The lead-up to your wedding day is all part of the celebration experience. You’ll want time to check in with your vendors, ensure your guests have safely arrived, and pamper yourself with final beauty preparations such as a facial, massage, or manicure. With so many things to juggle, that doesn’t leave you many hours in the day to work – but with a limited number of leave days, it can be a tough call to use some up before your wedding, rather than saving them all for the honeymoon.

However, it’s also important to remember that this is a big life moment. You’ll want to turn up to your nuptials calm, collected and happy; something that is tricky to do if you’ve been on your laptop answering emails until the night before. So how do you work out how many days to book off? Let’s see what you need to consider.

Before the wedding

Leaving time to prepare

Doing much of the decor and other elements, such as the cake, yourself is a great way to save money and add a personal touch. But creating these items takes a lot of time, and in some cases, they’ll need to be prepared right before the big day. If you don’t take time off work, you’re more likely to spend your evenings in the week before your wedding stressing about baking or crafting rather than enjoying these last moments before you tie the knot. 

Equally, you might just want to make some time for self-care,, whether that means decompressing from work or stepping up your beauty regime. Whatever is on your list, you’ll want to feel your best on the day.

Spending time with loved ones

If you’ve got friends or family coming from out of town to be with you at your wedding, you’ll want to make sure you can spend time with them. These are the special people you’ve chosen to share one of the most important days of your life with, so it would be a shame to barely see them. You may think you’ll get to be with them after the wedding ceremony, but the truth is that the whole day will pass by in the blink of an eye – weddings are busy occasions, and you’ll want to spend the majority of your day celebrating with your new spouse.

Making plans with your loved ones in the days before or after your wedding shows them that you value their efforts to attend your big day, and in turn, their friendship. That doesn’t mean you need to create a jam-packed itinerary; instead, just make sure you book an afternoon or two off work to make time for a coffee date or a one-to-one chat.

After the wedding

Honeymoon vs mini-moon

It’s traditional for most couples to take some time after their wedding to soak in the newlywed bliss. You and your new spouse will want to stay in the wedding bubble, talking through how the day went and just enjoying spending time together in your first days as a married couple.

However, it’s becoming more common for newlyweds to save up for a larger honeymoon, and therefore delay this downtime instead of travelling right after the wedding. Modern weddings are an expensive business, and going on a trip right away isn’t always feasible. Enter the mini-moon: a few days away with your new Mr or Mrs, before you go start your lives together.

So, how much time do you need?

Ultimately, you’ll know how much time off you’ll need, depending on what you’d like to do and any travel plans you have. But, on average, a week off in advance of the big day can give you time for both yourself and to see loved ones, whilst a week afterwards can give you those first unhurried special days with your new spouse.

_

With over 10 years of experience in the wedding industry, Emmie Barrett is very familiar with the stresses wedding planning can bring. Her writing aims to reduce worry and encourage brides to look out for themselves, so they can truly enjoy the experience of getting married.