School, Work, and a Wedding!

A year ago I got engaged. Now, I have been married for a little over a month. It was a lot of work, money, stress, and anxiety planning a wedding while both working full time and going to school (again) for my master’s. But I’d do it all over. The preparation was worth the special moments: trusting and believing God to make a way, networking and working with all kinds of people, learning to compromise with my then fiance, seeing all of our hard work come together so beautifully, and celebrating with our loved ones.

If you’ve got going on like I did, here are some helpful tips to keep your stress and anxiety at healthy, functional levels:

1. Buy a book or guide relevant to your situation. My mom bought us a wedding planner book, which was helpful in getting us started, giving us things to consider that we hadn’t before, and answering those “little” questions. Questions like whom do we invite or how far in advance do we send out save-the-dates?
2. Utilize a calendar. I don’t know where I’d be without my Google calendar. Whatever calendar you choose to use, start by filling in those commitments for which there are already a set day/time; for example, your work and/or class schedule and appointments. If you’re like me, becoming overwhelmed is an effortless thing to do. My suggestion? Just take it a week at a time! Once you have a visual of what your week looks like, find where you have open time blocks and decide how much time you can afford to dedicate to whatever else you have going on while also being sure to care for yourself.
3. Download some sort of project management app. My husband put me on one called Trello. It proved very helpful for wedding planning, especially given that you can share your board (yes, my husband played a pretty significant role in the planning process, too). On this board we had lists, which consist of cards (i.e., items). Suggestions for lists you might want to create for your occasion or project include: To Do, In Progress, On Hold, Done, To Bring, etc. We even made lists to keep track of contracts and gifts received. Things I like about the app are that you can upload pictures and documents, add checklists, and even create color-coded labels that denote who is responsible for what.
4. Ask for help. Speaking of who is responsible for what, be sure to delegate tasks where possible! This can be hard. In my situation, my matron of honor and bridesmaids all lived in different states than me and each other. But I still did my best to hand off tasks where I could. They don’t have to be big or even boring tasks – honestly, most of those tasks I saved for myself. My girls got to do fun stuff like pick out jewelry. I mostly relied on them to give me their thoughts, opinions, and ideas as I progressed through the planning process. I used GroupMe for all wedding communication with them.

The best advice I can give to you if you’ve got a lot going on is to enjoy the experience as much as you can and don’t give up. You got this!

If you’d like some tips and advice that are more specific to wedding planning, you can click here to read my husband’s blog post!

Signed,

Lai (Bipolar I)