My advice to Brides
So I've been working on this list and my review today, so since I don't have enough pictures yet to put that up, I figured I'd start with this:
MrsInglima's Advice to Brides:
1. You will change your mind, and that’s ok! – I changed my mind about A LOT of stuff from the beginning of planning to the end. So it’s ok to be on top of things and book stuff early, but wait to buy the smaller details and don’t be afraid to tell vendors you want to update your needs because as you get exposed to more things and ideas you will change your mind about what you want.
2. Don’t buy the first dress you try on. Don’t buy a dress at the first store you go to. – This sort of goes along with #1. Make sure you look around before you make a decision. Look online first to help you narrow down ideas and then try on different fits etc. You may not end up with the dress you always thought you would want (a dress you picked out when you were 5, 15, 25, etc. may not be the same style you like now).
3. Don’t let anyone bully you around. – It’s your day and you should get what you want. Bottom line. You aren’t being selfish or spoiled. It’s YOUR day.
4. Be VERY explicit with what you want. I can’t stress that enough. Even if you think you’ve generally explained things, other people are not mind readers. Make sure if you have told a vendor you want to change things around or do something special you explain things and have them go over it with you in detail. The two things the entire day that annoyed me was the transition between our two first dances and the way our cake turned out. Both times I said to the vendor, “we’re just gonna do this” as opposed to “let me specifically explain to you my vision.” In the end it didn’t matter too much, but for super OCD people it could have.
5. Pee a lot before your ceremony.
6. Have a formal receiving line. We did that between cocktail hour and the reception to make sure we got to talk to every single person we invited. When the reception came around we could socialize if we wanted to, but because we didn’t find it necessary to go around to each table we were able to eat, dance, and actually have fun.
7. If you’re an anxious person, or get nervous being in front of a crowd make sure you have someone with you in the limo who can calm you down. Our priest was really strict about not drinking before hand so I was so incredibly nervous I almost had a panic attack. Thank God my cousin was there, she knows me the best and could give it to me strait to help me calm down. I don’t know if anyone else could see how truly nervous I was besides just the regular pre-wedding jitters.
8. Make sure YOU have all of the wedding extras you want photographed before the ceremony. My parents had my rings and my RH had an invitation (that I wanted to use and also set out for decoration that they lost) so we don’t have glamour shots of those two things.
9. Have a point person at the church who is not in your FH’s BP. Chances are they won’t have their phone on when they get to the church and you never know if you’ll need to get in contact with someone. Before that have a point person within each side of the BP in case you need it. The phone was ringing off the hook all morning and I didn’t want to get on the phone because of being the chair to get my hair and make up done (for 2+ hours) plus getting dressed, etc. I just wanted to be left alone, it made things so much easier to have a BM be in charge of that.
10. If you are taking pictures at your RH while the cocktail hour is going on don’t have them just put a few things in the bridal suite. You will run out of food REAL fast and won’t get to eat too much. Request to have your own personal butler on hand to bring food to wherever you’re taking pictures. We were at our cocktail hour for about 10 minutes and people of course wanted to talk so I missed some stuff I wanted to try, but between that and having people come by I still got to eat way more than most brides do.
11. Have someone keep track of time, and don’t be afraid to be a nazi about keeping others on time for things too. And don’t be afraid to tell people what to do while you’re getting ready. With so many people getting ready at the same time and you being the one who has to do the most stuff, you won’t be able to keep track of every little detail. My BMs thought nothing of me randomly yelling out at times “what time is it?” and “where’s my veil?” etc. They are there to help you, make them do their job!
MrsInglima's Advice to Brides:
1. You will change your mind, and that’s ok! – I changed my mind about A LOT of stuff from the beginning of planning to the end. So it’s ok to be on top of things and book stuff early, but wait to buy the smaller details and don’t be afraid to tell vendors you want to update your needs because as you get exposed to more things and ideas you will change your mind about what you want.
2. Don’t buy the first dress you try on. Don’t buy a dress at the first store you go to. – This sort of goes along with #1. Make sure you look around before you make a decision. Look online first to help you narrow down ideas and then try on different fits etc. You may not end up with the dress you always thought you would want (a dress you picked out when you were 5, 15, 25, etc. may not be the same style you like now).
3. Don’t let anyone bully you around. – It’s your day and you should get what you want. Bottom line. You aren’t being selfish or spoiled. It’s YOUR day.
4. Be VERY explicit with what you want. I can’t stress that enough. Even if you think you’ve generally explained things, other people are not mind readers. Make sure if you have told a vendor you want to change things around or do something special you explain things and have them go over it with you in detail. The two things the entire day that annoyed me was the transition between our two first dances and the way our cake turned out. Both times I said to the vendor, “we’re just gonna do this” as opposed to “let me specifically explain to you my vision.” In the end it didn’t matter too much, but for super OCD people it could have.
5. Pee a lot before your ceremony.
6. Have a formal receiving line. We did that between cocktail hour and the reception to make sure we got to talk to every single person we invited. When the reception came around we could socialize if we wanted to, but because we didn’t find it necessary to go around to each table we were able to eat, dance, and actually have fun.
7. If you’re an anxious person, or get nervous being in front of a crowd make sure you have someone with you in the limo who can calm you down. Our priest was really strict about not drinking before hand so I was so incredibly nervous I almost had a panic attack. Thank God my cousin was there, she knows me the best and could give it to me strait to help me calm down. I don’t know if anyone else could see how truly nervous I was besides just the regular pre-wedding jitters.
8. Make sure YOU have all of the wedding extras you want photographed before the ceremony. My parents had my rings and my RH had an invitation (that I wanted to use and also set out for decoration that they lost) so we don’t have glamour shots of those two things.
9. Have a point person at the church who is not in your FH’s BP. Chances are they won’t have their phone on when they get to the church and you never know if you’ll need to get in contact with someone. Before that have a point person within each side of the BP in case you need it. The phone was ringing off the hook all morning and I didn’t want to get on the phone because of being the chair to get my hair and make up done (for 2+ hours) plus getting dressed, etc. I just wanted to be left alone, it made things so much easier to have a BM be in charge of that.
10. If you are taking pictures at your RH while the cocktail hour is going on don’t have them just put a few things in the bridal suite. You will run out of food REAL fast and won’t get to eat too much. Request to have your own personal butler on hand to bring food to wherever you’re taking pictures. We were at our cocktail hour for about 10 minutes and people of course wanted to talk so I missed some stuff I wanted to try, but between that and having people come by I still got to eat way more than most brides do.
11. Have someone keep track of time, and don’t be afraid to be a nazi about keeping others on time for things too. And don’t be afraid to tell people what to do while you’re getting ready. With so many people getting ready at the same time and you being the one who has to do the most stuff, you won’t be able to keep track of every little detail. My BMs thought nothing of me randomly yelling out at times “what time is it?” and “where’s my veil?” etc. They are there to help you, make them do their job!
