The Only Wedding Advice You Need

I put a lot of planning into my wedding. So did my spouse. I listened to a lot of advice, and chose which ones to listen to. However, there is only one piece of wedding advice I pass on to others. And it was one I did not want to hear.

A family member told me a few days before the wedding, "There will be at least five things that go wrong on the wedding day. Maybe not each thing will be terribly wrong, but at least five things will happen that were not as they were planned to. And there is nothing you can do about it. It happens to everyone. Just move on." I was upset at hearing that. I had put so much preparation into this! But I figured, well, if something goes wrong, I will have to remember that.

Sure enough, when the big day came, there were things that went wrong. A few things that were "big deal" wrong, and a few things that just weren't exactly as I had planned them to be. Some things I knew right when they were happening, and some things bugged me afterward. But I kept coming back to that piece of advice. This is what happens, so move on. The weather is bad, someone trips in the church, someone doesn't do what they are supposed to, someone complains about their dinner, etc.

Even to this day, there are things about my wedding day that bother me, that weren't "perfect". But like all things in life, nothing is perfect. There are always things that go wrong. When I pass this advice on to my friends, they don't like to hear it. But sure enough, they tell me afterward how true it was.

So on your wedding day, remember this advice. There will be at least five things that go wrong or not as planned. Just move on with your day and let it go. In the grand scheme of things, your wedding is not about the day, it is about the start of your marriage. There will be bumps in the road all throughout life, including on your wedding day.