Top Tip: Managing Expectations
Occasionally, people will ask me, “What is your best piece of advice for our wedding?” While it is hard to narrow it down to just one, I usually offer this:
Don’t expect every single thing to be perfect on your wedding day.
While careful planning and a skilled wedding vendor team can definitely make a wedding day go *almost* perfectly, there will always be one or two things that go at least slightly ary. It is unfortunately part of the reality of dealing with humans and nature. It might rain, someone might misplace the “no phones” sign, or the timeline might get slightly off due to a combination of things out of anyone’s control.
But, as long as you are married at the end of the day, that is ALL THAT MATTERS!
Plus, if you expect everything to be perfect, it will make it that much harder to stay calm when the little things do inevitably happen. If you manage your expectations and accept that there may be things that aren’t exactly perfect, there will be a larger chance of being able to look back on your wedding day for years to come and to think, “Wow - it may not have been 100% perfect, but it was everything I wanted.”
Photos by Shelby Chante Photography
Bonus Story:
I got married in August of 2018. Having been in the wedding industry for 15 years at that point, I went into my wedding planning process and my wedding day with this idea in mind. I knew that in the long run, as long as we were married at the end of the day, that was all that mattered.
I will say that I had one day the week of the wedding, that pretty much everything “hit the fan” so to speak. The Tuesday before my Saturday wedding, the following things happened:
My hairdresser had to back out due to a funeral
I got an email saying that my flowers for the reception would not arrive until the Monday following the wedding
I realized I had accidentally sent my reception exit supplies to my campus mailbox that wouldn’t open for 2 weeks
There was a little bit of family drama just to kind of send me over the edge
Despite all of this, we got married that Saturday - My hair looked great (shoutout to Deb with Creative Shots Photography for hooking me up with Jillian of Gloss Makeup and Hair who miraculously happened to have a free Saturday in the middle of wedding season), my flowers did arrive on time (technology and automated emails can be dangerous), I was able to rush order new supplies, and the family stuff resolved itself as most family squabbles do.
And I can honestly say, our wedding day was nearly perfect!! I know there were a couple of things that were slightly off, but it didn’t matter because I knew that Caleb and I were all that truly mattered that day.❤️