Prncss173 advice on

getting ready...or before the ceremony

Hello beautiful ladies! Overall our day was PERFECT!!! I couldn't have dreamed of a more magnificent day it was everything we dreamed of. I of course want to leave you ladies with some advice for your big days, so I am going to break the wedding up into pieces and give you some suggestions on what I thought went really well and what I would recommend doing differently, so here it goes!

1.) Shoes are amazing...I am obsessed, I have heard a lot of brides say not to spend a ton of money and I must agree. My friend made these shoes for me, so they were totally free, but after the ceremony I switched right into my boots and thank goodness...you want to be comfortable and though heels are adorable they aren't comfy. (For those of you doing personalized shoes...I put mine in a shadow box for all to see and people loved it...along with our vows framed on each side) I think I would have been upset had I spend a ton on my shoes.

2.) Bring shoes to change into for you and your girls...I got them all little black boots, which made trucking through the snow perfect, you can do flip flops for the summer, but they are all still thanking me for those boots, which saved their feet and mine!

3.) My hair lady was an hour late, she didn't do exactly what we had discussed for the girls hair, so she was running even later...that being said if you have a lot of girls have a back up plan (one of my bridesmaids started doing the other girls hair) or bring more than one person)

4.) I do recommend if possible getting ready on the property and having everything come to you. It saves so much time and relieves a lot of stress on the day...especially if anything is running late.

5.) I recommend wearing your hair up...so many of my friends have worn their hair down and it starts to go flat by the end of the night...having it it up it was never in my face or an issue, but still looked beautiful.

6.) I know a lot of girls love the tutu dresses...I had a phattie pie dress for my flower girls and then got a full on tutu thing for my guest book attendant (in pic 7). It was super cute, but it had a ton of static going on, was really itchy, kept getting bigger through the night, so eventually I had her switch into her little shirt I had made that said the crew, just a recommendation if you are looking at this type of dress.

7.) I loved my poofy dress, but make sure you bring pins just in case your bustle breaks (like mine) thank goodness someone had them and it was cake to pin back up, but without them I would have been in big trouble.

8.) The boudoir book went great! He loved the letters with a pic every hour and thought it was a great gift :)

9.) I personally LOVED that we didn't see each other before the ceremony. It was such a great built up excitement and then my husband who I have never ever seen get really emotional welled up with tears the moment he saw me. I feel like I wouldn't have had the same bouncing joy that I did had I already been spending time with him hours before. I was concerned about pictures, but we did a day after shoot and it was magical and I would recommend it to EVERYONE! You can do a trash the dress style or not, but just a day to take photos together...it lays off the pressure on the wedding day, so you get photos together, but everything isn't super rushed and then you get that intimate loving time without a whole lot of people around watching right after. I thought it worked out amazingly! Not to mention our wedding day alone we ended up with 1500 BREATHTAKING photos I can't imagine needing a ton more than that! :)

10.) I recommend a hair trail though not totally necessary, but I don't think a make up trail is necessary. Hair is just a good idea if your hair is weird like mine and is super thick and doesn't hold curl well, etc, etc.

11.) The personalized hangers with the girls names worked out so well! It not only was a great gift for them that provided for cute pics, but it kept all the dresses straight. When they all have the same dresses and similar sizes it is good to have something that distinguishes which on is which.

If you girls have any questions about this part feel free to ask or anything leading up to the ceremony. Next to come is advice for the ceremony, our group pics and our vows :)