The Top 3 Tips Every Bride-to-Be Needs to Follow

Written with love, by Anali Ortega (Get the Gown)

At the beginning of wedding planning everything is all fun, games, and excitement. Looking at your ring gives you chills, bridal magazines cannot come to your door fast enough, and all the potential ideas for your wedding are just too much fun to actually make a decision. Booking the bigger stuff is the easy part, though it often gives the false idea that you’re “pretty much done” and you just have the little things to take care of, which actually happen to be the hardest.

In the months leading up to the wedding, the excitement begins to wear down and most brides just want to “get it over with” and move on to the next big thing in their lives. That’s a natural feeling, but we can’t help but think it is a little sad for such a joyous occasion to bring negative feelings to these happy couples.

The truth is that everyone has lives outside of wedding planning and while this would be a wonderful world if we could simply be surrounded by cake, flowers, and tulle (the non-itchy kind!) 24/7, that is sadly not the case. When it comes down to real life, we simply need to learn to how to balance everything on our plate, regardless of how much we would like to just forget about some of those responsibilities or focus more on some of the fun priorities. We need to remember that we should enjoy the planning of this day because it will be over and done with forever in only a few hours, while the rest of our lives will be waiting for us when the wedding passes.

In hopes of helping you keep the “nearing-the-date” planning times enjoyable, here are our top three tips to staying calm, cool, and collected.



1. Focus on the End Goal

Determine what you want out of your wedding day (besides, you know, marrying your spouse) and focus on it. There will be things you can’t get to or that are out of your control and when it comes to those, there is no use in stressing yourself out. In short, don’t sweat what you can’t fix because at the end of the day most brides can honestly say “it was perfect!” The truth is that you will remember the positive feelings and forget about the small stuff.

Jay Dixon Photography

Jay Dixon Photography



2. Take care of yourself!

Eat right, exercise, and have some fun. It is as simple as that! The last thing you want is to be fighting some illness on the day of your wedding, or even worse, on that wonderful honeymoon you have planned. Beyond thinking about looking good on your wedding day, take care of yourself for the life that is waiting for you after the wedding. After all, what makes you look your best on the day is the huge smile you sport as you walk down the aisle and the happiness that you, the couple, radiate throughout the night.

Theresa Bridget Photography

Theresa Bridget Photography



3. Live Your Life

The rest of your life will still be there when the wedding is over and you will have to deal with any repercussions of things you ignored for months. Continue your relationships as always; go to girls’ nights, your weekly movie date with your beau, family Sunday dinners, and work happy hours. The people in your life are excited about your wedding, but this doesn't mean it’ll be their priority for months before it.

I can guarantee you that your guests won’t miss that the card box does not have that perfect bow you envisioned and no one will notice if your bridesmaids’ dresses are slightly off in color. After all, outside of the marriage ritual, the wedding is really just one big, awesome party and anyone can have fun at a party as long as the hosts are gracious.


get the gown logo

Get The Gown is a bridal gown rental company. We specialize in only high end designer dresses, such as Vera Wang, Oscar De La Renta, Carolina Herrera, and Monique Lhuillier, among others. The process is as easy as pick it, rent it, flaunt it, and return it.

Get the Gown

On top of everything else you are going to purchase for your wedding day, your wedding gown is expensive, to say the least. And to think you'll only be wearing it for a total of 10 hours...maybe?
To many, it just seems silly.

So being the person I am and always having to find solutions to every wedding-related "problem" I come across, I sought out for a better solution.

And I found it!

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Get the Gown gives you the chance to rent the gown of your dreams and not have to feel silly for spending a ridiculous amount of money on a dress you'll never wear again! So go ahead and check out their site and see if you can find your dream gown today :)

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I wanted to get a head start on the research for you, so after taking a look at the site and browsing all of the beautiful gowns, I sat down with Jessica, founder of Get the Gown, to get some of my questions answered...I tried to put myself back into the shoes of a bride and think of the questions you all may have for them!

What if the gown doesn't fit? Can it be exchanged for a new size?

Yes, we can exchange sizes, as long as the requested size is available!
 

Can I try on the dress beforehand?

Yes, there is a trial period to try on the dress once the bride has received the gown.
 

Are the gowns custom-altered to my measurements?

The gowns come in standard sizes. Brides have the option of choosing the size based upon the "label size" (what's written on the tag) or the "street size" (what the dress would feel like when worn). We keep records of the specific measurements of our gowns so if a bride wanted to know, she could ask our stylists. 

If a bride would like to alter a gown, we allow temporary alterations (i.e. no cutting material) as long as the bride receives written permission from Get The Gown prior to making any alterations.
 

How many times have the gowns been worn before?

Many of our gowns have actually never been worn before except for our photo shoots (to get the images you see on our site).
 

Are there payment plans available?

Unfortunately, no. It is a one time payment to rent one of our gowns!

If you are a bride just cringing to purchase a gown that you know you'll never wear again, check them out. You may just find your dream gown...and they offer accessories too!

Will a backyard wedding save me money?

As we all know, the reality is that weddings are EXPENSIVE. We often spend more on our weddings than on a house down payment. Seems silly, right?

Well first, I want to let you know that no matter your wedding budget, you are going to have an amazing wedding! I have worked with brides with just $2000 to spend on their weddings and other brides who don't even have a budget set.

Now, will a budget in place we are all looking for ways to save. And most brides in the beginning think, "If I were to have a backyard wedding, I would surely be able to save!" And I am here to show you how that is 100% not the case. Yes, I am sure it has been done before, but 99% of the time a backyard wedding is actually going to cost you MORE than a venue, let alone the hassle!

It's A Hassle

Don't get me wrong, backyard weddings are beautiful and incredibly sentimental, but definitely not my favorite when it comes to everything that is involved. Here are just a few things you have to do at a backyard wedding that you wouldn't at a venue:
- Purchase your alcohol and know how much to buy
- Hire bartenders
- Hire banquet staff
- Rent tables and chairs AND set them all up!
- Rent silverware, glassware, and dinnerware
- Clean the house beforehand AND manicure the yard
- Rent and set up ceremony site chairs
- Rent the speaker system/microphones
- Make sure there is electricity set up outside
- Rent the dance floor
- Pick up trash at the end of the night
- Clean all dishes and box them up
- Break down all rental items and pack up
- Outside lighting

- ...and the list goes on!

If you are thinking of having a backyard wedding, just mak
e sure you have someone hired to do all of this...we don't need your beautiful bridesmaids picking up trash and cleaning dishes hours after the wedding concludes!

THE COST

Now, you would think that you may be able to save a ton of money on this backyard wedding because you won't have to worry about that $2,000 site fee! Well let's think about this for a moment...first of all, not all venues have a site fee if you are using their catering so search for these sites first AND are you really going to be able to rent everything for just $2,000??

Let's take a look at just some of the items you will need and I will show you how quickly this will add up. We are going to use the lowest end costs for these items and pretend you have 100 guests coming to the wedding, for purposes of this example. So keep in mind, this is the low end!!

Tables: $30 per table x 10 tables (10 people per table) = $300
Chairs: $3 per chair (not chivaris) x 100 people (must use for ceremony and reception) = $300
Delivery Fee: $150 total (if they are all from the same company)
Linens: $10 x 10 tables = $100
Napkins: $1 x 100 people = $100
Silverware Set: $3 x 100 people = $300
Glassware (wine, water, bar): $2 x 300 items = $600
Dance Floor: $500 (not including set-up and tear down)
Lighting: $500 (very basic lighting)
Bathrooms: $70 x 3 = $210 (doesn't include cleaning or delivery)

Now let's stop right here. I think we have enough for now and just remember that there will be other items that we haven't listed here!

Our total so far is $3,060. And with a 7.5% tax our total is now at $3,289.50.
Remember that $2,000 venue rental fee we were worried about? Now this $3,289.50 does not include gratuity, is the low range cost of rental items, and is only for 100 guests. I think you are getting the picture! Now don't get me wrong, backyard weddings can be absolutely beautiful if that is what your vision is. But I assure you, you are NOT going to save money on a backyard wedding so if this isn't your vision, they steer clear!