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

Today 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 Ufniak Photography  – full wedding here

General Advice 

• Do not wait for better times to get married, do not be overwhelmed by fears and anxieties by covid, if you know that your partner is the right one then “catch the moment” and get married!
• To prepare a wedding is like getting a second job but all the effort is worth it.
• I had two dresses, one to change into after the ceremony as my main dress was huge, and I was so glad of having something slinkier so I could dance properly with everyone.
• Give someone your phone and ask them to take some pictures, it feels very weird when you wake up the next day and have no photos of the day on there
• Always remember the reason you are getting married and the love you have for one another as, even if all your other plans have to change, that is one thing that won’t!
• We wanted to make the most of having all our friends and family together, so the evening before the wedding we had our guests over to our accommodation for a barbecue. It was a brilliant way to enjoy some additional time with everybody in a more relaxed setting. There aren’t many opportunities to have your nearest and dearest all in the same place, so make the most of it if you can!
• The only disappointment that I had at our wedding was that no one signed our wedding book. I even borrowed an instant print camera, got some photo props and had a specific table with our book asking people to take pictures and put them in the book with a comment. No one did it, literally no one. People did take pictures but hardly anyone left them for us. If it’s something important to you I would recommend you make signing the book part of the event such as sending it around after dinner. We left people to their own devices and it just didn’t work for us.
• Make sure everyone has a drink and a full stomach as early as possible! Then do what you want to do and not what should be done at a wedding
• After the wedding, create an online album of all the pictures, or create a video clip using free video editing software like Clipchamp

Photo by Babb Photos – full wedding here

Planning

• I learnt very quickly to choose vendors/suppliers who I could really work with as a person. There were a few companies who I loved their work, but when I made contact I wasn’t left feeling like they were ‘the one’, or I felt uncomfortable asking too many questions or maybe the same question 3 times. It’s an overwhelming task and planning can get very confusing and messy in your head. I ended up going with people who I vibed best and felt like I could really work with.
• If you are planning a micro wedding – don’t compromise!!  Initially we thought we would cut back on various parts of the day as the wedding was so small.  But after speaking to our photographer, she made us realise we would only have one official wedding day and we should go for it exactly the way we had originally planned! So we did!
• Planning a wedding during a pandemic is a rollercoaster of emotion. One day we were leaning toward postponing, the next thinking maybe we can get away with this. My advice to other Corona brides is that your wedding day WILL BE the best day of your life. The amount of people, the venue, none of it really matters because this day will be a dream and the start of a new beautiful chapter.
• It doesn’t have to take a year or six months to plan, you can do it in six weeks even if everyone thinks it’s impossible!
• Also have fun together planning your wedding as this is where the build up to the big day is taking place. Let the man be involved in the planning too. It is his big day too, not only yours (bride)

Photo by Sarah Conlan – full wedding here 

Make the day your own

• Don’t lose sight of the things that are important for you – as I said the main things for us was the food and the music, however it is super easy to get yourself into a spin and spend thousands on things that don’t really matter.
• Don’t be afraid to do something you want to do, or have something unusual
• You are the most important on your day. There isn’t a wrong way to do your wedding day. Everyone will have an opinion about who you should invite or what you should do, but just make sure it is a day that represents you as a couple.
• Write your own vows to make it personal and to set out how you will commit to your relationship and marriage.
• We would like to encourage new couples to dare more, to dare to be different and do what their soul really want, at the end of the day life can change so quickly and love can win any pandemic or lockdown. Be brave enough to see things from another perspective, reflect who you are without being afraid what people will say, it is about your special day and the decision is yours.
• Don’t become obsessed with what others think your wedding should be, it is your special day and you can do whatever makes you happy.

photo by Lana Del Mar Photo – full wedding here

Getting organised

• Relax, you’ve employed people that do this all the time and everything will work out. I guarantee you wont care about the little details on the day.
• Try not to stress too much in the months leading up because you will be all smiles on your day.
• Do your research and get the best price if you have a strict budget because most people will work with you!
• Life happens, don’t let it stress you out, just go with it. There’s no use in getting stressed or frustrated, especially over things that are out of your control.
• I’m a firm believer in everything happens for a reason. And also, remember to do things out of love! That’s why you are with your significant other, because of love. Even the smallest gestures mean the most when it comes to doing the little things.
• Make sure you have a list of ALL suppliers phone numbers to hand in case of any issues on the day. Maybe even check with suppliers the day before – one of our suppliers we needed for the morning, had the wrong time so it did make the morning a little stressful!

Photo by Mas Positivo Producciones – full wedding here

On the day

• Try not to get too stressed out about the day. It passes so quickly and everything will fall together. Just enjoy the day and completely go with the flow!
• Just try to have fun. It’s your day.
• If mistakes happen, move on! It’s a perfect imperfect day.
• Don’t forget to live your day, enjoy yourselves, hug those you love the most and thank the presence of each of your guests.
• I unfortunately missed out on all the evening food (I didn’t even see it!) – ask someone to make you a plate up and bring it to you as by the end of the night I was hungry!
• Relax and just enjoy it. The day goes by so quickly so just take stock of every moment and have fun!
• On the day, relax and enjoy every moment, it will all go very fast! The day is all about your love for each other so don’t get too hung up on the small details.
• Enjoy every second of your day as preparation takes very long time and the day itself flies by and it is over quicker than you know.

photo by Wed Pashalis – 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