Weddingbee Blog

I have always had very vivid dreams and, unfortunately, very vivid nightmares. It is not an unusual occurrence that poor Mr. Dalmatian gets woken up to me yelling or crying in my sleep. Occassionally, he himself is still mostly asleep and I get an angry, “What are you doing?!” that he doesn’t recall in the morning, but most of the time it wakes him up enough to know what is going on, and he reassures me that it is just a nightmare and everything is OK. The not-so-pleasant dreams are usually correlated to my stress level, and I can usually find a link to something that is going on during my waking hours. So, I was fully prepared for the onset of wedding dreams.

Soon after I got engaged, I had a dream that we were getting married on a mountaintop. All was going well until…a tsunami hit. Yes, that’s right, our wedding was brutally interrupted by a tidal wave that washed us away. Now, I do not have a degree in psychology, but I’m pretty sure what the tsunami was not so subtly representing was being overwhelmed.

Don’t get me wrong—I love wedding planning. I loved it when we first got engaged, and the feeling has not faded over the last five months. But the fact is, while most of the things that need to be done are fun in my book, there are still lots and lots (and lots) of things that need to be done. As my nightmare so eloquently expressed, even positive things can be overwhelming when they come in such large quantities.

Lesson learned: Relax. Instead of thinking “I need to plan a wedding,” I needed to slow down and take things a little bit at a time. Then, as I gradually crossed things off the list, I would feel more productive and less overwhelmed.

Last night, our wedding once again appeared in my sleep. It was not a chaotic nightmare, but it wasn’t exactly a pleasant dream either. Here’s what happened: We had decided to throw a practice wedding, and I was walking around making a list of all of the things that were right and all of the things that were wrong. No, I was not dancing, or eating cake, or laughing with friends and family. I was walking around with a clipboard in my hand. Not a bouquet. Not my groom’s hand. A freakin’ clipboard.

Lesson learned: Stop stressing over the details! Yes, the details are important, and when they come together they can make for an amazing event. But no table decoration or handmade sign is as important as the fact that you are marrying the man of your dreams and celebrating this with the people you love.

I know I am not the only bride whose wedding consumes their thoughts day and night (literally). Miss Aardvark and Mrs. Parasol have discussed their experiences with nuptial nightmares recently, and I have a hunch that most brides-to-be have had similar experiences. For those of you who manage to only stress about your wedding when you are awake, I am very impressed. For those of you who have spent the night ripping your dress, losing your ring, or knocking over the cake, please share!

What bridal nightmares have you had? What lessons did you learn from them?