Real Brides. Real Questions. Real Advice. Hear from the women that have walked the aisle before you! Learn from their mistakes and replicate their victories through this segment of “Ask the Bride”.
Caitlin Curbello | Wedding Date: October 28, 2017
Tip #1 Put Your Foot Down
- Do not, I repeat, DO NOT let anyone bully you into any decision that you don’t want. Input from family and friends is of course appreciated (and CAN be helpful), but when you start feeling bullied or like you’re being manipulated into pleasing someone else on YOUR wedding day – it’s time to put your foot down. I know it seems hard to say no to certain people, but you have to stick up for yourself and what you want. Now, don’t automatically jump to the conclusion that your mom is trying to bully you if she suggests something – take that advice or input, consider it, and be honest with that person how you feel about the topic at hand. This becomes a little difficult if said person is helping pay for your wedding, and they feel like they’re entitled to help make the decision – BUT – they still need to understand it’s YOU and YOUR SIGNIFICANT OTHERS big day, not theirs. If they don’t agree with what you want and withhold that financial help, that’s okay. Move on to plan b. Oh yeah, always have a plan b. For everything.
Tip #2 Contact Vendors ASAP
- Contact your vendors as soon as possible! Things book up quickly in the wedding industry, and you and your vendor need to be able to communicate thoroughly about what it is you want from them exactly (designs, colors, etc.). Being in contact with vendors as soon as possible also helps the coordination of the entire day by letting them know far ahead where to be, when to be there and any other special instructions that may be necessary. For example, at my wedding, the venue owner made it very clear she was going to lock a gate that allowed entrance to the ceremony site at a certain time as to prevent any vendor trailers / guests vehicles from being in my wedding photos – which was a nice touch. However, there were a few vendors who were running late or missed the memo. My venue owner did her best to coordinate everyone while I was busy getting married – so it worked out, but was a wee bit stressful.
Tip #3 Get a Wedding Coordinator
- We didn’t do this and it worked out okay, but really, truly consider hiring a wedding planner or day-of coordinator. I always thought people exaggerated when they said their wedding day went by in a flash – but my goodness does it EVER! The entire day and night are a blur because my husband Marcus and I were constantly running around trying to coordinate things like the bouquet toss, garter toss, first dances, speeches, cake cutting, etc. That doesn’t sound like it would be that big of a deal…but we had around 200 guests, and would have to scurry around to find our wedding party for the speeches; people were stopping us to chat and congratulate us (we really only had like 5 minutes of conversation with each person we saw and to be honest I didn’t even get to speak with half of our guests –at all); we fielded questions from everyone about what was happening, where is this item, who is doing this, have you seen this person, etc. It was MADNESS! My husband didn’t even get to dance (besides our first dance / mother-son dance) because he was trying to take all of the coordinating stress off of my shoulders, bless his heart. By hiring a planner or day-of coordinator, you can actually enjoy your big day because you are in the hands of a very capable professional.
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