Dear Future Brides,
As I sit here 2 weeks away from my wedding, after washing sharpie marker off my future husband after his bachelor party, after coming home from a Hawaiiain themed shower thrown by my girlfriends with so much love and care, after submitting the last of my numbers, my seating charts, my meal requests and our ceremony choices...I look back at all the ups and downs I have had planning out this day and all the different ways I have looked at it throughout my life until this moment and I find at the end I am just profoundly grateful for the people I get to share it with.
My advice to you, future brides, is as follows:
- remember to thank everyone
- reward yourself for the big tasks (like doing the seating chart - do this while eating really delicious cake, that is what *I* would do looking back now)
- give yourself unwind time (mine includes jane austin movies)
- have someone to confide in besides your partner (my amazing stepsis was like a ship of calm for me) and let yourself talk out your feelings
Brides, planning a wedding involves taking a lead with your own wishes and opinions in a way more public and yet personal than most of us are prepared for. We tell ourselves we're prepared but it can be overwhelming and emotional to assert yourself so much and feel the weight of the statement you are making about your life, your love and your future. It comes with so much happiness and excitement - but also so many decisions that state who you are to the people whose opinions matter most to you in your life. Do not feel guilty about acknowledging the intensity of that.
Overall however those same people who matter most to me are drawn closer during this time and I am reminded even more than usual about what I love best about each of them and find myself profoundly thankful to have each and every one of them.
Thanks loved ones, friends and unexpectedly delightful people I've met along the way. And biggest and best thanks of all to Drew, for choosing me and offering friendship, partnership and marriage with a sincerity that rings out like a note of music in honest harmony with everything I hold dear.
xo
