What I Wish I Did Differently | Help!

Happy Wednesday! We asked married ladies to give us their best “What I Wish I Did Differently” advice (catch up here) and one thing we heard a lot didn’t surprise us at all. In fact, it’s something that we talk about with every couple that we meet. We’ve seen it happen at many of our weddings, and every time it does we think “how can we make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else?”

“I wish I had asked for more help.” It’s such a simple concept, but it can be really hard to do! If you are engaged, or will be eventually, please please PLEASE take the advice from ladies who have been there and done that. You do NOT need to lift a finger on your wedding day! Not just you, but also your immediate family- unless your sister is your Maid of Honor or your brother is the Best Man… in that case it’s their job to help you! This day is far too special for you and your parents to miss it because you’re too busy trying to make it all come together.

Real Life Example

We were photographing the bridal details the morning of the wedding while sounds of giddy chit chat, giggles and the Wedding Day Pandora playlist filled the bride’s getting ready room. The bride and her bridesmaids were running perfectly on schedule and having a blast. Time for the bride to begin getting dressed was growing closer, and we started to get concerned. We noticed that the bride’s mother had been scurrying around trying to make sure everyone had what they needed when they needed it, then started assembling the boutonnieres. We were about 5 minutes away from the bride needing to get into her dress when her mom finished the boutonnieres and began to get ready herself. The bride had her heart set on having her mom in the photos of her getting into her wedding dress, but wanted to wait for her to get into her MOB dress and at least put her makeup on. We made the most of the time we had, but ended up running about 25 minutes late for the first look. (And this is why we build in “cushion” time in the wedding day timeline 🙂 ) For most brides, the time spent with the special ladies in her life as she prepares to see her groom, is one of the most treasured few hours of her life. When you don’t ask for help, you end up doing things that distract from the significance of the day and cause unnecessary stress. Thankfully this bride is one of the most laid-back and COOLEST ladies ever, so she didn’t get bent out of shape over it. Regardless, she and her mom were only able to enjoy a few minutes together, until her mom had to get back to her wedding duties.

People Love to Help

When it comes to your wedding day, you’d be surprised how much people love the chance to help! When the unthinkable happened and our own wedding coordinator had to withdraw from her duties only one week before our wedding day, we called on a dear friend with impeccable organizational skills to come to the rescue. She was more than willing to step in and save the day. The bride should not be the one to tell the wedding party when to walk down the aisle, and her mother shouldn’t be making sure everyone has eaten lunch. Find a few friends, aunts or cousins who are trustworthy, punctual and responsible to help you out. If you are having a DIY-style wedding, find someone else to assemble the boutonnieres and reception centerpieces. If you hire a coordinator, make sure you have a solid understanding of what their services include, and find someone to help cover things that your coordinator doesn’t.

If we haven’t convinced you that you need to ask for more help on your wedding day, then you must be Superwoman and your groom is one lucky guy 🙂 If you’re not Superwoman, take off the proverbial superhero cape and just ask for help!

Have a fabulous Wednesday!