Wedding planning of course can be stressful for anyone, but the idea of having hundreds of eyes all on you for the entire day can be its own beast for introverted couples. There are definitely some ways to make your wedding feel less daunting if you plan accordingly and you won’t feel so overwhelmed with all of the attention. Here are some of the best ways to make your wedding focus less on you so you can truly relax and enjoy yourselves.

Small Guest Count

Keeping your guest count more intentional with only the people that you really want on your wedding day will definitely help you feel less overwhelmed. If you stick to 100 people or less, it will be a lot more likely that you don’t mind having those people around you celebrating with you. Any more than that and it will start to feel like there are a million people there!

Smaller, More Intimate Venue

Keeping with the smaller guest counts, banquet halls are definitely going to feel too large unless they are partitioned off to be smaller spaces. If it seems a bit too grand, the pressure might build more than you would expect.

Do a First Look

Doing a first look before your ceremony is key to get out as many nerves before your ceremony as possible. There is always a lot less pressure on the couple when they decide to do a first look and they can feel a lot more relaxed after getting your photos done at your own pace and having all of the formal stuff done by the time your ceremony is over. If you’d also like, this is a perfect time to do personalized vows so you don’t have to read them in front of everyone.

Keep the Ceremony Short

The ceremony tends to be one of the most nerve-wracking parts of the wedding day, so the best thing to do is to talk with your officiant about shortening the ceremony. If you are doing something religious this might be a little more tricky to cut the traditions, but if not then you can totally cut it to just the formalities. I actually just had a wedding ceremony that was only NINE minutes from the time we did the processional to the time the couple had their first kiss! You really can keep to the necessities and get the nervous parts done quickly.

No Grand Entrance

The grand entrance is the second most stressful part to any couple that doesn’t like to be the center of attention. If this is you, then I highly recommend just skipping this!! When your guests take their seats, you can sit at the same time and have your DJ announce that dinner is getting started or any speeches that you plan to have.

Sit With your Guests

If you don’t like the idea of people watching you at your table, then I recommend having long, rectangular tables for your seating so that you can literally sit among your guests. This way, you feel more connected to your guests without them watching your every move. The vibe will definitely feel more like an intimate dinner than a spectacle if you have it this way!

Do all Speeches at your Rehearsal Dinner

Many of the speeches that people of honor give at weddings will talk about you and your partner. If you’re worried about what they will say, you can either request that they give the speeches at the rehearsal dinner where there are only the closest family and friends, or you can have them read their speech over to you to make sure that there aren’t any moments you will be embarrassed about.

Private Cake Cutting

You can totally cut this altogether if you aren’t having a cake, but a cake cutting is typically one of those “spectacle” moments. What you can do instead is to have your cake placed somewhere that is not in the middle of the dance floor and then cut it without the DJ making a formal announcement. That means that all eyes won’t be on you, but you can still have that cute moment together and get some nice photos!

Shorten your Parent/Tribute Dances

One thing that couples forget until they are on the dance floor is that the songs that they choose for their special dances may feel like an eternity once you are actually doing them. I definitely recommend asking your DJ to cut or fade out the songs about halfway through, because otherwise you might feel like people are watching you forever!

Have your First Dance Privately

You can also shorten your first dance as well, but another thing that people are starting to do a little more frequently if there is space between cocktail hour and the reception is to have the first dance before cocktail hour is over where it is just the two of you and you still can get your photos as well. Some people will also do a last dance where the DJ ends the party about 5-10 minutes early and then have a last dance as a couple for the wedding night, but this one usually doesn’t have your photo/video team there.

There are plenty of ways that you can change your wedding day to fit you and your partner best. If you’re the kind of couple that gets overwhelmed with attention, you can utilize as many of these tips as you like to make sure that you aren’t actually stressed on your wedding day and can actually enjoy your time together. The people there at your wedding day are only looking to celebrate you, and if that is daunting to you these tips will definitely relieve some of that attention that you aren’t looking to have all day!

If you’re looking for more ways to make your wedding day focus less on you, or if you are actually the opposite and would like to have more moments for your guests to celebrate with you, then reach out to me here and I can send you some more tips!