If there is one piece of advice I would give to future brides, it would be to DELEGATE. Even the stupid stuff that you think you can do on your own. When the day comes and everything is being thrown at you at once and you are overcome with emotion because this is probably the biggest day of your life, you will not be able to do those little things you thought you would.

One of my biggest regrets is not making more use of my attendants. If I were to do it over, I would assign each attendant one detail of the wedding and make sure she had solid knowledge of how I wanted that detail to be handled. I had a clear idea of how I wanted things to go, but I was the only one who knew it, so if there was ever any question, I was the only one to consult. This put a lot of pressure on me, and also ate up my attention and time.

For example, I would assign someone to work with the DJ to make sure he had the proper instructions for ceremony music timing, reception music selection, etc. The little snafu that happened with the ceremony music was not the DJ’s fault, but mine. I knew the ceremony plan, and the thought had crossed my mind that the end of the ceremony might be confusing to the DJ, because when it looked like we were ready to recess, the pastor still had to do the benediction and blessing and some announcements. And when we got to the reception and the DJ was playing some music I didn’t want played, I realized I should have been more specific about what I wanted.

I also would have had some of my bridal party help me put together my “Bridal Emergency Kit.” When it came down to it, I didn’t have enough time to get everything in there. One of the things that was excluded was some Tide To-Go. At the time I was trying to put together the kit, I didn’t really have time or energy to go to the store and get some, but I thought, “Oh, it’ll probably be fine.” And what do you know, but I got some lipstick on my dress, and my mom noticed it right before I was supposed to go out for pictures. What could we do? We didn’t have anything to get it off with, so I just had to suck it up and hope no one noticed.

Another thing I would be sure to delegate is making sure everything Mr. Wonderful and I needed when we left the reception was packed and ready to go in our car. This includes our overnight bags, wallet/purse, information for the hotel, clothes hangers and garment bags, etc. When the time came for us to leave, we hastily collected the first things we thought of that we might need, and headed off to the hotel. My parents tried their hardest to make sure everything was in the car, but they had so many things to tote around as it was, and so many people to direct and talk to, that they were not the best people for the job. Handing one of the attendants the keys to our car and having them take care of that would have been a huge help.

So, being one of the first ones of my friends to get married, I hope future brides are able to benefit from my lesson learned. Use your help! They’re called attendants for a reason, let them attend to you.