Weddingbee Blog

In the past when I’d hear people say their wedding day was the best day of their lives, I thought it was kind of bullshit. I mean, how could one day, with so much stress, work and different variables associated with it, be the best day of your life? There’s so much pressure, and things are bound to go wrong…right?

Things are especially bound to go wrong if you are the type of person who sweats the small stuff. And believe me, I am master of sweating the small stuff. But in the week leading up to the wedding day, something happened. I made a conscious decision that I was going to do everything in my power to have the best day of my life. I knew I wouldn’t be able to control the uncontrollable—but I would be able to control myself and how I reacted to things. So I made some goals for my wedding day:

1. Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff – Have Fun!

This was my biggest goal and I’m happy to say it was a success!

One of the things that helped make this goal a reality was finishing all my lingering DIY projects the Wednesday before the wedding. Mr. Jelly made me promise that after we were done with all the projects we had planned, I would not add any last-minute projects to the list. This was easier said than done, but I (grudgingly, at times) stuck to it. Being done with the projects early allowed me to relax and spend time with family and friends the days before the wedding, which really got me into the spirit of the wedding weekend.

The other thing that helped me avoid wedding day stress was having other people deal with problems that came up on the wedding day. There were several times when someone would come up to me to tell me something that was going on, or went wrong, and my response would be something like “why are you telling me?” followed by “have [insert name of DOC/helpful family/friend] deal with it].” We hired our venue’s amazing DOC and she made everything run like clockwork, so not many things went wrong. But when small things here and there needed attention, I refused to be bothered by it. [I know that might sound snotty, but here’s my point: as a bride, you spend months and months pouring your heart into wedding planning, but when the wedding day comes, you have to enjoy being the bride. It’s your one day, and everyone else can help out and make sure it goes according to plan. You just have to trust them.] And you know what? Someone else took care of it, and I was none the wiser. Everything came out great.

Enjoying puppy kisses after the ceremony. [Photo by Cliff Brunk]

2. Eat

I’ve heard of too many weddings where the bride and groom don’t get to eat. Therefore, I made it my goal—nay, my mission—to enjoy our wedding food. And enjoy it I did. Because our venue serves the bride and groom with each of the 3 entrees served, I ended up eating 1/2 NY steak, 1 chicken breast and 5 raviolis. And two pieces of cake. No starving bride here!

“Sorry honey, I need to finish stuffing my face with delicious buttered bread before I can speak to you.” [guest photo]

Enjoying my first piece of wedding cake during our slideshow. [guest photo]

3. Dance. A lot.

My vision for our wedding reception was a crazy dance party…and that’s what it turned out to be. We were on the dance floor from our first dance all the way until the end of the reception. Of course, this meant that we didn’t go around to all the tables, but this was a conscious decision on our part. We had 23 tables, and we simply would not have had time to dance if we had gone around to all of them. So we decided to dance with our guests instead. Those who wanted to say hi to us came up to our sweetheart table or joined us on the dance floor.

Dancing up a storm with my new hubby. [guest photo]

4. Stay up for the after party

I’m the kind of person who tends to fall asleep after a glass of wine/beer/any alcohol, really. But I really didn’t want to miss our afterparty, so Mr. Jelly packed a couple of Red Bulls for me in our hotel suite. Come after-party time, I was ready to go! Long after the after-party was over, I was hanging out with the Mr., my brother and a few other groomsmen, finally going to sleep at around 3 am. Red Bull gives you wings indeed.

Our wedding day was stress-free, fun, and full of love and laughter, and I think setting wedding day goals really helped me to make the most out of it by forcing me to think about my priorities.

Are you setting any goals for your wedding day? What are they?