robes: Le Rose // photography: Jenna Routh // Beauty Team: Bella Bridal NV
Welcome Back!
It’s been four months since our wedding day and it’s still crazy to think how quickly it all went by. Two years of planning and then poof – it’s over just like that! Now that I’ve had a few months to remanence on everything tho, I look at the experience so differently. I wish I could go back in time and tell myself that everything would work out and be able to give myself different pieces of advice.
Lucky for all you Brides, I can share that advice with you and today we’re going to focus on the “Morning Of”.
Some brides might say the morning of their wedding was the most calm, cool and collected they have ever been but let me tell you, that was not me lol. I was stressed to the max and my anxiety was going through the roof. It had nothing to do with Colton and honestly, knowing I was going to get to marry him at the end of the day was the only thing keeping me calm. I think it was the stress of the wedding as a whole that was making my anxiety sky rocket. I planned every second of the wedding by myself and I couldn’t turn that “planning mode” off. Looking back though, I can clearly see a few situations where I made it harder on myself, what caused the most stress and what I could have done differently.
Wedding Morning Do’s & Don’ts
- Don’t get stay out late partying the night before. This was where I messed up. I had always planned on not going out the night before and getting a good nights rest but after the Rehearsal, everyone went back to my hotel and had a huge party. I couldn’t not, ya know? And while I don’t regret going, I wish I wouldn’t have drank as much and stayed out as late as I did.
- Do have a schedule and timeline made out for the day ahead of time. A few weeks before the wedding, I typed a schedule up and emailed it to the girls so that they would know the exact timeline for the day. I listed the exact time each girl was getting their hair & makeup done, what time they needed to be dressed by, what time the busses would be there and so on and so on.
- Do plan to get ready with your girls. Even if all of the girls are not getting their hair & makeup done, still have them get ready in the room with you!! You listen to music, get pampered, drink champagne and have fun! It’s a bonding experience and you’ll want to be surrounded by your best friends. You got ready together for every party in high school and college and now you’re all getting ready together on your wedding day!
- Don’t have them get ready in your room. Instead, have everyone get ready in a separate location. We did all hair & makeup in my suite and I really wish I would have planned something different. I mean, I was up at 6 a.m, having to clean the room & make space for the beauty team before they arrived. I wasn’t able to rest or work out like I had always planned and since everyone was in my room, I had nowhere to go for peace and quiet that entire day. I needed a spot to rest, reset, pray, reflect, practice my vows, write Colton’s letter, and etc… and I feel like if I would have had that, it would have made a huge difference.
- Do have matching outfits for all of the girls to get ready in together! Not only do they make for super cute photo ops, but it’s a nice gift that they can wear and take home too. Plus, it just gets everyone excited for the day! I chose these robes from Le Rose because I thought they were beautiful and were reasonably priced ($39) compared to others!
- Do have food and drinks for everyone. Hair and Makeup started at 7:30 am for the girls, which meant they were there pretty much all day and needed to eat! Designate (ask nicely) someone ahead of time to kindly take care of this. Depending on how long you’re there, you will want to schedule Breakfast & Lunch. My mom and best friend Tera’s mom, Cindy, took care of this for all of the girls and we could not have been more thankful!
- Don’t, not eat! I’m especially talking to the Bride. This is so important!!! I wasn’t even the least bit hungry that day but was so thankful that afternoon that my mom made me eat that morning because I barely had a chance to eat a thing the whole rest of the day.
- Do designate roles and ask for help. If you take any advice from this post, take this one. Not designating roles was the biggest mistake I made. I should have designated multiple roles that day, instead of trying to take care of everyone and everything myself. I should have had one person be in charge of food/drinks, one person be in charge of the girl’s hair/makeup schedule, one girl in charge of helping keep the room clean (bc I’m Type A), one person in charge of music and one head person (like your mom or the MOH) in charge of all questions. Like I wish I could have made a “No Questions for the Bride Rule” lol because I was so overwhelmed with everyone asking me questions that I thought I was going to be sick… and it just caused me to take on so much more unnecessary stress and anxiety…. I just kind of felt like I was being pulled in a million different directions and it would have been nice to not have had to worry or take care of everything.
- Don’t wait until the last minute to designate roles. Kindly ask people ahead of time to take on a specific role, don’t just expect them to do it the day of. Everyone could tell I was stressed, but when they would ask what they could do to help, I didn’t know where to begin… so I just wish I would have asked way ahead of time. Plus, everyone wants to help! You just have to ask.
- Do have a music playlist set up ahead of time! Spotify has a ton of playlists already made, so you can just pick one from there!! That’s what we did and it worked out great!
- Do include the Moms!! I mean, my mom is my best friend and I’m really close to my mother-in-law, so it was really special having them there.
- Do tell the Beauty Team if there is something you don’t like. If you don’t like something about your makeup or if a bridesmaid doesn’t like her hair, tell the beauty team!! You are paying for their service and it’s your wedding day. If there is any day you shouldn’t have to settle, then this is it. Plus, they want you to be happy with their work too!!! So don’t be afraid to tell them if you don’t like something 🙂
- Do give the girls their gifts! This is the perfect opportunity to give your girls their gifts!! Especially if you are gifting them robes like I did!! I think the earlier the better 🙂 Everything I gave my girls is below!
Gifts From The Bride
SHOP THE GIFTS
I put a ton of thought into all of the gifts I gave everyone that day! I was so thankful for everyone being there and for being apart of this whole journey. I wanted to get them all gifts that would not only make them feel special but that they could also take home with them and use after the wedding!
A huge thank you to my Mother-in-Law, Julie, who really helped me with these gifts and went out of her way to make the bags and hangers for all of the girls!
- Cute Robes: As I mentioned above, I am so glad I got these robes from Le Rose for my girls! They were beautiful, came in the cutest packaging and were very well priced ($39)!! Which is very important when you have 10 Bridesmaids like I did – lol.
- Knot Earrings: I bought these earrings for my girls to wear with their dresses on the day of the wedding. I loved the little thank-you note on them and the fact that they literally go with everything!
- Tee’s for the Mom’s: I knew my mom and mother-in-law wouldn’t want robes, but I still wanted them to feel included, so I bought these tee’s for them and they loved them!! Here is the Mother of the Bride Tee and here is the Mother of the Groom Tee!
- Personalized Hangers: This is another thing my Mother-in-Law made the girls, for them to have to hang their dresses on! It was such a sweet gesture and you can find identical ones to the ones she made here!
- Monogrammed Wedding Day Bags: A few months before the wedding, my friend Katelyn gave me the tip for these bags! We were told by my planner early on that the day of the wedding, the girls could only bring one bag with them (this is pretty standard), that carried all of their stuff for the day because, after the wedding, my coordinators team would have to load everything up for the girls and if it wasn’t in their one bag, it would probably be forgotten or lost. So my Mother-in-law bought bags and monogrammed them for the girls! We had them laid out on the bed when they arrived to the hotel room and each bag carried all of their gifts inside! We had bags for both of the moms, all of my girls and myself included! You can find similar bags here!
- Handkerchiefs: This was a really sweet gift that Colton and I got for both our moms and my dad. They are embroidered Handkerchiefs, with a little note on the written by us. I wrote one for each of my parents and Colton wrote one for his mom. These made every single one of them cry. We were stumped on sentimental gifts to give them and when I came across these, I knew they would be perfect! The reason we didn’t get one for Colton’s Dad is because he was marrying us and these were to have to hold during the ceremony.
SHOP THE GIFTS
I know this post was long, but I hope it was helpful!
If you have any questions, please leave them below!:)
xo,
Lauren
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