We’ve reached the end of our Goin’ to the Chapel series with Molly McDonald, and if you’ve stuck it out this far you’ve gained some tips on how to:

Stay within your wedding budget without stressing out over money.
Create your wedding guest list so that it matches your budget and pleases both you and your soon-to-be spouse.
Determine whether or not your nerves can handle children at the wedding, as well as how to prepare your wedding for children or politely let adult guests know they should leave the kiddies with a babysitter.
Deal with the anxiety an unwanted wedding arrival may cause.

To …read more

I’m really enjoying the new layout of Saturday Sanity. I think it’s doing a much better job of providing more Saturday Sanity-worthy links, don’t you?
Anyway…

First, let’s take a look back at some of the things that have gone on here at Mental Health Notes this week. We kicked off the stress-busting Goin’ to the Chapel series with Molly McDonald (which wraps up later today), learned how Harry Potter saved J.K. Rowling’s sanity, took a really brief peek into possible new French legislation regarding eating disorders, and pondered the University of Virginia’s new policy on students with mental illness. Oh, and …read more

Unless you have a super fantastic relationship with your soon-to-be husband’s ex-fiancee, the thought of having her at the wedding probably stresses you out a lot a bit.
They were together for five years. His parents adored her. They were even engaged to be married!
Yep, that kind of wedding guest could make even the most collected of brides feel anxious.
Fortunately, in today’s installment of Goin’ to the Chapel, Molly McDonald offers some tips on how to manage the stress of those unwanted wedding arrivals.

Hmm…some of the post titles here at Mental Health Notes almost seem as if someone else has taken over this blog, haha. This is brain-related, I promise.
Anyway, ladies: If you’ve been keeping up with the Mental Health Notes Goin’ to the Chapel series to get some help reducing stress while you plan – and carry out – you’re wedding, then you may be interested in this little tidbit of news, too.
According to a study published in February’s issue of the Journal of Family Psychology (see, psychology is in here somewhere!), marriages do well if the woman is more attractive than …read more

Thus far in the Mental Health Notes Goin’ to the Chapel series, Molly McDonald has offered tips on how to stay within a wedding budget and keep a wedding guest list practical, all while avoiding becoming overstressed.
Today, Molly takes the wedding guest list theme a bit further and addresses the issue of children as wedding guests.
Should you invited them? If so, what kinds of preparations should you make for them? And, how can you politely tell parents who are invited that their children are not?
Read on for Molly’s answers!

During yesterday’s installment of our Goin’ to the Chapel series, freelance designer Molly McDonald shared tips on how to stay within your wedding budget in order to help you stay stress-free while planning your wedding.
Today, Molly tackles the issue of the wedding guest list.
Who do you invite? Everyone from your best friend to your old high school cheerleading squad to your mother’s fifth cousin twice removed? Wouldn’t that be expensive? Or do you narrow it down, including only your closest friends and relatives? In that case, what if someone’s feelings get hurt?
Yes, I imagine making a guest list for a …read more

Hmm…if you’re just tuning in, you’re probably a bit surprised by this post’s title. Fret not – I assure you Mental Health Notes is still a mental health blog! However, because wedding season is right around the corner, I’m currently hosting this Goin’ to the Chapel series with the fabulous Molly McDonald to help brides plan and enjoy stress-free weddings – or, as stress-free as a wedding can be!
To get us started, Molly has outlined three major ways for a bride to stay within her wedding budget. Pretty good way to get the ball rollin’, in my opinion. After all, …read more

No, no, no. I’m not getting married. What I am doing, however, is offering up some tips for stress-free weddings for those of you who are!
June kicks off the unofficial wedding season, and I thought it’d be nice to help all the brides out there prepare for their big days in plenty of time with some tips on how to handle the various aspects of planning weddings – and carrying out those plans – stress-free!
Helping me is Molly McDonald, a freelance designer (and a sort of Jill of all trades – check her out at Molly McDonald Design!), who is …read more