Real Maine Bride: Spring Smith is Hitched

Now that I’m all hitched, I’d like to share a couple of things that I learned about wedding planning. My July wedding at French’s Point went off without any glitches and was stress-free, and a big part of that, I think, was setting a cut-off point after which I refused to let myself stress. I’m a wedding photographer, so I know how distracting it can be for brides to have to manage details the day of the ceremony. That stress can pretty much gobble up the whole experience. It was so important to me to avoid that scenario.

My plan was to get everything done the week before the ceremony. So the week before was when I was at my most stressed. Then, a few days before our wedding, we packed up the car and headed from our home in New Hampshire to Stockton Springs. This was the point of no return. I let myself stress about planning right up through packing the car and then told myself, “Now, if we get there and realize we forgot something, oh well.” The goal was to leave the stress in New Hampshire so that as soon as my fiancé and I arrived in Stockton Springs, we were just about relaxing with loved ones.

The other strategy that I recommend is to rent at either at French’s Point or nearby. We rented a beautiful house just south of the point called the Rocky Point Estate. It felt like a private resort. We had family and friends stay with us and we brought kayaks, played out in the yard, and just hung out in the days leading up to the ceremony.

I recommend giving yourself at least a day or two like this to settle in because the wedding day flies by so fast. I was lucky that I had almost that whole week to relax, but still it flew by. Seriously, just spending a little time with your family and friends makes the whole experience feels more substantial. So try and schedule in some down-time, you’ll be glad you did.

Those are my tips, hope they help!