Your wedding day is meant to be one of the happiest days of your life. It’s portrayed as a fairytale-like dream come true, celebrating the love you and your partner share with your closest friends and family. But beyond all the happiness and joy of the day is a great deal of stress and fear. The pressure of knowing you are the center of attention and everyone is there to witness you tie the knot can be terrifying and cause a bride to become scared on what’s supposed to be a joyous occasion. There are several common fears that many brides experience, but don’t worry – take a deep breath and everything will be okay.
You Won’t Look Perfect
As you walk down the aisle, every single person will be looking at you. You’ve spent ages carefully selecting the perfect dress, shoes, hairstyle and makeup look for your big day. Not looking absolutely perfect on your wedding day is without a doubt one of the most common bridal fears. What if your dress and shoes don’t fit how they’re supposed to? Or what if you’re having a bad hair day and your hairstylist can’t achieve the look you had your heart set on? Or – worst of all – what if you wake up with a huge zit on your face? These are all huge concerns for every bride-to-be and, thankfully, the likelihood of any of these things happening is very low. Prepare for your wedding by trying on your dress and shoes beforehand and holding a hair and makeup trial run. By not waiting until the day of to do these things you will be able to alleviate some of the worries you’ll have of not looking perfect on your big day. And if you do happen to wake up with a pimple or dark eye circles, your makeup artist should be able to cover it up expertly.
People Won’t Show Up
Another extremely common fear for brides is that people (both guests and vendors) aren’t going to show up. If guests RSVPed yes and didn’t show up, you would feel sad and embarrassed that people didn’t feel the need to attend your wedding. If your vendors didn’t show up, it would ruin the entire day. Although it’s possible that some of your guests may not show up, remember that the people who you chose to invite to your wedding are people who love you and would want nothing more than to be able to celebrate with you. To help give your guests a gentle reminder that your nuptials are coming up, send out an email or letter outlining the details of the big day, such as directions to the venue, a schedule of events and accommodations for the out of town guests. To prevent your vendors from flaking on you, make sure you call them before the wedding to reconfirm all details and to also provide them with additional information such as itineraries and schedules, venue location and parking information.
Bad Weather
If you’re having an outdoor wedding, bad weather is probably the worst thing that could happen to you on your wedding day. Not only will you need to relocate indoors, but all of the décor, details and photo ops you had planned won’t be as special as if it was a beautiful sunny day. If you’re having an indoor wedding, bad weather would still ruin your photo opportunities and also your walk to and from venues and cars. Check the weather for your wedding day a week before so that you can start preparing for whatever the forecast says. Keep in mind that the forecast can change abruptly so it may be good to err on the side of caution and continually check the weather until the actual day. You should also check the weather for your honeymoon destination so that you can pack accordingly.
You’ll Embarrass Yourself
A common fear people have is embarrassing themselves in front of a big crowd. Brides are often afraid of tripping over themselves as they walk down the aisle, messing up their vows or crying so much that they ruin their makeup. The best way to avoid tripping is by practicing walking in your dress and shoes beforehand and walking slowly as you make your way toward the altar. Practicing your vows is always a good idea, and you can bring note cards to help you out if you forget a line or two. As for crying, there’s no telling how emotional you’ll be once you’re there so have a few tissues handy (ask your maid of honor to hold them) and ask your makeup artist to use waterproof makeup.
The Photos Will Be Bad
You want your wedding photos to be just as stunning as you are. They’ll be the lasting reminder of how great your wedding day was and how fantastic you and your partner both looked. You’ve hired a professional wedding photographer to document your big day and ideally you will have had a chance to see how you look in his photos during an engagement shoot or a few practice shots before you hired him. Remember that you’ve hired a professional who knows all the right lighting and angles to flatter you and accurately capture how beautiful you look. Also, a good wedding photographer will take multiple of the same shot to ensure there will be good ones. If you’re really concerned that you don’t look good in the pictures, you can always ask your photographer to see the digital image before moving onto the next pose.
Someone Will Get Too Drunk
A wedding cliché that is frequently portrayed in movies and TV shows is that one person gets way too drunk and causes a scene. If this is one of your biggest worries, you’re not alone. Many brides are concerned that they’ll have to deal with a drunk person who may be unruly, aggressive, inappropriate or dramatic. Although you can’t quite control how much each person drinks at your wedding, you can try to avoid the situation by asking the people you think will be the most likely culprits to please try to control their drinking. Designate someone to be in charge of handling these sorts of situations so that the drunk person in question can be quickly removed from the venue and the wedding can go on.
You’ll Get Cold Feet
On your wedding day you may enter panic mode and wonder if you’re really doing the right thing by marrying this person. This is a common feeling and it’s important to be really sure that you want to be with this person. Ask yourself before the wedding if you can picture spending the rest of your lives together and if that thought makes you happy. If the answer is yes, remind yourself of that if you get the pre-wedding jitters and instead of worrying about things that could go wrong, think of all the things that will go right.
Things Won’t Look The Way You Planned
You’ve spent months, possibly years, planning out every last detail in your wedding, from centerpieces to bouquets to aisle decorations. When your wedding day comes, you might be disappointed or upset if the flowers aren’t the perfect shade of crimson, or if the centerpieces are much smaller than you anticipated. Don’t panic – although you wanted everything to look exactly how you planned, remind yourself that these details are simply just details. The most important thing is that you are marrying the love of your life and all of your closest friends and family are there to celebrate with you.
