Even More Tips for Dealing With Wedding Stress

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4. Wedding planning can be a crisis. There is so much focus on the external experience that a bride can become mired in details and demands and lose track of herself and the reason she is getting married in the first place. When she feels that planning the wedding of her dreams means going to battle – with parents, family, friends, groom, and almost anyone involved – she becomes hostile and reactive. What began as a joyful experience turns into a fight … a fight for having the perfect wedding. It is exhausting and can turn even sweet tempered people can turn mean and cranky.


Wedding Goddess Antidote: Remember that the true meaning of marriage is to bring two together in sacred union – the party is meant to be a celebration not something that will kill your spirit in the planning. When two people in love literally step up to commit themselves to one another in matrimony they have the opportunity to unite not just their hearts, lives and families, but to unite their very beings. And it is not just the couple that benefits from the ceremony – anyone who witnesses a wedding can be empowered and inspired by the love in the room. Focus on the love and remember it is always your aim.


5. Your happiness in life DOES NOT hinge on your wedding alone (it really doesn't ... so lighten up!) Some brides believe that they must have a perfect wedding in order to have a perfect marriage and a perfect life. They give the wedding day too much power. They begin to treat the wedding itself as something to be worshipped and served. There is an underlying fear that if something goes wrong with the wedding, it is a sign that will make or break the marriage. Our culture places a tremendous emphasis on having a great wedding and not enough focus on having an awesome marriage. It's okay to be temporarily obsessed and to yearn for the perfect wedding -- we all go there at some point -- but you have to keep your eye on what's truly important.

Wedding Goddess Antidote: Step back and realize, the most important part of the day is not the day itself ... but that you walked down that aisle and into the arms of the person you love … the one you look forward to building your life with. You will have a lifetime in which you can create more memories ... the wedding day, while important, is only one of the many experiences and memories you will share!


Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway is a non-denominational wedding officiant, who regularly marries couples in love. She is also widely recognized as a bridal stress expert devoted to helping brides-to-be tap into their inner power and poise. She is co-facilitator of The Bridal Survival Club and author of WEDDING GODDESS: A Divine Guide To Transforming Wedding Stress into Wedding Bliss (Perigee Books, May 2005). Visit her at www.WeddingGoddess.com.