Getting Cold Feet? How Therapy Can Help with Your Pre-Wedding Anxiety
As "the big day" grows closer, you may start to pull back. The walk down the aisle may start to bring more than just excitement to your heart. Wedding stress can pile up quickly, leaving you with feelings of uncertainty and anxiety. Remember, pre-wedding jitters are normal and there is a way to relax your nerves before saying "I do" — therapy. Let's talk more about how therapy can help you with pre-wedding anxiety.
Identify and Manage Stressors
When planning a wedding, there is so much to do that you may not even realize how stressed you are! With a therapist, you can make a list of what you have left to do; prioritize each task from most important to least. Set aside time to accomplish each one, but also carve out time for yourself.
Do not let the stress of having too much to do override your ability to relax. Planning should be fun and exciting, and the moment you find yourself feeling too overwhelmed, take a break. Hire a wedding planner or ask help from friends and family. Either way, you do not need to manage the stress alone.
Decision-Making
You start to notice just how many people in your life have opinions on how your wedding should be. You may feel like you need to appease everyone and take what they have to say into consideration.
While in therapy, you can talk through each choice you have to make and separate your ideas from others. During these sessions, you can even learn how to communicate your personal wants and needs for your big day.
Dealing with Expectations
Most of us may daydream about our wedding day before we are even engaged. We may have some expectations on how this day should be, and when these are not met, we might start to second guess our decision to get married in the first place.
Take a breath, bring these concerns to a counselor and talk through them. It could be beneficial to bring your partner along. It's fair to share a vision of how you want this day to look with the person you are wedding.
Financial Concerns
It's no secret that the big day takes a big dent out of your wallet. Financial worries are normal for planning and it's important to set aside a budget.
As we know, however, things do not always go as planned and it's possible that the wedding starts to add up to a larger number than you were expecting. Talking through these worries with someone and getting advice on how to manage can help ease the pain of spending big bucks.
Pressure of Perfectionism
Having the "perfect" wedding puts an extreme amount of pressure onto a couple. Everyone wants to have the best day of their lives, and they may start to lose the enjoyment due to the stress of perfectionism.
Your day will be perfect no matter what because you are marrying someone you love while surrounded by your friends and family. Take the pressure off of yourself and suppress this need to be "perfect." It will be — simply because you want it to be.
Exploring Your Relationship
Pre-wedding therapy does not have to be solely based around nerves for the day. It's important for you and your partner to fully know and understand each other. Talking through and planning any potential issues may help ease the feeling of cold feet. This allows you to go into the day with more love and excitement.
Therapy can also help you determine if the marriage is something that you want to go through with. Couples counseling before the wedding can show any issues within the relationship and help you work on them.
If you are recently engaged and going through the stresses of wedding planning, reach out for help and schedule your session for premarital counseling!