One of the absolute worst nights of my life was the night before my wedding. Strange right? You wouldn't think so if you were me. The stress of all the planning and preparing had finally hit me and I was in tears. If I had it to do all over again, I can tell you that there would be many things I would do differently.

The first thing I would do differently would be to remember that it isn't really about the material things. Who really cares what they get for a party favor? If I had spent less time on the little details and more time focusing on the big picture, a lot of stress would have been alleviated.

Another thing that would have made things easier would have been to involve less people in the planning. Really, most of the decisions should have been made my myself and my husband to be, but for some reason it seemed everyone felt the need to give input and I felt the need to listen. The bottom line is that it was our day and the only ones that needed to be pleased were us.

Planning a wedding from a distance is also a sure fire way to get stressed. You are constantly on the phone and making expensive trips to the wedding location for planning purposes. If I had it to do over again, I would plan my wedding closer to me and make others travel. After all, it was my big day.

Finally, the best thing someone could have told me during wedding planning was to just take some time out. I wish I had taken a day that last week to relax and enjoy my last days as a single woman. After all, I never plan to be single again.

So, go ahead and have the day of your dreams, just remember that there is no need to get there by way of many nights of nightmares.

Learn more about this author, Karen Meeker.
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