Picture Perfect
The only thing worse than not having the wedding of your dreams is ruining your perfectly good wedding by becoming a crazy person on your wedding day! Of course you want your wedding to be perfect, we all do. But remember that your wedding should be all about sharing your love with all your friends and family, and not about impressing your boss or even worse, impressing your father’s boss. Yes, without a doubt the single biggest pit fall is you or your parent becoming the wedding czar and demanding perfection! The best way to avoid this is to try to not make anything “perfect” on your wedding day, just make try to make things “beautiful, sweet, nice, or creative”. Put your own stamp on your wedding and try not to stress too much if you can avoid it.
2. The Wedding is ALL about you
Despite what others have told you, if you sent out a large number of wedding invitations for your wedding day, then you won’t be the only people with feelings on that day. One of the biggest pitfalls for wedding planning is making statements like “well its my wedding”. In some cases this is very valid if a guest is getting out of line and suggesting or demanding (normally parents or the wedding party) things from you. But in other cases it is the bride and groom getting out of hand and not thinking about the many guests that took time off work, spent a lot of money on gifts, or airfare, and want nothing more than to see you happy. Just remember if you invited them, you wanted them there, and have to think of their comfort as well.
3. Too big to fail!
In this particular case I am not talking about the government bailing out you or your significant other from wedding debt! In fact I mean quite the opposite. This may be an unusual phrase to describe a wedding, but is almost always the end result of a couple or their parents deciding that the “BEST” place is always the most expensive. Its very common habit. On things that matter most, when selecting product we automatically assume that the most expensive product is the best quality. While in many cases you do get what you pay for. In some cases, including wedding planning, this is not the case. Many brides will go well out of their way to find the best deals. But in other cases they will search high and low for over-priced name brands (don’t get me wrong in many cases the brand makes all the difference!) or $1000 roses. Don’t be a fool, shop around for the best deal and never feel forced to make a deal you can’t afford.
4. Over budget
Buying items overpriced directly leads me to the next biggest pit fall of wedding planning, couples going way over budget. Unlike the wedding, marriage typically lasts more than a day, but some wedding expenses can last a lifetime. Debt, especially credit card debt, can certainly put a strain on a marriage. Don’t make the mistake of spending more than you are prepared to pay and avoid all the heart aches later.
5. Under Time
Taking a complete 180 degree turn from the #4 pitfall, the 5th most prominent pitfall in wedding planning is going way over the top on DIY activities and running out of time. An easy rule of thumb that applies to almost all things wedding related (or otherwise) is the simple rule of 3. Estimate the average amount of time you believe you require to complete an activity and multiple that number by 3. If the resultant number is more than you could commit to before the wedding, then don’t plan on doing it! Although the rule of 3 doesn’t hold for all things, it has been known to be a very conservative estimate for making sure that if anything goes wrong or if you misjudged the complexities of an activity, that it won’t ruin your big day or the many days leading up to it!
Check out all the other fun on our wedding blog from Jenn Lane Design.
