You’ve been planning for months — maybe even for more than a year — and it is now only a week until you get married. If you’ve left things until the last minute, this final week will be stressful. However, if you’ve been organised, you can sit back and enjoy this final week of your unmarried life.
The nine tips below explain how to get yourself organised in time, for an enjoyable wedding week you’ll look back on with happiness.
Finalise the wedding itinerary
Prior to the week before your wedding, finalise all your plans. Create a wedding day timeline that includes room for change and error (these things happen), then print it out and distribute copies to those who need one — often the Best Man and the Maid of Honour/Chief Bridesmaid. This ensures that it isn’t just you who knows what should be happening and when. Which leads me nicely onto the next point…
Choose a wedding day ally
You don’t want to be the main point of contact on the big day — otherwise, you’ll have questions coming at you from all directions. Instead, delegate tasks and ask a responsible loved one in advance to oversee the wedding and keep things running smoothly. This could be your Maid of Honour and/or the Best Man. They can answer any questions the photographer has, reunite your lost young nephew with his parents, and offer your auntie a tissue when she needs it. This will leave you free to do what you need to do on your special day.
Hire a wedding planner
If you know you’re going to be a bag of nerves on the big day, and/or you don’t feel you can delegate to your loved ones, it could be worth your while to hire a wedding planner. They may not even have to do much on the day of the wedding, but just knowing they are there and have everything in hand can be worth the additional expense. This will make for a very relaxed wedding week indeed!
Pay your bills
Before the week of the wedding arrives, get all of your wedding bills paid. If you’re planning on tipping, do so on the day, but decide how much in advance, place cash or cheques in labelled envelopes, and pass them to a trusted loved one (or your wedding planner) to give to the correct people on the day.
Check the dress fits
Whether you bought a wedding dress that was your size a year ago or bought a dress to slim into, it is essential that you try it on a week before the wedding and make sure it fits as it should. If there are any issues, this gives you enough time to get it tweaked before the big day.
Complete the final preparations
Whether it’s making the name cards for the tables or containers for confetti, these are tasks you want to get done ahead of time. These aren’t the things you want to be keeping you awake on the night before the wedding! Protect your precious beauty sleep and tick these tasks off before the final week begins.
Drop things off at the wedding venue
Get your décor items dropped off at your wedding venue a week in advance and tell the venue coordinator what goes where. Leave written instructions too, to minimise error. You could also note down which things you want back after the big day.
Items to drop off might include table decorations, vases, favours, the cake topper, table numbers/names, the seating plan, the guest book, hanging decorations (such as bunting), and your wedding card box.
Break in your wedding shoes
Not just a tip for the bride — if you have purchased new shoes for the wedding, now is the time to break them in. Wear them around the house to loosen them up. If they are very stiff, wear a thick pair of socks with them to give them a stretch. Boost this trick with a warm blast from the hairdryer (and wear them while they cool down, to create the perfect fit).
For the bride (and the bridal party): don’t forget to pack a pair of flat, comfy shoes to change into once the ceremony is over!
Remember why you’re getting married
With all the stress surrounding the planning of a wedding, it can be easy to forget why you’re getting married in the first place. You are soon to wed the love of your life, so take some time during the week before the wedding to get excited and look forward to the upcoming nuptials.
Have you bought your wedding rings yet? If not, read our blog post featuring five top tips on choosing the perfect wedding rings. You can browse our wedding ring collection here, or get in touch if you’d like us to work on bespoke wedding rings for you.
