You’ve probably seen a few romantic comedies about weddings. They often cover the engagement, the family dynamics, the ceremony, and the reception, but the planning? Not so much. That’s why you might be surprised to find, as a bride-to-be, that organizing and planning your wedding isn’t as idyllic as a movie montage would have you think. Or as easy as creating a Pinterest board.

That part’s fun and easy and wonderful. But actually making the decisions and doing the planning? Not as much as you’d think.

If you’re finding yourself stressed out at the start or in the midst of your wedding-planning journey, I’m here to help. With my wedding just a few days ago, I know just how anxious you feel — and (somehow) I know how to keep your everyday life together.

Here are five tricks I used to keep balance in my life, even when wedding bells were all I could hear.

Reach Small Checkpoints on the Way to the Finish Line:

If I had planned my wedding in one fell swoop, I could very well have waved goodbye to my career — there’s just that much to do. You can’t let the sheer size of the task get to you, though. Instead, make a point to do one productive thing each day (maybe more on the weekends) and get everything ready over time.

For example, you can tell yourself that, by the end of the week, you’ll have narrowed down your potential bridesmaids dresses to five styles before a Saturday try-on with the girls. This is obviously a big task to complete, but focusing on it without noise from other projects or to-dos will make it simpler for you to get done.

Once it’s finished, you can devote your full attention to the next thing on the list. To that end, you should definitely have a checklist to make your job as self-wedding planner easier to tackle. You can find plenty of app-based and printable wedding planning checklists to aid you in the process.

Pick Your Person (Aside From Your Fiancé):

There’s no way to get around the fact that wedding planning is stressful — believe me, I tried. You can’t bottle up all of your anxiety inside, either, so your only choice is to share your ideas, successes, fears, and everything in between with someone who isn’t as involved in the process as you. That knocks out your fiancé, your parents, and your maid of honor. I suggest picking a friend or sibling (or aunt, in my case) who has consistently been there to listen to you, no matter what the problem or how ridiculous it ended up seeming when you voiced it out loud.

This type of patience is what I found in my aunt and just having her there to text whenever I needed was enough to make me feel heard, understood, and okay, no matter my stress level.

Make the Most of Down Time:

This has been a big one for me, since a big chunk of my weekdays is spent commuting to and from work and my spare time is mostly spent writing. Normally, I’d sip tea and listen to music as I wove through traffic on the way to work. However, wedding planning has somewhat taken over times like these when I have nothing to do but think. I started an audio journal of sorts with voice-recordings of my to-dos and ideas while sitting in traffic. It was such a great way to unwind and beat the stress of both planning and traffic. It’s one thing I’m going to keep up even after the wedding since, as it turns out, creating an audio journal in the car actually reduces your stress. If that’s not your jam, try singing or practicing gratuity as both are also shown to help manage stress.

Sleep:

As nice as it would be to press snooze until, you know, the morning of your wedding, that’s not going to happen. Alternatively, you can’t stay awake util then, either. It might feel as though you have a lot on your plate between work, your wedding, and your life, but you shouldn’t forego sleep in order to keep everything in order. Without it, you’re just going to burn out, overthink, and over-plan every last detail. Your lack of sleep will certainly affect other aspects of your life, including your productivity at work and your social life — crankiness isn’t a good look for anyone.

Be Courteous:

The other tips take your state of mind into consideration, but this one is just a reminder that not everyone around you is getting married. There are certainly times when your personal life is more important than your professional one, but you should never expect your coworkers to pick up your slack as you start getting deep into wedding planning.

If you must skip work for a fitting, tasting, or other wedding-related appointment, it’s your responsibility to get all of your ducks in a row so that your absence doesn’t make your colleagues’ lives more difficult. That way, when it’s time for you to jet off for your honeymoon, everyone will be waving goodbye with smiles: They know you’ll work hard to make their lives easier while you’re at a beach.

I’m sure there are plenty more ways to maintain a balanced life while you’re a bride-to-be, but these five remain the most important to me. The end’s here for me and I went into my big day with just the right amount of butterflies — I hope you are able to do the same.

Now, I just have to figure out what to do with myself when I get back from my honeymoon…

Do you have any tips? How do you balance wedding planning and work?

By Sarah Landrum: Sarah Landrum is a freelance writer and the founder of Punched Clocks, a site all about finding career happiness and success. For more from Sarah, subscribe to her newsletter and follow her on Twitter @SarahLandrum.