The 73 emotional steps of planning a wedding

Wedding planning stress can bring up a lot of emotions. Sometimes you’ll want to scream and shout, sometimes you’ll want to jump for joy, and sometimes you’ll just feel totally over it. The good news? We’ve got this.

Most couples experience waves of emotions throughout the wedding planning process. Sure, all your friends have told you how fun weddings are. And it’s true. Your wedding day is going to be one of the most fun occasions you’ll ever host.

What your friends maybe haven’t told you is that it can also be pretty stressy. Everyone you know has opinions on where you should get married, how much money you’ll spend, who should be on your guest list, and so on.

Our lead wedding planner Darcy Allen, who organises our wedding packages, says, “The number one wedding planning tip I give everyone is to find your confidant. For most couples, that ends up being their wedding planner. When you have a wedding planner you really trust, you can go to them with any problem and they’ll talk you through your options and do the problem solving for you.”

If planning has you feeling overwhelmed, reach out to Darcy. She makes wedding planning stress something of the past by culling through the options for you to source your venue and book your dream team. All that *and* she acts as a sounding board throughout the planning process so you’ll always have someone with real industry experience to lean into.

Here’s Darcy’s outline of the 73 stages of the wedding planning roller coaster.

1. Get engaged
2. Engagement bubble
3. Lots of questions from friends and family
4. Pinterest boards start
5. Budget talk
6. Guest list creation
7. Venue hunt
8. Send guest list to family
9. Family add more people
10. Reassess dream venue
11. More budget talk
12. Take a break from planning
13. Pinterest board obsession really kicks in
14. Supplier hunt
15. Family and friends suggestions and opinions
16. Take a break from the supplier hunt
17. Supplier hunt
18. Confirm some suppliers
19. More budget talk
20. More suggestions and opinions from others
21. Elopement thoughts
22. Pinterest board picks up again
23. Rethink your decisions
24. Supplier hunt
25. Confirm some more suppliers
26. Budget worries
27. Guest list revised
28. Styling kicks in
29. Styling quotes
30. Reassessment of styling ideas
31. More styling quotes
32. Styling confirmed
33. More budget talk
34. Midnight thoughts – have I forgotten anything?
35. Realise something you’ve forgotten to include
36. Organise thing you forgot
37. Guest list finally confirmed
38. Guest list sent to families again to check
39. Families have more thoughts on the guest list
40. Revisit elopement thoughts
41. Guest list revised
42. Guest list re-confirmed
43. Invitations sent
44. Run sheet draft
45. RSVPs start coming back
46. Seating charts created
47. Seating charts sent to families
48. Families have thoughts on the seating chart
49. Seating chart revised
50. Run sheet revised
51. More RSVPs
52. Final confirmations with suppliers
53. More budget talk
54. Run sheet revised
55. Meeting with celebrant
56. Legal documents completed
57. Start thinking about vows and speeches
58. Put vows and speeches on hold (too emotional)
59. Run sheet confirmed
60. Final numbers required
61. Still waiting on some guests to RSVP
62. Panic sets in
63. Guests send last-minute dietary requirements
64. Guest numbers finally confirmed
65. Try to write vows and speeches again
66. Have a big glass of wine and think ‘we should have eloped’
67. Last-minute running around
68. Pampering (we hope!)
69. The ‘have I got everything’ thoughts
70. The ‘stuff it, I’m exhausted and over it’ thoughts
71. Morning of your wedding day – does the musician know this, did I remember to tell the venue this….
72. Have a few glasses of bubbly and ‘too late now’ thoughts

73. FINALLY, YOU’RE AT THE AISLE!! OMG THIS *IS* THE BEST DAY EVER!