Planning your wedding is one of the most exciting times of your life – trying on dreamy wedding dresses, sampling extravagant wedding cakes and picking out beautiful flowers…there are so many amazing moments. But it can also get pretty stressful. From deciding who makes the guestlist to staying on budget to agreeing on seating plans, there can be lots of tricky decisions and you can guarantee everyone around you will have an opinion…
But the most important thing? To look after your own wellbeing – there is no point in planning the perfect wedding day and then being too burnt out to enjoy it.

So here is 10 wellbeing hacks every bride needs to know…

The planning stage…

1.    Forget tradition – go with what type of wedding YOU want. You can enjoy a relaxed, informal wedding just as much as a traditional five course experience.  Don’t try and please everyone - make it your wedding, your way. There are some great alternative wedding trends out there in all the different wedding magazines – be inspired!
2.    Get insurance sorted first, for very little cost, it will bring you piece of mind. Also ensure you get written contracts from your suppliers and venue before paying anything – you need everything in writing, don’t accept anything verbal.
3.    Get yourself a planner and get organised - there are so many gorgeous wedding planners out there, get filling one in to list all the different suppliers you come across etc. The more wedding fairs and venue visits you visit, the more goody bags and information you will collect. It can soon become confusing so why not commit a weekend/couple of days to sort out wedding material – a great exercise to do with your friends and family too.  You can also access fantastic wedding planning apps too!
4.    Ensure your venue has dedicated wedding planners – before you book a venue, consider how much it will do to help you plan for the day and if they have wedding co-ordinators to help take the stress off you. They should be aiming to take as much of the stress away from you as possible so you can enjoy the journey - after all, you will only get to do it the once! At The Wellbeing farm we have three wedding planning meetings with you ahead of the day – at six months, three months and two weeks – to ensure all our couples are fully supported and avoid any last minute panic. 
5.    A single location is often less stressful – it’s easier to plan if both the ceremony and reception take place in one location, meaning you have your ceremony and then straight into the wedding feast. It means less organising and less stress for your guests too.
6.    Don’t panic, last minute can be great – although some weddings are planned months and months if not years in advance, this can spread out the stress. There are so many advantages of having a wedding with a shorter timeline: negotiating with suppliers over bargains being the best one!
7.    Take a break – Every now and then it’s important to step away from the wedmin! Otherwise it’s easy to get a bit burnt out from all the planning and organising. Take a week off from planning, spend time with friends and family (wedding talk is banned!), get out into nature, head to a yoga class, plan a date day with your fiancé (you guessed it, no wedding chat!)…do whatever you normally enjoy doing. 

On the big day…

8.    Pack a wedding day survival pack – you never know what you may need (snacks, tissues, safety pins, plasters, paracetamol… the list goes on). This will save any last-minute panics on the day itself. Most venues should have an emergency bridal kit too – but check this first!
9.    Plan in a few minutes of calm in the morning –  take some time in the morning to settle your nerves. Try a mindfulness exercise (there are loads of great apps out there), step outside and take a few calming breaths, listen to chilled music…whatever works for you. Hold on to that sense of calm through the big day. 
10.    Your wedding dress and shoes are going to get dirty – just accept that this is part of what will happen on your day and embrace it! It’s a sign of what an amazing day you’ve had! Get yourself some comfy shoes for the night do (or whenever you start to flag in those beautiful heels!). Converse even do quirky personalised trainers (yes, they’ve recently bought out a new line in wedding trainers – hoorah!). You’ll be glad of them!

Celia Gaze is the founder of multi-award-winning wedding venue The Wellbeing Farm – winner of events team of the year at The Wedding Industry Awards. Find out more: thewellbeingfarm.co.uk/