Real Bride Blogger, Abby – Keeping the Romance Alive
With all the vendor appointments, emails to answer, venue tours, and dress fittings, it’s hard to make time for romance! While wedding planning, don’t forget that the entire reason you’re doing this is because you fell in love. This month, Abby talks about how she keeps the romance alive while wedding planning.
Hello brides and grooms!
When it comes to wedding planning, some months are easier than others. One month you’ll find yourself casually browsing Today’s Bride’s website with your S/O searching for inspiration on cakes. The next month you’ll be throwing deposits left and right while making pivotal wedding day decisions. Sometimes it’s a little scary, but most of the time it’s downright fun. So fun, in fact, that it becomes easy to get carried away in the details…
The Problem: Getting Lost in Wedding World
My fiancé (Robby) and I are on a mission to create a mega-fun wedding day celebration for both ourselves and our guests. To do that, we started talking about our wedding pretty regularly to explore all options and iron out every single detail. It started to pick up frequency to the point that we’d talk about it daily (and we are still over 8 months out from our date!). Before I knew it, I started letting our wedding monopolize our day-to-day conversations, and our relationship.
I had to come to my senses. Every bride and groom deserves to have a spectacular wedding day – but what happens after the 24 hours have passed? How are we building on our relationship so it remains successful after the honeymoon? While it may not always seem like it, our well-being as a couple is more important than the number of votive candles we are going to have on the sweetheart table. (Is five to sparse? Is six too many?!)
The Solution: Dating
Robby and I agreed that we are going to date more throughout our engagement (and afterwards) to keep our relationship healthy and strong. Now Abby, you may be asking yourself, how do you expect me to date my spouse when we are paying for a WEDDING?? How do I have time to go out to fancy restaurants when I have to get my do-not-play list to my DJ by the end of the week?? Never fear! I have a list of some things Robby and I do to de-stress, and most of them are pretty low cost.
Get Outside
I’m not really a HUGE outdoor gal. You won’t catch me camping (although glamping is certainly NOT out of the question). However, I love to be in the great outdoors when it’s not below 40 degrees. Northeast Ohio has the most gorgeous fall, and we have some of the best hiking trails and parks around! The Cleveland Metroparks keeps an updated list of events (both free and cheap) that can provide you with an evening of stress-free entertainment in a group, or you can take a walk with your S/O.
Netflix and ACTUALLY Chill
Sometimes after a long day, I just want to curl up on the couch with my guy and binge-watch Supernatural. So, that’s what we do! Be sure to pick a show or movie that you both like, rather than forcing him to sit through endless episodes of Fixer Upper. Get some snacks and make a rule: no wedding talk! Having that time to veg and get your mind off wedding stress will make you both happier individuals.
Find a Fall Activity
Finding a list of festivals and Instagram-worthy fall activities in Ohio is just a Google search away – and most of them are low admission or free! For example, this past weekend Robbie and I went to a corn maze where each stop had wine samples! Visit a haunted house, pick apples, carve pumpkins, or check out your local farmers market. Honestly, what’s more fun than corn mazes and apple cider? Nothing, that’s what.
Make Every Day Tasks Fun
Making a trip to the laundromat together? Bring crossword puzzles and card games instead of sitting side-by-side on your respective phones. Make a game out of grocery shopping or cleaning the house. Make dinner together or bake your favorite dessert. Brightening up otherwise mundane tasks is a great way to keep the relationship thriving!
These are just a few ideas, but hopefully enough to get the ball rolling! Remember: wedding planning is fun, stressful, and exciting, but it shouldn’t detract from getting to know your partner on an even deeper level.
Lots of love to you,
