You’ve spent months preparing for the big day – countless hours of trying on dresses, picking stationery, choosing your menu and keeping track of the guest list. Now that the day has finally arrived, there are a number of things that you should bear in mind to ensure everything runs smoothly, as well as avoiding unnecessary stress.
- Pack and drop off your luggage to your venue in advance
Think of everything you’ll need for the day after the wedding – clothing, make-up, toiletries, medication, shoes. Pack it all in advance and drop it off to the venue at least the evening before the wedding – this way you won’t have to worry about whether anyone remembered to pop it into the boot of the car before you left for the ceremony! This is really useful if you are having a party the day after the wedding, staying a second night in the venue or if you are leaving for your honeymoon straight away.
- Re-confirm all of your suppliers
This is a great job to delegate to someone in your bridal party or family (if you trust them!) – otherwise, a ‘day-of’ wedding co-ordinator can take on this task as part of their remit in helping you out for the big day. Confirm the arrangements with all suppliers a couple of weeks before the wedding and again the day before – what time they need to be there by, directions to the venue and give them an alternative contact number should they have any questions on the morning of the wedding. You won’t have time to take calls! Prepare final payments owed to suppliers the day before too – have them allocated into sealed, marked envelopes to avoid confusion, and get a receipt for all payments.
- Pack an emergency kit
This is an essential for any bride – hair clips, hairspray, face powder, lip gloss and lipstick, sewing kit, tights, gel pads for your shoes, tissues, an umbrella and something to keep you warm. Some white chalk is also a good idea as it can hide small stains on your dress.
5 comments
Great information for brides & grooms. I always tell my couples to make sure they include specifically in their overnight bag a few things such credit card information, passports and at least one night’s stay for their carry-on bag (include of lost luggage)
These are really useful tips! I wish I’d dropped off my overnight bag at the hotel the night before my own wedding!
Man, number one is soooo important! I need make a point to remind my brides of this tip. The stories I could tell. Great post!
These are excellent tips, especially for the brides that choose to go without a wedding planner/ wedding coordinator. These are all things that my brides don’t have to concern themselves with. We make sure luggage gets in the proper vehicles or to their suite. We communicate and confirm all details with the vendors and we are never without our trusty emergency kit!
I second Tanza’s comments about at least a one’s nights stay in the carry on bag – I had 1 piece of luggage go missing on the way to our HM destination and arrived 3 days later (thanks to the wonderful efforts of our Sandals staff) but it had all my nice dresses & bathing suits in there – needless to say, I had to go in the pool and to dinner in shorts the 1st 3 days, wasn’t very happy about that!