Wedding Blog

The final weeks of planning have been a little overwhelming. Even when you do as much as you can in advance, there will always be last minute issues like missing kilts and a rainy weather forecast. It is so easy to freak out over things you cannot control, and obsess over the things that are going wrong. It is important to remember the important things—marriage, family and love.

I awoke on Saturday morning to find a wonderful email from my friend J who lives in Los Angeles. She has been following my blog and saw that it had been a difficult week. Her words were so comforting and really helped me put it in perspective. She got married in June and could relate to my situation. I asked her if I could share her words of wisdom and she was happy to oblige. Without further ado…

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Hey Babe!
I’m seeing on your blog that you are encountering all sorts of stressors and I thought I’d send you an email pep talk.

Take a deep breath!

One more.

Alright, do that every once in a while, and then remind yourself that in a month, you’ll be back to your same old schedule, living in your same old apartment, wearing your same old clothes, hanging out with your same old friends, reading the same old web pages, kissing your same old Mr. PN.

You’ll have fun and funny memories of your wedding because you handled these problems GRACEFULLY and with the knowledge that while your wedding was incredibly important and you wanted it to be beautiful and wonderful, you remembered that it is these problems that will make those memories wonderful. Perfection is boring. Do your very best to roll with the punches, not have panic attacks because of them. Grace, grace.

This may sound easier said than done, but you can do it. You are a strong, sensible woman and you can use your mind to stay calm. For perspective: our DJ backed out three weeks before, Seattle was in the 50s and raining the week before (in JUNE!?), I forgot to order plates for the reception and the owners of the farm used a chainsaw to cut a door in the barn DURING THE RECEPTION. And those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. What an AMAZING wedding and reception we had. If we hadn’t had any problems, I don’t know if I would be so proud of how it all turned out.

I know hindsight makes it easier to appreciate these things, but just know that you’ll be fine. Real problems are cancer, hurricanes, car accidents, and war. Your wedding will be wonderful, kilt or not, warm or wet. We love you and can’t wait to witness your marriage. And the calmer you are in preparation for that, the most wonderful part of it all is that the more incredible it will be. Be calm for that moment. It is amazing.

Take another deep breath. You will be fine.

I love you.
J

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I really appreciate these words of wisdom and will incorporate them into our own planning process.

How have your friends and family helped you keep things in perspective?