1) The first step towards having a stress-free wedding is to understand that weddings are necessarily going to involve some levels of stress; accepting the reality of that situation will take you a long way towards "inner peace" on the subject of your wedding.

2) The second step towards planning and experiencing nuptials that don't give you a heart condition is this - understand that it's OK (and actually a good thing that you should actively seek) to delegate as much of the planning of your bridal shower and wedding to other people as is possible.

There are lots of mundane details involved in pulling off a shower / wedding that are important, but can easily bog you down if you feel that you have to personally attend to each and every one of them. The women (and perhaps some of the men) in your life would most likely consider themselves honored if you were to request their assistance with handling some of the planning details for you. Who knows, you may be returning the favor later on!

3) If none of your friends or family members are able and/or willing to assist with the planning efforts, strongly consider making use of a professional wedding planner. While enjoying an entertaining presence in popular films, wedding planners can be worth their metaphorical weight in gold if they allow you to enjoy yourself before, during and after your wedding by freeing you from the responsibility of personally orchestrating hundreds of different variables that need to be carefully managed for maximum schedule and event harmony.

4) Plan your events far out enough that you give yourself adequate time to prepare and make decisions, and then devise a schedule for what you wish to accomplish and when - then stick to it. If you're inclined to procrastinate, do your best not to - the longer you put things off, the more stressed you'll become. Determining what's going to happen and how things will be for bridal showers and weddings is a time-consuming (and potentially exhausting) event. Give yourself a chance to get things done in a timely manner - you'll save yourself the trouble of being forced to freak out about last minute problems.

5) Realize that no matter how adequate you plan and how carefully you focus on details, real world problems can and will arise that you didn't account for. Take everything in stride - ask yourself, "Is this problem worth me feeling frazzled on or before one of the biggest and most important days of my life?" If it isn't, let it go. If it is, call in reinforcements. Don't try to tackle it alone. Chances are, whatever it is can be dealt with; almost nothing ends up being as big of a catastrophe as you think it will be upon first glance.

6) Have fun! You're spending tons of money to have a beautiful, memorable day. Enjoy it for yourself, not just for your guests; if you don't, you'll later wish you had.