Planning a wedding is stressful. You need to book the caterer and the venue, find your dress, choose a photographer and cake, and do so many other details that you never even considered before you started planning your big day. While wedding planning tends to be stressful, the actual day should be a joy. You only have one day to enjoy all of the preparations that you’ve made, and you’re starting your new life with your best friend and partner. Instead of being stressed out on one of the most important days of your life, take some time to find ways of making your big day in Byron Bay less stressful. Here are a couple of tips to get you started.
1. Get a Wedding Coordinator
Even when you feel like you’ve ticked off every last item on your to-do list, you never know when someone else might drop the ball. When you have a wedding coordinator, you have someone who will make sure that things get back on track. Wedding coordinators can help you remember all of the little details that aren’t covered under another vendor, and they can help ensure that the vendors that you’ve hired are ready.
2. Double-Check Your Clothing
When your dress and shoes fit well and are comfortable, you’ll have fewer worries. You might wonder how this could ever happen, but it’s possible for your tailor to miss things when doing the alterations to your dress, leaving you with unfinished seams and pins still in the fabric. To avoid this, make sure that you check over the dress immediately after picking your dress up so that you still have time to bring the dress back if you find something wrong with it. In the hectics of planning a wedding, it can be easy to assume that the professional knows what they’re doing, but even professionals can make mistakes.
You also don’t want to wait until your wedding day to break in your shoes. Most new shoes are stiff, so take a hairdryer to them, then wear them until they cool so that they form to the shape of your foot. You should also bring an extra pair of flats for after the reception in case you want to change into something more comfortable.
3. Plan Your Itinerary With Wiggle Room
One of the most important things you can do to avoid major mishaps is to plan your itinerary with a little bit of room to spare, and build in less important things that will keep your guests entertained while other things are being set up. For instance, make sure that you have enough time between the ceremony and the time that the start of the dinner, especially if your ceremony and dinner are at separate venues. If you plan on having a receiving line, remember that this will take some time, and the amount of time that it takes will depend on how many guests you have. It’s also traditional for the wedding party to go out for drinks while the rest of the guests either go to the reception hall or do something else. Make sure that you have things to keep them entertained while you’re out with your wedding party. If you’re having your wedding at a winery, you can offer your guests wine while they wait. Candy bars and photo booths are two other worthwhile options.
4. Take Care of Your Guests
You don’t want to be worrying about whether or not your guests are okay on your special day. If your guests are from out of town, they might not know how to get everywhere, especially if you’re having the ceremony and the reception in two separate places. You might also be concerned about your elderly guests and their ability to navigate the area and travel safely. Most people have GPS on their phones and in their cars, but if you want to make sure that the travel is stress-free for you guests, you can hire a bus. This is especially helpful if your ceremony and reception is in the country. It’s also nice to hire transportation from the reception to the hotel that your guests are staying at, assuming your reception venue isn’t at the hotel, because this gives you peace of mind that your guests have a safe option for getting back to the hotel if they’ve been drinking. You can also plan ahead so that you know that your elderly guests have transportation. If they have children, ask them if they’ll be driving their parents.
5. Organize Special Items
All of the little details will be weighing you down if you don’t take care of them beforehand. Items that you want to make sure are at the reception and will be there for you when you are ready to go home should be organized in bins and at the reception hall before your wedding starts. For instance, your guest book is something that could be easily missed because it doesn’t fall into a neat category that will be taken care of by a vendor. This is also one of the items that your guests will likely look at while you are out with your wedding party, so make sure you’re not bringing it with you in the limo. You’ll also want to keep certain items like cake toppers and the guest book to look at later. If you have a wedding coordinator, leave instructions for them to pick these items up at the end of the night. If you choose to forgo the wedding coordinator, designate a close friend or trusted family member to pick these special items up for you.
When your wedding day finally arrives, you’ve already put a huge amount of labor into the planning, and you want to make sure that you remember your special day in a positive light. And remember, if a small mishap still happens even after you’ve done everything you could to ensure a beautiful day, these things happen. You should still enjoy your beautiful day and build fond, happy memories.
