How to Deal with Pre-Wedding Stress & Anxiety?

You may have heard of pre-wedding stress and anxiety from your relatives and friends but it’s a completely different thing once you’ve experienced it for yourself. We get it. Wedding planning can easily take over your lives and even your relationship. Dare we say, it’s bound to do that, and with it comes a rollercoaster of emotions that you’ll have to go through as well.

The good news is that it’s normal and you’re not alone. But despite the fact that this happens to just about every soon-to-be bride and groom doesn’t mean that it should be swept under the rug and ignored. Should you find yourself feeling that kind of heaviness and negativity during wedding planning, here are some helpful tips and to-dos to combat these thoughts and emotions.

Healthy ways to combat pre-wedding stress and anxiety

1. Ground yourself through mindfulness and meditation

Being more mindful and practicing meditation have long been seen as effective ways to alleviate stress and anxiety. Whether it’s by attending yoga or something as simple as following a meditation app on your phone, doing these can help you in staying in control of your thoughts and emotions and is not getting easily carried away and affected by outside circumstances.

2. Fuel and sustain yourself in a healthy manner

Wedding diets have become the norm for most brides. While it does have its merits, it should be done in moderation and in a sustainable manner. Don’t go following diet trends just because they promise instant results. Remember that you have the time and what’s more important is that you remain in good health. Consult a nutritionist for the best way to go about a sustainable diet or seek out a fitness coach that can help create a workout routine that would best fit your goals and your body.

3. Create a non-negotiable self-care routine

In creating your wedding planning schedule, make sure to allot a non-negotiable time for you to have a rest day or even a few days off to practice some self-care, whichever form you want it to be. It can mean treating yourself to a spa day or maybe a staycation with just a book and coffee in hand. It can also mean setting date nights with your special someone and not talking about anything related to wedding planning. Whatever it is, make sure that it will nourish you from the inside out, so you come out of it fully recharged once again.

4. Get some perspective

Feeling too much inside your head? Maybe try and set a date with some friends or relatives that have gotten married to gain an insight into their own unique experiences in wedding planning. Gaining another person’s perspective helps you get outside of your brain and makes you feel that you’re not alone in what you’re going through.

5. Be vulnerable & seek help

It may still be a bit of a stigma to seek professional help, but there’s completely no harm in doing so, especially if it means having peace of mind. If you’re not comfortable talking to a professional just yet, even doing something as simple as opening up to your partner about your struggles can almost instantly lift some weight off your shoulders. What’s important is to simply be open about what you truly feel and trust that your partner and your loved ones would be able to know how to help and guide you.

6. Train yourself to reframe your thoughts

Instead of constantly and obsessively asking what could go wrong, start to reframe your thoughts with a more positive and optimistic take. No, we’re not talking about toxic positivity. Reframing your thoughts is simply a process that allows you to lean more towards what remains good, as opposed to sinking yourself in a black hole of negativity and anxiety. Even something as simple as rephrasing a nagging thought in your head to something that sees more of the bright side can help you greatly in feeling lighter and more optimistic.

7. Think of the bigger picture & what truly matters

Who really cares about a slightly defective souvenir or a slightly mismatched bouquet? Whenever you find yourself hyper-focusing on a certain detail and what’s wrong with it, remember to dial yourself back in and think of the bigger picture ahead. At the end of the day, this wedding will be about you and your future spouse and the life you’ll have ahead of you. No one will ever really remember the nitty-gritty of your wedding. What they’ll remember is the feeling of celebrating love and the joy that comes from it.