Wedding Wednesday//Wedding Tips

Well ya’ll – it’s officially the last Wedding Wednesday – its been a great series and I have enjoyed reliving some of the best and most stressful times of my life. I figured that I would use my last week to give some tips to future brides. I know I did not do everything right, but looking back there are definitely a few things I learned. So here it goes!

1. From the beginning, make a promise to yourself and your spouse that all decisions will be made between the two of you and other opinions will only be taken if needed. It sounds harsh, but everyone has their own opinion about how things should be. At the end of the day it should be up to you and your spouse as to how things go – it’s ya’ll’s day! Trust me, it’ll save a lot of stress and hurt!
2. Start planning early – now some people would disagree with this, however if I had not of started certain things “ahead” of when they were supposed to be done, they never would have been able to finish during COVID. This day in time, you never know what’s going to happen and it never hurts to be prepared!
3. Find a way of planning that works for you – I bought an actual paper wedding planning binder and used it some. I found that spreadsheets, blank paper with notes and a binder from the dollar store worked best. I made spreadsheets for everything, had a sheet for notes and random thoughts and long to-do list. This worked best for me! Spreadsheets were a great way to keep track of our guest list, inventory for decor, and plenty of other things. I am a firm believer that a spreadsheet can fix everything!
4. Pinterest – Okay, we all know Pinterest is a brides best friend. We’ve all been pinning things onto a wedding board for years. Now that it’s finally time to make some of those things happen, make a new board! I went through my wedding board that was years long and made a new one of things I knew I was actually going to use. It made Pinterest a lot more organized and I kept the most important pins close!
5. Know what is worth DIY-ing – Doing things yourself is a great way to save money, however you have to be careful to factor your time into this. I did a ton of stuff myself with the help of my family and Matthew. Toward the end I did choose to buy some more things I could have made or done myself, because it was just worth it. Sometimes a few extra dollars are worth an hour or two of your time!
6. Make a priority list – what parts of the day, or details mean the most to you, splurge or spend the most time of those and the little things will fall into place.
7. Etsy – I bought so many items from Etsy. From my sash for my dress, to the template for our invitations and paper goods. Supporting small businesses is always a plus, too!
8. You don’t always have to go with the most popular brands or popular wedding things to have it nice. I looked into some of the more popular brands to do paper goods with, but ended up going with Zazzle. They were about half the cost of the others, but just as nice!
9. Amazon is your best friend – There are so many things to buy on Amazon that are wedding related – you just have to search! Most of the time they are cheaper and 2-day shipping is always a plus!
10. I highly recommend Bed, Bath, and Beyond for your registry. Whatever is left from your registry you get a discount for after the wedding. They also send you points for things that are bought off of your registry. Matthew and I got so much stuff for such little money after our wedding! Plus, your guests can usually buy your gift with one of their 20% coupons! We also registered with Belk and Walmart and had no issues, they just didn’t have any benefits for after the wedding.
11. Make time for just you and your spouse during wedding planning – I mean dates where you don’t talk about wedding details or make decisions, just the two of you! At the end of day that is what all of this is about – ya’ll!
12. Take in every moment of the day and don’t sweat the small stuff – the day will come and everything is out of your control. The little things that may go wrong do not matter. All that matters is that you marry your best friend, and have the time of your life doing it!