It may be all about the bride on the wedding day but leading up to the big event there are many other opportunities to dazzle your guests. Planning a wedding takes months of hard work and attention to detail. Quite rightly so. This is the biggest day of your life, and all eyes are on you. The photographs of the day will capture every fine detail, from your makeup to the dress. Everything must be picture perfect.

When the engagement is announced, excitement starts to build up all around you and your friends. An engagement ring is the first thing to sparkle about your wedding. There is an air of anticipation and expectation about the glamour and beauty that is yet to come. With that air of expectation comes your first challenge. How do you keep everyone buzzing about the big day?

Preparing for a wedding is much like a big product launch or movie release. If you think about how companies get their customers riled up about the latest thing months before it comes out. This goes a long way to developing a positive vibe about the product. When it is released, everyone loves it, because everyone has been anticipating it for so long. Human nature means we just cannot wait for things that excite us. When we have to wait, we react strongly to it.

To get your crowd to start buzzing about your wedding, you design the wedding invitations. Aside from the essential information within it, the invitation is the first sneak preview of what your wedding will be like. The text inside will tell your guests which season you will marry and which venue you have secured. These little tidbits help carry the excitement through. The other details of the invitation help reveal the style and grandeur of the day. You can pick the font you like, the color scheme, and the shape of the cards. These things will match your choices for the wedding. Some companies have websites with inspired ideas for wedding invitations to help inspire your choices. They are particularly helpful if you are very busy. Being able to click the mouse a few times to create something bespoke can save you a lot of time.

When you are choosing your wedding stationery, you may want a theme to carry through your place settings, favors, thank you cards and photo albums. Other items you may choose for your wedding include a guest book, wedding day card for your hubby, and menus. You can usually bespoke design all of these items. Some people opt for different styles, but most people like everything coordinated and matching.

When you are choosing the finer details like stationery or cake design, you usually have a dress in mind that may be inspiring your choices. Classical styles that include full-length sleeves with lace detailing remain popular thanks to recent Royal weddings. The cut at the neck is the detail that is most important here. Too low, and it loses the classical touch, but too high and it looks far too modest. Shaping to complement your collar bone and neck is essential. This swoop is often mirrored in designs for the stationery and even the shape of the bouquet.

Despite their association with peace and funerals, pure white calla lilies have never been more popular as a bridal bouquet. Their long stems make it easy to carry and decorate with ribbon threading. Their curved shape can be matched in hat and collar design, and the flowers can be stained to provide colorful bridesmaid bouquets. They can even sit well in the button hole. Wearing them in the hair makes a beautiful alternative to the veil hair band too and can even be curled around the inside of a glass bowl to make a beautiful centerpiece for the tables.

If you are looking to organise your wedding in the next few months, having a wedding planner can help. The trouble is, the amount of input you would want to contribute is so high, you will still need lots of time to spend. Wedding planners are great on the day for organising everyone and getting them to their places on time. If you are having a large wedding with lots of bridesmaids, it could be a good idea to utilise a wedding planner. Wedding nerves extend far beyond the bride and groom, so having someone there to keep everyone on track and help with the little hiccups that occur is very useful.

If you are not the kind of girl who wears heels all the time, you may want to get plenty of practice in your bridal shoes. You will be in those shoes for about 12 hours on the big day and will be doing a lot of standing as well as walking. Sore feet and blisters during your wedding can ruin the mood of the day, so make sure your wedding planner or maid of honor has plenty of blister pads or handy flats to help out anyone whose shoes are causing problems.

The bridal train is still popular. They are impractical and dangerous, but us girls love them. For the ceremony, your guests’ eyes will be burning into the back of you for about 40 minutes, so we want the view back there to be fabulous. The most common accident that occurs is getting your heels caught in the train. This damages the dress but may also cause you to trip and fall. Avoid this by always having someone attend to it. This is usually the job of a bridesmaid. Some wedding dresses have a detachable train. This is ideal as it reveals a shorter skirt for enjoying the reception without a wardrobe malfunction.

Once you have set the wedding wheels in motion and fuelled all the hype, your guests will be smiling a grinning all day. The big reveal of the bride in her dress as she walks down the aisle should make them weep with delight.

Follow