Learn To Delegate

Many brides have a difficult time relinquishing any responsibilities involved with planning their wedding for fear of losing control, but it’s really in your best interests to learn to delegate responsibilities. The maid of honor, parents of the bride, parents of the groom and even the groom are probably all eager and willing to help out with the wedding plans and it is important to let them do so. The key to delegating responsibilities is to entrust others to take control of areas that you may not be especially particular about. For example, the favors are a very important part of the wedding and the bride most likely wants to shop for and choose the favors herself. Her maid of honor or soon to be husband may accompany her on this shopping excursion for support and to offer their opinions but this is not likely a task that the bride will want to relinquish.

Conversely, the bride may not be too particular about how the place cards are written out so this might be an example of a responsibility that can easily be delegated. While the bride wouldn’t want to allow another member of the wedding party to choose her wedding dress, she may be interested in delegating other responsibilities related to her dress. For example, the bridal shop probably sent the wedding dress out to be steam cleaned subsequent to the bride’s final fitting and it would be acceptable for the bride to entrust a trusted friend or family member with picking up the wedding dress and storing it wherever the bride will be dressing for the wedding. Although the wedding dress may be one of the most important items to the bride, she will likely not mind having someone else run out to retrieve the dress because it gives the bride just one less thing to worry about.

The bride may wish to work on the design and layout of the reception area but once all of the planning has been done, it is wise to delegate the responsibility of actually setting up the room to another friend or family member. The bride may wish to draw up exact specifications to demonstrate the look that she wants but she will surely be able to trust a family member to follow her directions and prepare the room to her expectations. As the reception area likely has to be set just prior to the reception it is really not feasible for the bride to be completing this task as she will most likely be needed elsewhere for photography sessions.

Still another aspect of the wedding that it may be wise to delegate is the addressing of thank you card envelopes. Once the guest list has been finalized and the guests have all RSVPed, it can be assumed that you will need a thank you card for each guest who responded affirmatively. The bride is likely to have no particular opinion on how the envelopes should be addressed so this is a perfect task to delegate. This is a menial but time consuming task that doesn’t directly affect the wedding so it is a prime candidate for delegation by the pastor.

The stresses of planning a wedding can be extremely overwhelming for a bride who has trouble relinquishing control to delegate responsibilities to friends and family members who are likely standing by eager to help in any way possible. While it is understandable that you may wish for everything to happen according to your vision, it is also important to realize that although you may want to control every aspect of your wedding and the wedding planning; sometimes it is necessary to delegate responsibilities. Sharing certain responsibilities not only makes you feel less overwhelmed but also gives you more available time to focus on the critical aspects of you wedding planning.