Tips for a Hassle Free Wedding Day!

[Noelle]

Tips for a hassle free wedding day!

1. Plan to do nothing the day of the wedding, but to get ready.

2. Let someone else do the decorating and run errands.

3. If your house is going to be a mad house, stay somewhere else.

4. Be ready on time, that will start everything off smoothly.

5. Prepare a detailed outline of all events surrounding the wedding and give it to the wedding party and family. Include a map if necessary.

6. Eat something before the ceremony- a small can of juice and crackers-a muffin.

7. Break in wedding shoes prior to the day.

8. Practice walking and turning in your dress so you don't trip over the train.

9. Make sure someone (an attendant) knows how to bustle the skirt.

10. Make sure to move your engagement ring to your right hand before the ceremony and back to your left afterwards.

11. Have an emergency kit.

12. Delegate someone to handle last minute details - a friend or your wedding consultant who knows HOW you want your wedding to be.

13. Apply perfume and makeup before dressing.

14. Check parking space to see if it is adequate. Anticipate community activities that may interfere with travel.

15. Check for mirrors, hangers, etc. in the dressing room.

16. Have Bridal party sign the guest book at the rehearsal.

17. Confirm dates and times with all wedding professionals by telephone the week before the wedding.

18." Remember even after careful planning, some things are bound to go wrong. Try to keep everything into perspective by remembering the whole purpose of all your hard work is to get married, the rest is fluff.....If something should go wrong, remember it will be that memory that you will laugh at the years to follow."

[*Sarah*]

This is an awesome idea for a thread!!

[Noelle]

I found it in my saved journals!

[serda23]

When I saw this thread I immediately thought of a certain journal over on the wedding channel... Future Mrs. O's (only now she's just Mrs. O)... So I zipped on over and started graciously stealing from her... :)

Here are some of her tips (it gets kinda long and wordy but it is SO worth it):

This is technically her first tip....
Regarding her paper crane favor/decorations:
"I want to tell you my mistake, so you future-brides avoid this. When we handed the extra cranes that my MIL made to the wedding coordinator, I had told her to put it anywhere, and well, she did. I should have told her, put them everywhere but the cake table. Well, she placed about 30 of them on the cake table, and so the table ended up not looking the way I imagined it. The cake table became a little station of everything that they could not fit in anywhere else. Even the silk flowers were thrown there (they were not even the right color). It was too bad since the cake should have gotten the center-stage. Anyway, don’t make my mistake, and be as specific as you can be. So what if people call you anal?! That way you will get the wedding you have worked so hard on."

Tip # 1
Do not delegate a job to someone who might be needed for family pictures after the ceremony. For example, I had my SIL and DH's (heh, heh, heh, I am getting used to that now) niece help with the Place Cards Table immediately after the ceremony, and well, the they could not do their jobs, because they had to take pics with us. They Place Cards table was left with anyone watching it, but fortunately, the guests were able to find their tables.

Tip #2
Lie about the time family members have to be there. We told family members to arrive for pics at 4 PM, but an important family member was an hour late (yes, an hour!!!) therefore holding everything up. I arrived at the country club on time, but because I could not see my DH until during the ceremony, I was stuck in the car a block away from the country club until my DH and his immediate family was done taking pics. Lie about the time they need to be there!!! Tell them to be there at 3 even though they do not need to be there until 4. I was upset that I was stuck in a car when it was almost 100 degrees outside, and by the time it was my turn to take pics with my family, guests had began arriving. About 100 of them saw me before I walked down the aisle. Not good. Not good, at all.

Tip#3
Make sure the number of servers is in your contract.

Tip#4
Make sure the photographer knows YOU are the boss. On the day of our wedding, there were TOO many people acting as if they were footing the bill, and we ended up wasting precious time, because the photographers did not know who to listen to. Remember those Must-Take pics, and stick with them.

Tip#5
Be specific. Never assume anything. My photographers usually do more photojournalistic shots, but because I did not specify I wanted those pics, he took very little of them. Not their fault, really since they did all the other pics I asked them to do. Be specific. Be anal. It is your wedding. I ended up having to take some of the pics myself (like my shoes, rings on my bouquet, etc) since our photographers neglected to them. On a side note, our photographers did take loads of pics of friends/family members since we asked them to do that.

Tip#6
Make sure your DH stays close to you until all the important pictures are taken. I spent more time in the evening looking and tracking down my DH, because he was somewhere else the whole night. Fortunately, he was usually close to one of the bars. LOL! But we did loose precious time by having to send out a whole army to look for him. Even the DJ joined in with the search a few times. During our garter toss, he was nowhere to be found, and it took about 5 minutes to find him. It was a little frustrating.

Tip#7
Do take the time to thank guests for being there even if it is a day or so later. I was so busy running around the whole evening that we did not get to say thank you to everyone there. I ended calling some family members the next day, and they really appreciated it.

And again, just know that no matter how much you plan, some things might still go wrong, and if they do just know how to let go... except of course when you Mom gets food poisoning from the food that was served... or if servers wound having more fun than the guests.
Tip #8
Make sure you have great people you can count on. We are blessed with wonderful family members who tried to take care of everything that went wrong that night. Like I have said, they shielded us from everything that went wrong, and for that, my DH (Heh!! Heh! Heh!) and I had a great evening.

Tip #9
Make sure the people in your bridal party are there for you. With everything that went wrong with my BMs before the wedding ALL but one of them pulled through for me on my wedding day. One of my BMs had a sick daughter, and yet she managed to take care of me and her baby. She was selfless the day of the wedding. One of my BMs, on the other hand, was very selfish and only cared about herself. This created a lot of stress on my part, but I was lucky that my MOH was there to calm me down. I also had my friend from Sweden there, and she was beyond helpful. I wish I had asked to be my BM instead. She was just wonderful. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE GOOD PEOPLE WITH YOU. Do not compromise your day by choosing someone to be in your bridal party, because you feel obligated to ask them.

Tip #10 (???) Bring a lint remover, especially if you are wearing a long veil. The veil attracts everything, and my poor BMs and MOH had to individually pick out leaves, grasses, etc that got on my veil. A lint remover would have made everything easier.

Tip #11 (???) Check this link
http://www.theknot.com/co_profileview.htm?profilename=nyc3/19/05

*(and really look at that link too! It has some AWESOME photography tips! Save it to your favorites!)

[KathyandJer]

16. Have Bridal party sign the guest book at the rehearsal.


What an awesome idea - the whole thread is great, but this one especially jumped out at me!!!

[Coze]

Hi hi-

I love this thread... will definately have to give a more detailed look at it later.

TTFN...
D.J.

[Jules]

We had a small wedding party, which meant it was fairly hassle free. It was just myself, my MOH, and my flower girl hanging out in the bridal room immediately before the ceremony - it wasn't too crazy. :)

[Celeste]

Here's my tip for at home, outdoor, DIY type weddings... allocate plenty of time for leveling the tables. It's amazing how flat ground isn't really flat. Someone told me this before my wedding and I was so glad they did. It saved us agravation because we set up the tables early to get this out of the way.

[*Diane*]

Take comfortable shoes to change into during the evening. You will be amazed at how much walking you will do. Those gorgeous, bejeweled shoes that felt so comfy for the first 2 hours will become instruments of torture after that and will make you wish you could hire someone to walk around for you.

[*Diane*]

Don't sweat the petty stuff and don't pet the sweaty stuff. There will be things that don't turn out as they looked in your imagination. Let it go. My wedding cake had a handprint in the side where the baker was trying to slide it into a box and slipped. I turned it to the back of the room and no one knew me but me.

As long as you have a marriage license, a legal officiant and the man of your dreams standing there- it is a great day. :heee:

[*TanyaJeanne*]

Great tips!

[ashley225]

subbing - this is a great thread! That bio from The Knot is fantastic.

[QueenElizabeth22]

Great tips! I am printing these out and putting them in my wedding binder! :)

[KathyandJer]

Don't sweat the petty stuff and don't pet the sweaty stuff. There will be things that don't turn out as they looked in your imagination. Let it go.

:rofl: How very true! The important part is that we're legally married at the end of the day! And chances are, SOMETHING will not go the way we all plan it to go. Surround yourself with people who will calm the fire themselves instead of running to you on your wedding day stressing you out!

I read/saw somewhere that someone appointed a wedding-day contact... someone that you know will remain calm and only call you if it's absolutely something they can't deal with themselves! I can remember taking care of a few things the day of my friend's wedding...and she never even realized there were differences until I told her (after the honeymoon :lol:)

[QueenElizabeth22]

Just subbing :) Since my subscriptions weren't turned on before!

[JerAndKathy]

Elizabeth:

You can actually sub to any thread via the 'Thread Tool' drop down at the top right corner. :)

[QueenElizabeth22]

Oh my gosh! Never knew that! :) Thanks

[kate]

With only 9 Days until my wedding- Does anyone else have any fantastic advice??

[MostlyMel]

Subbing!

Thank you everyone for sharing these tips!

[sweetiez]

Ohh good tips!!!! i can only wish i'll follow them.. i seriously should cause i was gunna have me MIL and my parents go set up the reception hall.. AHHH........ maybe i should let them do it? :sigh: only if i was NOT so picky! :(

Thank for sharing :heee:

[nikkiscott]

Great tip ladies.

Just a question though....one tip said that you had to have your e-ring on your right hand while getting married. WHy is that??

[MostlyMel]

Because most people wear the wedding ring closest to the heart, underneath the e-ring. So when the wedding ring is slipped on, it won't be on top of the e-ring. Some people don't care though, it doesn't really matter. That's just how most people prefer to do it.

[serda23]

Yep, thats why! I actually just left my e-ring on, and then switched 'em around after the ceremony.