Bride-to-be Blogger Carly: Overwhelmed By Last-Minute Planning

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Ok, I am just going to come right out and say it: I’m stressed. T-minus one week until our rehearsal, but it’s hard for me to see the light at the end of the tunnel while I’m feeling buried under a seemingly never-ending pile of to-dos.

While there have been some overwhelming days leading up to this week, none of them compare to the consistent stress I’ve been feeling the last few days. Now, I don’t want to come off as negative here—some of this stress is healthy and necessary to keep me motivated to get everything done in the next seven days. However, I think it’s important to be honest with you and encourage you to enjoy your wedding-planning lulls when you can.

My current to-do list is full of last minute errands: buying items for hotel gift bags; firming up details with our wedding coordinator, band, photographer, rehearsal dinner venue, and minister; buying shoes, jewelry and undergarments for the rehearsal dinner and wedding day; making schedules for the wedding party; putting together seating arrangements and making escort cards; designing programs; and on and on and on. (I sort of want to cry after writing all that.) And in my spare time, we’re at our new house painting, taking trips to the dump, and tackling a load of other tasks associated with renovating a house. So, yeah, I’m pretty stressed.

The good news is that I’m lucky to have some great people in my life who are very wonderful and willing to help out. My sister (and MOH) spent all day Tuesday with me, running around trying to get a lot of errands done. A while back I requested the Wednesday-Friday leading up to my wedding off, so my best friend Jill is planning to be my right-hand gal all day Thursday to help me with final details. My parents have been really great, as have Sean’s. And Sean, of course, has been wonderful too.

But, for someone who likes to do everything herself, asking for help has been a challenge. I will say, however, that it’s something I’ve gotten much better at over the past few weeks and is definitely something I will take away from my experience planning this wedding. As I stare at my overwhelming to-do list, it’s important that I remember my family and friends do want to help out and that it’s okay if I don’t do everything myself (no matter how badly I want to). I’m also learning how to not sweat the small stuff or obsess over details—there just isn’t enough time. In trying to keep this wedding in perspective, I keep reminding myself that what I want to remember about my wedding is an awesome time with my family and friends, and that less-than-perfect escort cards or missing items in a bathroom amenity basket shouldn’t put a damper on that.

I had a stress dream the other night in which I’d forgotten to make escort cards, and so my guests didn’t know where to sit. My dream-wedding planner approached me with this dilemma, and my first instinct was to freak out. But then, Dream Carly surprised me by taking a deep breath and saying, “So then the guests should sit wherever they see a chair,” and went on with her wedding. I hope to channel this version of Dream Carly over the next couple days, in the hopes of keeping my cool and focusing on the positive. I have a feeling that our guests, the people Sean and I love most in the world, will forgive any small oversight or imperfection and just have fun.

Thanks for letting me vent. Because while I may need help folding programs and stuffing goodie bags, what I really needed today was to vent—so, from the bottom of my heart, thanks for “listening.”

Any other brides out there find they’ve gone through patches of extreme stress during wedding planning? How did you get through it?

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