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

This afternoon we are back with our regular feature ‘Advice from the Married Side,‘ real life wedding planning advice from all the lovely brides and grooms I have featured on the blog.

I get to feature so many amazing real weddings here on the blog and with each wedding I ask the couple to share with us their wedding planning knowledge and experiences. This post is a super useful collection of wedding wisdom from those who have just got married, to help you on your own wedding planning journey. I hope there will be something amongst these experiences that help you. Happy Planning!

Photo by Mark Tierney – Full wedding HERE

General Advice

• Listen to each other and be happy to compromise where you can. You both need to be happy and feel yourselves to have the best day, its about who you are and that you love each other.
• It REALLY doesn’t matter if it rains. Dance in the drizzle.
• If you are having kids their keep them entertained
• The most important thing is you marrying the love of your life!
• If your budget allows so, I would also suggest having a videographer to capture the day as the day just flies by!
• If I can give any advice about planning a wedding it would be don’t settle, if you find a venue you love and a team of amazing people your day will go to plan.
• Consider a humanist ceremony, it really was the most special, personal experience.
• Remember that at the end of the day, you and your fiancé will be married-and thats ALL THAT MATTERS!
• Choose your perfect photographer / videographer. You will capture the day perfectly for life.
• Most importantly, enjoy it – you only get one wedding day!

Photo by Lauren Oliver – Full wedding HERE

Planning

• Work with suppliers you really like as people it makes things so much easier and more fun when you are working with them in the run up to and on the day!
• Tell your story not anyone elses, pick your details to celebrate and try not to waste time or money on the other stuff.
• Remember, it’s both your day, don’t go with what’s in fashion, or try move heaven and earth to have something that won’t be practical, it will only cause you more stress.
• The best thing about having a wedding abroad is everyone gets fully involved in the wedding and usually makes a weekend of it, its like being on holiday with all your best mates. However you’ll most likely need to organise a few activities leading up to the big day and be fielding a lot of questions about flights, transport and hotels!
• Take a breathier in planning so it doesn’t feel like all you do or talk about is wedding planning.
• I think going in with ideas is great but being flexible and willing to compromise helps the vendors express their creativity will help make your day that much better.
• It really helped that our wedding planner, caterer, florist, and venue had all worked together. It made it run very smoothly because they all knew the venue and how it worked.

Photo by Christodoulou Photography – Full wedding HERE

Make the day your own

• Focus on you and your partner, and always remember that it is YOUR day not the mother of the bride or your mother-in-laws, not your friends YOURS! Keep that in mind when you’re selecting everything from music to food to dessert!
• Don’t do something just because it tradition. My parents are separated so I didn’t want a top table and it worked so well.
• Our mantra was ‘this is OUR wedding!’. Of course we want our guests to be comfortable, but the most important thing was that Andrew and I have the wedding we want. There are so many decisions to make and things to consider in the planning process, having that guiding principle was key for us.
• At the end of the day it’s about you and your fiancé, stay true to what you want.
• Don’t follow the rule book and make your wedding whatever you want, for example both my parents walked me down the aisle. Just do what feels right to you.
• Your day should reflect your life together. Take advice and comments from family and friends, but you will regret not doing what you ultimately wanted.

Photo by  Maddie Farris – Full wedding HERE

Getting organised

• Make a list at the beginning of planning of all things that are important to you! For us, the traditions didn’t matter too much and we just wanted a relaxed day where guests didn’t get bored, hungry or thirsty!
• If you are thinking of having a wedding abroad, make sure you are prepared for a lot of admin!
• Also using smaller local suppliers really paid off, they all put so much effort into our day.
• We also finished up work a week before the big day which was really helpful in finalising last minute bits without the stress of work.
• Pick the things that are worth fighting for, and don’t sweat the rest.

Photos by Emma Quinn – full wedding HERE

On the day

• Don’t stress. Not everything will go to plan, but you will not notice.
• The main advice would be to enjoy and embrace the day and don’t get upset / disappointed if anything small goes wrong! The bridesmaids and I nearly walked down the aisle without our flowers, nobody noticed.
• TAKE A BREATH AND TAKE IT IN! You spend so long planning the day, then it goes by in what feels like an hour.
• Have some cake saved for you.
• Utilise as much help on the day as you can, my bridesmaids really pulled together and I can’t thank them enough!
• Make sure those standing beside you on your day are the ones you truly hold close. For me my bride tribe was everything. They made the whole thing fabulous and couldn’t think of anyone else I wanted standing by my side.

Photo by Eva 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