I was ecstatic when my boyfriend and I got engaged last January, and we are excitedly preparing for our January wedding here in Upstate New York.
Wedding planning is stressful enough as it is, but wedding planning while in medical school has proved to have its own unique challenges:
- Date: The date we could choose was very limited by our class schedules. While I had more control over my schedule and vacation time in fourth-year, my fiance is a law student who has pretty set winter and spring breaks dictated by his school. Because he will be studying for the Bar Exam next summer, we didn’t want to do a summer wedding to decrease the amount of stress for him during that time. So, we decided on a January one! Luckily, we are both pretty adventurous and don’t mind the snow, but let’s not hope for a freak snow storm at the beginning of the New Year!
- Location: Although I’m originally from Maryland, my fiance and I chose to have our wedding in New York simply because it would be easier logistically to plan a wedding in the city in which we are both living. We’re lucky that my fiance’s family is only 30 minutes north of Albany, which is super helpful! Still, sometimes I just wish my mom around to give me a second opinion sometimes.
- Meetings: Finding time to meet with vendors during the week because they are usually working weddings or other events on the weekends is tough! This includes the venue itself, our officiant, the caterer, the photographer, the florist, the DJ, which can be dizzying to keep track of! Luckily, e-mail has been our best friend through this process and depending on the rotation, fourth-year of medical school has a lot more flexibility than third-year did.
- All of the crafty things: My mom will gladly tell you I had a serious crafting problem growing up, and I’ll be the first to admit that this has also extended to my adult life. I’ve loved finding cute decorations, paper products, and more on Pinterest that could easily be crafted up, but I’ve also learned that time is of the essence this year. While it would be super fun to make a lot of these crafts, sometimes paying someone a bit extra to do it for me has proven to be a much better use of my rare free time.
- The bridal party: None of my bridesmaids are in medical school with me or at other schools, but I imagine things would be super challenging to coordinate if any of them were. Our schedules in med school can sometimes be inflexible, which doesn’t work well with wedding season!
