Bar Prep Classes & Wedding?

Jennifer&Nate

I know there are several law students/grads here, so I'm hoping some of you have thought this through and can help me!

I'm trying to plan a wedding for right after I graduate law school in May 2012. I've already decided to take the advice of the board and plan the honeymoon for after the bar. But deciding on a goal wedding date is so stressful because I'm trying to avoid missing too many bar prep classes. I've e-mailed Kaplan and they didn't have the dates for 2012 yet. Should I just plan the wedding for the week after I graduate and make up a class or two online if necessary? I'm so afraid of screwing myself over and failing the bar!

jennyp08

I actually scheduled my wedding for the week before Spring Break.  I know things will be crazy around graduation, and I didn't want to be worried about bar exam and wedding at the same time.  This way, the wedding will be over, then I can focus on graduation, the bar exam and classes, etc.

And honestly--having graduation the week before your wedding will be such chaos, in my opinion.  If you want to enjoy both, I'd space it out some.  

MrsMLRB

I am speaking on behalf of my FI right now, who is a 3L. When we got engaged, he was very adamant that we wait until after the bar (I really wanted to get married Memorial day weekend). Under pressure from me, he asked friends of his who had taken the bar what they thought and all of them said to not have a wedding prior to taking the bar. They told him that is was so stressful and that he should definitely not get married while preparing for the bar. So I would say wait until after you take the bar.

NOLAbridealmost

I am getting married the day after I graduate from law school and the day before the BarBri classes start (it was unintentional, I thought I'd have a week off between graduation and the first day of BarBri, but that was, sadly, not the case). 

I've made the decision to risk it and skip a couple BarBri classes, but I am making that decision knowing that I am a pretty fast learner and that I usually test well under pressure.  I think you should trust yourself: you know how well you learn under pressure, you know how long it takes you to process new information, you know your study habits. 

But aside from the general advice to just go with your gut instinct and trust that you know your study capabilities better than any poster on this board, if you have to get married at any point during the bar prep it is likely better to get married early in the Kaplan/BarBri process because you'll have more time to catch up before actually taking the bar.

I REALLY agree with PP who said to maybe do it during spring break.  I would have absolutely done that myself if I didn't have other non-law school related commitments at that time. 

Good luck!  Trust yourself. 

HiddenPaw

I'm also getting married the week before spring break.  I think planning and getting ready for a wedding during finals would just drive me BONKERS.  I mean, finals are stressful enough already!  I don't want to be focusing on anything but exams during that time.  Getting married right after the bar exam poses the same problems in my mind.  I'd be so distracted by wedding stuff that I wouldn't be able to focus on the bar exam.  So that's why we're not getting married directly after graduation, or after the bar.

As far as bar prep classes go, I would also not skip those.  I'm still a 3L so also don't have experience with that, but I wouldn't want to have that concern hanging over my head during the happiest day of my life.