I've often heard my friends talk about how stressful planning their weddings were, but it wasn’t until I had my own wedding to plan, along with a job to juggle, that I realised how crazy things can get. I had these endless to-do lists that kept increasing every week. To a hyper mother, I’d keep saying ‘Let’s do it on Saturday,’ but from the 10 things I would plan to do on the weekends, I would barely manage to get five things done.
However, despite the stress and lack of time, in the end, it all fell in place. I learnt over time that with good planning I could have it all – a great job, and a dream wedding. Of course, there are endless lists and multiple organisational tricks involved, but a little hard work, some sleepless nights and some tears throw in, can make it all okay.
Since I had a year to plan my wedding, I was able to space out the entire preparation. Now, five months away from my D-Day I am halfway through and much more relaxed and able to enjoy my time as ‘the bride’.
Here are some things I learnt along the way.
1. Inform your office
For the next few months you are going to be occupied and it’s important that you tell your team about this major event in your life. Give them a heads-up. I would suggest applying for leaves well in advance, and make sure you handover things to people if you are not going to be able to take care of it.
Kool Kanya tip: Informing the management will help when you need to take those half days or casual leaves because wedding preparations can be quite a task!
2. Make lists
Be it guest lists or shopping lists or simply the list of all the food that you want at your wedding… write it down! Make as many lists as you want and keep a folder handy to keep it all in one place. Trust me, having everything that you want at the wedding, written down right in front of you, will provide perfect clarity and there will be no last-minute changes that you forgot to address earlier.
Kool Kanya tip: Use your work break to sit down, browse through wedding sites and make a list of everything that you want.
3. Prepare well in advance
Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will your wedding prep get done in a weekend. If you have a job that keeps you completely occupied for five days a week, plan in advance! Make sure you use your weekends to complete tasks that will require your presence or need more than two hours of your time; everything else can be done over the phone, or by close family members and friends.
Kool Kanya tip: Try and look for wedding caterers, card printers and shopping places around your workplace. You can head there for an hour during lunch break and finish some quick errands.
4. Ask for help
Don’t feel guilty while asking for help from willing friends, relatives and even close colleagues. Delegate tasks where you don’t need to be physically present to your trusted wedding gang. Trust me, you can’t do everything yourself!
Kool Kanya tip: If you still cannot let go and want to be a part of every decision, make a Whatsapp group and get everyone to share updates over there. That way you can be involved even while you are at work.
5. Screenshot everything!
For wedding preparations, it is always better to have references so that everyone is on the same page as you. For me, Pinterest has been of great help. Instead of going from one shop to the other, I’ve been looking for wedding clothes, shoes, bridal makeup ideas and even photo-op ideas on Pinterest. My advice is, save everything that you see and like, and refer to it later. This is also an extremely useful aid to decide on what you really want for your big day.
Kool Kanya tip: Use your commute time for this. Follow hashtags on Instagram, pin things on Pinterest and make folders on your phone with everything that you like. Trust me, it’ll also make getting stuck in traffic less stressful.
6. Say bye to time-consuming traditions
E-invites are now becoming a norm and I couldn’t be happier. If you are pressed for time, consider getting e-invites so that you won’t have to travel from one home to the other distributing cards. You could instead print cards only for close family and friends. This will save you a lot of time and money.
Kool Kanya tip: For office people, get one card and address it to your boss and your team, instead of giving a personal invitation to everyone.
Take your time to ease into this process and enjoy it as much as you can. There will be things that will go wrong, no matter how much you plan, but trust me, that’s part of the whole process.
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