Posted on May 19, 2015

Advice for brides from a Non-bride, Bride.

Advice

What the heck does that title mean?? Before my wedding I’ve never been into the “wedding scene”. I had absolutely no experience other than being a guest to a wedding (never been a bridesmaid either). I wasn’t even sure what side of the altar I had to stand on. Some girls are into it from a young age and they make small checklists in their head. I never did any of that until I was engaged. I was more interested in finding love than someone to marry (and lets face it – some girls just want someone to marry LOL). The only thing I knew for sure was that I wanted a “poofy dress” like Cinderella. That’s exactly what I got too 🙂 So this is my advice and everything I learned in the last year from planning our wedding.

Day Of the Wedding Advice

1. Drink water and have a good breakfast while you’re getting ready. You want to keep hydrated because although it goes quickly it is a long day! Tell your bridesmaids to make sure you eat drink and pee! Oh I should also mention sitting on the toilet in reverse helps when you’re wearing a big dress 🙂

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2. LIP GLOSS. All that kissing and all those pictures…. Make sure you have it with you for touch ups!! If you want something simple I suggest Sugar by Fresh or Dior Addict Lip Glow.  If you want to use lipstick for your pictures – I used Nars Audacious Lipstick and I am IN LOVE with it!  I wore Anna the day of the wedding and have since bought 2 more colors.  Pricey lipstick but it doesn’t get messy and its not drying.

3. Have a bridesmaid with you while taking photos so they can help fix your dress. My dress could have used some “poofing” before some of the pictures.

4. Allow enough time for pictures and plan your shots ahead of time. Email them, print them whatever… Give it to your photographer. Pick 5-8 shots that are really important to you and then adlib the rest. My favorite pics from my wedding day are the ones we didn’t plan BUT I was sad I forgot to do a jumping picture with the bridal party.

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5. Watch your dress outside… At the end of the night I discovered ants crawling in my dress. Not a big deal with all that tulle but STILL.

6. Make sure your guests know what’s going on. Some of my guests didn’t use the photo booth and I was sad. Make sure you have the DJ remind your guests a few times.

Before The Big Day Advice

7. Anyone providing a business or service should be able to give you a price or a range of prices for whatever their service may be. Going into it I had NO IDEA how much to spend on certain things like flowers, DJ, etc. You wouldn’t walk into Tiffany’s and expect to get earrings for $20. If you know that particular business’s price range then you know whether or not you can shop there. They shouldn’t be fishing for a number from YOU when it’s their business or skill you are looking to buy.

8. Write down all the groups of people you want in photos. Like cousins, friends, co workers. Especially if you have a big family this will help. Have your bridesmaids help with when the photos are taken. You could also do one big photo with ALL you family members first and then ALL your friends. I wish I did it but I was too busy dancing. Make sure you think about all this BEFORE the wedding day and talk to your photographer about it too.

9. Old navy flip flops = perfect bride dancing shoes. I really don’t know why brides spend so much time or worry on their shoes. No one will see them… the dress is what they are looking at! I wore my heels in the church and that was it.  Another thing too if your dress has a lot of tulle like mine did you WILL be hot while dancing!!  Flip flops are an easy way to make sure you keep cool.

10. Should you wear a corset? I mean really is this 1860?? I had both the bridal shop and tailor try to convince me to wear one but I knew it would bother my back. If you are not comfortable in very tight things around your torso — don’t wear it! My dress had enough boning and structure to stay on it’s own. If you do decide to wear one I wouldn’t buy it at the bridal shop. Anything cheap will be uncomfortable. Try Spanx or Soma shape wear if you feel you need a corset.

11. Don’t like how your armpits look? Neither did I. The friction from shaving can cause your under arms to look darker. That’s the problem I had. So I did some research and decided to have them waxed. I became impatient and waiting 2 weeks for it to grow out to wax it again was too long. So I looked into other options. That’s where I discovered epilators. It looks like an electric shaver but it pulls the hairs out instead of slicing them. Hurts? Yes at first, but the fact that I waxed first really helped. The hair was already a little thinner and used to being pulled out. I do recommend getting waxed a few times before using the epilator. I also recommend using ingrown hair serum from EWC if you can. This will help prevent any little bumps. This stuff works like a charm! Within just a few months my armpits are not darker. I don’t think I can ever go back to shaving!

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12. An old fashion Rolls Royce is perfect for pictures and GREAT for a big poofy wedding dress. Where you gonna fit all that tulle??? NOT IN A LIMO!! Lol. We had a 1963 Rolls Royce and the backseat was so big my dress didn’t even touch the front seat. It was perfect!!! I hadn’t even thought about that beforehand. We only decided to get the old fashion car because another limo would have been too much. (I also did not want a limo because I find them cheesy.)

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13. TRUST your vendors. That’s probably one of the hardest things a bride will have to do. I saw it with myself and I see it with my friends who are getting married. They have this overwhelming urge to control everything. Whether it is your DJ, photographer, invitation designer… etc. Trust them. They are in the business they are in for a reason. If you did your homework something about them must have attracted you to them, which is why you hired them right? They most likely have been to more weddings than you have – so trust them. Let them know whats important to you and let it go. If you hold on to or worry too much about every detail you won’t have fun and ITS A FUN DAY!

14. Last but not least… how to deal with wedding stress? Although many ladies dream of this day the planning and months leading up to it can be stressful. I’ll admit I was so stressed at my bridal shower I don’t remember being excited about it. I felt like more of a burden than a guest of honor. I have anxiety and being in a constant state of stress everyday began to make me depressed. It was not easy to deal with at all… I was at a point where I could not wait for it [the wedding] to just be over so I could go back to being with Bryan and having our relaxing nights on the couch. My mom told me about SAM-e. It is a natural supplement that can treat anxiety (and a few other things). The body naturally makes this chemical but some may not produce enough. Of course like everything else it might not work for everyone… and you should ask your doctor if it’s okay you take it. But within a week of taking it I felt SOO much better. I wasn’t feeling “down” anymore. I finally felt excited and happy about the big day to come. You can buy Sam-E on Amazon.  I recommend the Jarrow brand.  That is what I used.

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1 Comment

  • Reply Sarah T June 15, 2015 at 11:39 am

    For one of the first times ever I have become excited at the prospect of marriage. I imagine I would be a big anxious stressed out train wreck on the day of the wedding though, thanks for recommending Sam-E , I will buy some for every day stress, as well as for if i do get engaged 😉

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