Small Things You Shouldn't Sweat on Your Wedding Day

It's normal for emotions to run high on your wedding day. Think about it....you have every one of your close friends (not to mention their plus ones) there on your behalf, expecting to have the best food, top notch entertainment and a night to remember, of course. You are seeing relatives that you may not have seen in several years-or maybe even decades. Your boss is there, and so are your somewhat critical colleagues. You have spent a ton of money that you may still be paying off for years to come and you want everyone to love all the choices you made. You don't know what might go wrong. You don't know if the flowers will be as pretty as you hoped, if you and your fiancé will remember all the dance steps that you practiced together, if all your vendors will be on time and if your DJ will be able to pronounce your new four syllable surname correctly. And oh yes...you are marrying the love of your life. It's an emotional day no matter which you way you slice it, and it stands to reason that things that might have rolled off your back at any other time of your life, just won't on this particular day.

Let me give you some examples: 

Your vendor shows up late. Sure, that's not an ideal situation. But it happens. If they can hustle to make up for lost time, and they're smiling, and in the groove by the time that your guests first interact with them, then there's no real damage done. Unless you want to freak out and cause yourself unnecessary stress, the only damage you would be doing is the damage you'd be doing to yourself over it.

The floral arrangements look nothing like what you expected them to be.

Sure, you know what they were supposed to look like, and maybe your mother, best friend or fiance also know what they were supposed to look like, but for sure your guests have no idea what they were meant to look like. As a general rule of thumb, fresh flowers in any color, shade, shape, or style are beautiful. I'd bet any amount of money that the only person that would be bothered by those mistakes, is you. Yes, of course you have a right to feel frustrated when they don't deliver exactly what you expected, but at the same time, is it really worth getting aggravated over? Remember that no one else has any prior expectation, and they are likely to admire and compliment the flowers that are placed in front of them.

Your DJ mispronounces a name wrong.

He plays the song you first picked out, but then later you changed it and he got mixed up and played the wrong one. When everyone at the wedding was up, dancing and having fun, he threw a curve ball, played a song that bombed and it cleared out the dancefloor. Sure, he may have made a big faux pa. And it might have been a real doozy. But it's done. And it's still not the end of the world. It's still a wonderful wedding and the mistake will long forgotten by everyone there, and hopefully even you.

The timing of the wedding ceremony music is off.

You've practiced it, and gone over it a thousand times in your head. The pianist is supposed to hit the high notes, just as you begin your walk down the aisle. You can't see or hear what's happening behind that closed door. Your coordinator sends you down the aisle three notes too soon. That's not how it was supposed to go. Does anyone really know that, and does it really matter? I bet all they were thinking is how beautiful the melody was, how happy your loved ones seemed and how stunning you looked.

The chicken was dry, the rice was cold or the (insert food) was (insert problem).

You tasted it just the month before and it was perfect and now it isn't. But your guests are surrounding you, having a wonderful time and feeling your joy as they see and feel your wedded bliss. They aren't nearly as critical as you are. They didn't come for the food, they came for you. That part of course was perfect, and happily, they got what they wanted.

It rains! How could it rain on your wedding day?

There goes the outdoor ceremony. Now you're stuck indoors, and it's never going to be the same. You know what? That's true. It won't be the same. But it will still be beautiful. If you believe as I do, that true beauty is in people's actions, their graciousness and their dignity, the rain won't matter. If you can make lemons out of lemonade and laugh it off, you know that you'll be able to handle other less-than ideal situations that will undoubtedly occur throughout the years. Enjoy your wedding day and the moment you are celebrating!

It's important to put everything into perspective. After all, you are marrying the love of your life. The LOVE of your LIFE! That's huge, and even though it's understandable that you want everything to be perfect on this very important day, there is still beauty in the imperfect things in life. Handling things that go wrong and graciously letting them roll off your back on your wedding day is one of the great lessons in life that you can take with you for the rest of your years. While it can be so much easier said, than done, if you can master the fine art of happiness despite things going wrong around you, you will go down in the history books as one of the few brides that was able to overcome the stresses that so many couldn't manage to master. You can feel good about that for the rest of your life, and you will deserve every bit of that that happiness.