7 Secrets for Keeping the Romance Alive While You’re Planning a Wedding

Whether you’ve been dating for a few months or a decade, the wedding planning process is an awesome time to take a walk down memory lane and rekindle the feeling of being new lovers. Set aside time with your partner to look through old photos, talk about your favourite moments together, or even make a relationship scrapbook. Not only will this step keep the romance alive as you anticipate your big day, but it will also help you keep up with wedding-related tasks like creating a slideshow, crafting a guestbook, or even writing your vows.

With tasks like cake tastings, venue visits and meetings with vendors, planning a wedding tends to take up a good chunk of the free time you’d normally spend with your partner. Although many of these tasks will be done together, it’s key to balance wedding-related activities with regular date nights like dinner and a movie. This will help you maintain an even keel in your relationship amidst the wedding whirlwind, while reminding you of how you fell in love in the first place.

As you begin planning your wedding, you may notice family members like your soon-to-be mother-in-law, your siblings, or your parents interfering with big decisions that are normally reserved for the couple. Although they usually mean well, overbearing relatives could cause a rift between you and your partner. If you notice a family member from either side is becoming a little too involved in the planning process, try to be kind but firm as you remind them that it’s you and your partner in the driver’s seat, not them.

Nothing’s sexier than a healthy, toned physique and a determined attitude. In advance of your big day, challenge your partner to a health and fitness challenge like cutting out sugar, drinking more water, or getting in the gym 30 days in a row. Not only will it help you both look your best for the wedding, but exercise will also increase your happy hormones (and potentially even your sex drive!), helping to keep the romance alive well into married life.

You’ll want to keep regular date nights in the mix during the months leading up to your wedding, but don’t forget that getting crafty by making DIY centrepieces, favours, or table numbers with your partner can be an awesome bonding activity, too. Grab the scissors, glue and a few Mason Jars, and set aside a day for you and your mate to get creative together. Chances are, you’ll learn something new about each other during the process, while checking off an important to-do list item.

There’s a reason why the term “bridezilla” is so common: planning a wedding can make you crazy if you let it, which is why keeping a level head during the months and weeks leading up to your big day is so important. Aside from keeping a healthy perspective about your wedding in general, try heading to a mindfulness meditation class, doing some yoga, or going on long walks in nature with your partner to keep stress at bay and remember what’s truly important.

Just as you’ll want to keep regular date nights in your rotation during the wedding planning process, it’s essential to maintain some semblance of normalcy in your conversations, too. If you’re constantly talking about the wedding, you and your partner may inadvertently become obsessed with the minutiae of the day, while letting other communication lines close down temporarily. Leading up to your celebration, try to keep wedding talk to a minimum when you’re with your partner to avoid that post-wedding slump.