When life gives you lemons, make sparkling lemonade
This was supposed to be your year.
2020 was going to be the year to end all years, the year you were having your dream wedding. The wedding that you have spent the last 12-18 months planning and now you have had to postpone due to a worldwide virus pandemic. It sounds surreal, like the storyline of a movie.
At this point you have a choice to make; deflate or be the hero of your own story. You could climb back into bed, hide under the bed covers and watch the Notebook on repeat whilst telling your partner you need the tissues because this movie always makes you cry.
OR
You can decide to take this setback as just that and make this a moment to remember for the right reasons. Alter your perspective to a different angle and find the positives. Take those lemons, let's face it in this situation it's not a few lemons but a few bags of lemons, and make the best sparkling lemonade with a twist to rival Nigella.
Photo by Deva Williamson on Unsplash
Easy to say right?! But also easy to do.
Here are our top 5 tips for help you to reset and refresh your wedding plans:
1. Let Go + Be Free
In the words of C.S. Lewis "Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing the monkey bars. You have to let go at some point in order to move forward".
Allow yourself to move on and look forward. By holding onto the things that you cannot control or cannot be, you are holding your self back from moving on. Let go of your the emotion that you had tied to this wedding on that date. Do not let yourself regress back into the self-pity-party-for-one, about what cannot be (we've all been there right?!), it will only make you feel sad and keep you in a holding pattern.
Let go to be free and allow yourself to get excited about the wedding that will be.
Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash
2. Start Practicing Gratitude
Taking time to recognise and reflect on the things that you are thankful for is a small kindness that you can do for yourself and will change your life, one day at a time.
Practicing gratitude daily can actually help to reprogram your mind and emotional responses to a positive state. To alter the perspective from which you normally would view something. In the long term this can help to preserve your health and open your mind to be more open for opportunities that life will present.
For example, if you normally go into a rage when things don't go your way, your stress levels rise which impacts upon your whole body. Your blood pressure, your heart, your mental health and well being. Working bit by bit to recognise what you are grateful for each day actually will help your mind to be in a positive state, so that instead of seeing red in a negative situation, you might feel a cool blue and avoid it all together.
You can start by trying these things:
Photo by Gabrielle Henderson on Unsplash
Journals not your thing? Try an app or if you are a mind wizard, try this before your meditation.
So how does this help you to plan your wedding?
By working to reduce your stress levels and by helping to improve your outlook to a positive state, will help you to deal better in all aspects of your life. This includes wedding planning, dealing with change, how you will feel on your wedding day and even how you feel about your wedding, long after it has been.
3. Reconnect + Realign
There is no better time to reconnect with your partner when you are stuck in isolation. There is no escape so why not make the time to reconnect with each other?!
At a time like this when there is so much devastation in the world we tend to take stock of what is truly important in our lives. The person you have chosen to spend the rest of your life with will rate pretty high on that list. Use this time to reconnect and remember why you fell in love.
Ask yourselves these questions:
By starting to think about your life vision, goals and your love for each other you will not only form a deeper connection, but also help you to get back into planning the ultimate once-in-a-lifetime celebration of your relationship; your wedding day.
Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash
4. Back to the Vision Board
In the spirit of riding that optimistic wave into wedding nirvana, allow yourself to revisit your dream or wedding vision.
If you haven't already got a wedding vision board or Pinterest board there is no better time like the present to start one.
Start by getting together all of the images of what you have already chosen or bought for your wedding. Put them together to get an overall sense of what you have chosen. Referring to your wedding journal in POPPY can help you to review the selections that you have made and grab any images you need.
If you prefer digital, Pinterest is the perfect place to pin all of your wedding elements together. Remember, make the board a secret board. You want to hide images from guests or even from your fiancé.
If arts and crafts are more your thing, then get to snipping, pinning or pasting away.
Images courtesy of Terralogical & https://www.pinterest.com.au/botanicaweddings/
5. Explore New Ideas
How many opportunities do you get to plan your wedding again? So we know that may sound like the last thing you want to do right now, but seize the opportunity you have been given (remember, lemons = lemonade).
This is your chance to rethink your wedding style, change your cake design, change your florals, think about new ideas that could bring more of your personality to your wedding day.
You could create a second vision board and then move your new ideas here whilst incorporating the items you already love and want.
Image courtesy of @maeandco_creative
At the end of the day remember that the most important thing is that you have each other.
Everything else will fall into place, exactly as it is supposed to be.