Bride to Bride Advice

You can find a wealth of information to help you plan your wedding. Graphs, charts, timelines; budget guides, party planners, venue options. Then there are always ideas and ‘must do’s’ from family, friends and in-laws-to-be. It seems there are plenty of people who can tell you what to do.
Perhaps the best advice that you can get is from recent brides who know first hand what ultimately matters in making the day ‘just perfect.’
Three Herald staffers, Jennifer, Rachel, and Becka recently celebrated their weddings and so I asked them to reflect on their experiences and give 2010 brides their best advice.
Jennifer says the best idea for planning her wedding was to follow her heart with every decision made.
She absolutely loved the wedding cake, it was a tier of cupcakes! Jen said this was something she had loved since she “was a little kid so I felt it was appropriate to have them on my wedding day! And it was less ex-pensive then having an actual cake. That was a plus too!”
Jen also wouldn’t have stressed about the guest list and just invited everyone without going extremely overboard. (Surprising sometimes how many people cannot make the big day anyway.)
Rachel gave each guest a number in her database and put it on the back of their RSVP card. That way if someone didn’t fill out their contact information properly she knew exactly who had sent back the response.
Rachel also suggests giving your photographers plenty of sample shots so they know what you would like to have taken. (Cut out samples from Bridal magazines.)
In hindsight she added that an extra bartender would have been an asset.
Becka gives credit to new husband Noel for her favorite idea: having a photo booth at the reception.
“All of our guests had so much fun with it. The best part was looking at the album, which is also our guest book, to see the photo strips and read everyone’s notes. As the night went on, the pictures got more entertaining! It is such a great memory rather than a normal, boring guest book.”
And Becka reminds all couples to pick up the marriage license. They almost forgot.
Not wanting to leave out any good advice for grooms-to-be, I asked the new bridegrooms of our Herald brides for their input.
Noel said he would have had a videographer to capture everything about the day. When planning, the videographer got cut in the wedding budget.
Ron said he wished they had left immediately on their honeymoon. They had to wait two days before leaving.
And the one thing grooms Noel, Chuck, and Ron all agreed on was to allow the brides a great deal of leeway in planning the big day.
Be there when asked, but be flexible, too. The brides know what they are doing.
Rachel, Jennifer, and Becka all agreed on one thing too. RELAX and ENJOY the day.
“Everything will not be perfect and if you expect it to be you are only going to stress yourself out and won’t be able to enjoy the day,” advises Rachel.
“It goes so fast! And that is the truth, it’s not worth it to stress over anything you think went wrong because chances are nobody even noticed but you,” added Jen.
Becka agreed noting, “Two weeks before my wedding everyone kept telling me to not worry about anything, that I will be the only one to know if something isn’t crossed off our to do list. I kept repeating that in my head whenever I felt my inner crazy person coming out.
“I would not change a thing about that day. It was absolutely amazing to be surrounded by all of our friends and family and celebrating. Hands down it was the best day of our lives.”