5 Wedding Stress-Relievers
Written by Hannah Stevens
Your wedding day is a day in your life you may have dreamed about for years. Walking down the aisle with your eyes focused on your partner-to-be, surrounded by friends and family, in a dress that makes you look absolutely beautiful, are all images that may have flashed through your mind, especially since you have started planning the perfect wedding for you and your partner. However, planning for your wedding and the day-of execution can be seriously stressful, where if you do not take sufficient care of yourself and manage your stress levels throughout wedding planning, anxiety and stress can take its toll on you on your big day. Read the following 5 wedding stress-relievers for a bride-to-be.
1. Know Your Limits
It’s easy to get consumed with wedding planning, as it is exciting and fun to put together what can be the best day of your life. However, it isn’t the only great day of your life, where you shouldn’t sacrifice too much of the present by looking into the future. Plus, if you don’t take regular breaks between your daily life and wedding planning, the wedding becomes your life in a way that can become taxing on yourself and the people around you. Set aside time in your day where you cannot discuss or mention your wedding.
Also, a number of brides try to do everything they did before getting engaged, plus organize a wedding single-handedly. Learn how to say no to appointments or lunch dates that make your life just too much to handle on top of wedding planning. You cannot do it all for a long period of time. If you think you are in over your head and feeling the anxiety, take time off from the hustle and bustle for a good spa service like a massage.
2. Try Something New
Who says that you have to devote all your time to plan a wedding once you are a fiancé? You are more than a bride-to-be, where you can take this time in your life to expand your horizons as well. Learning a skill or picking up a new hobby helps you divert your attention from stressors and instead focus on self-awareness and enjoying the moment. If you don’t have the means or the time to develop a brand new hobby, consider reading a good book. Whether it is fiction or a book where you learn about a new subject, you can quickly pick it up and put it down in between tasks and obligations where you devote time to yourself.
3. Exercise, Exercise, Exercise
Exercise cannot be emphasized enough as the perfect de-stressor for a bride. Not only does exercise help keep you in your best shape for your special day – but it also helps you wash your mind of worries and anxiety over wedding planning issues that can arise. Living an active lifestyle, whether that means biking, swimming, yoga, running, or hiking, can improve your sleep, which benefits your emotional, physical, and psychological health. Maintaining quality sleep is an essential step in reducing anxiety, where exercise can be the perfect remedy for sleep disturbance. If your stress levels get to the point where you do not know what to do, take a break from what you are doing and take a walk for thirty minutes around your neighborhood or office.
4. Meditate and Be Mindful
If you cannot find time to have a mini vacation, read a book, learn a new hobby, or take on a new exercise regime, consider taking 15 minutes out of the day to meditate and be mindful. Unplug from your devices for a designated amount of time to boost your mood and overall outlook. Allow yourself the gift of silence so you can reconnect from within at least once a day. It’s important to stay in touch with yourself and remember what is truly important to you. Consider a mindfulness app like Calm, Buddhify, or Headspace.
5. Remember Why
When all is said and done, what can truly relieve your pre-wedding stress and anxiety is keeping your eye on the true prize, spending the rest of your life with your committed partner by your side. This commitment of love is what marriage should be all about. Your wedding is one day, but a marriage is a lifetime. Focus on your partner and why you love him or her. When you focus on the true meaning of marriage and your wedding day, trivial decor details or the stress in putting out small fires will fade in comparison. Make sure you spend time with your spouse-to-be and schedule date nights right up until the wedding, so you don’t forget your fiancé amidst the challenge of wedding planning!
The big message here is that you and your partner should be bigger than the wedding, where the wedding does not become bigger than the importance of your relationship and your peace of mind. Using these 5 wedding stress-relievers, you can better balance the demands and stressors of wedding planning with your quality of life leading up to your big day.