I recently attended an out-of-state wedding with Heather where I am good friends with the bride. I was not only there to see the wedding, but to help out where I could. One of her aunts was in charge of decoration for the wedding and discovered that we were on the same decorating wavelength most of the time – so, she would give me various decorating tasks (one of which was to develop a tree out of garland from a wall corner – see picture on the left to see what I came up with!).
During the decorating process, we were filling some large vases with very pretty blue and silver Christmas ball ornaments, beads, and ribbon as centerpieces for the reception tables. After we were about halfway through, we started running out of one kind of ornament or the ribbon was starting to deplete sooner than expected or some other “catastrophe.” But, instead of getting worried or anxious over it, we made the vases as pretty as we could and verbalized this thought, “People will not remember if there were a proper ratio of blue to silver balls or that each of them were exactly the same filled height.” And you know what? We were right! Not one person stated a complaint that the centerpieces weren’t “perfect” (and really, what sort of standard could be measured with semi-random filling of vases?!?).
So, this is all to say: when you are planning your wedding and are deciding on the details, don’t get so bogged down in trying to make everything perfect that you miss out on the fun and joyousness of being together with old family, friends, and soon-to-be new family.
In the wedding that Heather and I had many years ago, I distinctly recall at least seven mistakes that happened during the ceremony alone. Yet, the bride whose wedding for which I was decorating and preparing recently stated that she thought Heather and my wedding was elegant and was one she enjoyed (whereas, she does not normally enjoy weddings).
The mistakes that occur, the things that don’t get done (that were important), the flower girls who do not dispense the petals along the wedding runners, etc…. all of those things – you will laugh about afterward (sometimes it takes a few months or more, but it will come). It’s the imperfections in life that we remember… and that others don’t.
So, my advice to you brides (and grooms who are also part of the wedding planning / decorating process) is to relax, do what you can, don’t stress about your wedding, and (in the end) realize that the purpose for which you are attending this event is to get married to the person you love – not to have the most beautifully decorated everything. If the marriage happens, then you both can live to fight another day – together… and all will be well.
Do you stress out about wedding planning?
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