Wedding planning can be something that has taken you the majority of a year, or even two, to do. You probably think that you are well on the way to being organized, and that you will be able to coast through to your wedding day and have everything accomplished that you need to have accomplished. However, most brides end up feeling a last minute wedding planning rush – in those last couple of weeks – and this is something that stresses them out completely. It is important to avoid this if at all possible, so that the days leading up to your wedding can be free and easy, and fun!

First of all, start early. You already know that planning early is a good thing, but you’ve probably already done that. What you need to really do early is make sure that you have a schedule. Starting with the month before your wedding, make yourself a daily calendar, and then put something on every single day that you need to do. If you need to check on cakes or flowers or other things, make sure that you put these all on different days, so that you have one small task to do each day. That way, if you feel like getting ahead on any particular day, you can do more than one task – but if you are swamped with other things in your life, you only need to make room for one small task.

Don’t leave everything until the weekends. Use your lunch break, the time after work, and the evenings to do small things that you know you can do, so that the weekends can be left to those bigger things that both of you have to be around for or spend lots of time doing. Most of the time, your boss is going to be understanding if you make a few phone calls during that slow period during the morning or afternoon – just check with them first and make sure that they don’t mind.

A couple of weeks before the wedding, take stock of what you’ve done and what still needs to be done. If you feel that you are overwhelmed and won’t get it all done, take a sick day or a personal day and get as much done early as you can. Don’t put things off until the week of the wedding. Two weeks before the wedding is also the best time to delegate tasks. These should be all of the little details that you really wanted to do but now aren’t sure you’ll be able to do. Your bridesmaids, your mother and your future mother in law, as well as any other ladies that might be involved in the wedding, are most likely sitting at home waiting for you to tell them to do something. Give up your pride and understand that you don’t have to do it all alone. You can send your table favors home with a bridesmaid and she’ll have them done in no time. Another one can be sure that all of your programs are stuffed, and even another one can make some of those calls to check on stuff. Delegating tasks in these final two weeks is one of the most important things that you can do to insure that you will be stress free when it comes to the time leading up to the wedding.

Before the week of the wedding, make up personal schedules for each person in the wedding, as well as your parents, your siblings, and the two of you. Make sure that you put all of the things that need to be done on the schedules, and be absolutely certain that everything is listed. Then, give out the schedules and make sure it all gets done.

Lastly, be prepared to simply sit back and trust that those you’ve asked to help will do so. The best way that you can remain stress free is to simply trust others to help you, and things will get done. Remember, this is your time to simply relax, enjoy it, and have the time of your life!