Mercury Retrograde has just begun and engagement season is right around the corner. But are couples just supposed to stop wedding planning for the next 28 days?

No. Especially since Mercury Retrograde isn’t just a once a year occurrence. In fact, Mercury Retrograde happens 3 or 4 times a year and lasts about 3 weeks every time.

As tempting as it is to hide under a rock while this planet goes backwards, that’s not realistic. Just as unrealistic is the suggestion to cease all wedding planning.

But, there are wedding planning tasks you should wait on if possible. And, if not possible, there are ways to manage the potential universal chaos coming your way.

What is Mercury Retrograde and how can engaged couples continue wedding planning when it happens? I’m breaking it all down right now!

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What Does It Mean That Mercury Is In Retrograde?

Mercury Retrograde is actually an illusion. That’s right…the thing people love to blame stuff on is an illusion. Basically, Mercury appears to move backwards across the sky. What’s really happening is that Mercury is just moving slower than the Earth.

The Roman God Mercury was said to rule travel, communication, commerce, and financial wealth. I’ll talk more about how those four things relate to wedding planning during Mercury Retrograde later on in the blog.

Anytime Mercury Retrograde happens, you’ll likely hear plenty of people talking about it. Their computer crashed? Mercury Retrograde. The car won’t start? Mercury Retrograde. Broke a nail? Mercury Retrograde.

OK, maybe not that last one, but you get the idea.

In 2019, Mercury Retrograde happened three times; in fact, today is the start of the last one for the year. While I don’t necessarily think you need to mark the retrograde periods on your calendars, I do think you should know when one is approaching.

Related: Every Mercury Retrograde Through 2030

When you’re aware of Mercury Retrograde, you’ll be more in tune with the things that go a little crazy. It’s not a bad idea to stay one step ahead, especially if you’re wedding planning.

bride and groom silhouette
Images By Berit

How Mercury Retrograde Will Affect Your Wedding Planning

There are a whole bunch of things you’re not supposed to do in general during Mercury Retrograde. A big thing to avoid? Signing any major contracts.

Unfortunately, wedding planning requires you to sign a lot of those. That said, here is my first tip for wedding planning during Mercury Retrograde:

1. Read and Review Contracts. Twice.

With contracts come communication, or rather, miscommunication. It’s much more likely you’ll miss something in the fine print, only to have it come back and bite you further down the wedding planning road.

Wedding Sparklers USA

You’d lose an awful lot of time if you refused to sign contracts for 3 weeks 3-4 times in the same year. Obviously, that’s not the answer here. Instead, take your time with every contract you see. Read it multiple times, ask questions and have others read it as well. You could miss something that your fiance or a close friend catches.

As a wedding planner, I cannot tell you how many times my clients have signed contracts without thoroughly reading them. Look, I get it, contracts are boring and you just want to go to cake tastings and play with flowers. The importance of actually reading and understanding what you’re signing is essential.

Please just do it and thank me later.

2. Keep The Wedding Planning Details On Mute

Everyone loves to talk about their wedding. When it is, where it is, and why it’s going to be so damn spectacular. That’s great and your engagement should be a wonderful time.

However…and you knew there was going to be a “however”…Mercury is the ruler of communication. This means that Mercury Retrograde will affect any communication going on during your wedding planning.

outside picture at night with bride at table
Justin Tinapay Photography

One thing every bride and groom have in common, is the abundance of friends and family that absolutely need to give their opinions about everything wedding related. Often times, it’s coming from a good place or even solicited by the couple.

Nevertheless, I’ve seen many brides completely lose it when their mom/best friend/maid of honor/future sister in law/nosy Aunt Karen had something to say about their wedding that was negative.

It’s hard enough to hear from anyone that they don’t like your wedding gown, or think you’re spending too much on flowers. Trying to let that stuff slide is an even bigger challenge during Mercury Retrograde.

My advice to my couples, no matter what’s going on in the solar system, is to share very little about their wedding details. I also recommend not asking for opinions or advice at any cost because you’re opening the door for future (unsolicited) opinions.

3. Leave The Past Alone

There’s a saying that goes:

“The past is like looking in the rear view mirror..it’s good to look back and see how far you’ve come, but if you stare too long you’ll miss what’s right in front of you.”

Mercury Retrograde is a time when the past comes back. This means old friends and relationships that ended could easily resurface. There’s nothing like a wedding to get the attention of your ex-boyfriend or a former BFF that always dreamed of being a bridesmaid.

wedding bands on succulent
Claire Loves Love

Weddings bring people back from the past in general. It’s almost as if having Mercury in retrograde is like doubling down and people may as well be coming back from the dead.

If your college sweetheart comes back looking for a runaway bride scenario to play out, do not entertain that nonsense. Not even if you want to strangle your groom because he doesn’t care what color roses go in the centerpieces. Things ended for a reason and you do not need to be going back there.

Related: Four Wedding Planning Tasks To Put On Hold During Mercury Retrograde

Former best friends coming back into your life while wedding planning isn’t unheard of either. In fact, if you ask brides and grooms that had this happen to them, I’m willing to bet Mercury was in retrograde when that happened. If you can relate, drop that in the comments below please!

Anyway…

Engaged couples should always be careful of past friends coming back into their lives when they’re planning a wedding. Plenty of times there’s an ulterior motive being masked by a fake “I’m so happy for you”. There’s nothing wrong with a friendship falling apart and then coming together again, but it’s super weird if it happens during the wedding planning process.

I’m sure I sound like a hypochondriac to plenty of you right now. The point is, Mercury Retrograde brings the past into the present just as much as wedding planning does. Leave it alone and deal with it once you’re married.

4. Travel Smart

Mercury governs travel and when the planet is in retrograde, travel falls apart. This includes anything from a road trip to a vacation destination only reachable by air.

bride and groom walking hand in hand

Again though, it’s not realistic to stay in the house until Mercury gets its act together. You will have to go places while wedding planning during Mercury Retrograde, and you should go to those places.

The way you handle traveling though, is very similar to how you review contracts before signing them at this time. When visiting venues or vendors, be sure to double check the directions in advance, and leave plenty of time to get there. Ask about the parking situation and anything else you might need to know so that you’re prepared.

If you find yourself getting on a plane to maybe check out destination wedding locations or even celebrate your Bachelor or Bachelorette Party, don’t cancel just because of Mercury Retrograde. Travel isn’t recommended during this time mostly for business, so personal trips aren’t affected by Mercury Retrograde.

Berjaya Hotels

Just be sure to label your luggage and remember your passport!

5. Wait To Mail Those Invites

Mercury also rules the mail. Now, if you’ve kept up with previous articles and blogs I’ve written, or been following me on social media, you already know how I feel about the postal service. I’ve actually never worked with a single couple that didn’t have something go wrong once their wedding invitations were sent out.

I’m serious. And it’s crazy. True story: One of my stationery designers sent out invitations for my couple as part of the package they purchased. She was able to track these invitations that left from New Jersey to arrive in various Mid-Atlantic locations. Before they got to any of their destinations, the invitations went through TEXAS.

bride dress and veil
Domenick Michael Photography

Texas was nowhere near any of the states these invitations had to go to, and yet, there they were…sitting in a post office in Texas. Spoiler alert: many of them arrived late and some didn’t arrive at all.

For whatever reason, the mail is incredibly unreliable. It’s about a thousand times worse during Mercury Retrograde. My last wedding planning tip for surviving retrograde is to wait on sending out your Save the Dates and wedding invitations.

This might mean that you’ll have to send out invitations a little sooner than you wanted, but you need all the universal protection you can get here. Believe me, it is not a good time to hear from guest after guest about how they didn’t get their invite yet and were just “checking with you” to see where it is.

Plus, you’re going to chase guests for their RSVP responses anyway, so take the extra time if Mercury Retrograde occurs when invites need to go out.

Mercury Retrograde and Wedding Planning 101

I hope that these five tips shared will help you guys out during those Mercury Retrograde wedding planning weeks. There’s no reason to stop everything and freak out. It’s all about making adjustments and trying to go with the flow instead of push against it.

What tips do you have for planning a wedding during Mercury Retrograde? Any scary stories to share? Drop them in the comments!

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