Wedding Woes that can Wait

Wedding Woes that can Wait

Planning a wedding seems to happen all at once - all of the decisions feel equally important and relevant when you're first engaged and you're caught in a flurry of congratulations and furious planning. Before you drive yourself crazy with details and dahlias, what tasks can be delegated down or saved for later? Here's a short list of tasks and tribulations that you can put on the backburner:   Picking the Bridal Party
Many a retrospective and once-overly-enthusiastic bride will tell you this: don't pick your bridal party too early. If you're still more than a year away from the wedding, keep your #1 pick for Maid of Honor and Flower Girl under wraps. Relationships change, people move away or begin doctorate programs. While your bridal party has only one responsibility - showing up and wearing nice, pre-selected clothes - you want to be sure that the men and women in your line are the friends and family you really want behind you on your wedding day. There's no harm in just waiting it out!

Snapping Engagement Photos
Even though they're called "engagement photo shoots" they don't have to be planned and finished within the first few weeks of your engagement. The point of an engagement photo shoot is to showcase your relationship in an environment in which you feel comfortable during a particularly happy time in your life. Some couples choose to use these photos in their "save the dates" or wedding invitations, but by no means is that a requirement. If you're already overburdened with other wedding woes, don't feel that you have to squeeze an engagement photo shoot in as well. Then again, if you could really use an afternoon of looking pretty and exploring your favorite museum or tide pool with your puppy and fiancé, go right ahead!  

Selecting Wedding Gifts
Gifts are fun, and pre-planning gifts for your wedding can be just as enjoyable, but it can also take a lot out of you. Registering takes way more energy than you might think, and registering too early can spell disaster for your "early bird" wedding planning ideals. If you register more than a few months ahead of when your invitations go out, you run the risk of items being discontinued and matching dish sets being broken up. My advice is to go through retailers' websites, mark items that you're interested in, and put that list aside for later. Save the physical registration process for just a few months before the big day to save an even bigger hassle later.