TIME MANAGEMENT

I would have definitely hired a planner.  I also would have started planning further out in advance so I didn’t forget things I wanted in my wedding. Never wait until the last minute to start planning.  Also definitely write all of your ideas down in one spot so that you do not forget.  My biggest thing was running out of time and forgetting things that I wanted to do. – Brittany 

Most of my wedding was DIY all the way down to the ceremony site and tables for the reception.  I planned my whole wedding from start to finish and I had a day of coordinator to help make sure everything ran smoothly. My advice for the DIY bride is to ask for help when you can, don’t be afraid to let others help you! I know it’s hard to let something you have worked so hard to create go into the hands of someone else parent, friend, bridesmaid, coordinator, but you will usually wind up with too much finishing touches to do for just one person and you definitely don’t want to stress the week of your wedding… so do yourself a favor and spread the tasks around. You will feel less pressure and others will be excited to help you! – Melinda

Don’t bite off more than you can chew and think everything through. Although having the mismatched china was beautiful and everyone loved it, it was a lot of work. It was very time consuming to collect and wash the dishes and coordinate them to each table. And the washing afterwards was the worst. It was worth it, don’t get me wrong, but it took time from other projects I may have wanted to do. But at the end of the day, I married my best friend, so all the shoulda, coulda, wouldas don’t matter anymore. And that’s my other piece of advice: no matter what happens the day of, you’re marrying your best friend, so just go with it. – Alicia

I think the most important thing is to hire good vendors and let them do what they are good at! That way, you don’t have to worry about the details on your wedding day so you can relax and enjoy your own party! Specifically for mountain brides, I’d let the scenic mountains do their thing! I wouldn’t over style or over decorate. – Maddie

There’s no good time to get married. What’s important is to ask for help and to work with the people around you- a wedding planner/coordinator if you can (I wouldn’t have survived without mine), family if they’re interested, friends if you’re lucky, but most importantly, your finance. I was studying for the bar exam (which I took two weeks before we got married), but Rob just kept stepping up and handling everything. Grooms can be great wedding planners! – Camden

Having a day-of coordinator or planner–or at least an MOH who is really organized and assertive–is so important!  By the day of the wedding, I was so preoccupied with getting married and saying my vows (we wrote our own – and didn’t hear each other’s until the ceremony!) that I was not at all helpful with last-minute decisions.  I firmly believe this is how it should be — when you’re getting married, focus on the getting married part, not ensuring that every detail is executed with precision.  I tried to stay in the moment, and now I have great memories of that day and saying my vows to my husband in front of a whole bunch of people who care about us. – Emily 

MEMORIES

This is not exactly related to wedding day planning but still important. Many brides are loving getting their wedding dress preserved after the wedding. There are many great websites that offer affordable preservation. This is what bsquinn1451 from San Diego says about her experience:

I got married in June and decided to have my dress preserved in Sept . So my dress sat dirty in the dress bag for 3 months until I decided to do something with it.

I ordered my kit and I received a box in the mail that was my “kit.” It contained a bag to put my dress and accessories in, stickers to mark the extra dirty spots, like wine or food stains, packing slips, ups pre-paid label, box, and tape to mail it back. It was a nice and sturdy box. I wasn’t worried about mailing it in at a

I followed the easy, clear instructions and ran into one problem, my dress was to poofy to fit in the provided box. After calling the customer service number included in the kit, they informed me that I could use any box I wished as long as I was comfortable mailing it with my dress inside. I dropped the box off at UPS on 9/24. I received an email from them on 10/4 that they had received my dress and that the box also included my veil, the same day my Kit Serial Number showed up as received online here. I received an email on 10/24 that my dress was complete and had been shipped back to me, and received it at home on 10/27.

Upon opening the box, my dress was inside a box, in a second box, inside the outer box. So 3 protective levels. My dress looks wonderful displayed in the box, and they even found a nice way to show my veil in there too. Although I won’t open it to verify all dirt and stains are gone, the orange grease stain at the top of my dress new the center of my bust is now gone.

BUDGET

Planning a wedding is like going to the grocery store hungry – you want to buy and eat everything that you set your eyes on, but since your budget can’t afford it, you gotta be okay with settling with the important necessities. Stay away from the ‘processed foods’, the necessities will make it perfect. In layman’s terms – pick three things that you love for the wedding and hold the rest loosely. – Madeline

Be confident in your ideas.  I had several people question my decisions especially on the wedding party attire but when I saw everything come together I was so glad that I had stuck to my vision. Decide what is most important to you and spend your budget there.  For me photos and food were what I cared about.  I know absolutely nothing about flowers and had no desire to blow our budget on bouquets.  Freddy and I went to Central Market the day before our wedding and picked out flowers together for my bridesmaids and I. – Madison

Look into local vendors that you might not have thought of to see what they can do to help you cut costs and make your day great. Also, make sure that you have a budget to stick to and priorities picked out for more “splurge” spending. We wanted a wonderful day without too much out of pocket cost. We were able to get a lot of decorations by repurposing things we already had or by borrowing odds and ends from family and friends. Check into what others have and be open to other ideas. Additionally, find someone to take the lead and be in charge of making sure things run smoothly on your big day because the bride and groom should not do that or even close family members. You want your family to enjoy and celebrate too! – McKennon

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*Click on the brides’ names to check out their wedding feature!

WEATHER

Remember that people won’t know what was “missing,” don’t stress it – especially on your big day! However it looks is perfect and so enjoy it! You can laugh at any mishaps later, I promise. In regard to mountain weddings, weather can be unpredictable – be ready for anything! Also, have a good photographer – your pictures can be breath taking! It’s worth paying for the memories. – Kallie

Plan your transitions! This was a time of stress for everyone. Delegate who is going to carry what and who is in charge of driving certain cars ext. Trying to figure all of this out in a matter of minutes to stay on schedule is stressful but avoidable if you take the time to plan it out! For mountain brides specifically: Plan for changing weather and have a rain plan set in place that you will be happy with! This is something that I ended up doing only 2 days before the wedding and I wish I would have set it up prior to the big day! – Lyric

I think the best advice was to allow the wedding to be an example of our love and not to worry too much about the details. I’m BIG on details but I think everyone most enjoyed seeing Damon and I happy and having fun. I wish I would have had a better plan for the rain though! We missed out on some of the things we had planned for our cocktail hour and I really hadn’t wanted to acknowledge the possibility of rain, even while it was raining. – Kate

Advice for mountain brides: Don’t buy very expensive shoes, they‘ll get ruined! – Ingrid

Figure out what parts are most important to you and focus more of your time and financial investment in those particular things. Breathe and realize it will be just how it’s supposed to be. Oh, and look at the 10 day weather forecast and if it’s predicting rain on your outdoor wedding, have a good cry, and let it go. That way, when the day comes, you’ll be prepared! – Joanna

YOU DO YOU!

Just chill! Seriously, chill. If you find yourselves getting all worked up, try to remind yourself (and actually listen to yourself) that this is just ONE day of your entire lives. It will be what it is, and that is more than likely going to be amazing. So just give it up to the universe and relax! Also, make sure the music you actually want is what gets played / performed. That’s another biggie. – Allie

Your wedding is about you and your soon-to-be spouse. Don’t stress out over making everyone else happy. Your wedding should be a combination of what each of you wants. NOT all of your guests. You can’t make everyone happy. Also try to have almost everything done before a week before. You’ll need that last week to breathe and relax (and catch up on last minute things you forgot). – Lindsay

Don’t over plan because things always change and you don’t want to be stressed, you want to be able to enjoy each and every moment. Also hiring a day of wedding planner or designating a good friend as the planner could be a good idea. I wish I had one as I was fielding flower and caterer questions while I was also getting ready! Oh, and if you have an outdoor wedding get a microphone so everyone can hear you! People really appreciated that. – Alexis 

I know you hear it over and over again, but the day goes by SO fast. Take a few seconds throughout the night to just pause and be in the moment. Remember how your parents’ faces look, how your flowers smell, how your cake tastes, how much love you feel. Other things? Splurge on your photographer (pictures are way more worth your money than the chocolate fountain),  carry a clutch with emergency items in it or ask your maid of honor to do so, and ask someone to set aside some wrapped up dinner and cake to take home, because it’s so hard to find time to eat. Most of all don’t sweat the small things and enjoy every second! – Hana

Our advice to future brides and grooms is to think through why you are doing each aspect of the wedding. For us, if we were doing something solely based on tradition and it wasn’t particularly meaningful, we tried to think of another way to do it that was more true to who we are (or cut it out altogether). We mixed things up a bit, and many guests told us they appreciated how personal that made the day feel. – Angela and Dave

My advice for future brides is to make sure you stay true to yourself. Weddings nowadays seem have so many high standards for the couple to live up to and with websites like Pinterest you will always feel like you could do more. We know that our wedding was very non-traditional and most people would probably find our decor a little different, but what was important is that our wedding reflected us and that is all that matters. You can only do so much, don’t go crazy trying to please everyone. Remember it is your day! – Jen

Do whatever your heart desires.  People want to get involved and though it is so sweet, it can lead your vision astray.  I wore lace up boots and love that decision! Your wedding day should revolve around you and be as stress free as possible.  It should be one that you think about and immediately smile, so the more positive you can make it (and that means following your heart) the better! – Jessica

GOING WITH THE FLOW

Unless you plan on eloping and you’re browsing the deep corners of the Internet searching through elopement packages. You know very well that you simply cannot plan for everything. As much effort as I put into the details, we had some big issues go asunder (bartender didn’t show up, people ate our pies before we got to cut our own pie, our wedding cake ended up being a cheesecake from Food Lion we bought on our honeymoon, haha!) You can’t plan for it all and you have to be prepared for when things go astray! Just roll with the punches and enjoy the day because at the end of it, if you both showed up, the details really don’t matter! – Hannah

Just enjoy it! I know people say that all the time, but it really is true. Do whatever it takes to stop stressing, keep breathing and enjoy the whole process! We had our moments of tears during the whole planning process, but we tried very hard to stay level headed and make time for ourselves in the months leading up the wedding – time both together and apart! When the day of the wedding came, we just told ourselves that it was what it was – whatever goes wrong, it’ll be fine. And it was! The ovens that we rented kept breaking and dinner was delayed, but we didn’t care – we were having too good of a time! And because we didn’t care, our guests didn’t even notice! So just enjoy the day. If something goes wrong, let someone else handle it. Just focus on yourselves and all of the love surrounding you! – Sera

Just to relax and enjoy every moment of your special day. It all seems stressful but in the end it will work out and if it doesn’t no one will even notice! All of our groomsmen, including the groom, forgot to wear their boutonnieres and we didn’t even notice until a couple days later. – Sarajane

I know that everyone says it but just try and relax and enjoy the day. Remember that this day is about you and the person that you are marrying. As long as you are together that should be the only thing that really matters. Things will happen that will throw a kink in your plans. We had the possibility of bad weather looming all day, dessert showed up later than expected, and a clasp broke on the back of my wedding dress. All of those things caused some stress but I ultimately decided that we were still going to get married and that was all that mattered and the rest would fall into place. – McKennon

Check back soon for Part II in which brides give advice on time management and budget!