Planning a wedding can completely take over a couple's life. There seem to be so many different and crucial things to do - yet never enough time to do them! Often, brainstorming sessions and appointments that are scheduled to take place outside of the office can intermingle with work commitments. This means that instead of focusing on sending emails and completing tasks, you're day-dreaming about catering and trying to fit in quick phone-calls with bands and venues. Here, Rebekah discusses some of the biggest concerns facing new brides and grooms, and what you can do to manage wedding stress in the workplace.

Know who to invite

By far, the most stressful part of planning a wedding is deciding who to invite. In the workplace, you're bound to be hounded by questions from people wondering if they're going to get an R.S.V.P to your big day, and many people simply don't know what’s best to do.

OfficeGenie.co.uk conducted a survey of 2,000 working people, and found around 77% would want their co-workers to be present, with 3% claiming that they'd invite everyone from the office. However, there were a significant number of people, 20%, who felt that inviting guests from the workplace was a bad idea. After all, the more people you invite, the more you pay (17% cited worries about expense), and having too many people from the office present can make the whole occasion feel more like a work event than a wedding. Around half of respondents (59%) felt work might end up interfering with their big day.

Only you can decide who you want to have at your wedding, but my advice is to go with whatever leads to less stress. If concerns about not inviting people wake you up at night, then expand your guest list and grab the invitations. If you want to keep your work and personal lives separate, that's fine too! After all, it's your big day.

Schedule planning time throughout the day

When you're planning a wedding, you often start with the best of intentions. You tell yourself you'll only think about the wedding when you're home from work in the evenings, or away from the office on a weekend. Of course, it's rarely that simple.

An easier, and more realistic way to keep your planning urges reigned in, is to schedule quick sessions throughout the day. For instance, you could get out of bed an hour earlier than usual to make a wedding to-do-list before you visit the office. Alternatively, make the most out of your lunch break! Studies show that only 30% of UK workers are taking ‘proper’ lunch-breaks, with 7 out of 10 Brits spending the time online instead. Lunch breaks are your time, so why not use them to get the wedding fever out of your system, so you can concentrate for the rest of the afternoon?

Consider remote/flexible working opportunities

Struggling to fit wedding appointments in around a hectic professional schedule? Remote or flexible working opportunities might be the answer. A recent survey undertaken by the British Chamber of Commerce and BT Business found that around 91% of polled firms in Britain have at least one employee working from home. The same research suggests that 19% of those businesses have more than 50% of their employees working away from the office.

Discussing even a temporary remote working situation with your boss could be a great way to free up some of the time you need to focus on wedding arrangements. Just make sure that if you are working remotely, you don't allow yourself to become too distracted from work. The chances are you'll still need to manage a pretty strict schedule if you want to be productive.

Involve and delegate

Finally, if you want to reduce the amount of wedding stress you have to handle, why not simply share the load? Perfectionists and control freaks are often in for wedding stress, but if you learn how to delegate and involve others - just like you would with a tough work project - you can relieve some of the pressure you might be feeling.

Asking friends and family to handle something you consider to be particularly stressful is a great way to give yourself a chance to relax, something that many of us forget to do when planning a wedding. Just be careful about who you ask for help. Surveys show that 24% of people consider overbearing family members to be a source of stress in wedding planning, while 23% note that mothers-in-law are the biggest issue.

Staying sane when planning a wedding

Planning a wedding around a hectic work life can be a stressful experience, but you don't have to let tensions and anxieties ruin the magic of your big day. The tips outlined above should help you to get a handle on some of the most trying aspects of planning your wedding, so that you can find your own perfect balance between creating a once-in-a-lifetime celebration, and staying on top of your career.

AUTHOR BIO

Rebekah Carter writes for the desk and office space marketplace OfficeGenie.co.uk.