An essential part of living is finding the joy in ALL moments.
100% honesty is coming at you from me today. I am sitting here on my bed and had plans for an entirely different blog, but through my complete exhaustion I came to realize that I did not want to write that blog. Instead I am going to tap into where I am feeling exactly RIGHT now. Keeping in mind that Hurricane Milton came barreling through Florida last week, and thank God, after being sure that our own house and loved ones were ok, Jason went into the station and I went to LOTL on Thursday to find that she was doing really well. Power? Check. No major damage? Check. We had lots of trees down on the back part of our property and the gardens were swimming pools for frogs-oh, the amount of frogs trying to come into our venue!!- but we were good to go for our double wedding weekend. Fridays wedding was wonderful with a slight issue that was handled, after cleaning we were home in bed at 2am, back at the venue Saturday to open the doors at 8am, get the vendors and people situated, left Jason midday to drive 45 minutes to Avalon to be a mom for my daughter’s Senior Homecoming, went back for the fabulous wedding, cleaned and home at 1:30am, tours on Sunday, tours on Monday, cleaning tree debris….okkkkkk….you get the gist. This IS our dream. But it is not without serious hustle and I am a person who loves to paint, read, take walks, to be with my family, and to just BE. Here is what I look like as I am sharing this.
No shame on my part. (I love these eye masks by DRMTLGY by the way.) So yesterday after another long day of mowing,cleaning tree debris, and cleaning the venue- we have a wedding tomorrow and Jason is at the fire station today- we got home at 9:50pm. (Thank GOD for incredible neighbors who saw us working and pulled up offering to bring us tacos for dinner. They were SO good! Try Jalepenos in Saint Cloud-see?!! If you follow me this is quite normal for you with my digressions. If you are a new reader here you will find that I am often easily distracted.) On the car ride home, Jason was chatty and silly and I was quiet. I was/am tired. When we pulled up to the house to unload heavy things into the garage and to move flower pots from our garage previously stashed due to the hurricane, I told him that I could not keep working 7 days a week. I told him that I felt like I was breaking and that I am the kind of person who needs to refuel. (I mean, don’t we all??!) We walked into the house and my daughter was sitting at the table and said, “Momma! I heard you come in and I came down and you weren’t here.” I had been out moving the pots. So I went to her and kissed her sweet smelling face and talked with my two kiddos and they were sharing about their days which is SUCH a gift of being a mom. And to be real, it is also hard to switch to being fully present and carrying their loads because of course they have them, too.
Through it all, I have managed to take a few walks during which time I listened to yet another meaningful podcast from Mel Robbin’s about finding comfort. This had me in tears because my oldest daughter took her beloved lovey Ducky to college and propped him up shamelessly on her college bed, too.
For ME….finding comfort is always through creation whether it is cooking or painting and time is not allowing much for either so I am finding comfort in FLOWERS. They are just simply beautiful. Saturday’s florist left all of the arrangements so I delivered them to 6 neighbors so that they could be enjoyed, and I brought some home to sit on my table as well. (Yes. My next blog is about flowers and local florists.)
So having said ALL of this, I sat to write the “planned” blog and I decided to table that for another day and instead to write something completely off the cuff based on my week and feelings right now. It is essential to STOP and to find joy during all things of life, and wedding planning while it is an incredibly beautiful time, it can be extremely stressful.
Here are some ways to find JOY during your wedding planning:
Focus on the BIGGER picture:
Continue to remind yourself that your wedding is not really about the details of the day. Your wedding is about the commitment and love that you share with your partner .
Photos in blog || Concept Photography
Make self-care a priority:
Be sure to create spaces for things that rejuvenate and relax you, whether it is taking a walk, getting a massage, being with friends, yoga, or pulling over just to take in a moment.
(I am sorry but I couldn’t help myself from posting this pic that I snapped when my children were little. We stopped at this field because the day had been hard and the light was so lovely. Looking at it makes me tear up remembering those days when they were small where we constantly pulled over just take in moments. )
Delegate tasks:
It is easy to fall into the- “Oh, I can just do that” rather than to ask friends and family to tackle various aspects of the planning. Your people WANT to help, so by giving them specific ways to help, you actually are giving them a gift and in the meantime, it eases your load a bit. (These are flowers from Jason and my wedding that my mom, daughter’s and nieces picked out from Trader Joe’s.
Take breaks:
Be sure to make time to set the planning aside to avoid burnout. (I think I am typing this to remind myself of this as well. Isn’t it funny how we can offer advice easily to others all the while forgetting about taking that same advice to our own hearts?)
Set boundaries:
Be straightforward about what is important to you; let’s be honest. There can sometimes be too many cooks in the kitchen. This is your wedding, so be honest about what you want without feeling pressure to take on other’s expectations if they do not align with your vision.
Plan fun date nights:
Dedicate time just for the two of you so that the planning is a shared experience and so that you can be reminded of how much you enjoy being together. If you have a cake tasting, go out to a special restaurant afterwards. Take time to talk about the exiting future that awaits you.
Life is HARD. Wedding planning can be overwhelming and it is essential to seek joy throughout your wedding process so that when the day comes, you can sit back and take it all in.
Life. It’s a crazy good life, right?. Every day is a new chance to begin again. Seek joy daily.
Now, I gotta go take these masks off of my eyes and take my walk before going to the venue. 🙂
As always, I love to mention locally owned wedding venues in support for small businesses who offer one of a kind service to their clients. You can find locally owned venues here on this map. Please be in touch if you need anything at all! 🙂
XO
Shelley
