We are more than halfway to our wedding date. With only 5 months and 6 days left to go. We’ve made almost all of the big decisions necessary and are wrapping up all of the smaller items now. It’s been an amazing journey that at times has been very stressful to be completely honest but I have absolutely loved the engagement time and planning our day together.

I wanted to share a couple wedding planning lessons I have learned thus far along the journey with y’all! A couple are ones friends have shared with me as they’ve gone through the process as well. Definitely let me know if you have any questions about wedding planning specifically either via email {[email protected]} or in the comments below.

1. Stay true to your personal style {you & your fiancé’s}

I’m going to break this one down a bit more below but it’s important to involve both of your styles. Your {you and your fiancé’s} big day should be a true reflection of your personalities and style. Remember to involve him when you’re making big decisions and throw in a few things he’s really love. Whether it’s a song, decoration, type of food, the color choices, etc. Also make sure you truly love the “theme”/style of your wedding as again your personality should be very apparent on the day of.

2. Use Pinterest but don’t OVER use Pinterest

While Pinterest is AMAZING of inspiration, it can provide too much inspiration. There are only so many things you can do at your wedding and only so much can fit inside of your budget. I’d say use it for your initial inspiration, draw from those images, and then back away! It can be extremely easy to become overwhelmed by all of the beautiful photos and ideas. Don’t stress about having to scroll just a little further because something amazing might come up on the next “load” give yourself a time limit and then like I said, back away.

3. Don’t let others influence your choices

It can also be extremely easy to allow those around you to influence your decisions. It’s important {as stated in #1} to stay true to your personal style and what you truly want. I’ve talked to many brides who say their biggest regret is allowing their families or friends to influence way too many choices that surrounded their big day. It’s great to ask for opinions or advice but don’t allow that to sway you too much!

4. Be extremely organized

There are SO many different items, times, dates, and people that go into creating your big day. Therefore it’s incredibly important to be VERY organized. Once you’ve locked down your vendors you’ll then have to start calendar to list meetings, payment due dates, and time of delivery for day of. Of course if you have a wedding planner this is far easier but being organized either way really helps with your sanity! I recommend having a planner that is specific for your wedding.

5. Star five items that are most important to you

If you don’t have an unlimited budget you’ll need to decide what items are most important to you. This is where you’ll need to allocate more money and then decide what other items you want to spend less on because of the items that are more important to you. For me flowers and photography were extremely important. Therefore we spent less on the band {lucky for us the band are close family friends and we received a family & friend discount} and stationery.

6. Remember what the wedding day is all about

It can be extremely easy to become swept up in wedding planning and completely forget what the big day is all about. You’re marrying the love of your life. You’re saying I do to enter into a lifetime of marriage with your partner. Remember it is simply a day, while it will be one of the best days of your life, it’s still a day when you will have thousands more with your partner. So don’t forget to prepare for that as well. Marriage counseling is kind of the bomb {we’re loving it}!

7. Let others help you cross items off your to do list

If you’re anything like me, you like to cross everything off your to do list yourself. That way you know it’s done “right” and how you like it. Letting others help you cross items off the list can be extremely hard, especially when it comes to your big day. BUT remember you’re marrying your best friend, the person that knows you better than anyone else, if you’re lucky enough to have a partner that wants to be involved {like Joshua} give them a couple items here and there and allow them to help you! Mothers {& mother in laws} are great for this as well.

8. Choose specific times to talk about the wedding with your fiancé

Wedding planning is stressful. There is not doubt about that. There’s a million and a half things to do and between work and whatever other commitments you have there is definitely not enough time in the day. There let others help you {like above} and also allocate specific times with your fiancé to talk about the wedding. Wedding planning can be quite a stressful time, but who better than to do it with then the person you’re going to marry! Why not go through sites you have found like https://manlybands.com/ to search for wedding rings or wedding bands if that’s more of his thing. These are the important aspects that you’ll need to consider together. It’s nice to know you have someone to consult with with the many ideas you may be having. For me, Joshua is the bomb at calming me down but if we go into wedding talk when I’m all stressed, I just get more stressed and emotional {girls, be prepared to cry occasionally when wedding planning, it’s bound to happen}. We now plan exactly when we are going to talk about it and it’s been amazing!

9. Celebrate each decision

Each decision you make towards your big day is a BIG deal so act like it! Celebrate! Do a little dance, cheers with a glass of champagne, high five with your partner, whatever it is you do to celebrate, do it! It’ll make the process even more fun and exciting. I always text Joshua with giddy texts if something comes together when we aren’t together so he knows how excited I am!

10. Breathe

In the famous words of Anna Nalick, just breathe! Again it is simply one day when you have a whole lifetime ahead of you. Remember that if something goes wrong or the napkins don’t match the flowers just right, it’s going to be okay! Plus it’ll probably only be you that notices that, if you even notice it between kissing your new spouse and dancing the night away.