Five Points For The Day Before Your Wedding Day

Published in High Country Wedding Guide, Winter 2009

The most important day of your life is tomorrow and you are either excited and confident, or frayed and frazzled. How well are you prepared to handle crunch time?

Organization
Whether you choose to hire a wedding planner, a wedding day coordinator, or to handle all the details yourself, the key to a seamless event is organization, organization, organization. The day before your special day will demonstrate how well you have organized. If you are a highly organized individual this will be second nature. If you are not, then by all means find someone who can help you stay on top of everything. “My fiancé’ and I are both highly organized people. We knew to pay attention to every detail and double check ourselves”, says Jeannine O’Grody, who recently married at her father’s mountain home in Banner Elk. Her guests commented they were invited into a scene out of the Great Gatzby. Jeannine, her fiancé John, and their wedding planner executed every detail with a keen eye.

Preparation
The day before your special day will reveal how much you thought through the details. Appointments booked in advance for yourself, your bridesmaids, and family members will help keep the day in order. No item is too small to be considered. The misconception that a smaller event doesn’t need as much attention to the details as a large one is just that, a misconception. Often the smaller events can be in greater need of a sharp eye to detail. Advance preparation for seating arrangements, transportation for bridal party and guests, overnight accommodations, gift bags, party favors, hair, makeup, and nail appointments all booked in advance will make a smoother eve of the wedding day.
Back up
Don’t neglect the backup plan. In fact, let your backup plan have a backup plan. On the day before the wedding this assures that you can relax knowing that all your bases are covered. If you keep in mind Murphy’s Law that anything could go wrong, will, and have a plan of action, you won’t feel the need to chew those freshly manicured nails. This plan also includes your vendors. When booking your vendors don’t be afraid to ask your wedding planner, wedding officiate, florist, photographer, musician or DJ if they have someone to step in should something unforeseen prevents them from personally fulfilling their contracted obligation to you. Even if they do have someone to step in, it doesn’t hurt to keep a backup plan to the backup plan in mind. One bride recently shared that she wasn’t all that happy with the results of the pre-do from the stylist she hired. Although she had a backup stylist, this bride used the free time she had the day before the wedding to scout for a couple of other stylists. This bride scored in finding the right hair stylist, and with that important detail out of the way, she was ready for any other changes she needed to make.
Flexibility
How well can you adapt to change? Are you ok with punting in the home stretch? This is where you can find out whether you will perceive your wedding event as a success or disaster. Changes are inevitable. If you can go with the flow and be at ease with change, your guests will never know the difference. They will never know that the caterer called the day before and stated that the side vegetable will be Brussels sprouts instead of the braised asparagus. It may not be what you wanted initially, but in the overall view of what is the most important, the vegetable side dish is the least of them. Remain flexible and everyone will think you are the most gracious of brides. Expect hiccups, last minute changes and adjustments. It makes interesting conversation and it’s the stuff of which memories are made of. If the organization and preparation are tightly in place, then the last minute challenges are not nearly so worrisome. On one other note, according to Linda Ford of NC Dreammakers Weddings, “Don’t be a stickler to the clock. Be aware the day before that a timeline is necessary, but it too can be adjusted.”
Time Out
Finally, remember your wedding day is the launching of the marriage and not the marriage itself. You and your future spouse need to take time together to be alone, even if it is only thirty minutes. This is the person you are planning to spend the rest of your life with , and you both need to make the time to touch base, connect, regroup and refocus for a little while on the eve of the biggest day of your lives. All the countless hours, days, weeks, and months of planning will pale in comparison to the reason the two of you choose to spend your lives together.