My original wedding plan involved a red dress, bridesmaids in black and bring-a-plate-instead-of-a-gift. However, upon the organisation of my actual wedding, though I still went with the red dress, I cut out the bridesmaids and my husband, being Austrian, had no concept of what bring-a-plate was.

My plan was to apply the KISS principle. Like so many before me, I had witnessed plenty of stressed out brides, and decided I wasn’t going to be one of them. If I was super organised, I surmised, surely it couldn’t be that stressful.

Well, I was wrong and right in the end. Because I love organising things, most of it was highly enjoyable. Making lists, crossing them off… heaven! But I have to admit, that even I gave into the stress every now and again… had a couple of mini tantrums and sleepless nights and wondered why we hadn’t just eloped.

So here’s how I cut out some traditions to make our special day a little more us and a little less stressful. Given that neither of us is overly religious and being a bit older and wiser meant that we could DO IT OUR WAY. Continue reading →