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Your parents always want the best for you. But when it comes to your
wedding planning, it might get a little stressful to listen to every single
piece of their input or advice. Their words may come from a good place, but if
they fancy more traditional wedding dinners when all you want is an intimate
celebration, reconciling these major disagreements will be hard.
So before you decide to discard or accept any suggestions, remember that
your wedding is a celebration not just for you, but also your parents! The good
news is, you can balance both of your preferences all whilst keeping the entire
event a happy occasion. The secret lies in including them in the early stages – use these tips to rope
your parents in the wedding planning process!
1. Share Your Priorities
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From the very beginning, it’s best to understand what your wedding
priorities are: your wedding vision and what you are not willing to
compromise on. This will help when you share your decisions and rationales;
you set the expectations and avoid any possible forms of friction.
For instance, if you’re planning to host an intimate wedding, let your
parents know why! Perhaps you have a modern wedding in mind with an intimate reception that allows you to spend quality
time with those who matter most. Conversely, your parents might have a more
traditional mindset and perceive weddings to be huge occasions where all of
your friends, family and extended family members should come together to
celebrate.
If your parents’ wedding ideals are completely different from yours: be patient. Differences don’t get
reconciled immediately and compromises take effort from both parties. Talk
through things slowly and intentionally with them to understand one another’s
perspectives before (hopefully) arriving at a more amicable decision.
2. Seek Their Help in Smaller Tasks
Delegating smaller tasks to your parents doesn’t necessarily mean you
are limiting their contributions. These smaller tasks are merely areas where
you don’t have strong regard or opinion. For example, perhaps deciding the
linen texture for your tablecloths might not be a big issue for you – only the
colour choice is. Then by all means, enlist the help of your parents in smaller
matters like this.
Alternatively, maybe you and your significant other have considered
doing away with the Chinese Wedding Tea Ceremony or the Guo Da Li Ceremony because
of your lack of knowledge over these customs. However, if your parents see the
importance of the custom, let them take the lead! It’s a win-win situation:
your parents are included in the planning and you reduce the possibility of
having squabbles over a ‘small’ task.
Whatever the parental task delegation might be,
always keep in mind your rationales for including your parents in the wedding
planning to begin with. If you still harbour some doubts up till this point,
maybe this article might provide some clarifications.
3. Bear the Wedding Costs
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Practically speaking, the one who pays for the wedding should have a say
in the planning. But this logic brings a potential issue when parents have been
known to fork out a hefty sum for the wedding.
Letting your folks chip in helps to ease your financial
burden. However, if you foresee that this could lead to arguments, it’s best to
pay for the wedding (or at least, the majority) yourself. But if your generous
parents continue to insist, consider restricting their monetary contributions
to perhaps, their favourite wedding catering services in Singapore, or
chalk it up to your wedding registry.
4. Quality Time is Priceless
In the midst of all the wedding planning discussions, remember to set aside some quality time for your parents! Regardless of whatever familial friction you might encounter during the wedding planning, cherish the time that you have together. Once you’re married, you probably won’t have as much time with them. At the same time, you’d want to show them that you genuinely appreciate their help. Trust us, once you begin your wedded life proper, it’ll be much harder to allocate precious family time with your parents.
Other than that, head over to our complimentary Blissful Brides
Concierge for more valuable insights and other resources. Simply fill this form and let our experienced consultants sieve out the most affordable wedding venues in Singapore and alleviate all your other wedding woes! You will plan quickly
without over-stressing – basking in the bliss of wedding planning.
