Bride-to-Be Blogger Danielle: Life vs. Wedding Planning

Life has overtaken wedding planning. Tim and I had been so caught up in the details and checklists and all things related to our wedding, and then all of a sudden, real life came up and smacked us on our foreheads. The past three weeks have been chaotic  —  family emergencies, work, business travel, lack of sleep, and general fatigue have taken over.

So when I received my monthly planning email from one of the large bridal sites with the subject line “Your Wedding is in Eight Months!” I gasped. Eight months?

Eight months!

I’ve put off clicking through to see how far behind we are on things like lodging, transportation and more. I mentioned in a previous post that we were doing a lot of things simultaneously, but some of those had to be halted abruptly when life stepped in and made us take notice of it. We postponed our last trip to Rehoboth to look into lodging and rehearsal dinner sites. So when this email arrived, I started to feel stressed and even a bit guilty for neglecting my planning duties.

But then I started thinking: How much are these checklists helpful, and how much are they just unnecessary pressure to put a check in a box? I know that when I am able to mark several items “complete” it makes me feel a sense of accomplishment, but when I can’t, I really start to feel guilty.

Right now I know two brides (including my sister) planning weddings on accelerated timelines. One is a huge gathering for nearly 300 people, and the other, a very intimate affair for only immediate family. Both will be planned and executed in less than six months. So, obviously there is some wiggle room in the standard schedules. Plus, when I stop and think, I realize I have planned major launch events for huge corporate clients in less than two months. So, I guess if I am running a little behind schedule on a few things, I should still be able to catch up over time and still be able to pull off my May wedding without a hitch. But I also know I will not feel better until I am able to say “done!” to a few items on the list.

Before I go take a look at this month’s to-do list, I would love to hear from other brides:

Are timelines and schedules stressing you out? Or, are you staying calm about it?  Are you finding yourself staying on schedule, or getting behind a bit? Do you like the monthly reminder emails, or do you find them to be unnecessary pressure?

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