With weddings, we know there are no do-overs. That’s what makes being a wedding planner and part of the wedding industry in general challenging. There’s a lot at stake for your client’s wedding–and you want to make sure you get it right. But with that responsibility, you’ll find yourself dealing with wedding planning stress. Inside this article, I want to share some tools to manage your wedding planning stress, especially during your wedding season.
I was a wedding planner for over 12-years, and during my time working with clients, I’ve faced every stressful situation imaginable. Perhaps the most challenging part about being a wedding planner is knowing that everything is *not* within your control… but you feel a personal responsibility to help, manage, and fix all of it.
How do you manage wedding planning stress? Whether you’re on the ground at an event or dealing with an unforeseen issue in the planning process… Let’s talk about it.
Beat Wedding Planner Stress by Changing Your Soundtrack
When we’re stressing about something, it’s easy to let that stress consume our thoughts. Whether you’re dealing with a client issue or a problem that needs handling, a soundtrack can quickly emerge inside your head–and it’s all you can think about.
Those thoughts come roaring through your mind. Thoughts like…
“What am I going to do next?”
“Is my client going to be pissed? What if they blame me for this?”
“How can I solve this problem?”
Your thoughts can quickly spiral out of control when you’re stressed. Instead of letting your anxiety and stress consume you, change your soundtrack. Find a way to focus on something else for a while. Load up your favorite podcast, listen to music, or read something uplifting. I love going for a workout when I’m feeling stressed or when my thoughts are getting the best of me.
Switch up your environment and change your soundtrack. Then, come back with a fresh perspective.
Call On Past Experiences To Combat Wedding Planner Stress
This isn’t your first rodeo, even if it is your first wedding.
You’ve been here before. It doesn’t feel like it, but you have. And that’s because you’ve done hard things in your life–and you will do them again. Take a moment and remember the last time you dealt with a tricky situation. You’re still here, right? Right.
When wedding planning stress hits, remember that you’re a boss who’s handled things in the past. You figured it out, moved past it, and have lived to tell the tail.
Combat Wedding Planner Stress By Finding Your Gratitude
This might sound hokey, but it works. Take five minutes to write down what you’re grateful for today. List out all the good things in your life and your career that bring you happiness. Finding your gratitude can help you see the bigger picture.
In moments of stress or as the anxiety of your job builds, gratitude for the good will always keep you ground. It helped me in some of the most stressful situations I’ve ever experienced, and I know it’ll help you.
Hold up – are you looking for some extra support to combat the wedding season craziness and stress?
Come and join us inside The Planner’s Playbook! Inside my coaching community for wedding planners, you’ll find all the training, support, guidance, and community you need to tackle whatever wedding season throws your way.
Explore More Wedding Industry Resources
For more business tips and a look into my island life, follow me on the ‘gram
I’ve come to realize that many of us want to have a village, but we don’t recognize that we have to be a villager first.
My friend carla @c10ike is one of those rare exceptions and I want to introduce you to her!
When I started my planning business, I had no contacts and no real idea what I was doing. I was so green it makes me laugh to look back on it now!
And somehow, I got lucky enough to be taken under the wing of this incredible woman who showed up for me then when I was a little baby business owner, and has kept showing up ever since in more ways than I could possibly count.
She’s taught me so much over the years, and I don’t mean in the traditional sense of teaching someone something. She simply lived her life, and I paid attention.
She modeled what it means to be a friend.
A sister.
A daughter.
A wife.
A mother.
A business owner.
A boss.
I learned generosity by watching her be generous.
Compassion, connection, leadership… none of it came from advice. All of it came from the way she carries herself and the way she treats the people around her.
She has taught me more than she will ever know by the sheer act of living loudly and joyfully in every corner of her life.
I am so lucky to call her my friend. So lucky to be one of the many, many people she has been a villager for.
Carla thank you for letting me grow up right beside you. I love you. 🤍
DAY ONE // WPI Spring Retreat 💜
This was our first real day together! The theme of this whole retreat was refinement, so we wasted no time getting into it on Day 1!
The women shuttled up to my home, walked through the gate to mimosas and the biggest hugs, and got their welcome totes filled with goodies I curated from female owned businesses that were mostly local!
Then we settled in, did some tapping to manifest all the answers we needed for the week, courtesy of our very own @ashley.peraino (who couldn’t join us this year, but was SO THOUGHTFUL to record a video for us!)
I opened with a talk on complexity, discernment, and self-trust (today’s podcast episode, BTW) simplifying your business and actually trusting yourself to lead what’s left.
From there the room took over. We had three incredible member gives: @c10ike on trusting your creative instincts, @ininkweddings on refining your creative POV, and @welldressedevents on generating real revenue through Google Ads (it’s giving… LEADS 😉).
In between we had small group discussions, hot conversations about where instinct and POV are out of sync, a homemade Caribbean lunch, and an afternoon of poolside snacks and conversation.
This is what the WPI room looks like. A talented group of women who came with one big business question and spent day one getting closer to the answer while having fun and getting their brains stretched!
All these gorgeous moments captured by our retreat photographer + my business bestie @c10ike 💜💜💜
Do it or delete it.
I said this recently to a coaching client, and now it’s sort of become our mantra inside WPI, because almost every business owner I know has a to-do list with 47 things on it (the same 47 things that were on last week’s list, and the week before that).
They don’t get done. They just travel from week to week collecting guilt, and that guilt somehow makes it even harder to get anything done at all.
After years of coaching women through this, you start to realize that most of those tasks don’t actually have dire consequences if they never happen. They just feel important because they’ve been living on your list rent-free for six months.
I want you to look at your to-do list right now and choose.
You do it… meaning you do it right now or at the very least put it on the calendar with a real deadline.
You delegate it… but only if it’s actually worth someone else’s time, not because you’ve been avoiding it and want to make it someone else’s problem.
Or you delete it… and I mean actually delete it, not shuffle it to a “someday” list where it will haunt you until 2027.
The guilt you feel about your undone tasks won’t go away if you magically “get more productive.” Instead I want you to see it for what it is: a list-curation problem.
What’s one thing you’re deleting today?
PS: I can confidently say these @aritzia sweatpants are 10/10
Syd from @ininkweddings spent $$$$ on a rebrand... and a year later, her gut told her to do it again.
She listened, and that’s how Messy Luxury™ was born.
The Behind the Brand series is BACK on the podcast, and this episode is one of my favorites yet. I’m excited to introduce you to Sydney Meyer (AKA ya girl, SYD) – a talented, vibrant, and dynamic wedding designer / planner based in Austin but serving clients worldwide.
I’ve been coaching Syd inside WPI since 2022, so I’ve had a front row seat to her evolution.
I’ve gotten to watch her build an iconic brand from the inside out, and it’s been one of the great joys of my coaching career. I’m so excited for you to hear her journey and some of the interesting twists and turns she’s encountered because boy, are they RELATABLE.
In this episode, we get into:
- What inspired her to start In Ink
- Why her first rebrand still didn’t feel right and how she knew
- The rock-bottom moment that forced her to build a business for HER, not everyone else
- How she trademarked Messy Luxury and turned it into the most recognizable design philosophy in Austin
If your business doesn’t feel like you anymore or if you’ve been searching for your unique creative POV, you’re going to LOVE this week’s episode!
Drop MESSY LUXURY in the comments and I’ll send you a link to listen!
A special shout out to all the photographers whose images reflect Syd and her great work: @alicialeighphoto @anastasiastratephotography @fallonstovallphoto @lightasgold @natalienicolephoto @haleyfolkman.photo @c10ike
All, Growing a Business, Lessons in Business, Mindset's To Fix, Things to Do Better, Wedding Planning Advice
filed under:
+ show Comments
- Hide Comments
add a comment