Mississippi State University students are buying tuxes and gowns as well as textbooks and calculators. Students engaged in college are responsible for planning weddings on top of research papers and projects.
Caroline Cooley, senior psychology major, said she has enjoyed the creative aspects of wedding planning but dreads the intimidating legal work.
“I am a little stressed about having to change all of my legal documents to my married name, having blood work done, setting up insurance, financial accounts and things of this nature,” Cooley said.
Bride-to-be Alyssa Harvey, senior broadcast major, gets hitched next summer. The most challenging part, Harvey said, is coordinating with her fiancé who attends Oklahoma State University. Harvey said the couple has been living eight hours apart for the past two years and only see each other every few months. 
“It makes planning extremely difficult because we want to make all of these decisions together, but we are hoping to get some things worked out this summer,” Harvey said, “I think that my fiancé is more excited about using the gun to register gifts than anything else.”
Margaret Welsh, senior biomedical engineering major, who has been engaged for eight months, will be married in June 2013. Welsh said to relieve the stress of selecting bridesmaids she suggests keeping in mind which friends know the bride and groom best.
“I basically chose my bridesmaids by who had seen me and my fiancé’s relationship develop over the past few years, and it was really hard to narrow it down to nine girls,” Welsh said.
Cooley said she decided on six bridesmaids and two honorary bridesmaids.
“Three of my bridesmaids are dear friends of mine whom I have known for a long time and the others are family. I always wanted an even number, an OCD thing, and these six girls just so happened to be the ones I am closest to in the world,” Cooley said.
Friends and guests can make planning flow smoothly for the bride by remembering to RSVP — a courtesy Welsh said college students often overlook.
“No one wants to go to a wedding reception that is short on seating or food, and this can be solved with a simple RSVP,” Welsh said.
Another potentially unforeseen struggle is the guest list. Cooley said her advice is to keep the list with you at all times.
“I keep a master copy of the guest list on my iPad so that if my mom thinks of someone to add while I happen to be in class, when she texts me I can just insert them immediately,” she said. “I also keep detailed lists of all the invitation recipients for every shower, the ceremony and the gifts so that I will not forgot or misplace a name or detail.”
Cooley also said she rewards herself for time spent on schoolwork with browsing the Internet for those perfect favors or bridesmaids dresses.
“Procrastinating is sort of inevitable but, for instance, if I have written three pages of my five-page paper I will allow myself to call my vendors for the next hour, and then it’s back to the paper,” she said.
Cooley said looking forward to life with her new husband keeps her from getting bogged down in the stress of juggling school and wedding planning.
“When I am overwhelmed and want to complain about how busy I am, I just think about how I am getting married to the love of my life and that if my biggest worry is having to finish a few math problems, then I am blessed beyond belief,” Cooley said.
Harvey said her advice on getting engaged in college is to not rush things.
“There is no rule that says you have to get married right after you graduate or while you’re still a student. If they’re the one, then they still will be after college,” Harvey said.
Welsh said what she is most looking forward to about marriage is starting dental school and having someone who is always there to keep her motivated and walk through this next stage of life with her. She said students planning a wedding must remember to have fun with it.
“Don’t get caught up in the planning and remember to enjoy being a student. Appreciate this phase and don’t try to wish it away. It is easy to get distracted by looking into what is coming up, but you might miss what you’re in right now,” Welsh said.