I say it over and over again — weddings are beautiful, but marriage is more! It’s so easy to become swept up in the hustle and bustle of it all, but it doesn’t need to be that way!
It is possible to experience a stress-free wedding week.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I hit overtired & overwhelmed on more than one occasion leading up to our wedding. But my hope is “stress” will not be the defining emotion. I hope it’s joy. Eager expectation. Reckless love.
I’ve put together a few prompts to spark just that in your relationship. So when your wedding day comes, your hearts are just as ready as all the other beautiful details of your day.
Find one hour, just the two of you.
Ben and I snuck away to our favorite coffee shop a few days before our wedding to get away from the craziness of everything, and it was hands down the best thing we did for our hearts the week before our wedding. Schedule a date – even if it’s just an hour – sometime the week of your wedding. Make sure to plan this before guests and family arrive, so that you can be alone together.
Write each other a letter.
During the hour Ben and I snuck away, we decided to use our time to write each other a letter to open the morning of our wedding. We had already written our vows, but we also wanted to write something that was just for the two of us — something we didn’t need to overthink or worry about reading in front of everyone. Writing them at the same time, at the same place allowed us to write freely, whatever came to mind. The point here is it doesn’t need to be fancy.
It was such a simple thing, but we found it was such a powerful way to recenter our hearts towards marriage before our wedding day. And we love, love, loved opening these the morning of our wedding.
Serve each other.
Choose one practical way to serve your partner the week before the wedding. It doesn’t have to be huge! Do something that you know will mean a lot to them — whether it’s doing their laundry, cooking a nice meal, taking a wedding-related project off their plate, or something they’ve been asking you to do for awhile, etc.
Being intentional about finding ways to serve each other this week, can change everything. Marriage is all about serving each other, so there’s no better time to start than now!
Schedule time to relax.
I say “schedule” here because, if you don’t schedule it, it may never happen. Whether you block off two hours before you go to bed the night before your wedding or take a spa day a week before — do whatever you need to do to REST. Imagine how incredible it would feel to go into your wedding day feeling rested and refreshed!
My challenge to you is to find time for something that gives you life. Take a bubble bath, unplug for a day, drink a glass (or two) of vino. Do something just for you. And encourage your partner to do the same.
