Today on the Bridal Boutique: "The Overwhelmed Bride" The Book

This week we have a product that is very near and dear to us, The Overwhelmed Bride Book!

If you’re looking for a guide to a stress- free wedding then this is an amazing resource. This book goes over some of the biggest stressors when planning a wedding and how to prevent them or even get through them if they’ve happened to you.

Not only has Jenn worked for over six years as a wedding planner, helping hundreds of brides, she’s also been a bride herself! This book is her go-to guide to navigating the whole wedding planning process to make sure you are as prepared as possible and have a wonderful wedding filled with laughter and happy tears, rather than meltdowns and anxiety.

This would make a great gift for a newly engaged friend at her wedding shower. What’s a better gift than a guide to the perfect wedding day? And for a limited time only, both hardcover and softcover copies are available to you at a 20% discount!

And don't forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for wedding inspiration, blog announcements and fun giveaways if you haven’t already!

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If you have any comments, feedback, or even suggestions for products,
please feel free to contact us at meredith@theoverwhelmedbride.com

All photos courtesy of Bleudog Fotography

From one overwhelmed bride to another!

A huge thank you to Stephanie for coming up with an amazing list of 20 things she learned while planning her wedding. Since we can't learn before something happens, take these tips to heart and truly consider the ones that apply to you...and especially the ones that are most important to the two of you! Make planning your wedding an experience (a positive experience) that you will never forget!

Written with love, by Stephanie Lisch

My name is Steff and I'm writing this list of advice to help you cope better than I managed to with my own wedding. Don't get me wrong, it was the best day of my life...but there are several things that I look back on now from the planning to the actual day that I could have done WAY better had I known this stuff BEFORE the big day! So here it goes...

1. Don't plan your day around your guests

Sure, keep them in the back of your mind, but don’t go OUT OF YOUR WAY to think about every tiny detail of your wedding for the pleasure of your guests solely. Plan your day around YOU and what the two of you like. Your guests are grownups and will find their own way to the wedding, their own things to do while waiting for photos and funnily enough, regardless of how much you plan your wedding around them, there will always be someone who will find something you didn’t do to consider them.

2. Don't leave it all to the photographer

Photographers shoot in their own style and have their own idea of what’s a good photo and what is not. Even if you have ‘the bees’ knees’ (like we did), don’t assume they will know what you want. Your photographer doesn’t know what you like unless you tell them what you like. Chances are, some of the photos you like of their work were not their ideas, but requests from their brides and grooms. Don’t miss out on a shot with your Mum or a 3 Generation shot because you forgot to tell your photographer it was a priority to you.

3. Don't have the Hens or Bucks night a week before the wedding

Avoid this at all costs, it’s stressful! We thought we had no choice at the time as most of our guests who we wanted at the Hen's and Buck's were flying in from different places the week before. You do have a choice. Don't have it the week before unless it's LOW KEY. Seriously, what happens if your groom comes home with a huge bruise on his face… It’s a little too late when you're a week out, isn't it?

4. Delegate

LEARN to delegate. I had no idea how to do this. I wanted to look after our "Wedding Baby" all by myself as I knew exactly what I wanted and I didn’t trust anyone else with it. Don’t think for a second that the people around you don’t have good ideas, if not BETTER ideas than you. You’re stressed, you’re tired, you’re thinking about the whole package so YOU DON’T have time to plan each individual thing to the high standard that you have dreamed of. You are not super woman, you are HUMAN! You have bridesmaids and family, use them! You will be surprised by the brilliance that they come up with. Why? Because they're focused on making ONE THING amazing for you.

5. Avoid Any Negative People

No matter who you are, you are bound to find un-supportive and negative people who have nothing positive, helpful, or nice to say about your special day. Surround yourself with the people who love you and will keep you grounded. Don’t listen to the 'meanies', whoever they are, even if they’re family. Keep them at distance and only speak to them about your wedding when you absolutely HAVE to. Don’t let anyone try and control your wedding and talk you into their ideas over your own. (We had LOTS of these people. It sucked, but we got through it!! You can defeat them by avoidance of the wedding topic all together around them!)

6. Don't 'Over Shrine' the Deceased

Hello, there are still people in your life who are living!! Sure, mention Grandma once and have her photo on your bouquet, but don’t do it over and over and over and over. Why? Because it hurts the Grandma who you love, who is sitting RIGHT THERE in front of you and is STILL ALIVE! No one wants to feel as if they would be loved more by you if they were dead. Weddings have a funny way of doing this. Unfortunately for us, it was more our guests who just 'had to mention' those who had passed a million times. That one, well it was out of our hands.

7. Start Everything Early

3pm Ceremony? Start earlier. If you want incredible photos, give your photographer the time to get them!!!! Hair, EARLIER. Make-up, EARLIER. Speeches, EARLIER. First dance, EARLIER. EVERYTHING EARLIER!!! You don’t want to rush, so give yourself MORE THAN ENOUGH TIME to be ready. I’ve heard many people say ‘ohhh you don’t want to be ready too early, otherwise you’re sitting around bored’. RUBBISH!!! Who would get bored looking FABULOUS with their favorite women surrounding them and a photographer in tow?!!! Think of all the incredible things you could do. Eliminate stress and do everything earlier - free up that dance floor time earlier to let your hair down and party longer!!!

8. Nominate A Time Keeper

You shouldn’t be and won’t be looking at the time. Get someone to be the time-keeper the token ‘bitch’ if they need to be. Someone has to be looking out for you because you’re not in a capacity on your wedding day to be thinking about what should be happening and at what time. You’re thinking about what your groom is doing? What if you trip? OMG, OMG, OMG?? Etc.

9. Eat More, Drink Less!

Get someone on the food to make sure you are all EATING and not crap, HEALTHY FOOD that will keep you going. EAT when getting ready, EAT at the photo shoot, EAT, EAT, EAT!!!! Hungry people are grumpy people. Don't be a grumpy bride, be a happy one!!! =)

10. Give your MC Guidelines

Give them ‘go there areas’ and ‘don’t go there areas’. People who you want to talk, people who you don’t want to talk. S/he is the one person in CONTROL of your reception, so tell them EVERYTHING about it before and be happy giving off the reigns to them on the night.

11. Don't have an unplugged wedding

We had one. BIG MISTAKE. Your photographer is ONE PERSON. I don’t care who they are, they ARE NOT PHYSICALLY capable of capturing EVERY single moment on their own… Allow your guests to take photos. Don’t limit the precious memories you get back. It might seem like a good idea now, until you get the photos back and realize that’s ALL YOU HAVE as a keepsake of a day you spent YEARS PLANNING.

12. Water, water...but not too much!

on’t forget the water! Have it in the car ready to go. Make sure it’s there on location too. But don't drink too much.. otherwise you will need to WEE! - which brings me to my next point..

13. Wee before you go!

Sounds obvious, but you’re on adrenaline. SO WEE NOW as you have about 3-6 hours between your wedding ceremony and location shoot, before you will get another chance. That goes for the men too!! I remember my husband RUNNING to the toilet when we got to the reception because BUSTING to go!! - Stay classy.

14. Don't Waste Your Money

Don’t bother with the ‘gifts’ even if you are pressured. ARE THEY MAD? Don’t buy in to that. Their gift is the honor to be invited to your wedding, the free food, the free booze, the DJ, the photo booth. They DON’T NEED A GIFT!

15. Plan and allow time for the family photos

Family photos TAKE FOREVER! People walk slowly, people forget their names, forget which family they belong to, people are 'busy’ and it’s INFURIATING! Don’t expect your family to care about your family photos anywhere near as much as you do. Get a list written up of the people YOU WANT in which photos and then give it to either your photographer OR someone who has a great sense of humor and can command a crowd. You will need SOMEONE to keep you sane and to coordinate this for you. The MC, if they’ve got that great kind of personality, would be a good choice. Guys, pull out your deck chairs and chill with a cocktail, it WILL take FOREVER which is why I said start EVERYTHING earlier!

16. Have a plan B, C, and D

Plan A never works PERFECTLY. Make sure you have considered the worst case scenario for some of your ‘big ideas’ as you will probably have to enact one of them. Not only this, make sure you have someone who knows of these plans and can implement them for you. You won’t be able to do it yourself. You’re far too busy spending time ENJOYING YOUR DAY to worry about that.

17. Keep it in Perspective

Find ways to remind yourself of why you’re going through this. You love your partner very much and they love you. Write each other love notes, play together, eat out, take a break and have fun!!! Don’t ALWAYS talk about the wedding. You were someone before you were a crazy wedding planner and you owe it to the sanity of you, your partner and your family to give the wedding talk a break every now and then.

18. Don't forget about everyone else!

While you’re crazy busy trying to plan the biggest day of your life, the people you love are going through stressful things too. Someone’s Grandad has passed away, someone’s lost their job, and someone’s breaking up with their partner. Don’t let wedding planning get in the way of you being there for them! It can wait. Be there for them and they will be there for you.

19. Don't let others call you selfish

You are not selfish. You have probably considered others over 200 times within the last 12 decisions you’ve made. You are just trying to plan the day you’ve always dreamed of. Just because someone disagrees with your ideas doesn’t mean you’re selfish. STAY AWAY FROM THESE PEOPLE and TELL THEM NOTHING! I tell you, these people are EVERYWHERE!! RUN...!

20. Live in the Moment

Your Wedding Day is the fastest day you’ll live. Things will go wrong, let them go. People act like losers, let it go. The order changes, go with the flow. This is your day and if something goes wrong, don’t try and change it. It’s your story. Every wedding is unique -  embrace your day for what it is. Laugh, hug, cry, dance, sing, run, skip, moonwalk! Do what makes you happy with the people who make you happy! Love every moment and LIVE in the moment by letting all the little things you can’t change go.

...and when you think about your wedding day, always remember...

your day was perfect because you married the one person who completes your life puzzle!

Happy planning ladies! Enjoy the ride, stay classy, don't take things to heart, and ENJOY It!! =) You're NEVER alone, you've just got to reach out and ask for help every now and then!

A day in the life of a wedding blogger

I know I know. This has nothing really to do with weddings, minus the fact that I am a WEDDING blogger and WEDDING coordinator. But in any case, I wanted to give you a little back story on this article before I start...

Last week, my husband texted me from work in the late morning, and here is how our conversation went:

Now the soup part will come into play a little later, but first I would like to point out the fact that I had such a productive morning so far, but had no idea what I had gotten done! Sounds a bit crazy right??

And thus, came the idea of "A day in the life..." Honestly, this post is going to be a bit selfish. Because really, I wanted to track my day in order to see what I really did all day long and why everything really took up an entire day! And maybe to show my hubby that I am actually working every day and not sipping margaritas by the pool?? hehe Just kidding. But really, I wanted to do this for my own sake and I figured, "Hey, there may be some people out there that are thinking the exact same thing."

"What the heck does she really do all day?"

So the following day (last Friday), I tracked my day and here it goes:

8:00am – Woke up, made some coffee (aka pressed start on my Keurig), brushed my teeth, washed my face.

*Side Note: This is totally sleeping in for me. I generally wake up around 7, even on the weekends!

8:10am - Took Baxter (our Boxer puppy) out to the park for his morning duties and put a scoop of food in his bowl when we got back home.

8:20am - Prepared some breakfast of vanilla yogurt, granola, and strawberries to eat while working since I was off to a late start!

8:30am - Posted our Friday Bridal Boutique article featuring Bling Wipes live to our website. Posted the link on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and emailed the post to my intern, Ashley, to continue promoting next week since she has Fridays off!

8:40am - Emails, emails, emails. I went through all of my emails and responded to all. I cannot stand having even one email in my inbox...yes, I'm crazy like that. I had around 30 in there, with a couple of instant replies to respond back to. I had emails regarding booking a florist for one of my August couples - discussing with the florist, bride, and groom through our email chain. I had a couple of emails about an upcoming shoot from vendors whose items we would be using and a couple of other wedding professional inquiries from vendors who are interested in partnering with us!

9:15am - Set up my new email for a another wedding company I just became a part owner of (more to come on this! :)) And yes, it was extremely annoying. I should have just been able to type in my email and password and click "enter" but no, technology just HAD to be difficult with me. I spent a whole 20 minutes on this alone! But I persevered and it's all set up now. So it's all good :)

9:35am - Received an email with photos from a recent shoot with Bleudog Fotography and downloaded all photos to my computer. And of course, I had to look through them all too :)

9:50am - Called my dad to confirm all details of our mini vacation coming up next week!! Woohoo!

10:05am - Emailed back and forth with Ashley (intern) about a new series we will be starting in the next couple of weeks! Sent her all of the details on what we need to prepare and when we need it all by...stay tuned!

10:15am - Took Baxter to the park again to do his duties, get a little sun, and run around a bit.

10:35am - Interview with Wedding-Bali for an upcoming article on me for their site! This was my very first interview all about me and I cannot wait to share it with you all as soon as it is published :)

11:45am - Headed out to get some soup for the hubby (yes, this is where the soup comes into play from the text conversation above) because he is sick! Thank goodness Target is close! I got him chicken noodle, tomato, and clam chowder, as requested. And since I was out, I stopped by Bed Bath & Beyond on the way home to get a new bed sheet set, since Baxter decided to eat through the sheet AND pillow topper in order to tear apart the tempur-pedic pad :/

Another Note: You may or may not have noticed, but I never said anything about putting clothes or makeup on. And that's because I didn't (well, I did put on a sports bra). I figured I would snap a quick photo of what I ran errands looking like - not as glamorous as you imagined, huh? And yes, that is a tank top, workout pants, boots, no makeup, and a messy ponytail, still in my hair from the night before. And Baxter just had to pose for the photo too!

12:20pm - Got home from my errands and heated up the tomato soup. Hubby came home for lunch and we ate lunch together just like we do every day of the week!

12:45pm - Frank's lunch is over so it's time for me to start working again! Back to more emails I've gotten throughout the day!

1:15pm - Threw in a load of laundry (yes, I am a housewife too!)

1:20pm - Washed the lunch dishes because it is not the easiest to work with a couple of bowls and plates in the sink calling my name!

1:30pm - Preparing, timelining, and last minute details for our shoot next Wednesday! I followed up with the companies whose items I have not yet received in the mail, just to be sure that I will be getting them by Tuesday. I wrote out a list of all items that we would be shooting for The Bridal Boutique, confirmed details with Hair & Makeup Artist, Model (friend), and Photographer.

2:15pm - Emailed intern for the new company I now am a part owner of to set up an interview...now that my email is ready to go!

2:20pm - Time to take Baxter to the park again!

2:30pm - Call with another photographer for a shoot we have coming up in two weeks! It will be for a new blog series, coming soon!

3:00pm - Switched out the laundry and added another load.

3:05pm - Wrote Saturday's blog post.

3:50pm - Outlined all blog posts for the following week!

5:10pm - Frank gets home from work and I am done for the day...well, sort of...

As you all know, I am constantly pinning new inspiration to Pinterest, posting on Instagram and Facebook, Tweeting on Twitter, and am always seeking out (and finding) new ideas and inspiration for all of you to see! So when my work day is done, I am definitely not done (sorry Frank!). I continue posting throughout the day, sometimes even very late at night.

And while it may not be as glamorous as it seems, I am a wedding blogger, wedding coordinator, dog sitter, and housewife all at the same time...and I love every minute of it!

So now you all know (and I now know) what it is that I do all day :)

And that's just one day in the life of a wedding blogger.