Advice From the Married Side – Real Brides Advice From Their Wedding Day

This afternoon it’s time to dish out another healthy dose of wedding planning advice in our monthly ‘Advice from the Married Side’ feature. I have so many amazing real weddings on the blog and with each wedding I ask the couple to share with us some of their wedding planning knowledge. Every month I collect all their advice together and put together this post. Lots of wonderful words of wedding wisdom for you to take on board and put into your own wedding planning journey. I hope there will be something amongst these experiences that help you……….Happy Planning!

(photo by S6 Photography – full wedding HERE)

Getting organised

• Delegation to others is essential, but make sure they know what specifically you want them to do.
• Try and keep the number of suppliers to a minimum. We had so many contractors that it was a bit challenging to manage them all at once
• Pick areas which are important to you and spend/splurge some of your budget there.
• We tried to be as organised as possible when it came to planning the big day – we took a few days off a few months before the wedding and visited a different supplier each day to go through the various details. We also had a spreadsheet to track all the expenditure and when deposits/final balances were due.
• Don’t be afraid to ask your friends and family to help out, many hands make light work
• Picking a theme helped us to structure our day and make things tie in together.

(photo by Viktor Pravdica Photography – full wedding HERE)

On the Day

• If it’s possible don’t surround yourself with lots of people when you get ready. I had my Niece, my Mum, my makeup artist and our photographer. It was calm, chilled and relaxed and just what was needed.
• Take time to be with your Husband / Wife on the day but don’t underestimate how much you will be apart making sure your guests are having a great time. We were sure we would be glued to each other all day and weren’t at all. Spending the time together in the morning and then having a nightcap together on the rooftop terrace of our hotel was lovely.
• On the day – relax, stay calm and enjoy every moment. It’s over before you know it!
• On the actual day I would recommend standing back from it all from time to time and just taking it all in, it will fly by in no time at all!
• Weddings are supposed to be a fun happy day, so take time to relax and absorb the best day of your life.
• No point stressing over stuff on the day, it’s too late, you’re marrying the person you love and that’s all that matters.
• Try to spend time together during your wedding reception as it’s so easy to be separated for long periods of time with the pressure of speaking to everyone.

(photo by Ashley Giffin – full wedding HERE)

Planning

• Give yourself a good amount of time to plan your wedding. The extra time we gave ourselves gave us time to make changes to initial thoughts and ideas we had. It also helped us by setting up a shared wedding email account for keeping track of all correspondence.
• Don’t plan too much! You will get too stressed and can easily forget the real reason you are getting married. No one will care about the little things, they are there for the two of you!
• Plan as much in advance as you can, there are so many little things that pop up closer to the day that you don’t even think about that need organising
• Enjoy every second of the planning and preparation- it shouldn’t be a stressful time- make the most of it as it only happens once.
• Remember what it comes down to. Enjoy planning and make it all about you! It’s about the two of you coming together with the support of your friends and family.

(photo by Kevin Belson Photography – full wedding HERE)

General Advice

• Don’t try to control everything – it’s not possible. What will be will be. People don’t notice the details as much as you think they might.
• Don’t put too much pressure on everything being “perfect,” something will most likely not go to plan but so long as you and your partner get married then that’s the most important thing
• Getting stressed is normal! But it’s all worth it.
• Choose a venue where you can be yourselves on the day, don’t over plan anything, go with your gut instinct for everything.
• Give yourself time, and that goes for the planning and the day itself and try not to worry! You can worry as much as you want on the build up but just enjoy yourself on the actual day.
• Do what feels right for you.
• Take off your watch on the day!
• Plan ahead and spread the cost to make it a more enjoyable experience. You don’t need to spend the earth to make it a beautiful memorable day.
• Don’t forget it’s a party not a performance, if you are married by the end of the day then its been a success. Its so easy to forget this when you get caught up in all the small details.

(photo by Shelly Anderson photography – full wedding HERE)

Making the Day Personal to You

• Don’t think so much what ‘theme’ to go with but think of who you are as a couple, what do you love, what epitomises you two and then go with that.
• The more you make yourself the more money there is to be saved. Sit back, get the sewing machine out and enjoy making things together.
• Our wedding was not a particularly traditional wedding, we included elements that we thought were important. At the beginning we sat down and worked out what we’d like the day to involve and what didn’t seem relevant to us. I think it should be a day to reflect the couple and their personalities and interests.
• I would advise other couples to do what you want and not feel hemmed in by tradition or what other people expect. We did our own thing and everyone loved that it was a bit different
• It’s your day, don’t worry about what other people want – do what you want and don’t be afraid to say so.
• With planning, I would say, go easy on what people expect at weddings. As long as you make it your own and have fun, no one will miss the sugared almonds and frozen cake tier.
• We didn’t do tradition , we wanted a day that reflected us, and our day was relaxed, full of love, and we did things the way we wanted and in the order we wanted it done.

(photo by Joanna Bongard Photography – full wedding HERE)

I hope you found these pieces of advice helpful. If you are already married is there anything you would like to add ? Was there anything in these words of wisdom that has resonated with you?

Is there something you would particularly like to ask me  for advice? any questions just email me [email protected]

BIG BOHO LOVE

KELLY XX