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The Best Day Ever

1. Don’t have a vision yet? Choose adjectives to start!
   Between Instagram and Pinterest, the wedding ideas are endless and overwhelming. To break down the choices, I chose adjectives that I wanted our event to embody (my dress especially). Whimsical, dainty, effortless, romantic and natural, helped us choose a “rustic/garden” theme. These adjectives also helped us while researching vendors and picking decorations. If a vendor or item didn’t fit the description, we didn’t bother.
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2. Get your priorities straight!
   Unless you planned a wedding before, budgets are difficult to estimate. So, before you make expensive purchases, determine your top three priorities. These priorities help you say “no” to unnecessary items. We prioritised Food, Booze and Photography. Flowers and Entertainment completed our top five.
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3. Give your partner choices, but not too many
   This sounds worse than it is! Your partner might claim they “don’t care” about a detail until you ask them what they think. You may not like their answer! Make planning easier for the both of you. If you’re the “project lead”, don’t ask open-ended questions (eg. “what colours should our wedding theme be?”). Instead, provide choices you can live with (eg. “Between pink, lavender or white, which colour do you like best?). Everybody wins!
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4. Delegate your tasks!
   UGH, this one is so hard but your sanity will thank you. It doesn’t matter how organised you are, weddings have many details and it’s hard to keep track at times. You can’t do everything alone! So breathe, relinquish control and trust your future spouse, family and friends to help. Believe me, everyone will offer their help, so take them up on it! Especially if they volunteered for a specific task (eg. DIY’s, research, etc.)
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5. Invest in your photographer
   I can’t stress this enough! It took a lot of research, but we found an amazing photographer at a great rate (Jen Giles from Blush Sky Photography).  Anyone who thought we paid too much understood why we went with her after viewing our photos. #Humblebrag – our photos are stunning and I’m proud to say it! Jen did a perfect job capturing the entire day. She immortalised our special moments and THAT’s why you invest in your photographer! I will never stop singing Jen’s praises, she was excellent.
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6. Say “yes” to a Day-of-Coordinator
   This saved our parents’ lives! My mother-in-law shared her experience planning my sister-in-law’s wedding. She wasn’t able to relax at her daughter’s wedding until 10 pm. She did a great job, but she advised us not to put this responsibility on any of the parents. We’re glad we listened because Nicole Daniels (Red Cedar Events) did a fantastic job. If something went wrong, we had no idea! She kept the day flowing and was lovely to work with. If there’s anyone to trust with your special day, it’s her!
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7. LOOK UP DRIVING ROUTES
   Remember how I said “no day goes exactly as planned”? Well, this was the one thing that bit us bad. Unfortunately, our limo driver didn’t know a major bridge shut down for repairs. At the foot of the closed bridge, we re-routed and took another bridge that had traffic. We were an hour late to our “first look” photo shoot, right before the ceremony. Talk about stress!
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8. Embrace your culture
   Is there a special dance, food, or type of music? Embrace the things that make you special! This is the biggest moment to share who you are. My husband is Canadian and I’m Peruvian. He loves my country, family and our customs, so we peppered in Peruvian touches as much as possible. Panflutes played at our reception, Alfajores were our favours, and we finished the day with an epic Hora Loca no one will forget. It’s those unique touches our guests continue to bring up.
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9. Remember to breathe, chill out, don’t sweat the small stuff or nerves
   From what I’m told, I was pretty good. However, I wish I followed this more. On the wedding day, I was nervous, I didn’t want to cry, I ran through my daddy-daughter dance routine, and out of town guests made our house chaotic. As a result, I was quiet, caught in my thoughts and on auto-pilot while getting ready with my bridesmaids. Luckily, I snapped out of it when I saw my husband. Your special day is way too short to get caught up in nerves, timelines, details, or things that go wrong. By that time, things are out of your hands and you’re just in it for the ride. So enjoy it while you can!
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10. Write your “Thank You” Cards early!
    After your wedding, it’s tempting to dial back and move on. While you deserve a break, don’t lose too much momentum. I made the mistake of going from 100 to zero. Four months later, I still need to write my first “thank you card”. Trust me, they’re coming, but it’s taken a lot of pep talks to begin the process again. Obviously, we’re EXTREMELY grateful for everyone’s generosity, but once that momentum dies down, it’s hard to get it up again.