There’s a lot that can go wrong when you’re planning a wedding. Putting aside the big stuff, like someone changing his or her mind after all the deposits have been paid; meddlesome, mean, or un-supportive family; illnesses and deaths; and acts of God, there are all of the little things. Maybe your budget is too wee to afford the wedding favors that you really, really love, so you skip them. The dress you’ve been dreaming about is suddenly no longer available, so you have to go with an alternate.
And then the reception site you chose while remotely planning a destination wedding turned out not to be as nice as it looked in the pictures. Your bridal hairstyle is nothing like you expected. Your wedding cake is a little lopsided because you chose a budget baker. The lighting at the ceremony is all wrong.
Little things can add up to a lot of wedding day stress!
Many brides I know were stressing before the wedding: Will they flub their vows? Will the florist show up? Will my SO think I look beautiful? Will the tables look nice? And then stressing at the wedding: Are people dancing? Has everyone gotten cake? Are there enough favors? Did I visit every table? And some even stressed after the wedding: Do I look fat in this photo? Why was Uncle Al frowning so much? Did I inadvertently offend anyone? Did the guests ‘get’ the theme?
So knowing what I know, I loved this quote from Paul Bowers of the Married In College blog, sharing some post-wedding advice for those who want to tie the knot on the cheap:
The only people paying attention to the details are the ones planning their own weddings. Everyone else just wants to see you.
I’d add that people into party planning or weddings in general may also be scrutinizing the deets just a little bit harder than the average guest, but that’s it. Very few people at your wedding will realize that you have messy DIY favors or ditched the favors altogether, that you had to go with an off-the-rack wedding dress from the prom section of a department store because your dog ripped your designer gown to shreds, that your venue is not as classy as you thought it would be, that the guest book turned out not to match anything else at the reception, etc.
While all of those things can be incredibly stressful during the planning phase – especially when you’re two weeks away from saying your vows and you’re freaking out because omg that damn dog – don’t let them bug you on the big day itself. All those mistakes or omissions you can’t stop noticing? I can promise you that in most cases, 99% of your guests won’t notice them at all.
I am going to have my wedding soon and of course I’m worry about some of those things you were talking about. But there are some things you’re not supposed to get stressed about. For example, the dress. Now there are so many dresses in the salons so I think you will pick the one you were dreaming about. Even if it is no longer available, you can go to the tailor and he can sew it especially for you. The same thing with the bridal hairstyle. Now all the brides are having hair trail few days before the wedding. So you pretty sure how you are going to look like on that day. Of course there are much more things you care about but do not let you go crazy. I also love the quote from Pant Bowers you mentioned. All of your guests want you to be happy on the most important day in your life. Not to be worry about some not so important things.