How are you getting on with your wedding planning? Stressed? Me too! There are an overwhelming number of things that need to be thought of, planned and paid for. Why wouldn't you be panicking? It's totally normal. But you need a plan to sort your wedding out!

Most engagements are 6-18 months long, sounds like a long time doesn't it? Not really. Until a couple of weeks ago, the farthest we had got in wedding planning was the date we'd like and picking our bridesmaids, best man and ushers. Where is this wedding going? How are we going to pay for it? and we've only got 15 months to go! Luckily I realised a few things before then.

Here are the things that have helped me, and the things not to do!

Firstly, I chose who would be my bridesmaids, I decided not to have a maid of honor. I love my friends too much to choose. That was a wrong move. I chose 2 best friends and my fiances sister. One friend when I told her was honored and offered tips and was friends with my future husband and ushered us along to make choices for our wedding day, she was the obvious choice for my maid of honor to offer the main bulk of support in the run up to our wedding day.

Top tip: Get a Maid of honor! Not only does mine care about what I'm doing and takes it seriously and cares about what happens, she also encourages my fiance to be more active. She's consistent and caring. I advise you choose one!

How am I going to pay for this? Research research Research! I cannot stress enough how important this is. You are sitting on the internet, search for things you think you might want. I have spent many hours just looking for ways to make my wedding affordable. I have found so many different things such as the cost of my dress being about 10% of what I thought it would be. And also looking to my family for their skills and successes has helped me greatly in planning an affordable wedding.

Have you not got a wedding planning book yet?

If not, then how are you keeping track of what you want and what your doing? Now I know you are stressed, but setting up a wedding planning book has really helped me. I bought a bog standard notebook and then added tabs to help me. It's not hard, my wedding planning journal is just kept by the side of me until I think I have an idea or a solution to save some money. It didn't take any time, just when I have a thought I just jot it down.

Having a wedding book will make you less stressed. You can just look back at entries that will remind and encourage you, you can take note of useful sites and magazines. Do what ever you want!

Take a few tips to make your wedding planning seem stressless