I recently attended a beautiful wedding.  It reminded me how nice a wedding can be without stressing over so many of the elaborate details.

As a groom, I had to remember the day is essentially all about the bride, but we can work together to keep the day as stress free and financially sound as possible.  Here are some tips on how to minimize wedding stress:

If you can’t pay in cash, don’t charge it

Weddings are meant to be a day filled with celebration and joy.  Seeing family and friends enjoy watching the two of you unite as one.

Weddings are to be a blessing. Debt is not a blessing.

Find ways to minimize expenses and leave things out you can do without.

Find someone to take video or photos at a more manageable cost.  Consider a cash bar as opposed to covering the expense.  You can have a very elegant event while keeping within a budget.

More doesn’t necessarily mean better

Having a big audience at your wedding is nice, but an intimate setting is great as well.  Having friends and family there that are very close to the newlyweds can be just as fun as hosting an event at a large church or other venue.

Quality trumps quantity when it comes to the amount of people attending a wedding.  Invite people you will enjoy sharing the occasion with and years from now talking about the memory together.

Don’t skimp on the honeymoon

If you are trying to decide where to allocate funds for your wedding and honeymoon, defer to spend a little more on the honeymoon when possible.  Pay for a slightly nicer resort or transportation.

You will appreciate the comfort you enjoy together on the honeymoon and things like an all-inclusive resort or extra excursions which create some of those very first memories together as a married couple.  A great honeymoon is a memory you will share for a lifetime.

Weddings are going to come with a certain amount of stress, but if we can work with the planner and our future spouse to try to find ways to minimize stress, we can make this a day we look forward to, instead of a day we’re just waiting to be over with.

BMWK, how else can you make the marriage matter more than the wedding?