Advice Worth Reading

This time of year only means one thing (besides Christmas lights, eating way too much good food and trying to find plans for New Years) …..engagement season!  And such a sweet season it is!  From Christmas to Valentine’s Day men are dropping to their knees and so many ladies are getting new sparkly additions to their hands 😉

I wanted to create a resource and some expert tips from some of my past brides to help YOU as you plan your wedding day.  What better way than to hear it from the ladies who have done it!  And trust me, every single one of these women are phenomenal, had beautiful weddings and all did it differently.  So grab that cup of coffee (or in my case, some hot cocoa) and take some notes from past brides!

 

QUESTION | What is one thing you are so glad you made happen on your wedding day?

Bride | Lara Rutman:  I was so happy that we took those 15 minutes of the cocktail hour to take the sunset photos, they are some of my favorite shots!

Bride | Alyssa Glenn:  I was SO glad my husband and I decided to write our own vows. It made the day so memorable and it was just so “us.” I am also very glad that we picked a family member to officiate. Obviously, this wouldn’t work well for every couple, but if you have a close family friend/relative that can officiate (who really knows you) it just makes the ceremony so personal. Lastly, I was so happy we decided not to do a real first look. I think most people do a first look now, but we wanted to keep this piece traditional. It made walking down the aisle so exciting! (Also, our around the corner photos turned out SO cute).

Bride | Gabrielle Nichisti: Writing our own vows. I don’t think it was ever in question that we would not write our own, but I’m glad we put time and effort into them. Yes, I was scared I’d cry so much that I wouldn’t be able to say them but I think it’s worth the risk.  Writing your own vows just makes the ceremony so personal and gave our guests the chance to hear our love story from us.

Bride | Riley Hubbard:  I am so glad that Greg and I took five minutes to ourselves to go for a walk after the ceremony and before the reception. This time alone really gave us an opportunity to freeze time and soak in the joy we were both feeling!

Bride | Sarah Wadhams: I am so glad that I hired my wedding planner. I was an out of town bride in DC planning a wedding in Colorado. She was amazing. She orchestrated my timeline and would present me with three options for each part of the planning process. On the day of my wedding, she managed the whole day and timeline. She was there to direct my guests to where they needed to be, when to take photos, cut the cake etc. She even handled a family of 5 that showed up and didn’t RSVP. All of those would be things I would have had to deal with if I didn’t have her, and honestly, they would have wrecked my big day. She handled it all so well and I wasn’t bothered at all.

 

QUESTION | One piece of advice for a bride about to get married!

Bride | Meghan Childs: Enjoy all of it and choose what’s most important to you. Throughout the planning process and the day of, I kept reminding myself what was important to me and if I forgot my veil, (which I did), if the cake doesn’t turn out right, the boutonnieres were wrong, or all sorts of things, it wasn’t a big deal. I just wanted to make sure I was happy and had an amazing day getting ready and being with my new husband.

Bride | Sarah Wadhams:  Remember that this is your day. So many people have opinions about what you should do, how you should look and what should be at your wedding. It’s not their day, it’s yours. Don’t let anyone push you into things you don’t want. This is a day you will remember forever and the person requesting things of you will probably forget all about it.

Bride | Riley Hubbard:  One piece of advice I would give to someone about to get married is to enjoy every single moment of the wedding day! Marriage rocks and the wedding is only the first chapter of the beautiful life that lies ahead of you!

Bride | Miranda Drotar:  Do not let the day fly by. Take chances to stop and look around at your beautiful day. It makes your memories so much more vivid and the day so much more fun, rather than stressful. Go with the flow and don’t try to make any big changes to things you have been planning for months. Everything will work out!

Bride | Gabrielle Nichisti:  Make sure you spend the day together (after the ceremony obviously). What I mean by that is, your guests came to the wedding to see the bride and groom together as newlyweds. I’ve been to weddings where the bride and groom spend the majority of the reception apart– the bride is thanking grandma in one corner of the room and the groom is thanking an uncle in another… I want to see the two lovebirds together! That’s the whole point! Joe and I made sure that, no matter what we did, if we thanked family and friends, if our wedding planner had a question, whatever it was, we were together. I got to spend so much time with him and that made me so happy. Essentially, our relationship was the same on our wedding day as it is on any other day. We got to spend it together talking, laughing and just being happy.

Bride | Alyssa Glenn: Stay organized and delegate! I had A LOT of help! I found people genuinely wanted to help, so delegate the smaller tasks. For instance, my dad had a super detailed spreadsheet for all the expenses which showed when payments where due. My mother-in-law is super crafty and wanted to make a bunch of décor and party favors. I gave her a vision and she ran with it. My mom was super helpful in researching options for all the vendors.

Another piece of advice… get your dress early! Alterations can take a while. Mine went through 4 fittings.

AND… Dance the night away at your wedding 🙂

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