Getting Married?

Here comes the bride...

I take you be my husband;
to have and to hold
from this day forward,
for better for worse,
for richer for poorer,
in sickness and in health,
to love and to cherish,
as long as we both shall live.
This is my solemn vow and promise.

Well gals, the Ed of Femail.com.au is getting married! Yes, that would be me! And of course when one is experiencing certain things - what happens? There is an overwhelming urge to share those experiences with others! So I have been prompted to write an article all about the things I have been experiencing, planning, feeling, crying about and laughing over among the many other things that getting married, brings with it.

The even more intriguing thing is this - Femail's Deputy Editor Annemarie, is one of my Bridesmaids, so she has not only been putting up with my day to day dramas, joys and swinging moods that comes with being an Editor, but she has had to experience all those things again, for someone who is a Pending Bride.

One thing I have certainly discovered about getting married is this; make sure you have reliable people around you (and if you don't - then find some FAST). Don't ask "just anyone" to be your bridesmaid. Some girls are quite happy to take the glory of being in the bridal party on the day, but don't want to take the responsibility that comes with it.

Also ensure your fiancé is willing to help, if that is what is important to you, otherwise you will end up with too much stress as there is a lot more to a wedding than one often realises. If he is not willing to help, then take that as a sure sign of problems to come in the future. I certainly could not have remained sane and planned for my wedding without the help of my man. Trying to balance career, other business ventures as well as still maintaining some form of normal life could not have been achieved without him.

Another little tip I have for you is - ask questions! Don't be frightened to ask people for their very best price and shop around. It can be tedious but say the word "wedding" and watch the extra zero's get added! So beware!

And don't do what my Mum did; here we were thinking we'd save a little money on shoes by having some we already owned, dyed and covered with material. Something that I must really emphasize, ASK FOR A QUOTE FIRST!

I now have a pair of ivory shoes that cost me $150 to have covered, when I could have gone out and bought a brand new pair for the same or even less money! And to add to the pain, I now have one less pair of black shoes, which also just happen to be my favourite strappy shoes! Not anymore!

With so much to plan, unless of course you want a really simple day, you will [hopefully] realise how wonderful your Mum, sisters, friends and colleagues are. In my case, I could never have done at all without the assistance of my wonderful Mum and best friend who also happens to be my cousin! Their help and calm has been invaluable!

So for those of you who are engaged and planning your wedding, or about to get married any day now I hope you can identify with my experiences or perhaps learn something that helps you.

I decided to do a little research via friends and colleagues who have already experienced that "Big Day" to see what their thoughts were on the whole "getting married" thing. Read on to see what their responses were to my questions:

1) What memory of planning your wedding stands out most in your mind?

• I have 3 for different reasons.
  
  1. Choosing cars - because it was fun looking at all the cars available and it was a shared experience with my husband.
  2. Designing my dress with the help of my bridesmaids.
  3. Working bee girl day - putting together the wedding gift (spiced oil bottles), name tags and other table decorations. All my special friends (including ones that I couldn't have as bridesmaids), my 2 mothers and close family helped get things done and were able to all feel like they were involved.
• The memory that MOST stands out in my mind while we were all wedding planning was how wonderful my husband was at the time! He would come and pick out things with Mum and I and the three of us would have lunch or dinner together after EVERY grueling decision was made! One time we were at the florist's for five hours and my husband ran across the street and bought Mum and I some tea and our favourite cookies. The times the three of us spent together was priceless...I miss it!
  
  
• Nothing really, probably organising the honeymoon, I'm so indecisive! It took me 3 months to decide, and about 15 visits to the travel agency! In the end, my travel agent did all the planning for me ... think she got sick of me!
  
  
• My clearest and best memories are of my bridesmaids and I reading through bridal magazines and drawing sketches of dresses, having dress fittings together and generally being very excited by everything to do with the wedding.

- Michelle Palmer

continued...

 

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