Weddings, Dresses and Bridezillas

Ah weddings, I love them. I love the feeling of excitement, the total state of happiness of the lovely couple getting married and the suspension of cynicism of everyone attending just for one day. It was the best day of my life and I love seeing other people have that same feeling.
It's the lead up to the day where you look if you want to see real insanity!

Two friends of mine at the moment have been asked to be bridesmaids and are having utter nightmares.

One is attending a wedding in Australia. So far she's had to come up with the airfare to Oz, the money for the bridesmaid dress, the money to return the sorry state of fabric that arrived in place of a dress, and various other bits and pieces along the way. It's gotten so bad she's actually pulled out of being a bridesmaid and to be honest I can't blame her!

The other is attending a wedding in South Africa. Again air fares have to be considered, she has no idea who's paying for what and the bride keeps changing her colour scheme every five minutes so the dresses can't get sorted.

People, people, people!!! This is not difficult. So here's my quick guide to (at least partly) reducing stress for wedding planning.

1) The bridesmaids dresses. Pick your colours pretty early to give everyone plenty of time, and decide if you're doing "mix and match" or "one style fits all". Personally I told my bridesmaids which designer and colour I wanted them to wear and then told them to pick their own style of dress. Everyone was comfortable, they all looked stunning and they were sorted pretty early on.

2) Brides, be upfront about what you expect from people. Tell your bridesmaids what you're covering and what you need them to sort out themselves. In my experience people are more than happy to help, if they know where they stand from the start!

3) Brides I'm sorry but I've got to tell you a badly kept secret. On your wedding day you are the most important person at the wedding, you pretty much have carte blanche to have it run any way you want. BUT you don't get to control everyone for every other day leading up to the wedding! It isn't, yet, all about you!!

4) Grooms you've got it pretty easy. Most women want to do the wedding planning, but you're not off the hook completely. Sort your groomsmen out, don't get trashed the night before or the morning of the wedding and don't forget to say how beautiful your new wife looks in your speech!!! Biiiig problems if that gets forgotten, and no my husband didn't forget thankfully!! Oh and watch one episode of Bridezillas, your appreciation for the sanity of your wife to be will never be higher!!

5) Try and remember that whether you're the bride, groom, maid of honour, or just a friend attending another friend's wedding - it's supposed to be fun?