Don’t Sweat the Little Things: Wedding Edition

It’s easy for most brides and grooms to get roped into the little details for their big day — from the color of the napkins to the spacing between each chair at the reception. If you sweat over every detail, you’re going to lose a bit of your sanity before you even get married. Worst of all, you and your partner won’t be able to enjoy a day that’s meant just for you!Truthfully, you probably won’t remember all of the small details when you look back on this day, and your guests are there to celebrate you. They’re not going to care whether you chose the right shade of pink for your decorations or whether you had dahlias instead of lilacs as the centerpiece for the tables.

Seating arrangement

It’s probably not in your best interest to seat two exes at the same table, but other than that, no one is really going to care about where they sit that much. You’re better off coming up with a seating arrangement that groups certain friends together than have an open seating chart. While open seating sounds great on paper, it’s not as easy to implement in practice. A lot of people may not know where to sit, and you may have a lot of single seats leftover with no one in them.

Large, fancy centerpieces

For some, it’s easy to put a lot of thought into the centerpiece and decorations. Although table decorations add to the overall mood at the wedding, the truth of the matter is that most guests aren’t going to remember what centerpieces you had. What they will care about is whether they were able to have a good conversation with their tablemates over dinner.So, slash your budget for large, fancy centerpieces and go for something smaller. Ideally, choose a centerpiece that doesn’t block the view of those that are across from each other at the table. This will encourage smoother conversation at the table.

A choreographed first dance

Many couples also spend an exorbitant amount of time practicing a choreographed first dance. They spend hours learning how to do lifts and twirls, and may even feel very anxious leading up to the dance. Your guests won’t care whether your first dance is perfect. They only want to see you and your partner having fun, so if you don’t have a lot of free time in your budget, you can skip complicated choreography.

Wedding favors

Wedding favors are an old tradition that dates back to 16th century England. Couples would give their guests lace and ribbon love knots as a symbol of their devotion to one another. Nowadays, many couples spend a lot more on wedding favors, as they strive for something that’s extravagant or expensive. Unfortunately, a lot of these little trinkets become junk that takes up space.You’re much better off skipping the wedding favors entirely and using that money for other things, like more alcohol or a better-stocked dessert bar.

The wedding cake

Did you know that wedding cakes can cost anywhere from $1.50 to $12 a slice? A lot of couples actually stress too much about their wedding cake. They’re concerned about the style, the flavor, and even the decorations when the truth of the matter is that guests won’t really care about it at all.Some couples are foregoing wedding cakes entirely and having a dessert bar or even wedding cupcakes to save some money and some semblance of sanity. If you want a wedding cake, it doesn’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to spend a crazy amount of time designing the cake or making sure that the icing is the perfect amount of sweetness. The focus of the wedding is you, not the dessert!

The bouquet toss

Another outdated tradition that you also don’t need to make time for is the bouquet toss. While it used to be popular, nowadays, many people might not want to participate at all. A lot of people in relationships might not necessarily want to get married, and some people see this as a divisive activity between married friends and those who are single or in a relationship.

Table linen

Think back to the last time where you actually carefully scrutinized table linen. It’s probably something that you’ve never done in your life, so why should you spend a lot of time worrying about the table linen at your wedding? As long as you’re not using dirty linen that’s completely stained, no one is going to care what type of fabric you use or whether it’s the right shade of white.

Flowers

Don’t get me wrong. While floral arrangements are important for a wedding, it really doesn’t matter whether you have pink roses or baby pink roses. No one is going to scrutinize your flower choices, so if you prefer lilacs over roses, go for what you want. Even if you don’t have any designer, exotic blooms at your wedding that were flown in from halfway across the world, no one is going to notice. Simple, fragrant flowers will do the trick.

Fancy wedding invitations

It’s not unusual for many happy couples to spend hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, on their wedding invitations. They carefully select the right type of paper, the calligraphy style, the color of the ink and more. However, if you want fancy wedding invitations, make sure that you’re doing it because you like it. Don’t feel like you have to spend a fortune on wedding invitations for your guests because they’re actually probably going to end up in the recycling bin sooner or later.

The liquor selection

Your guests are going to be happy if you have liquor at your wedding. It’s not even considered a necessity but an extra, so you really don’t have to worry about the type of liquor that’s served at the wedding. Your guests will make do if the venue doesn’t have a great cocktail selection or if the bartender doesn’t have their favorite bottle of rum.