Last minute wedding tips

[PeopleAreToads]

I get married in just over a week, and the stress is finally hitting and I'm looking for some advice from wise mumsneters

What might I have forgotten to do/pack? Any tips or advice for the day?

There's an app called Bridebook that has a very detailed to do list. Honestly a lot of the stuff is N/A but they've covered everything so might be worth going through that list if you're feeling anxious.

I'm sure everything is in order and you haven't forgotten anything though. Wishing you a wonderful wedding day when it comes! ❤️

I told myself if we'd sorted the legal bit and we knew food and drink was going to appear all the rest was optional!

Which did lead to me making a music playlist for the reception while getting my hair done the day of the wedding, so admittedly it might not be the best advice ...

But:
Clothes & shoes sorted?
Transport between venues sorted (if necessary)?
Do all the people who you expect to do things on the day know what you expect them to do?
Rings?
Music?
Final deposits paid?
Money to pay people that need paid on the day / tips?

Remeber the most important thing is you are marrying the person you love.

Everything else like flowers or dances or photos is just stuff. It is nice if it goes well, but it doesn't matter in the great scheme of things.

25 years married.

Advice from a couple of friends who married:

Hide a tissue in your bouquet. You probably think you won't cry but you might and you'll be glad to have a tissue in your hand to dab at your eyes and nose.

Wear matte lipstick so you don't transfer lipstick onto your husband when you kiss him at the end of the ceremony. One friend was looking at photos after the wedding and she thought, "what's wrong with husband's mouth?!". Then she suddenly realised, "oh! He's got red lipstick smudged across his mouth"!

This is the kind of reassurance I needed! Just have to remember the really important stuff is sorted, and the nice to haves won't matter much on the day

Stick with the main group of guests most of the time. We spent too much time saying bye to people that left early so we missed out on time with people who were there for the long haul.

If you have young children try and find someone not in the wedding party so wrangle them for the day. Someone in my wedding party was meant to wrangle mine but they ended up being too busy sorting their own hair etc that I got stressed for time to sort myself.

I use the Efficient Bride Guide App. Brilliant for last minute tips. I think it’s only £2 or something.

Advice I read and glad I did:

If anything goes wrong with the day there is nothing you can do to fix it. Just enjoy it.

I had the most chilled out day. No dramas, it was relaxed and I took it all in. And remember every moment. So many brides I know talk about the things that went wrong on their big day. But because I didn't care about it I can happily say I don't know if anything went wrong. Because we had a bloody good time!

Make sure you eat. Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I agree with @TeenDivided stuff doesn’t matter. Enjoy your day.

Tip for anyone doing speeches though is either limit yourself to two drinks or none until after your speech. Went to a wedding where the best man couldn’t string a sentence together and it was embarrassingly awkward for everyone.

Make sure you wear comfy shoes.

If you wear contacts but not normally nails, look up how to take them out without panicking at midnight.

Have someone agreed to help you out your dress if needed.

Someone nominated to put aside anything you want - food, or otherwise - we had brownies and biscuits as well as wedding cake, and while we had loads of cake left, never saw hide nor hair of the brownies! Likewise if you wanted to keep certain placecards or other bits - some venues will keep everything to one side and others bin it.

The best man has been warned about this! We have unlimited drinks in our package during the meal so opted to do speeches first 😂

Don't wear SPF on your face, it's not good for having professional photos.

When I got married, my husband and I worked a lot and often traveled, so preparing for the wedding was problematic. If you are in the same situation, I advise you to contact the wedding agency so that they take care of the organizational issues.
Also, to double-check myself, I kept checklists. I asked each wedding vendor to fill out wedding contracts (I took documents from that site).
Keeping papers and an agency helped and prepare a dream wedding for us!
And, of course, don't forget to bring a change of comfortable shoes! 😃