Wedding planning can be hectic

25 Jun, 2017 - 02:06 0 Views

The Sunday News

EVERY girl I know wishes to get married at one point or the other. They would kill to walk down the aisle in a white wedding gown.

You know — be the centre of attention for just one day. It’s easy to dream about the perfect wedding day; the perfect bridesmaids, décor, five-star cuisines and the most romantic ambience.

It’s easy to want people to do exactly what you ask. No criticism no objection. Of course you want the day to be perfect and your wedding guests to talk about your wedding for the rest of the year.

But all this starts to melt away when you actually start planning for the day. The financial burden can be enormous, your family members have opinions about everything and you can’t help worrying if your chosen service providers will deliver. It can be a little too much.

I was excited about my wedding day until people started telling me I would look better in a mermaid gown than I would in a princess ball gown. What if all I wanted was to look like a princess in a poofy dress?

I started to take offence when people started telling me my garden wedding would flop — I needed to find an indoor venue. But what if I just wanted to breathe in untainted air and admire the lush gardens? And then I started hearing about how dirty pink was a better colour than yellow. I mean, I didn’t even know there was a colour called dirty pink to begin with!

Then there were those that had had white weddings before. They thought they knew everything. A part of me believed they didn’t want my wedding to be better than theirs so they wouldn’t help by correcting their mistakes.

They instead wanted me to do exactly what they did. The mothers were the worst. They’d tell you what they liked and didn’t like; openly criticise your choices and not stop to think it’s your wedding, not theirs.

But believe it or not, this is the first mistake you don’t want to make. Of course the wedding invitation will have your name on it but it’s not your wedding. It’s the wedding of two families so you have to respectfully listen to everyone’s suggestion even if you don’t take it up.

You simply listen and smile whenever the opportunity to smile presents itself. Chuckle here and there and they’ll believe you’re following with interest. You’ll not always agree on everything with your fiancé and compromising is not always the easiest thing. It can be really frustrating and get you thinking maybe; just maybe you’re better off with a court marriage. Just go to the magistrate’s court with your two witnesses and voila, you’re married within a few minutes. I truly understand people who are content with customary law marriages. The wedding planning process can take such a huge toll you’d think him having paid lobola is enough.

But you want the memories. You want to wear the white dress, have people falling over each other to take pictures with you and have a photo album to show your children and your children’s children later in life. So, you must suck it up.

Do what you have to do to make sure your wedding day is perfect. Or well, perfect enough. I just decided I’d own my decisions. I decided every aspect of the wedding should be my decision. Even if things went wrong, I wanted to have made that bad decision.

Besides listening to other people’s input, I’d only take seriously the person backing their idea with money. If they were going to give me an idea and I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t pursue it if I had to pay for it. Simple. If you’ve just gotten engaged and are yet to pick a date for your wedding, I caught you at a great time.

Your wedding would be so much cheaper if you chose to have it off wedding peak. Venues and service providers are way cheaper the rest of the year except in April, August, September and December. It could cost you significantly less if you got married say in February or May compared to August or December.

It would also mean your service provider would have fewer weddings to worry about which would mean more time for you and your wedding as opposed to during peak months when they have back to back weddings.

If you’re already in the middle of your wedding planning, it’s not too late for you. You could still make this work. Whatever aspects of your wedding planning are left, decide to be more assertive and own your decisions. Before you decide on anything, do your research; ask around or get some inspiration from Pinterest. It helped, all the time. Keep reading and I could help you stay sane.

-Share your wedding planning experiences and challenges on [email protected]. If you’re a wedding service provider and are interested in advertising your products on this platform, contact +2639888871-9 for more information.

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