Wedding Stress; when your three worlds collide
By bridejulie | posted on January 06, 2012 at 9:55am
Wedding Stress, Work Stress and Personal Fun have a tendency to collide!
I hit the wedding wall! My three worlds ( work, wedding and fun ) collided last month and all I could think of was ” how do people do this” and ” thank goodness I only have to do this once.” There was also a thought about vegas but as my Pastor quotes- 85% of vegas marriages end in divorce. Anyways… back up to Thanksgiving.
I knew life would be a whirlwind, December is hitting 9 months which has a lot of decision milestones for a wedding. I also have an extremely demanding job with mostly international travel. So here I am in this crucial wedding decision month and I’m at a huge work milestone. Since work is paying the wedding bills I was off to China, 3 weeks till X-mass break and I am in china for all but 4 days. China allows me countless time on google but no time for actual planning and appointments unless I stay up very late to catch the east coast business hours. This can drive any girl nuts- obsessing but no progress. Add in a neglected fiance and interviewing for a new job ( one that lets me enjoy this planning experience ) to really drive the emotions crazy.
Well pressure from all three worlds collided, I turned into a crabby fiance, employee and friend. When I am crabby I avoid people- a perfect technique when I have to get things done. I dug in, worked hard over email and set up numerous appointments for my holiday visit back to Buffalo. Is it me or do wedding vendors stress you out? I get emails from photographers, bands, limos, etc all offering the lowest price for the best in the business. I remove myself from their list, decline their services and still they pester- they are enough to drive you crazy.
Remotely I planned 1.5 weeks of intense wedding planning for the holidays complete with a lot of decision making! I needed a church, wedding planner, rehearsal dinner spot, dress, hair and makeup spot, and mail those **** Save the Dates! We also had lined up out engagement shoot on the coldest day of the season- brrrr.
So, how did I climb out of the rut? I arrived to Buffalo for the holidays and not a moment was wasted; my Mom and I jumped into the guest list right away. Guest list, save the dates, dresses it was all a blur… engagement shoot, restaurants, dresses… and then I met Carla. Carla is how I pulled out of the chaos- my new wedding planner. As you know I am planning from California and China. I have been struggling with google, yelp, theknot, and countless blogs. When I lack is time during business hours for the constant vendor babysitting. I can send emails until I’m blue but a 5 minute phone call or face to face meeting is priceless. I went into my meeting with Carla to book her for a ” day of coordinator” which will help you in the few weeks leading up to your wedding and then on the day off. In my stressed mess I was convinced ( by my Fiance ) to sign up for the whole deal- and that was all I needed. My mood lightened, and suddenly it all seemed doable again ( especially since someone else is doing in haha ).
Ok so I gave in, I have the upmost admiration for anyone doing this on their own- my hat goes off to you. I still get to obsess on google, yelp, and my blogs but I can lay off the vendor nagging and countless email inquiries.
Anyone want more information on the wedding planning options? I was pleasantly surprised at the flexible financial options- they can be affordable. My sanity is worth it!
