Wedding Tips Every Bride Should Know BEFORE The Wedding

Even months after the wedding, we are still receiving compliments on how fantastic, fun, and loving our wedding was. And while this is how every bride hopes their day will be, unfortunately, the day’s normal stress results in a less than magical day. So from one experienced and very happy bride to all future and current brides, I would love to share some wedding tips that, I believe, every bride should know to truly enjoy this day.
 

Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff
There are so many things that could go wrong on this day. Is the florist running late? Is your dress not fitting right? Did the videographer show up half hung over, his tie backwards, and is currently laying his head down on the dining table?
 

And yes….this all happened to me! So what did I do?
 

I hugged my anxious and worried grandmother-in-law and told her it would be ok. If the flowers don’t make it, it’s not going to ruin the wedding. Yes…the reception and wedding won’t be decorated, but even though the flowers add to the wedding, they aren’t the important elements of it. And I continued my day….
 

When my dress wasn’t zipping up correctly, we took this as a photo opp to get some hilarious photos of me trying to hold in my chest while my maid of honor and mom tried to zip me up. And I continued my day….
 

And when the videographer showed up half hung over, with his tie on backgrounds, and barely paying attention to us? I laughed and talked with my bridesmaid, ate dainty sandwiches, and...continued getting ready for my wedding day.
 

Focus On The Important Things
This includes your future hubby, your wedding party, and the loving friends and family that are there to celebrate this day with you. Before the wedding, I received so many tips that I should enjoy my day….which sounded odd to me because why wouldn’t I? They continued to remind me, enjoy your day…because it will go by so fast! But I still didn’t get it.
 

And then I learned what they were talking about…and the mistake they made during their wedding. While many people spend their wedding day worrying that everything has to be exactly as planned, or exactly right, I approached my wedding as a day to celebrate, make joy, and create memories. So each moment, each smile, each hug, each dance….I lived in it. I didn’t worry about what was going to happen next. I lived in each and every moment.
 

Smile From The Heart...Laugh From Your Gut

One thing that I absolutely loved about my wedding was that we were always laughing and smiling. The sound of our laughter would constantly resonate throughout the rooms, wherever we were, whatever we were doing. We took nothing too serious and found the humor and fun in every situation. When the pastor asked my husband to obey his wife, he looked to our guest and gave them a befuddled look. After I smooshed cake all over his face and he retaliated with an equally well placed cake smash, I jumped into his arms for a kiss to further smooth our cake face mess together. Every moment during this day should be filled with smiles that come from the heart and laughter that came from your gut.

And that, dear brides, is what allowed me to differ from the advice constantly thrown my way and to both enjoy each and every moment, without making the day feel stressed, frantic, and too fast.

Save The Date: Unique and Cute Ideas

When you are looking at Save the Date ideas, you want to create something that represents who you two are. Think of it as a physical and mailable piece of you two :) With each wedding season, couples continue to think of new and unique designs for their Save The Dates however the variety available to couples is immense! No matter your budget, there is a design that is both pocket friendly and eye catching.

Classic Save The Date Invitations: These save the dates are a perfect and simple way to invite your guests, stay within a small budget, and still be visually appealing. The great thing about these invitations is that you can have them either professionally done or completed at home. If you decide to DIY, go to a stationary store (even Target has nice pre-made stationary for occasions like this) and purchase a design that you like. You can insert these into your printer and print directly onto it. OR if you are feeling a little bit creative, try your hand at calligraphy. I don't advise this if you have a large guest list like I do! Eek! Want a bow? Go to your local fabric store and select the bow material and any embellishments you would like to add. Take your time, do some research, but this is definitely an option for any budget.

 

Retro Save The Date Invitations: This is where creative thinking plays a huge part! You have to remember that save the date ideas are only limited to your imagination. What can you think of? Do you both have something just says "you two?!"For example, my fiance and I are going to make our save the date like San Francisco 49er Football tickets with us picture in the front going head to head. Have fun with it! These two ideas below are so cute!! A flip book! You can do a journey of major moments in your life, funny moments, the proposal! Whatever your heart desires.

Destination Save The Date Invitations: Going somewhere specific? The beach? Italy? Mexico? Opt to do a destination themed save the date. Can't think of anything? Create a mock passport that details the "passengers" (aka you two!) and provide the details of where your guests will be meeting you two!

Unique Save The Date Invitations: Whoever thought of these were just brilliant! these are so cute and affordable! The blocks act as multiple messages as you can rotate the squares to create a whole new message. The photo strip is so simple and informative yet creative and cute! And the puzzle pieces are interactive. Definitely awesome!

 

 No matter what you decide on, you have to remember that this is such a small part of the wedding. Do not get your head wrapped too much around this and spend unnecessary time thinking of the "perfect" save the date. Let your guests know when and where your wonderful day is happening and leave it at that. Focus on making the party fun and memorable!

Your Guests and Save The Dates :)

After selecting the venue and the date, there are two important items that need to be taken care of:

1. Your Guest List
2. Your Save The Dates

Here are the steps you need to take to keep you sane when creating your guest list.

1. Open up an excel document. Right click on "Sheet 1" and rename this sheet "Everyone". This list will be the list of anyone and everyone you would like to invite. Think big. Think everyone you would want at your wedding. Do not start rationalizing here and remove people that you think maybe shouldn't be coming. This literally is the explosion list. Anyone and everyone that you and your fiancé can think of will be listed here. 

• To help organize it, have a column for each of the following groups: groom's family, bride's family, coworkers, friends, wedding party. 
• In my list I included an additional column to the left of each group to include the amount per group of people. For example, a friend is that friend plus their date. So the number for that group of people is 2. This way I can do a sum of the total amount of people at the end of excel list without having to add each group up. Hint: Place the formula =SUM(A2:A30)+SUM(D2:D30)+SUM(F2:F30) at the end of excel sheet. The cell numbers (A2:A30, D3:D30, F2:F30) are the cells that contain the total number per group of people. When you enter "=SUM("into a cell, you can highlight the cells you want it to add up in a single column. Then close that formula with a closed parenthesis. To add additional columns, add "+SUM(" and highlight the next set of numbers in the next column. Close the formula again and repeat as necessary.

2. "Sheet 2" should be renamed "The Essentials". This is literally the people that MUST attend. For example, the bride and groom's parents, immediate family such as any siblings, and the closest of the closest of your friends. 

3. Now what is your budget for the reception and meals? The reception and meals will be the most costly items on your wedding agenda (unless you totally splurged on your wedding dress!). Having this in mind will help you filter through the people who should be there and should not be there.

4. Now after cementing the ball park budget and what your caterer/venue is offering per head, rename "Sheet 3" to "Save the Date". This will be those who, I can only assume, are already on "The Essentials" list and include a group of the most important from the "Everyone" list. Don't be afraid to cut out friends that you haven't seen in a couple years or the cousin of that one cousin. This is your guy's wedding after all.

5. If you are feeling guilty about cutting some people out, consider getting them a "You're Very Important To Us" gift. Our list could go on and on however we needed to trim people off. We wanted to provide excellent meals to a select few rather than an average meal to a ton of people. We have decided to create a small gift with premium candies and goodies for those who matter but we can't quite afford to include in our list. I can guarantee you that they will understand, and if they can't, then were they really such good friends in the first place?

6. Another idea to consider is having a reception with just "The Essentials". This way you can splurge on a delightful and fancy dinner. Then, the following weekend, have a separate reception for friends and coworkers at a local venue and pay for hors d'oeuvres, DJ and alcohol. This way you are not paying for a fancy plated dinner for 100+ people! 

Stay tuned for the next article about unique and cute save the date ideas!!! Think outside the box but within your budget!