Advice

List of Things That You Should Consider!

Let me start off by saying that my day didn't go how I pictured it, especially in the morning! It started off by getting up at 6 am and getting a call from one of my bridesmaids saying that my grooms cake that ordered from Hy-Vee bakery was "falling apart"! I talked to the baker and she said all she could do for me was give me $30 off of $130. At the time, I didn't think much of it, but when I looked at it, I was embarrassed to even put it out so everyone could see it! (as you can tell from the pictures)

Then I got up and dressed to get my hair and makeup did up, my hair turned out nice:) While I was getting my hair did up, I got a call from the others who were helping decorate the hall, telling me the doors weren't open and it was 7:30 and they were suppose to be open at 7:00! So, eventually the doors got open at 8:00! Then I had the makeup artist start on my makeup and it was terrible!!!! I had to have three different girls do it until it was right! I didn't have a makeup trail, so it was kinda my fault:O During my makeup trail, I started to cry because things weren't going how I thought they were! Then my husband called me crying because he didn't think the hall decorating was going the way it should and he wanted everything to be perfect for me since I put all of that time into everything!

After my break down and hair and makeup, I trucked over to the hall to see how things were going. Once I entered the hall, I saw there was NO backdrop behind head table, no skirting on head table, and no photo booth!!! I needed backdrop up to put lights on it and needed the skirting to put my sheer fabric in front of it! So, I had to call up the manager and pretty much yell at him! At this point, I was frantric because I hardly decorated anything and getting ready pictures were in 15 minutes!!! Plus, I had to deal with the grooms cake and figure out what to do with that!

After all of that drama, I was completely on edge, I went back to the hotel to go get things ready for getting ready photos! I had to haul everything to the room where we were suppose to get ready and get all of my accessories ready for detail pictures, plus get my dress steamed! The photographer said it looked like it needed to be steamed, especially for pictures. Well, we tried and it exploded luckily not on the dress. So, we decided not to do it and get the dress on and everything because it was 10:50 and we were suppose to have our first look pictures at 10:30:O

So, needless to say, I didn't have our first look until 11:05 and my husband and I took some pics together which set us back to 11:45. The wedding party was upset because I told them 11:00! After that it was pretty smooth sailing, but up until that point it was a complete disaster!

So, my advice to brides would be as follows:
1. Don't forget to steam your dress ahead of time and have someone who isn't busy to help do this.

2. Pay a Day Of Coordinator to decorate your hall ! This will save you SOOOOO much stress on the day of your wedding:) I really, really, really wish I would have done this!

3. Call up ALL or MOST of your vendors the day or two before to finalize everything, even if you think you did already! I wish I would have called up the venue manager the day before just to double check everything!

4. If you want to take pictures then add on some time just in case if you are running behind because something is bound to happen that you will have to deal with! That way you can get in ALL of your pictures that you wanted! Wish I would have done this one too!

5. Double check your bakers to make sure they know how to make/decorate a 3 - D cake!

6. Pay the extra money to get a hair AND makeup trail!!!! I had a hair trail but no makeup trial! It's a stress saver!

7. Make sure you choose supportive, and helpful people for your bridal party!

8. Lists, Lists, and Lists for Everything and Everyone! That way everybody knows what to do and how it should be done! Make sure to give it to them or talk to them a day or two before:)

9. Take in all of the small things! Just sit back and take it all in because it goes by too quickly!!!

10. If you get off of your "timeline schedule/line" then just go with the flow and change things up! Your ceremony and reception will still go really well and you will still end up getting married:):)

These were just a few things that I wish that I had known ahead of time before I got married! It would have eased my mind a little more, if I knew that I wasn't the only one with some major issues on the day of the wedding! I thought I was the only one who broke down, but I'm not! When you are caught up in everything, just remember to take a deep breath and think in a couple hours you will be marrying the guy of your dreams:)

I hope this list at least helped out a couple brides:)