Don't sweat the small stuff

When planning for what is a momentous day - one you hope you'll never have to repeat - it is terribly easy to become caught up in the details that, when your wedding day finally arrives, you barely notice. In times of stress it is easy to confuse and lose sight of what is really important, concentrate too much energy on extensive lists and forget that what you are planning for is a special day; a day in which enjoyment should take centre stage.

Yes, I did just say that: enjoyment should take centre stage. Not the dress, the cake, the venue, the decor. A wedding is about making a moment in time; making a special memory everlasting; uniting yourself with the person you love most in the world.

It's easier said than done, right? It is. But it can be done.

Instead of thinking of your wedding as a huge balloon of perfection, think of it as a series of small but exciting challenges you want to work towards; or a series of goals you want to reach. Breaking it down into a series of chunks will make it more enjoyable and cause you less and less stress as you work through each one, particularly if you view the completion of each goal as a reward.

Rewards make us happy thanks to dopamine, a naturally occurring chemical utilised by the human brain and current thinking in Science has pointed to (a very generalised view) that when you want a hit of dopamine, set a goal and achieve it.

Not surpirsingly, our brain isn't quite as simple as this. While meeting set goals can increase dopamine, s