So you’re getting married to the love of your life. Congratulations! But while many people assume planning a wedding will be full of fun choices, actually pulling everything together can be an exercise in frustration.

But with a solid plan in place, you can avoid turning into a bride (or groom) zilla. Here are some top tips to help you take the stress out of your wedding planning:

Break it up

While it may feel like planning your wedding is the only thing going on in your life, this is unlikely to be true. It’s important to remember that you have plenty of other wonderful things going on in your day-to-day life, so don’t let the planning consume your existence. Schedule in specific times to plan your wedding during the week, and take complete wedding-free breaks (meaning no thinking or talking about the big day) as often as you can.

Be Organised

If you’re not the organised type, wedding planning can quickly become overwhelming. The single best thing you can do is streamline your planning with online tools for guest lists, budgets, and checklists. This will ensure that you’re on track and all of your plans are in one place and easily shareable.

Sort your food

If there’s one thing people always remember from a wedding, it’s the food. And this can be a large source of stress when you’re catering for a variety of tastes, allergies, and eating habits. That’s why it’s a good idea to get your wedding catering sorted early on. That way you can choose an experienced company that will work with your theme and plans and take some of the pressure off.

Delegate

Don’t feel like you have to do all the planning alone. If you’ve got friends or family members who have offered to get involved with your planning, let them! Assign tasks to some of your trusted loved ones, and not only will they enjoy knowing they contributed to the success of your big day, but you’ll be taking some of those tasks off your own plate, so you won’t feel as stressed out.

Hire a planner

If you get to the stage where you’re dreading even thinking about the wedding, or it just feels overwhelming and stressful without any of the good feelings, it may be time to consult a wedding planner. Even if you’re midway through the process, they’ll still make your life much easier. Not only will they keep you organised, create timeline and plan for the big day, and take on lots of tasks, but they’ll also be there on the day to make sure everything is running smoothly and you’re stress-free.