How to Deal with Unsolicited Wedding Advice

When you got engaged, did you feel like you were flooded with (mostly) well-meaning but unsolicited advice? Things like:

“You should just elope and use that towards a down payment instead!”

“You should wear an a-line dress. That will be the most flattering.”

“Your cousins aren't on the guest list? You have to invite them!”

However well-meaning, unsolicited advice adds an additional layer of stress that's just unnecessary. It may range from subtle suggestions to very strong opinions and often comes strongest from those closest in your life.

HOW TO DEAL WITH UNSOLICITED WEDDING ADVICE:

1. Set your boundaries early and stay true to them. Make sure you and your fiancé are on the same page on what you most want out of your wedding and continue as a united front during the planning process (Hot Tip: Practice how you'll respond in advanced so it will be easier to handle in the moment.)

2. Carefully consider who you invite to planning activities. Simply put, the more people, the more opinions. If you don't want a lot of opinions on what sort of dessert you choose, don't invite a large group to go with you. Instead, only invite your most trusted people (which could be just you and your fiancé)! Same goes for touring venues, dress shopping, and so on.

3. Defer to the experts. Your wedding day vendor team will be filled with talented individuals who have your back. You hired them and trusted them for a reason. They are experts in their field(s) after all! A good response is, “Our wedding planner recommends that we do it this way, so we figured we would trust their expertise!"