After Jack and I got engaged in October, I spent the next couple months in a wedding planning frenzy. Before I knew it, we had set the date and booked everything from our ceremony and reception venues to our photographer, DJ, videographer, and florist. We had decided on wedding colors, chosen our bridesmaids and groomsmen, picked out flowers, met with our pastor, reserved our rehearsal dinner location, posed for engagement photos, and even found my perfect bridal gown. All the while, Jack and I were working full-time jobs that required us to travel, selling his house, and moving to a downtown condo.

Call it wedding planning burn-out or maybe just exhaustion, but I decided to spend the last few weeks doing . . . well . . . not a whole lot on our to-do list.

Scoping out our reception venue with my mom and sister, only a couple weeks after getting engaged.

It’s not that I lost excitement for the wedding. I actually can’t wait for October 20, and I’m reminded everyday how lucky I am to be marrying Jack. But there are moments (probably every bride has) when I wish we could just skip the stress and be married already.

I have to admit, it was kind of nice to take a breather—to just live life without freaking out about our guest list or worrying about how to arrange centerpieces. I highly recommend all brides take a little pause.

My pause didn’t last long though (which is probably a good thing). As I write this, we are exactly six months (or 183 days) away from the big day. For some reason, that six-month mark has really jolted me back on track. I finally brought myself to re-open our massive Excel file of wedding tasks, which has reminded me that we’ve got a mountain of things to get done . . . and October isn’t that far away.

I’m back in the game—back to spending time collecting ideas on Pinterest, losing sleep over what the place cards or what my hair or the groomsmen’s tuxes will look like, and back to slowly checking things off the list.

Next week I travel to Minneapolis for work. This trip comes at a good time because I’m able stay in town a few extra days to get wedding tasks completed. There are some things that are just easier to do in person than trying to figure out over the phone or via e-mail from Kansas City.  I’m thankful to have full days that I can completely devote to planning (not to mention Minnesota bridesmaids and family who’ve already volunteered to help).

So bring on the countdown! Less than 183 days!

(And if you’re a bride who needs a break, check out these 25 ways to relax and recharge.)