6 Tips To Help Your Wedding Day Run Smoothly

Without proper planning, a wedding day can quickly go from excitement and butterflies to stress and anxiety. Every couple deserves to enjoy their day to the fullest, and having a solid plan in place ahead of time allows for exactly that. No matter where you are in the planning process, here are 6 tips to help your wedding day run smoothly.

1. MANAGE EXPECTATIONS

The first step towards having a stress-free day is to accept the fact that your wedding will not run perfectly smoothly; even the most well-planned event will inevitably have a few hiccups. Can you still do everything possible to avoid issues? Absolutely. Is it okay to hope for everything to be perfect? Sure it is! And who knows, maybe it really will be. But the most important thing to remember is that if/when issues do come up, it’s all. o. kay. At the end of the day, your marriage is so much more important than your wedding. And if you get to walk away married to your favorite person at the end of it?? Those hiccups become pretty insignificant.

2. TAKE PEOPLE UP ON THEIR OFFERS TO HELP

Once you’re engaged, people in your family, friend groups, community, etc. might offer to help. “If there’s anything you need please let me know!” “If I can help don’t hesitate to ask!” If it’s someone you know well and trust that they’re sincere, then don’t be afraid to take them up on it. “I just might do that…do you mind if I write your name down as someone I can reach out to if something comes up in the planning process?” Then do exactly that! Keep a list of people who’ve offered to help, and then as things come up, write down what you need from them. Be sure to reach out right away to confirm it’s something they feel comfortable doing. If they agree, write their email and phone number next to their assigned task. You’ll need to reach out again closer to the wedding to confirm details.

3. CLEARLY COMMUNICATE ROLES/RESPONSIBILITIES WELL IN ADVANCE (AND BE SURE TO FOLLOW UP)

Whether it’s hired vendors, your wedding party, or the aforementioned people who’ve offered to help, be sure to communicate everyone’s roles/responsibilities well in advance. Make sure everyone knows when and where they need to be, what they need to bring, what they’re expected to do, etc. These things should be communicated multiple times: as soon as you know them, at least 1 month out from the wedding, a week out from the wedding, and the weekend of. If you’re afraid you’re OVER communicating, then you’re doing it right.

4. HAVE EVERYTHING IN WRITING

The last thing you want on your wedding day is to have to answer questions from people who aren’t sure what the plan is. In addition to communicating often like we just talked about, also make sure you have everything in writing. This includes decor/setup plans! If you have friends and family helping set up table decor for the dinner tables, guest book table, gift table, cake table, etc., be sure to have in writing what items go where so you can give copies of those instructions to the applicable parties. Or if you want to take it a step further, set up a mock table ahead of time and take a picture of it. You can then pack each table’s decor into a single box with a label on it so helpers know exactly what goes where.

5. CREATE A TIMELINE WITH ALL YOUR VENDORS IN MIND

Once you begin drafting a timeline for the wedding day, it’s important to reach out to all of your vendors and confirm what they need in order to do their jobs effectively. If you don’t, you run the risk of having last-minute issues the week—if not the day—of the wedding. To help with this, I’ve created an email template you can use/customize as you reach out to your vendors. I recommend sending this email 6-8 weeks before your wedding day. Click here to download my wedding vendor check-in freebie.

6. HIRE A WEDDING PLANNER

This probably seems like an obvious answer, but I really can’t emphasize it enough: everyone getting married needs to hire a wedding planner! Even the most organized, DIY-savvy, type A couples will likely need help at some point or another. If you don’t have the budget for a full-service planner, you can hire someone to come in the month of the wedding to help you tie up any loose ends and—most importantly—be your go-to person on the wedding day. I’ve seen far too many couples having to answer a hundred questions and attend to issues that come up, when they should be able to just sit back, relax, and soak it all in. Having someone to shield you from those situations and give you the gift of a stress-free day is absolutely priceless.