For those of you who don’t already know, I’m a tomboy. Shocker, I know. I like playing sports, getting dirty, watching sports, rolling around with my dogs, and running from farm animals. I prefer wearing blue jeans, t-shirts, and sneakers. I have absolutely no sense of fashion. I’m extremely thankful that I have curly hair because it looks good most of the time without having to put any kind of effort into it. I’m amazed that I actually wear makeup to work. My rationale is I’m not going to impress anyone with the way that I dress so I have to show some type of effort in my appearance. So you may be even more shocked when I say that I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing planning a wedding. Someone should write a book entitled, Wedding Planning for Tomboys. Perhaps it exists already, I haven’t checked. Here is my advice for other ladies like me who are lucky enough to have snagged a guy that wants to marry them.
Rings: You should probably know about these. There are different cuts, settings, and types of metal. And people expect you to know all of the answers to the million questions they ask you while trying to choose a ring. Good luck.
Wedding gowns: There exists such a thing called tulle. When I went to try on wedding gowns for the first time the lady asked, “Why type of fabric do you like?” I’m pretty sure she heard the birds chirping in my head because I had no idea I was going to have to mention a specific fabric. After I replied with, “The shiny kind?” She decided to list off all of the types of fabric I could choose from. All I knew was that I didn’t want to go with lace. I am nowhere near girly enough to wear lace. Then they ask you about style. So it’s probably a good idea to be familiar with these alien terms they throw at you and know what style you want to go for before you go to the store. The internet helps a lot, and bridal magazines which I feel silly carrying around.
While getting your dress, save yourself a trip and go ahead and pick out a petticoat. Yep, I had to google that one. No one mentioned a petticoat while I was trying the dress on. You’re going to need one of these bad boys, a little something called spanx, and the shoes you plan on wearing for your first fitting. Bee-tee-dubs, that petticoat needs to have been purchased and allowed to poof out to its fullest potential before the fitting.
Bridesmaid dresses: Your bridesmaids will probably hate the color and dress you pick out. Mine have been nice enough not to complain about either (but hey, they got to pick out their own dress). You have to make a lot of decisions here too, like what shoes should go with it, accessories, and for the love of god, accent colors. The words, “What the hell is an accent color?” actually came from my mouth.
Flowers: Luckily I have a favorite flower, but other than that I know what roses look like. The florist is going to want to know what flowers you like and what colors you were hoping to have at the wedding. It’s a good idea to do a little research and know what’s in season before meeting with them. Also, go with a budget so you can be like, “Do magic with this figure.” Our guy sent me a collection of 800 pictures of his work and I was able to point at stuff. I love it when they make it easy for me.
Food: Food is pretty much self explanatory. Just keep in mind that this will be your largest cost….and will make you want to punch anyone that complains about the food. Your caterer isn’t just responsible for food. They’re going to want to know about plates, napkins, cutting the cake, serving your alcohol, toasting champagne, etc. Again, good luck.
Invitations: You pretty much need to know how much information you’re going to include in your invitation before you go order them. For example, will you need to include a direction card and a card for menu selections? Would you like to order thank you cards with your invitations? Also, make sure you word it right. I learned that you can pick out invitations at Michaels and Party City and have them print everything and save a lot of money (after we ordered ours).
There’s a difference between a wedding planner and a wedding director.
Be prepared to make another million decisions on seating arrangements, timing, music, hair, cards and courtesies. I could go on and on but I would turn this blog into a novel.
Just don’t get lost and bogged down by it all. In the end, you’re marrying your best friend (who loves the fact that you don’t know what tulle is) and that’s all that matters!
