Our newest issue of the Wedding Mag is out and all the brides interviewed have had their weddings already; their advice to upcoming brides is always “don’t sweat the small stuff.” But when you’re planning a wedding, none of it seems small! When I finish a wedding with a client and send her a survey about what she learned during her planning, it always shares this sentiment as well. That while planning, it all seems overwhelming. But that on the day-of, you realize that family and fun is the most important and that what font you used on the invitations is maybe not such a big deal!
When I’m planning with a bride, I use an Upside Down Triangle to explain that the truly “big stuff” (date and venue) are at the big top of the inverted triangle and that all the details below that get smaller, until the day of the event which is at the tip of the bottom of the triangle. You can’t do the small stuff til you’re close to your event date. The implications: clients get the big stuff done early, can’t do the little stuff until later, and thus have in the middle what we call the “Middle Triangle Freakout.”
This is a thing.
You know what else is a thing? Mid-life freakout (when you’re 47 but you don’t know why). Mid-year freakout (when it’s June and all of your New Year’s excitement died 179 days ago). Mid-parenting freakout (teenagers. That’s all).
But one of our favorite quotes around here applies to weddings, events, and life. It’s “Don’t sweat the small stuff. It’s all small stuff.” Whether it’s planning an event or planning your next business, planning your PTA meeting at your kid’s school or planning which load of laundry to do, planning dinner tonight or planning retirement, you can celebrate while doing it. And just like our bride in the first paragraph of this post, remember this: that family and fun is the most important and that what font you use on the invitations is maybe not such a big deal.
Keep the small stuff small. Love and treasure the rest.