How to Control the Stress of Wedding Planning & the Big Day

If your wedding day is supposed to be one of the most meaningful of your entire life, why is there so much stress getting to that day and through that day? Has it always been that way? Do consumer lifestyles and the demands of social media make wedding preparations more stressful than in olden times?

Wedding planning has most likely always been stressful for women. In the distant past, brides were often very young, and mothers did all the planning. Brides-to-be actually had very little to say about anything. (They mostly worried about the wedding night!) Today’s brides-to-be are inundated with advertising and promotion about how weddings are supposed to be. In truth, the wedding is supposed to be the springboard for a long and happy marriage and the joining of two families. That ideal can get lost in the shuffle so fast. Even the most independent women in control of their own lives can feel they're losing control during the wedding planning process.

Strange as it may sound, a bride-to-be who has a breathing practice, no matter how simple, can build a protective wall around her emotions so that she can navigate the tumultuous waters of wedding planning where everyone has a suggestion.  Breathing exercises can be done anywhere and no one has to know. Close your mouth (and your eyes if possible) and inhale through your nose for a count of four.  Hold for a count of seven. Exhale slowly for a count of eight. If you’re in a store surrounded by salespeople, or with your anxious mother-in-law-to-be, just quietly do your breathing exercise and you will relax. Bad and costly decisions are made when people are stressed.

If you develop a breathing exercise like the above, or some other meditative exercise and do it over and over as you plan the wedding, you will have it within you for the wedding day. You will be able to remain poised, calm, and enjoy yourself. Plus, you’ll look more beautiful in your wedding photos when you’re relaxed and your joy is spontaneous and genuine. 

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