Planning your wedding

Final week

The last
seven days

Well done, both of you. You have reached the end of the long plan (and if you've come to this page in error, jump back to the main Wedding Planning page).

Just a few, yet important, things to take care of:

One week before

• Visit the dentist. Can they give you a whiter smile for the photographs?
• Take your assistants and your families out for a meal. Nowhere too stuffy or formal; it's a stressful time for them too and you want them to feel relaxed. Make sure the lighting is not too dim and avoid loud background music; you want to go over final plans with everyone.

2 days before

• Pack for honeymoon

1 day before

• If the wedding is early tomorrow morning, have your nails decorated today. But don't overdo them. Bear in mind that your gloves will conceal your nails during most of the ceremony. Also remember that when you remove your gloves, there's a real danger that some plastic bits of your expensive finger artwork will stay inside the glove finger. So make sure your natural nails are nice for the ring exchange photograph in case this disaster happens. (...which means, of course, if your natural nails are nice then you don't need Hello Kitty plastic nails at all.)
• The groom should go to the barber.
• If the caterer is not taking care of snacks, prepare and pack a picnic for yourselves. Tomorrow you'll have little chance to eat much between breakfast and the party meal so you may feel hungry. Don't prepare anything that would make a mess or stain if accidentally dropped. Forget any diet you've been on, forget what is good or healthy for you. Pack something for energy; your favourite sweet. You are about to embark on something that is both mentally and physically stressful for the next few hours. You don't want to collapse from exhaustion, so pack a few biscuits and make sure you eat them! Give the pack to the best-man to carry (if you can trust him not to eat it.)
• Give the rings to the best-man.
• Place fees/tips in envelopes and give them to the best-man.
• Have a decent, yet easily digestible, evening meal.
• Set all your alarm clocks to ring at five minute intervals tomorrow morning. Your usual alarm clock, your phone, your PC, your TV... you'll be surprised how many devices you have.

The Day

If it's not ready now, you are too late. So just enjoy the day and watch everything work out.

Remember though that this is your day. So if you feel like making some last minute minor changes, nobody should complain. Minor changes, such as whether or not to include the wedding kiss in the ceremony, shouldn't affect anyone. But make absolutely sure that the wedding pastor and staff know.

And don't worry if everything doesn't go perfectly according to plan; incidents often enhance The Day.

Return to the Wedding planning page.