Be prepared for the unprepared.

When people tell me that they are getting married soon, this is the number one advice I give them because not only is it true about marriage in everyday life, it is definitely true about the wedding day, especially outdoor weddings.

Let’s just say we were NOT prepared at all. And hopefully you can learn from our mistakes.

-We could not decorate until the morning of and instead of letting others handle it I decided that I wanted to help. Bad idea. I was late to everything else the rest of the day, even the wedding.

Lessons learned: Have decorations close to venue. The bride does not have to help decorate if it will cause more stress. And decorate early if can.

-Please let your soon to be husband know that you have more to do then he does to get ready for the big day. Men only have to put on their tux, show up a little before the wedding, and relax. So what happened on my wedding day because of this? Chad kept texting me and asking me details about what was going on all day… when I did not have a clue and did not have time to have a clue.

Lessons learned: Have a paper for things that are needed to know for the whole bridal party (e.g. where decorations go, picture times, when to show up, etc.), we also did not get to do the sand ceremony because it was not placed out there because nobody but me knew. Let your man know you are not ignoring him that day, but you will be busier and to just be

patience.

-We did not do pictures until after the wedding, which meant half the guests left even before we really got to talk to them or get any pictures with them as well.

Lessons learned: try and get as many pictures of the bridal party if you can before the wedding. Have a receiving line so you can say hello to your guests for a couple of minutes at least (we did this, but I still do not think it was enough). Snag pictures of people that want to leave early before the bridal party pictures. Ask family members to take pictures of guests at your wedding. I got a lot of good shots of things from other people that were taking pictures when I did not know. 

-Summer outdoor weddings are HOT!

Lessons learned: Balloons pop. People leave right after the wedding. Cakes melt.

-Lastly, as I stated before I ended up late to my wedding.

Lessons learned: Be as close to the venue as possible when getting ready, I had a friend that lived closer than what I planned and should have gotten ready there.

Even though all these disasters happened on my wedding day and at times I thought I was going to die of embrassement, the wedding still went on and Chad and I were still married. Once again I found out who really loved us that day because a few people stayed out in the hot weather to wait to see us after pictures and helped us clean up and we still had a blast that day and will remember that day forever as perfect because we got to marry each other.