1. Give your photographer a list of photos you absolutely must have.
I had an amazing photographer. He's a family friend, our pictures were wonderful, and he made everyone laugh. Somehow, in the 10,000 photo's he took, there was not a formal photo of just me and my grandma. When there are like 70 people waiting to take a formal picture, it's hard to remember each individual picture you want. After your ceremony can be quite rushed before the reception. Trust me on this, make a list of the photos that are most important to you, the poses you want, etc. All photos in this post, by the way, are courtesy of William H Davis photography. Check him out on Facebook, particularly if you are in Georgia, but he loves to travel, too :)
2. Give your maid of honor the phone
No, really. The day before and the day of your wedding, give a trusted member of your bridal party your phone. You will literally get 600 text messages and phone calls of people asking you questions, wishing you congrats, wanting the address to the venue (yes, it was on the invitation)...unless you want to be extra stressed out, hand the phone over. Someone gave me this advice, I didn't follow it.
3. Have your day of plans mapped out to the tee.
What car are you driving away in? Do you have kids? Who is taking them back to the hotel? What time? If you have children, make sure they are with people who will do the things you ask (IE, nap time). I gave an itinerary to our entire bridal party. Will people in that party still ask what time they need to do ______? yup, they will. But you wont have your phone, the trusted member of your bridal party will, so you wont stress over it.
4. Remember that it is you and your husbands day...
...and not anyone else's. Outside of your mom, dad, and maybe a couple of close friends, your wedding day is not as important to anyone else but you. People may not know why its so important to be at the rehearsal on time...or at all (a member of our wedding party was not there). People also quickly forget what it is like to be getting married and the stress that goes with it. Just remember to breathe, it will all be okay.
5. Wear comfortable shoes.
I bought shoes for the wedding that were beautiful, and flat, assuming they'd be comfortable. I only put them on once before the wedding. While they were not necessarily uncomfortable, they would NOT stay on my feet! Before the reception I changed into plain old sandals. Not that anyone actually saw my feet, but still.
6. Give your wedding night hotel plans on an only need-to-know basis.
We had someone call our hotel room on our wedding night to ask a question that was not at all important. No, I'm not kidding. My husband answered only because we were afraid something was wrong with one of his boys.
We did a first sight, so Marcus and I had a little bit of alone time on our wedding day, which was wonderful. Many venues now provide a short time with your husband before the reception to eat a little food, etc. As my photographer said when we were debating a first sight, it will be the only 5 minutes you have alone the entire day until you leave.
However, I remember the night before wanting just ten minutes alone with him before we went to bed. All of this mass chaos was going on, the rehearsal was over, everyone was arriving at the hotel, it is very easy to get overwhelmed. We shut the door, had my brother-in-law ward off people saying hello, and just hugged for a few minutes. It was just the perfect amount of calm I needed before I went to bed.
8. The most important thing about that day: you are married to the love of your life.
Will things go wrong? Yes, absolutely. But really, what is the goal of the day? To be married by the end of it. If that is accomplished, then what else really matters? Probably not much. Will it matter that a member of your bridal party drove you crazy and stressed you out? no. Will it matter that people were late to virtually everything? no. Your wedding day is exciting, fun, crazy, and beautiful, but the whole point is the marriage. Enjoy the day as much as possible and make the most of it! You are about to begin a life-changing, life-long, beautiful journey!
Enjoy your day, and many blessings to your marriage!
With love,
The Powells
