The week leading up to the wedding day can often be the most stressful week of the entire planning period, but it doesn’t have to be. If you asked Aaron and Summer about their wedding week, they will tell you it was rather relaxed The main reason for that-we had planned it that way. Yes, it all comes down to planning and priorities.
If you remember they got married 2 days after Thanksgiving and that in itself could have added more stress into what can be a crazy week.
Aaron and Summer’s Wedding Week
Aaron had to work Monday and Tuesday and Summer had to work Monday-Wednesday, though she ended up only being needed in the morning on Wednesday-so the beginning of the week was a “normal” week with no additional wedding activities planned. We were blessed by the fact that we could get into the reception space at 9am on Wednesday morning and into the prep space at 1:30pm that same day. This is one time when having a holiday wedding helped us. The church we had the wedding at does not have Wednesday night activities on the day before Thanksgiving so families can be free to travel or start preparing food for Thanksgiving. Since they weren’t using the building we got to. Wednesday at 9am Ron, Aaron, Jordan and I arrived at the church and started the deconstruction phase-we had to stack all of the 120 chairs in the sanctuary, vacuum and rearrange the stage so that we could hang our backdrop and set the head table on the stage. Later Ron’s mom, my parents, Summer and Jessica arrived to help with the decorating of the sanctuary (where the reception was being held) and setting up of the prep/staging space in the fellowship hall and nursery. We had everything done by about 4pm.
We were able to relax and enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday just like we normally do. It was a wonderful pause in an exciting week. Since Friday was rehearsal day, I opted not to take part in our annual Black Friday traditions, much to my father’s dismay. Friday we arrived at the church early to set up enough of the outdoor ceremony space for the rehearsal. We had a great rehearsal, more on that in another post, and then an interesting rehearsal dinner, again-another post 🙂
Saturday I did not go to the church until 90 minutes before the ceremony and it was delightful! I got my nails and hair done and had lunch with friends. Ron was at the church all day. He was there to oversee all of the deliveries and be there while the girls got their hair and make-up done.
Why We Were Able to Have a Stress Free Wedding Week
In short, we planned it that way. From the beginning we planned to have all of the work and planning completed 2 weeks before the wedding date with out stress thanks to our wedding binder, we created a planning schedule that allowed us to be ready ahead of time. I have said it all along, planning is key. Our weekly wedding planning family meetings were the key to making sure everything got done well and on schedule. We also made sure to schedule in a buffer of time in case something didn’t go as planned.
IF for some reason we didn’t get the decorating done on Wednesday, we had plenty of time Friday to finish up. Thankfully we didn’t need that time so we were able to relax. The decorating went smoothly because it was planned. Everyone knew what they were in charge of getting done and they did their work and then helped the next person get their work done. All of the decorations and supplies were organized in bins so that items that went together were together. The grandmothers of the groom sat at a table and rolled the silverware in the napkins and attached the napkin rings. They also built the cupcake boxes. My mother ironed the cloth tablecloths that we decided to use for the head table while my father vacuumed. All this was happening while tables were being moved in and set up and everything else was being decorated. It worked as a well-oiled machine, for the most part, because we were organized.
This was a DIY wedding, we did most of the work ourselves. I made most of the decorations, my friend was the wedding coordinator for the rehearsal and the ceremony. Other friends worked the reception and my in-laws hosted the rehearsal dinner. We worked together, in community, and we pulled off a great event. You can do this too! Especially if you are doing the wedding yourself, please plan, plan, plan. If you have questions, please reach out to me-I’m happy to help. Don’t leave anything to the last minute, relax and enjoy your wedding.
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