In this week’s podcast episode, we’re talking about planning your wedding without going insane! I interviewed Dearbhaile Shiels, a seasoned wedding professional who is also part of the weddingsonline team. She shared some wedding planning gems that I know will blow your mind and really help you to plan your wedding without going insane!
You can also enjoy the podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon.
Episode breakdown
Get organised
One of the best ways to stay sane is to keep yourself organised! As a wedding planner, here’s what Dearbhaile recommends couples do to stay organised:
“Checklists, and a notebook and good communication between themselves… it’s about them, it’s about the two of them.”
My tip: Have a ‘Brain Dump’ list. It’s a way to take all the wedding ideas, plans, goals and thoughts out of your head and onto paper. It’ll save your sanity!
Create a timeline
Having a wedding planning timeline will help you to know what to plan and when! That way, you won’t be stressing about tasks that you only need to think about in six months time.
Dearbhaile lists a few items that couples tend to get stressed about at the beginning of their wedding planning journey that they really don’t need to even be thinking about! She lists the “big-hitters” that you need to book first.
>> Your free wedding planning checklist <<
Wedding planning day
For the first few months of wedding planning, choose one day each week that you spend doing wedding planning. This way, the wedding won’t consume you!
But what do you do if you work a 9-5 job and you simply don’t have much time to plan your wedding? Here’s what Dearbhaile suggests:
Be decisive – narrow down your options and make good decisions!
Have a dedicated email address, so everybody’s in the loop.
When you book appointments, look at your shared calendar and book in things ahead of schedule. Last minute stuff causes stress!
Enlist professional help
When you start booking suppliers, ask them for recommendations!
Dearbhaile says: “All around the country, there’s little pockets of dream teams… hair stylists and makeup artists that work together all the time, or videographers and photographers that work at the same venues all the time.”
Don’t reinvent the wheel
If someone has created a tool or method to plan your wedding, don’t reinvent the wheel. Use their suggestions and you’ll save yourself a heck of a lot of time and stress.
Use checklists and tools that have been created for you by us!
Final wedding planning tips from Dearbhaile
Dearbhaile suggests taking time to just enjoy the wedding planning! She says, “Enjoy it! It will come and go so fast, you will not believe.”
And here’s what she says about other people’s opinions: “Too many opinions can cause a little bit of stress, and you start sweating the small things. Keep it about yourself and your partner.”
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