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 Cotton Candy Photography – Full wedding HERE

General Advice

• If the wedding that you organise is exactly what you want, rather than what it should be, then every single element is enjoyable and exciting to plan.
• The key for us was that we were very relaxed throughout the whole process and in the end, the wedding felt like one big family dinner.
• Do a speech. If you are halfway considering saying something at your own wedding, just DO IT. I am so glad I was able to say a few words of thanks in public to the people I love and I can’t believe more brides don’t do it.
• Choose a photographer who will be able to capture the atmosphere of the day.
• Meet with as many suppliers as you can because even though it was a faff at times, once you know them you’ll feel a lot more confident about the process.
• let your parents invite a few friends!  My mum had some of her closest friends at the wedding and she loves that they were there so that they have that shared experience.
• Try not get too wrapped up in the detail as ultimately, as we found out, all that matters is that you get to marry your favourite person in the world, with all of your other favourite people there to get drunk with after!

photo by Pixie Rouge Photography – Full wedding HERE

Planning

• Our advice would be to pick a few key elements to focus on and make these a focal point.
• Take your time planning your special day, its such a magical day that goes so so so quickly, you blink and the day is nearly over.
• Don’t get carried away with the little details on pinterest, they literally don’t matter on the day!
• Be a team. It’s stressful and hard work planning a wedding, and you will have dozens of different people wanting you to do different things. Work at it together and try to split the workload equally; you’ll come out of it stronger if you do.
• We would say start early and do things gradually and hopefully you can get away without getting too stressed. Compromise and delegate where you can.
• Plan for yourselves not your guests.
• Enjoy the planning. Book in the big things early i.e. venue, caterer, band etc. and then you can be much more relaxed about the rest.

Photo by Babb Photo – Full Wedding HERE

Making the day Your Own

• Be individual, think outside the box and let if reflect you two, it’s your day after all!
• Choose things that are meaningful and important to you, just have fun
• Trust yourself and your partner first! Remember it will be your day and you will remember it for your entire life so make it like you want and desire!
• There are lots of ‘expectations’ and ‘traditions’ and its very easy to get carried away by your perception of what will be expected rather than what you actually want to do – stick to your guns!
• Don’t think about the guests and how you are going to make sure to take care of everyone. The two of you are the stars on your wedding day and make sure to enjoy it.
• Don’t feel as though something needs to be done because “that’s how it is at weddings” – it’s your day, you should be able to customise it however you want!
• Tailor the wedding to yourselves – the more unique, the better. Tradition is a good spice for your big day, but it shouldn’t be the main course.

photo by Amanda Balmain – Full wedding HERE

Getting Organised

• Get the planning done as early as possible so you can enjoy the days in the run up – don’t underestimate how many decisions there are to make, it’s endless.
• Be organised from early in the planning process, it helps streamline the months leading up to the wedding day.
• We did mood boards before we started any planning – it really helped to identify where we were on the same page (and where we weren’t!).
• Just chill out – it’s just a big party really!
• Remember that the only opinion that matters is your own, and you are both a team, so share the responsibility for making decisions and getting things done.
• We had a spread sheet to manage all of our spending and to keep track of suppliers invoice dates and deposits which we could not have managed without.

photo by Dos Mas En La Mesa, Full wedding HERE

On The Day of the Wedding

• Don’t stress on the day – go with the flow. It’s all supposed to be fun, stuff goes wrong but its all meant for a reason, plus it makes awesome pictures…. you’re going to have the best day of your life no matter what.
• On the day itself, make sure you eat or tell your bridal party to make sure you eat.
• Don’t feel like you have to talk to everyone people don’t expect it, relax and take it all in as the day goes by in a flash.
• Steal away some time together to watch your guests, have a hug, take it all in and don’t sweat the small stuff- it really doesn’t matter on the day. That’s the bit of advice everyone gives after the event but no one listens to it before the day!
• Get photo’s out of the way first if you can!
• Have a handful of trusted friends who can step in to problem-solve on the day without having to ask you first
• Remember, everyone at your wedding loves you and wants nothing but the best for you so don’t waste energy getting anxious.
• On the day itself, we were both so happy that all the little niggles really didn’t matter. My dress strap broke-if you had told me that a week before the wedding I think I would have exploded! However on the day I laughed it off, it really didn’t matter.

photo by Mona Ali 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