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Advice passed down from the May 2011 Brides:
We were given a lot of advice and we wanted to come share some of that with you. We all posted in one place so you didn't get a million posts, so please excuse the randomness of it all.
Take it all in and enjoy, it will be the best day of your life, so far!
1. Go on a date before your wedding. We went on Thursday and it was perfect. We ordered drinks, had a wonderful meal and got back to what the wedding was all about - us.
2. Take at least THREE times during your day to steal away some time for you and your groom. As soon as we walked back down the aisle, we locked ourselves in the coatroom. We took a moment when we were taking pictures and again at the reception. Take in the day - look around A LOT. Thank everyone and tell them you love them.
3. PAY ATTENTION TO DETAILS when you are planning. Not on the day of. You won't care on the day of because you'll be so freaking happy and the little details will not matter. You have a groom? Check! Okay, good to go.
4. Don't worry about sexy underwear under your dress. You will sweat so much your underwear will smell like someone died. Shower and then put on your sexy stuff for your HUSBAND! 
5. Don't worry about your hair/arms/dress or anything else once you start walking down the aisle. It won't matter. Nothing else will except your groom. Lock eyes with him and let everything else melt away.
6. Enjoy it! Smile, laugh, just be married. The world's stress can wait for another day.
7. Be sure to wear comfy shoes to the reception.
8. When you get tired, and you will, keep going. Keep jumping, dancing, running around, having fun. You can rest tomorrow. But don't take it easy. You only get one night, suck every moment out of it that you can. It's 2 days after our wedding now and I'm still extremely sore, but I'm so glad I am.
9. Do it on your wedding night. We were beat, but it's some of the best sex we've ever had. It was so amazing knowing he is my husband.
10. Your wedding day will be the most wonderful and happiest day of your life to date. You won't understand this yet, but when you say I Do, you will. And when you see that ring on your husband's finger, you will understand what sexy really is.
If someone offers to help you out, whether it be parent, sibling, or whoever, let them help you. Our good friends served the whole wedding party because they felt like it. (We had a buffet) I was so greatful because I was able to sit and take everything in.
If youre getting married outdoors expect your dress to get dirty. I did everything I could to keep that from happpening but some of the best pics my photographer got was us on the ground (in the dirt basically). Also wear strudy shoes, no one will know. I wore 3 inches heels and almost took a nose dive at the altar. Thank goodness for my dad. Oh and one last bit of outdoor advise, if youre having your own music devices, test them. I cant stress this enough. We tried two different stereo systems and neither played our CD. DHs friend ended up playing the music from our car. It worked out perfect but he did miss parts of the wedding.
I know these things might have already been said, but I will repeat.
-Drink lots of water (if you haven't started already start now, it's good for your skin!)
-The backwards pee thing does work (trust me, I had a HUGE dress), and my BM's even volunteered to help me hold up my dress--they are angels
-Smile. It's true, people are taking pictures everywhere
-Bring deodorant w/you. I felt like I was sweating all. day
-Eat when told
-If you aren't happy w/your hair, make up, etc. say something. You're paying them.
Eat before the ceremony!!
Drink lots to stay hydrated throughout the day.
Don't sweat the small stuff, everything will turn out perfectly, and it something isn't perfect, no one will notice.
Take a few minutes to sit down and eat your wedding cake! My husband didn't, and he was sad he missed it.
Dance your butts off! We danced the entire night, and it was fabulous to see all the people who were out dancing because we were.
Always remember to relax and breathe. As stressful as planning as a wedding is, you always have to remember the endgame of marrying the one you love. And honestly, if it doesn't get done or isn't exactly right, it doesn't matter, so long as the one you are marrying is the right one. And some things that seem huge, you may not even remember to notice when you get to the day.
That you need to set aside some time with you and your fiance and just talk/ exsist about anything OTHER than wedding. It helps to remember that once this day is done, you will return to your regularly schedule program of life. And it helps to keep it in check, by removing (destressing) you from the whole wedding nonesense. Also, always try to remember to have fun!
If you have something complicated for someone to do, type or write it out for them, at least a week prior to the wedding. I put a cousin in charge of cleaning out items of ours from the church so they wouldn't be left behind, and it was great to know that little stuff was covered and not a problem.
I was awake at 3am on the wedding day and thought of a few little details that didn't mean much but bothered me- allocate them to someone and let them go, its the best feeling ever!
Practice your makeup. Really.
About a week before your wedding you will doubt all your beauty choices. Breathe and quit obsessing.
Take mistakes in stride. Our baker made the wrong flavor for our cake, and did a less-than ok job on the cupcakes. Our bouts had green floral tape instead of ribbon, and my bouquet was half the size I had asked for. Couldn't do anything about it, and guests didn't even notice!
You can't control the weather! It rained on our day, but we still got some pictures outside, and the cloud cover made for BETTER pictures--no squinting!
Bridesmaids are there to help. If you need someting done, don't be afraid to delegate.
Write a note, make a card, but do something cute for your groom to let him know your feelings privately, in a cute way before the ceremony.
Don't rush around worried that you aren't spending enough time with your guests. They understand that you have lots to do, and will likely come find you to say hello/goodbye.
I know you're going to be told this over and over, but when you're walking down the aisle, look at the man you're walking up to. As I was walking, I saw a friend of mine as I first came in, but then I focused on my husband and he had a huge smile on his face as he watched me walk.
Be patient at the reception. You're going to be pulled in so many different directions by people demanding your attention. Just go with it. They all came to see you, so do your best to be gracious and smile and put your attention on them.
Also, that timeline you created for the reception, be flexible. It won't go as planned because people will throw things in there. Give yourself some cushion just in case and just enjoy yourself. Luckily, I gave myself plenty of cushion, so when our photographer wanted to take us outside for sunset pictures, or do pictures with the 4 different families, there was no problem.
Breathe, relax and enjoy your day. It will go by so fast. I was so nervous all day leading up to the ceremony because I do not like being the center of attention and I knew all eyes would be on me. The moment the church doors opened and I started walking to my husband, I forgot all of that and it all went away. I couldn't even tell you who was there. I had even wanted the drapes open during the ceremony, but it wasn't until we were doing our pictures that I noticed they were closed. So just enjoy it. It'll only happen once and it goes by so fast.
Stop a take a moment to take it all in..it goes by quick! Enjoy every minute of your day. I had the makeup artist tell me I was one of the calmest brides she ever worked with. I am a very type A person and was cool as a cucumber throughout the whole planning process and wedding day. I think it was because I planned everything down to a science and I knew something would go wrong. I was lucky enough to only have one small glitch that no one noticed but me- my sweetheart table didn’t have pickups in the table skirt like I asked. No biggie. All in all the best piece of advice is enjoy every minute and dance the night away with your husband!! I hope everyone enjoys their wedding day as much as I enjoyed mine.
Do not assume ANYTHING. Do not assume the bridesmaids will know to help you, do not assume the wedding party will know not to enter the reception till everyone has arrived, do not assume everyone will know where to stand, do not assume that you will be able to take pictures in a different location other than the ceremony and reception venues etc.
Practice, practice, practice. Your wedding party may get tired of walking in and out 20 times, but untill it's right keep doing it. Make sure everyone takes it seriously, and knows where to go AFTER the ceremony as well as before.
There will be plenty of things you will just have to :wing" and "go with the flow", try not to let them stress you out.
Make sure someone has water for you to drink throughout the day!
Our ceremony was in the open air, and was followed by a long walk and no one had water and we didn't happen to pass by any stores, so by the time we got to the restaurant we were so thirsty! The first thing we did when we arrived - we both drank a bottle of still mineral water each
So, have someone (or everyone) carry a bottle of water for you!
And print out the advices you find helpful to read before the wedding. I made a printout for myself and kept it in my purse. I read it everytime I was worried about the wedding, and it had this wonderful calming effect on me. I read it one last time on the morning of our wedding and it did help me to remember all the important things and feel relaxed all day.
No matter what your friends insist on, don't go out after your rehearsal dinner and do a bunch of shots! Ha ha, I engaged in my own version of The Hangover the night before my wedding and was sick until 4 the next day! If you do anyway....bloody mary's are your best friend!
Dance, dance, dance! It was so fun dancing with everyone at my wedding, probably my favorite part (besides marring H), so make sure you get out there and shake it whenever you can!
Don't worry about those "boring" people who just sit there and look annoyed. If they don't want to have fun, that's not your problem! And maybe they're enjoying themselves in their own way!
Make sure someone knows how to lace your dress the right way! It took my girls 40 minutes and that cut out 40 minutes of photo time!
Smile. People will be taking loads of pictures of you and they might not warn you. Just be ready and be happy.
Things will go wrong. They forgot the FG basket tablecloths and my centerpeices. The weather went cold on us. But everyone was happy and I would not change it. Deep breath and go on with your day.
If you haven't hired someone to be in charge day of, ask a close friend to be the contact person and direct everyone to her if something goes wrong. My friend was amazing! Multiple little things went wrong, but I had no idea because everything else was so smoothly executed and my friend dealt with all the little mishaps.
Live in the moment. Everything really does go by so fast. Don't worry about what's coming next, someone will notify of of where you need to be and when.
Focus on what's important- marrying your man, not the family drama or little things that go wrong. I didn't do this for the RD and I was miserable. I had this mastered by the day of the wedding and really enjoyed the whole day because of it.
Before the wedding
-LIST! keep lists and plans for the day. It will help keep you organized and less stressed
- Relax, everything big will get taken care of and all the details will not matter eventually
Day of:
- pee backwards
-pass of all duties to other people
And I second the DOC. It's a must have. You shouldn't have to be in charge of anything except being happy and being married.
And peeing backwards was CLUTCH! And I giggled the whole time.