Advice from the other side (of a wedding)

Weddings are an incredibly stressful time. For the bride, groom, and their families, they have been spending a year or more preparing for this wonderful day. Not to mention spending a lot of money to make things go smoothly. Wanting to make sure it goes according to plan can put a lot of stress into the big day itself. This past weekend I had the privilege of being my sister’s maid of honor as she married the wonderful man she had been engaged to for several years. I learned a few things about weddings from the inside.

1.  Use Skype!

My brother-in-law has a friend that lives on an entirely different continent and though he was planning to fly out to be in the wedding, was unable to. Not to fear of course! He and his wife were able to watch the ceremony from all the way across the world. If you have family or friends that cannot make the ceremony due to their location or health consider using Skype or FaceTime to allow them to watch from afar. You can pull up either of these on a cell phone, iPad, or laptop.

2.  Phones

We are attached to our phones these days and it can be really hard to put them down and enjoy the ceremony. That being said, it might be a good idea to ask people to keep their phones in their pockets during the ceremony itself. This will keep your guests from becoming distracted by social media and instead keep them tuned in to your very special day. Of course I say take those phones out at the reception and consider using an Instagram hashtag like #AndersonMcDonaldWedding to capture all of your pictures in one spot.

3.  Organizational Boxes

At one point in the day before we all got dressed, my sister wanted us to take a picture together in our monogrammed button down shirts she had given us as gifts. This picture was to take place on the bed in the bridal suite. The problem was that the bed was taken over by everyone’s things and we had to quickly move all of the things from the bed to the floor in order to get the picture my sister wanted. This made it confusing at the end of the night when we were packing up because we had to determine which things belonged to which woman in the bridal party. To make things a little more orderly, consider decorating boxes for each person in your party to keep their things in on the day of the wedding. This will make the process of locating items and cleanup much easier at the end of the night.

4.  Hotels vs. House Rental

When you have a lot of people coming in from out of town, out of the state, or out of the country (like my sister and her husband) it can be tempting to decide to rent a house in the neighborhood where all of these people can stay. This might be a good idea for some people but for others it might only be a source of stress. If you are thinking of renting a house, consider the ages and maturity levels of the people who will be staying at the house. If the people staying have babies, you might not want to worry about things getting broken and instead have them get a hotel. If they are older adults then it might make more sense to rent a house rather than have them get a hotel room. Even though it was successful in my sister’s case it might not be successful in your situation.

5.  Guest Book

For some strange reason the guest book was being signed as people walked in. I don’t believe this was my sister’s original intention but it happened. This meant that there was a long line to get into the ceremony location which pushed back the time the wedding was meant to start. Make sure that you have the guest book ready at the reception location instead. This will keep the wedding flowing smoothly. You might also consider having friends man the guest book to make sure people sign it before they leave.

6.  Helpers

Choose someone to help you out on the day of the wedding with things the wedding party cannot do. During cocktail hour we took some pictures of the whole wedding party. When we were done we needed to find a way to get the bridal party’s bouquets into the reception space to use as head table centerpieces. This is where a helper comes in to play. You will have lots of little things to get done during the day and having a helper or two around will make you much less stressed.

Overall, remember to enjoy your day. Smile! This is exciting stuff you’re doing. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it and make sure you stay hydrated and eat enough food!

---