Use these clever tips and tricks to avoid some of most common problems brides face on their wedding day.
Don’t use the word wedding
This is a great hack for lowering the cost of a lot of the elements of planning a wedding. You’d be surprised how much the price goes up when people get wind of the fact that you’re planning one of the most important days of your life. Simply allude to a celebration and see what kind of price you can get. The same goes for booking honeymoons. Honeymoons seem to be specifically more expensive than standard holidays.
Pick the most important elements
To avoid getting too carried away with your budget, or all the things that you think you need for your wedding, make a list with your husband-to-be of the five most important things to your wedding. Whether that’s your “to die for” gown, your wedding photographs, or an excellent meal, list them by importance, and anything outside that list can be discounted if necessary. There’s no point in fretting over getting the most lavish bouquets if, in the end you don’t think you’ll give it a second thought. Decide what’s important to you and don’t get swept up in all the other things you think you need.
Tell your venue about your centrepieces
Do you want to hold on to your centrepieces or do you want guests to take them home? Many couples opt to give the centrepieces to any guests that want them because otherwise they’re left with 20 cute little mason jars or flowers. If you do want to hold on to them, let the venue staff know, and they can take them away when they’re clearing dessert plates and store them for you. Equally, if you want to make sure guests take them, the staff can line them up on a table near the door of the reception room with a sign saying, “Please take one”. This hack can work two ways because if you buy enough centrepieces, then you have instant favours as well!
Have a ‘display’ cake
If you want a real masterpiece of a cake, without having to get a big enough one to feed everyone, then this is the perfect wedding hack for you. Instead of getting a massive, fully-decorated cake to feed all the guests, consider getting a smaller ‘display’ cake, which will be significantly less expensive, and then have a more standard, undecorated cake hidden away in the kitchen to actually serve the guests. That way you get all the beauty at a fraction of the cost, and you still have enough cake to give your guests.
Set up a wedding email account
From the moment you start planning your wedding, you should set up a separate wedding email account, instead of using your own. There are a few advantages to having a wedding account. For one thing, you can use it for RSVPs so that they’re easy to keep track of, instead of getting lost in your personal account. It’s also good to use this account for suppliers, wedding ideas and articles, so that all the elements of your wedding planning process is all in one place and not scattered between hundreds of other emails and spam.
Number your RSVP cards
You’d be surprised how many guests often forget to put their names down on RSVP cards, leaving couples to figure out who is coming and who’s not. Sometimes, even the ones that do can have handwriting that’s difficult to make out. To counteract this problem quickly, write your guestlist out on an A4 page and number each guest by invite. Then write the corresponding number on the RSVP card as you’re assembling your invitations. Then, when you get the odd blank RSVP card, or can’t read the names, simply check the number against the master list.
Wear nice prep clothes
You don’t have to invest in an expensive, personalised silk kimono dressing gown (although they do look fabulous) but consider the getting ready photographs before you throw on a ratty old t-shirt for your hair and make-up. Think about what you’d be happy to be photographed in as you get ready on the morning of your wedding, because the getting ready photos really are something special and you want to be happy with the clothes you’re in.
Have water and mints at the ready
Nerves and anxiety can give you a very dry mouth and even bad breath. Make sure you have water and mints at the ready before the ceremony. A good tip is to put them in the wedding car when it arrives to pick you up. Then before you go in make sure you take a sip or two to stay hydrated and avoid the dreaded dry mouth. While you’re at it, take a quick mint. You’ll be kissing your new husband for the first time remember!
A day-of emergency kit
For anything that might go wrong on the day, it’s best to have an emergency kit full of mini hacks to ensure things don’t go disastrously wrong. Clear nail polish for a ladder in your tights, spare bobby pins for loose strands, chalk for any grubby bits on your gown, the list goes on. For a full list of what you should pack in your emergency kit, check out our general emergency kit. We also have one for fashion emergencies.
Floating flowers
If you’re looking to achieve perfect floating flowers for your centrepieces and wondering how to make sure they don’t sink or go lopsided, we have a brilliant hack for this. Simply create little bubble wrap skirts for underneath your flowers. When you’re cutting off flower heads for your floating bowls, make sure you leave a small bit of stem for the bubble wrap to go around. Then cut a small square of bubble wrap out to hide underneath the flower – make sure a few bubbles are intact. Then simply poke a small hole in the centre for the flower stem to poke through.
Create an bridal party itinerary
Instead of trying to tell everyone where they’re supposed to be on the day, and what they should be doing, create a printed itinerary for your bridesmaids and groomsmen, so everyone has a master list to refer back to. You could also create individual task lists so that each member of the bridal party knows what their jobs are and they can stay on top of them, instead of you trying to remember when they ask you the morning of your wedding. You should also have a call list for “anyone but the bride” for any emergencies or questions people may have, so that they have people other than the bride that they can call.
Post-it your gifts
When you decide to sit down and open your gifts, have a pen and paper ready, some post-it notes and paper clips so that you can keep track of who got you what so you’ll remember when it’s time to write the thank you cards. If you get cheques or money, paper clip them to the card they came in and make a note of the amount so it doesn’t get lost. If you get physical gifts, post-it the giver’s name to the box before you start tearing things out of packaging. Then when it comes to thank-you cards, you’ll have an easy reference list.
- Jenny Darmody
Image credits: Centrepieces: Pinterest | Please take one: Elizabeth Anne Designs | Cake 1: Cake Geek | Cake 2: Dawn E. Roscoe Photography | Numbered RSVP cards: Pinterest | Stationery: June Lion | Bridal party: Etsy | Itinerary: Pinterest | Flowers: It's A Bride's Life