So this is going to be my 3rd and final part of seeing wedding planning from the side of the bride & groom and not that of a wedding vendor. It’s just a few things I’ve learned in the past few months and especially weeks. It’s been about 2 1/2 weeks since I married my beautiful bride Danielle and it’s been a whirlwind of a few weeks. In addition to a few of the things I’ve learned which I’ll elaborate on shortly, one of the biggest things is that no matter what married couples will tell you about your wedding day, you’ll never be truly prepared for what a monumental and amazing day and time in your life that it is. It sounds cliche but our wedding day exceeded everything we thought it would be. We knew it would be a great day and were pretty certain everyone would enjoy it but it was even better than we imagined. But enough boasting about my awesome wedding lol. Ok here are a few things I learned/would recommend:

Mike wrote a great blog earlier about why you should do a first look or “reveal” as opposed to seeing each other for the first time at the actual ceremony. Danielle and I had our ceremony on site at the Eagle Ridge Golf Club. So for timing reasons alone, we did a first look because had we not we would’ve had to do all of our formal shots in 1 hour and miss our entire cocktail hour. Not only did we not want to rush, but we wanted to enjoy our cocktail hour and use that time to see our guests. Now if you’re having a church ceremony, the timing issue doesn’t apply but that doesn’t mean you still shouldn’t do a first look. Danielle was afraid that if we did a first look it would take away from that moment I saw her coming down the aisle. I told her months ago and can definitively say now that it did not in anyway. That was still an incredibly special moment. But when I saw her for the first time during our first look, I got to not only feel all the emotion but was able to act on it and didn’t have to hold anything back..tears…words…or actions. And being able to have that 100% organic moment makes for some of the best photos and video moments of your day.

One of the things that I heard over and over was how fast the wedding will go. Well, I can wholeheartedly say that that is very true. Ever since my wedding and I see one of my coworkers or one of my wedding guests I always say “I wish I had more time to hang or talk with you”. But the truth is, that is 100% normal. I’m so glad we got to see and at least briefly speak with all of our guests and after speaking with a few of my friends they all said that there’s no way to be able to actually hang out with everyone at your wedding because there just isn’t enough time. On that note, since time will fly by that night and you only have 4 maybe 5 hours to enjoy it, definitely take a moment or 2 and step back and really soak it all in. Not only are you marrying your best friend and love of your life, but you have a room filled with all of your friends and family and loved ones and they are there to celebrate that with you. So at some point in the night, even while people are dancing, just take a few steps off the dance floor with your wife/hubby and just look around and let that moment sink in, you’ll be glad you did.

The last thing isn’t so much a suggestion or advice but something I learned. I was kind of aware of it but once I was at my wedding it definitely rang true. Along the way, there will be bumps…there will be disagreements…and there will probably even be arguments. We had a little of each with our planning, some with our friends and family and some with each other. But in the end…none of it matters. When you are sharing your first dance with your husband or seeing how amazingly gorgeous your wife looks for the first time or rocking with all of your guests on the dance floor…does anything else really matter??? The 2-3 weeks before a wedding are probably more stressful than all the planning before that and I even joked with my mom at one point that no way I would do all this again (for obvious reasons of course because I married the greatest person I’ve ever known and we will be together forever!!!). But the day after the wedding and I was able to sit back and let it sink in, I told Danielle that I would go through it all a million times again if it meant I got to marry her. So no matter how crazy things get or stressful it seems, just never lose sight of what you’re doing and why you’re doing it and just enjoy that you’ve found your happily ever after 🙂