Advice from the Bride

1. You will feel beautiful on this day. I think that plus size brides, especially, worry that they will not feel beautiful. I never felt as loved and as stunning as I did on my wedding day. I sincerely wish I could bottle up that feeling and save it for a rainy day.
2. Forget about stressing- just have fun. I am so glad that I listened to my married friends and let go and just soaked in every moment I could. I stayed focused on my husband to be during the ceremony and actually remember saying my vows. Many brides say that everything is just a blur and I wanted to make sure that I remembered that incredible moment when he pledged his life to me.
3. Just because you are this excited about finding the right favor or the perfect veil does not mean that everyone you know will be as excited. Nor should you expect them to be. That is why I loved chatting on various wedding websites. It was a safe haven to be wedding obsessed without making your friends choke on wedding related details.
4. Marriage is a lifetime, the Wedding is a day. I was probably worse than most on making sure that every element of my wedding would be perfect. The words I heard most often was -"wow, you paid so much attention to every detail." But as many hours as I spent combing through bridal magazines, reading books, and researching venues, I also spent on premartial counseling and developing my relationship with my now husband.

All I really need to know I learned while planning my wedding

If you haven't ever read Robert Fulghum's All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten I definitely recommend you pick up a copy. In his 1989 bestseller you are shown that true wisdom lies in the small things like: "Share everything. Play fair. Don't hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. and Flush."

Here's the "wisdom" I gleaned from wedding planning:

• White and ivory are interchangeable. No one is going to care or even notice if your programs are white and your linens are ivory. Chill.
• Before you consider going to try on bridal gowns, be prepared to show your body to a lot of strange people. And remember to wear some decent underwear... no one else wants to see your thong!
• There will always be things that go wrong on "your day." There is no such thing as a perfect wedding. Contrary to the millions of magazine articles and books you have read. Use this as your new mantra. Repeat after me: There is no such thing as the perfect wedding... There is no....
• Bridezilla is *not* a term that you should aspire to being called.
• Just because you had a lovely wedding does not mean that you should quit your day job and become a wedding planner.
• Everyone loves the hokey pokey---Come on... you put your right foot in... you put your right foot out... Just because you put something on your DJ's do not play list does not mean that a million guests won't request it.