What a year. While putting together our end-of-the-year GWS favorites, we’ve had time to reflect and look back on all the real weddings we featured in 2020. From elopements in Ibiza to beachfront micro weddings, we’ve seen our fair share of magic come out of a tough year. But instead of focusing on wedding dress styles and tabletop decor, today we’re sharing some of our favorite pieces of wedding planning advice from GWS couples!
{photo above by Vinuthna Garidipuri}
My biggest advice is to understand that things will never go exactly as planned. It’s many different people working on many different parts of an event. There’s always something that will happen that won’t be exactly what you imagined BUT if the people you love are there to celebrate your love, then it’s all good!
Channel your inner child. Would they be proud of the wedding you’re planning? If so, cool, you’re probably on the right track. If not, put your hand on your heart, take a deep and ask yourself what YOU want. Ask your partner to do the same and come together in unity to create something totally unique, special, and sacred for you. When you show up that day and see it is all an authentic reflection of you and your partnership, you’ll care far less about all the little things that will (inevitably) go differently than planned and be able to exhale into the overall tone and vibe of the experience. Your friends and family are coming to honor and celebrate you! It’s the perfect time to share who you are, without reservation or apology. Invite them into your world.
Don’t get so stressed about all the little details. Be flexible. Remember what your big day is really about!
Book everything early, so you aren’t scrambling before the wedding, and have a bit of downtime. We gave ourselves over a year! Think of what makes you unique as a couple, and find ways to incorporate those details. The key for us was finding vendors we clicked with, and explicitly directing them to be explosively creative! Trust their instincts, and have them evolve what you see from blogs and Pinterest.
Don’t feel like you must do all the things. We have no regrets about skipping paper invites, engagement photos, party favors, cake (ice cream sandos instead!) or wedding traditions that didn’t resonate with us.
Be you and don’t think about others. Wear the dress you want and pick a place where you will feel most connected to your love. Pick a good photographer: your feelings will be so overwhelming that you might fully space out like I did and not even remember what your surroundings were like. Photos will capture it forever!
It was the unplanned and spontaneity of it that really made everything so much better. As someone who spent a year and a half planning the “perfect day”, I realized that the perfect day is just being with the one you love and that’s the simple truth! Sometimes it is just the simple things in life that are the sweetest
My biggest piece of pandemic planning advice would be: be prepared to change your plans…and change them again….and maybe again. At the end of the day, the most important thing is that you’re committing yourself to your partner – all the other stuff is just extra. Decide which bits and pieces are the MOST important to you, and let the other things go. Our wedding did NOT happen the way we thought it would, but we still made the most of it and had a very intimate celebration. There are a lot of other things I’d wished I could have done – but now that I’m past it I’ve realized a lot of those details I was worried about really didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.
Don’t procrastinate. Figure out now what tasks are being done and divide them up fairly. A planner is 110% worth it, you will save money, countless hours of sleep, and some major headaches when you should be having fun. Some things going to go wrong and that’s ok! Nothing is perfect and that’s what keeps life exciting. Also, and this one is BIG, don’t do things just because it’s the norm. Really soul search, what do weddings symbolize for you, and why are you doing it. If you don’t do this I could see how the day could become a disappointment of trying to meet other people’s expectations.
Carve out moments to enjoy your engagement season! Try to have fun away from wedding planning and know that no wedding will be perfect so you’ve got to be flexible. Ask yourselves “What’s TRULY important for us?” Then, the rest becomes trivial and it’s easier to make decisions.
The post Words From The Wise: Wedding Planning Advice from Real 2020 GWS Couples appeared first on Green Wedding Shoes.
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