In an earlier post on this blog, we gave you some great tips on how to anticipate and address potential wedding day challenges before they erupt into major problems. Here are some more great ideas on how to make your wedding stress-free.
- Hire a day-of wedding coordinator. You may not have the budget to hire a full wedding planner to guide you through the entire months-long process. But designating a wedding day shepherd will take a big load off your shoulders. A professional coordinator is best, because he or she will know all the hidden traps that are likely to pop up, and know how to avoid them. Your coordinator will ensure that all of your vendors are fulfilling their duties, and handle last-minute changes of plans without disrupting the smooth flow of your special day.
- Rehearse. And not just your ceremony. Do a full test run with your makeup artist and hairdresser. You may find that they may have entirely unacceptable ideas about how you should look at your wedding. Better to find out in advance, while there’s still time to re-educate them or find someone else.
Also, bustling the bride’s gown, with its seemingly endless collection of buttons and loops, can take forever at your wedding. When you go in for your final fitting, take along the person or persons who will be bustling your gown, so they can see in advance how to do it. - Share your vision with your photographic team. Know in advance what group pictures you want to take — wedding party, parents & grandparents, college classmates, whatever — and give your list of must-have pictures to your photographer and videographer. Try to get those pictures out of the way immediately after your ceremony, while everyone is in one place. Let your key people know in advance that they’ll be needed for those pictures, so they’ll stick around. If you have a wedding web site, that’s a good place to alert everyone about your picture plans.
- Envelopes are your friends. Some final payments are due on your wedding day. Write out your checks, or count out your cash, and stuff an envelope for your venue and each vendor. If you’re tipping your vendors (and you should), the tips should be placed in separate envelopes. Choose a trusted family member or friend to pass out the envelopes to all the right people. Also, be sure you or someone close to you will have a few hundred dollars cash on hand for unexpected expenses, like an extra hour of open bar or an extra hour of music.
- Eat! You’re not Superman or Wonder Woman. The physical demands and the normal stress and excitement of your wedding day are going to take a toll on you. Don’t let yourself get so swept up in the moment that you skip a whole day of meals. Remember, even a sip of wine can leave you hopelessly drunk if your stomach is empty. And even if you don’t drink, you’re going to feel light-headed if you don’t make a special effort to nourish yourself. Start the day with a hearty breakfast, and keep some non-perishable snacks on hand, in case you notice after visiting all your guests’ tables that you forgot to eat dinner.
- Get away. You and your new mate need time in the midst of all the chaos to be alone for a few minutes. If there’s a balcony above your banquet room, sneak up there and look down on the festive scene, and allow yourselves to think, “This is all for US. How cool!”
Your only responsibilities on your wedding day should be to get married and party with your friends. Delegating responsibility and preparing in advance will help you focus on those priorities.
© Fourth Estate Audio, 2016 – Jay Congdon is president of Fourth Estate Audio, a professional Chicago DJ and Chicago Wedding DJ company.
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