Getting engaged and planning a wedding is a time to celebrate your love and commitment. It should be a fun and exciting time in your life but that’s not always the case. Many brides and grooms find that planning their wedding can be demanding and stressful but it doesn’t have to be! The following are some tips and tricks to help making the planning process a little less ominous and a lot more pleasurable.  

BEFORE THE BIG DAY, WALK THROUGH THE DAY
It’s important to walk through the venue in person…and in your mind…at least once. This will give you a good feel for the flow of the day. It’s here where you’ll realize that the wedding programs you printed are really beautiful but how will each guest receive one. Where will you place them? Or who will hand them out?  As you walk through the venue, you’ll be able to see where your seating cards will be placed, where the guest book will go, where the bars will be located and where the musicians will set up.

WHITE LIES ARE OK
While I never encourage lying, a few little white lies on the weekend of your wedding are ok. Tell your family, friends and bridal party to be where they need to be at least 15 minutes earlier than expected. If the wedding rehearsal is called for 6:00pm, tell everyone they need to arrive at 5:45pm. If photos are to start at 2:00pm, tell everyone they need to arrive at 1:45pm. This little white lie is a great time-saving trick to ensure that people arrive on time.

CONFIRM, CONFIRM, CONFIRM
You will not need to worry about this if you hired a Wedding Planner but if you didn’t, get ready for the big task of having to confirm all details with your vendors a week or two before the wedding. Confirm their arrival and set up times, send them the timeline for the wedding and go through any last minute details such as time of cocktails, wedding dance, speeches, cake delivery, etc.

YOUR NEW HUSBAND
Make sure you find time after the ceremony to have some alone time with your new husband. This is so important. Whether it’s spending 10-15 minutes alone right after the ceremony or sneaking away during the reception, it’s important to spend time together alone.  If your ceremony and reception are at the same site, take a few moments to hang out in the bridal room after the ceremony (in a Jewish wedding, this is called yichud and it is mandatory). Or, if you’re driving from the ceremony site to the reception, go alone rather than riding with the whole wedding party. After the excitement and anxiety that can come with the day, it’s important to take a moment to breathe, take it all in and appreciate your new husband. 

FEED YOURSELVES
If you have a Wedding Planner, she will know to do this but if you don’t, make sure you arrange in advance to have some food and drinks waiting for you right after the ceremony. You don’t want to be chasing down wait staff in order to get some hors d’oeuvres and drinks. Tell your caterer in advance what you would like.  You can then use the time after the ceremony to savor the food, sample the drinks and enjoy the company of your new husband. This counts as alone time!

STAY CLOSE TO YOUR SPOUSE
While it’s often the case that you and your new husband will be mingling with guests separately, don’t stay away from each other for too long. You want to be able to share the evening and the memories together. You don’t want to have to fill each other in afterwards on what happened during the night because you were spending too much time apart.

DON’T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF
No wedding is ever perfect. Things are going to happen. It’s life. Don’t sweat it. No one will remember the tiny details 20 years from now but you will always remember how happy you were on the day you married the love of your life.

Raquel Sananes Grad is the Principal Event & Wedding Planner of RSG Events. For a worry-free affair and all your event planning needs, contact Raquel. 416-398-0217 or raquel@rsgevents.ca