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It’s the start of the year, which means that if you’re at a certain time in your life, wedding invitations and save-the-dates are probably starting to pile up in your mailbox. Everyone loves a wedding – they’re joyful occasions, plus you get to see a group of friends that you might have lost touch with and enjoy an open bar and lots of great food. But that doesn’t mean that you’ll be looking forward to wedding season whole-heartedly. If you’ve been through a break-up, or you don’t want to sit at the singles table, or you don’t know many people who’ll be attending, you might be looking at the upcoming wedding season with a little trepidation. Luckily, there are ways to make it a lot more bearable…
Your Wedding Preparations
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If you’re helping one of your friends prepare for her wedding with your crafting skills, it’s absolutely okay to have some mixed feelings, but it’s important that you do your best to put those aside so you can help to enthuse about her big day. If you’re a bridesmaid or the maid of honour, it’s your responsibility to help your friend plan her wedding, and it’s also your responsibility to be a shoulder for her to cry on if she needs it. Of course, that doesn’t mean that you should endorse any bad bridezilla behaviour, but cut her some slack if she’s being a pain – it’s one of the most important days of her life and there’s a lot of pressure to make a wedding a great day for all your family and friends.
If you’re not sure about how exactly you should be helping with wedding preparations, then all you have to do is ask. Your friend will appreciate it and you’ll feel more certain about what you should be doing. If your friend is right at the start of wedding prep than you can give your opinion on her place cards and invites – make sure you do your research so if she’s stressed out you can point her towards wedding stationery from Paper Themes to make her life a little easier. Be as positive as possible about her whole day – even if you don’t love her theme or ideas, be optimistic and supportive as much as possible, unless what she wants is completely unfeasible!
Your Personal Planning
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If you’re nervous about an upcoming wedding that you’ll be attending, you’ll feel considerably better once you have some plans in place and you know exactly what you’re going to be doing that day. First of all, make sure that you have all the information that you need, so that you can plan how you’re going to travel to the venue and where – or if! – you’re going to be staying in a hotel that night. If you’re single, you might have to pay more for a hotel room, but at least you’ll get to really enjoy it and plan the day exactly how you want it to go! Turn it into a little vacation for yourself as well as a celebration for your friend, and book tickets and your hotel in advance so they’re cheaper.
It’s also important to make sure that you budget carefully. Weddings are expensive for the bride and groom but they’re also very expensive for those attending, particularly if you’ve also gone to the bridal shower and the bachelorette party. Make sure that you stick within your budget and that you aren’t too generous. If you don’t live close by, tell the bridge that you can only attend either the shower or the bachelorette party, and send a small gift and a card with a sincere, loving note written in it. Remember that although it feels good to be generous, your friends won’t want you to bankrupt yourself for their wedding!
Your Outfit
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If you plan out your outfit in advance, then a weight will lift off your shoulders and you’ll feel a lot less worried about the wedding. Look online for an outfit that’ll suit you, and order plenty of dresses and shoes so you can try them on in the comfort of your own home under flattering lighting instead of having to fight dresses on and off under neon lighting in changing rooms in stores. Just make sure you order them right after you pay your credit card bill so you can send them all back before you have to pay your next one!
A lot of people think that buying a good dress means that you’re covering up the parts of your body that you don’t like or that you don’t feel confident about – and there is an element of this. But more importantly, you should be emphasising the parts of your body that you do like. If you want to emphasise your small waist, get a nipped-in fifties style dress. If you like your legs, go for a hemline that’s above the knee. Make sure that your shoes are comfortable so that you can dance! With your hair and makeup, go for looks that you feel confident with, and use plenty of hairspray on your hair and setting spray and translucent powder on your face to make sure you look flawless all day. Put some extra hairspray, perfume, powder, antiperspirant and lipstick in your handbag to give yourself touch-ups if you need to.
Your Enjoyment Of The Big Day
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Okay, so you might be dreading this wedding, but the harsh truth is that you have to put those thoughts aside so that you end up enjoying it – or at least looking convincingly as though you’re having a great time! It isn’t about you, it’s about celebrating the bride and groom and making sure they know that you love them and that you’re happy for them. Be as sociable as possible and remember that people will only look at you in a negative way if it looks as though you aren’t having a good time. Be that person who gets up and dances and has a total ball. Not only will you look beautiful, confident and carefree, but your friend will love you forever for it.
