4 Common Signs of Wedding Planning Stress
Image: Radha Photos
Have you spent months, or even years, planning your wedding? You’ve likely started to become overwhelmed by all the details, running from appointment to appointment and arranging the nitty-gritty into the late hours of the night. You may not notice when wedding planning starts to take a toll on your physical and mental health. Here are some ways that you can recognize wedding burnout, along with ways how to best manage and avoid wedding stress.
Your health is struggling
Oftentimes, months of lack of sleep and excess stress can begin to weaken your body. Your immune system can break down, you can get sick, or experience other signs of stress, like low energy, headaches, and even aches and pains. You might develop insomnia, anxiety, or lose interest in participating in the process as well. When your body starts to suffer, it can be very difficult to enjoy the process with your partner and get wedding tasks done on time.
To avoid burning yourself out, it can be helpful to go back to the basics and schedule a bedtime or just set aside a time for you to relax and unwind. Plan your time properly, use a wedding planner, and be sure to take a break when you feel overworked. You can try relaxation techniques like journaling and meditation, or you can utilize new methods of coping with your anxiety like therapy.
Your relationship suffers
One of the most difficult consequences of wedding planning stress can be a struggling relationship. Stress and burnout can make you and your partner easily irritated, creating tension between the two of you, which can make intimate moments few and far between. You can lose the desire to be intimate or may even have disagreements and quarrels with your spouse to be. If you or your partner is experiencing a lot of arguing, pressure or challenges it might be time for you to take a step back from planning to reduce your stress.
Image: Clicks Unlimited Photography
When you and your partner’s happiness is sacrificed due to the stress of planning, it’s okay to take a hiatus from the process. Remember that your love for one another is what got you here in the first place, and the main goal is to spend the rest of your lives happily together. Talk out your problems, communicate your needs, and you can enjoy a happy, intimate relationship despite all the work that needs to be done.
You’re overlooking/mixing up details
Amidst all the details to finalize, you’re likely going to struggle to keep everything straight. You might even start procrastinating, forgetting to make phone calls, send in payments, or schedule appointments. It’s essential that you keep your mind organized when you have a full to-do list in front of you.
If you don’t have a wedding planner, no worries! There are plenty of wedding planning apps that can help guide you through the process in accordance with the appropriate wedding timeline. Making lists and setting personal deadlines for yourself can help you see these tasks through and keep you from putting off what you need to get done until it’s too late.
You’re not enjoying wedding planning
An easy sign to recognize that planning has gotten the best of you is that you’re not enjoying the process. From the day you get engaged up to the ceremony itself, weddings can be one of the best times in your life. However, it’s common for people to lose sight of this in the chaos of arranging seating charts, choosing caterers, and shopping for dresses. It’s easy to see these tasks as boxes to check off the list, rather than moments to spend with your significant other.
If you and your partner don’t find yourselves enjoying wedding planning tasks, try doing them together– even the ones you don’t particularly like. Try to make boring days filled with wedding tasks fun by incorporating activities you both enjoy, playing games, or rewarding yourself with a date night at the end of the day. When you begin to see errands as ways to spend time with your partner, you might just find yourself wanting to participate.
Keep an eye out for some of these signs of wedding stress, and read our blog for more wedding planning advice!