what i was told

When friends and family find out that you are engaged, they share tips on wedding preps, lessons learnt, personal experiences and grown up stuff.

I thought I'd write some hearsay, actual advise and my personal learnings.  Maybe not so much on the latter.

Do what you want.

 I wrote this one first because it was my brother who told me to do what I want.  He said that it is a once in a lifetime event and if you really want something--do it, get it.  The word to remember here is REALLY, as truly, you can't really want everything down to the napkins and tiny bows everywhere.  For the record, I think I did not bother with any special napkin treatment or told any supplier to put a bow on anything.

Eat before the wedding.  

The priest who officiated our wedding told us during the interview that I should eat.  He said that brides get dizzy because they are sometimes too busy before the wedding and forget to eat.  I think my friends would agree with me when I write that this would be the easiest advice to do for me.  I had a heavy buffet breakfast early morning.  Then I ate some more chicken, rice and spring rolls just before getting to the bridal car.

It will be over before you know it.

 I'd love if everyday can be my wedding day, but like all days it will pass.  Mine didn't feel like it was over too quickly.  In fact there were moments that feel like it was happening in slow motion.  As I recall the day at this moment, I felt that I have managed to pack a lot of things in without feeling exhausted at the end of the day.  It was like I was on natural high.

Enjoy it.

The priest told us to let go of the small things and just enjoy our day.  He knew that we were having a beach front reception so he especially mentioned rain.  I love how my now husband used to talk about preparing for the worse and hoping for the best.  No wedding is perfect from a planning and execution perspective, there will always be that one flower that is more in bloom than the rest, there is that drink that was 10ml more than the rest.  And it's okay.  Let it go.  It doesn't matter.

No one will notice that the pink of the flowers is not the pink you specified.

Maybe those were not the exact words but that is the idea that one of my newly wed friends told me.  No one but yourself and the coordinator knows what specification you gave--and if it was not exact no one would really care.

Say it.

 Odell and I took our time to write down the a list of people we would want to especially thank.  Sometimes we get caught up with the everyday that we forget to remind people how much we appreciate them.  Our wedding was the opportune time for us to tell our loved ones just that.