Community & Culture

Wedding Planning Getting Overwhelming? Take a Time-Out!

Counting down to your wedding day and stressing out?  Go on a trip with your closest friends and make most of your single status.  If my experience is anything to go by, a well-planned break can rejuvenate your entire system and when you get back, you will be all ready and raring to go!

It was all about ‘The day’.  Every activity seemed to revolve around it.  Organizing for the hall/mandap, speaking to decorators, fixing the make-up artist, running running and more running around is what I could remember from my pre-wedding days.

In this day and age, getting married is far more stressful than it used to be.  Every vendor has to be booked months in advance and tasks at the wedding have to be clearly allocated to family and friends.  Caterers seem fickle-minded, carrying a threat of cancelling in the last minute, and tailors have no concept of time!  Not that I was handling everything on my own.  In fact, far from it, I was losing control of it all, and while some part of me was happy enough to relinquish control, another part just wanted to take a break.

And that’s when I decided – I would take off on a holiday, explore the world, spend quality time with my dearest friend and let my hair down!  There was no time more perfect in life than this to enjoy my last days as a bachelorette!  So I headed out to Amsterdam, where a friend of mine stayed.

In December, Europe can be cold, chilly and depressing to many.  However, it is then that everyone prepares for Christmas.  The streets are alive with musicians and street performers.  The early onset of dusk heralds the lovely sparkle from fairy lights in every home.  The street vendors bring out their best foods be it warm waffles, strawberries covered in hot chocolate or just plain French fries.  It was all this and more that I discovered on my quick retreat before the big day.  The sights and sounds I absorbed in the duration of those two weeks would remain with me forever.  The beauty of the cobbled stone pathways and canals of Amsterdam, the quaint and intricate work of Delft pottery, the breath-taking views from the Eiffel tower and the church of Notre-dame in Paris and the amazing hot fries in Belgium are all memories that are etched in my mind’s eye, never to be forgotten.

Taking a break from it all, spending some “alone time” with your best buddies, exploring places, foods and cultures on your own can be therapeutic.  It could be that desperate break you need from choosing the jewelry you need to wear or deciding the people you need to invite.  If my experience is anything to go by, a well-planned break can rejuvenate your entire system and when you get back, you will be all ready and raring to go!  So my advice to those of you who have a good two months before D-day, is to take a trip with your closest friends and make most of your single status.

If going abroad is not a possibility, plan a short tour to a place you have always wanted to see.  Head to Assam and visit the Kaziranga sanctuary or to Hrishkesh to white water raft.  If adventure is not what you are looking for, head to the beaches of Goa and lounge by the beach side.  Absorb history and culture at FatehpurSikhri or at the Ajanta and Ellora caves.  Take a break and treat yourself, for before you bat an eye lid you will be well on your way to another adventure!

 

Editor’s note:

Do you wish to get married at an exotic place? Read: How to Plan a Destination Wedding.

 

Jodi365: Find the right partner, at your own pace.