2020 Couples: Get Sorted, Not Stressed
2020 is here - hooray! The New Year is well underway and so many of you are now able to say ‘we get married this year’! But if this makes you feel more anxious than excited, then this post is especially for you. We’re here to help you feel more in control of the final stages of planning your wedding and enjoy the last few weeks and months of being a bride (or groom!). Are you ready? Take a deep breath, grab a cuppa and your most trusted notebook and let’s get to it!
Keep it simple
Whether you’ve been planning your wedding for many years or just a few months, we guarantee other trends or ideas (hello pushy relatives!) have popped up and perhaps made you panic and think you should change your plans. Before you do though, check in with yourself. Is the new dress/ colour scheme/ supplier really what you want? Is it what you and your partner envisaged when you started planning? If it’s not, don’t let it influence your big day decisions: be true to you and you'll enjoy the process and the day so much more for it. Your wedding day should be as wonderfully unique as you and your beau!
Last year, we were absolutely delighted to have received a gorgeous email from one of our brides-to-be (who’d already purchased some of our seed packets to use as favours) saying: ‘Whenever I’ve gotten stressed out with wedding plans, I always come back to our Meant To Bee seed packets to ground me and remind me exactly what kind of wedding we want.’ It made us smile so much as we’re big advocates in people doing their day, their way (in fact, WIATC was created by our founder, Hester, after she tied the knot and was a little disillusioned with ‘regular’ wedding trends and decor).
Set aside time to get stuff done
Now the final countdown is well and truly on, things can get BUSY. But instead of feeling overwhelmed, break down what’s left to do (if you’re unsure, check out our handy wedding checklist) and get things scheduled in your diary. Committing to an hour or two of ‘wedmin’ each week rather than trying to do everything at the last minute will, hopefully, make you feel more in control. And, don’t forget to share out the duties too - with your partner and family and friends!
Get by with a little help from your friends
Speaking of involving loved ones: getting them involved can save you a whole lot of stress and make the planning process part of the celebrations too. Whether mum’s on flower duty and putting together home-grown blooms for your bouquet, your best mate’s organising the hen do or nan’s baking the cake; giving the people you love the chance to be a part of your big day will create lasting memories not just from the actual Big Day, while reducing your worry-load. Win-win!
One of the loveliest ideas we’ve heard of are crafty hen parties, where everyone works together to make decorations and add personal touches to the wedding - be it adding personalised stickers to honey, jam, chutney or sweetie jars or candles to use as favours, or helping to make your very own wedding day bunting. Ahhh!
Re-use
There’s often so much to think about or buy for big days which can easily lead to over-buying or spending more money and time on things than necessary. Take favours for example - these don’t have to only be little packages/gifts which people pick up at the end of the night, they can work so much harder and be more meaningful too. Whether you opt for personalised name badges (which also break the ice!), mirrors, seed packets or more, they can also act as place holders to guide people to their seats. They can also be enjoyed throughout the whole reception, rather than potentially forgotten about as people head for their carriages at the end of a fizz-fuelled day...
Enjoy the process!
Finally, remember to enjoy these last few weeks and months being engaged as much as you can. Time will fly by and before you know it, you’ll be married (yay!) and reminiscing about the build up and laughing about the fun you had getting everyone together to make, create and share.