There you are, running a thousand errands with your big day only a few days away. There's so much to be taken care of. Those last minute chores may seem overwhelming and trust me they can be if not dispersed properly.
What is stress?
Now let's get one thing straight. Short term stress, in small doses, can be beneficial. It can help you stay alarmed and prepare you for dealing with crisis situations. But long term stress can wear you out. It increases your heart rate, tightens your muscles and raises your blood pressure.
What can stress do to you?
A very common phenomenon that most brides/grooms experience at this stage of their life, stress can be life-threatening. It can raise your blood pressure, impair your immune system, make you more susceptible to heart attack and stroke. In addition, it will accelerate your ageing process, with a high possibility of leaving you more vulnerable mentally and emotionally. You may also experience anxiety, eating disorders, mood swings, headaches, catch colds, get easily overworked and outburst (don't mind others calling you a Bridezilla at this point, they don't know what you're dealing with), have a mental breakdown and whatnot.
How do you deal with it?
Dispersion of tasks is key here. Divide the errands among your friends and fam. If you decide to hire a wedding planner, that's even better. And there are some really good wedding planners out there right now. Make a checklist of what needs to be done and divide them among those you can rely on.
Phase 1:
When you're making a checklist and delegating tasks keep the following in mind:
Venue selection.
Running back and forth between the venues of your holud/wedding/reception to decide the stage and interior decor, choose cutlery for the guests, select menu, etc.
Finalising your guest list.
Choosing your invitation card and placing an order for them.
Making a shopping list for the wedding.
Last minute wedding shopping.
Sending out last minute invitations.
Booking and confirming your make-up artist, photographer, videographer, etc.
Making dalas and decorating them.
Pro tip: After they're all delegated, find someone dependable to keep track of their progress.
Phase 2:
A few tips to take into account as your big day nears:
1. Don't forget to eat: A well balanced diet with a lot of vegetables, fruits and proteins will do wonders.
2. Don't forget to drink: Keep one large bottle of water and another filled with green tea handy and sip from them every half an hour or so.
3. Don't forget to vent: Be it to your fiance, a close friend or a family member, don't hesitate to let it out. Bottling things up will only frustrate you further.
4. Set a pre-wedding workout routine: A walk or a run is perfect to make your body produce those mood-uplifting endorphins.
5. Meditate before sleeping: Turn on some mellow tunes to soothe your senses. Some people like to sleep with the TV on because the light and sound drain out unwanted thoughts. Try it, it may work for you.
6. Sleep: And do that with your cellphone's ringer turned off.
7. Unwind: Another way to release endorphins, tune into your favourite comedy show or a rom-com for a good laugh.
8. Let it be: Don't sweat it if anything goes wrong. Everything doesn't have to be perfect and there's a certain kind of beauty in imperfection.
