Day One: The Stuff That No One Tells You

During our engagement, a lot of people liked to throw advice our way, about marriage as well as the wedding. But there are several things that no one told me about the wedding, that I think I would have liked to know.

1: That first dance that's so romantic and beautiful? So. Awkward. Seriously, unless you learned some legitimate steps, and have a killer performance, its awkward. Everyone stares at you, and takes pictures, and you have to endure three to four minutes of that, while repeating the three moves you know. Yes, it is beautiful and romantic, but mostly for the people watching.

2: Pictures. You will likely look like a moron in half of them. NO ONE told me anything like this. I was under the impression that, since it was my wedding day, my lack of ability to look amazing in pictures would be put on hold. Nope. Still not photogenic. On the plus side, my hair and makeup were done professionally, and I always had a killer background, to even the ones where my double chin snuck in, I can still pretend the picture is flawless.

3: Kissing. This is the only day, like ever, that people want to see you kiss. Seriously, it is so weird. If you're not one for PDA, this can be really awkward, and even a little irritating, especially when people ask you to kiss. And even when you think no one is really watching, someone is probably taking a picture. It's like for one day you are a celebrity, so unless you love attention, get ready to be bombarded with smiling faces and congratulatory hugs.

4: And this one is more about the next day. Don't plan anything before 3:00 p.m. the next day. Because the one thing people actually do tell you, is that you won't get any sleep the night before the wedding. And then you throw in the fact that you won't actually fall asleep on the wedding night until the wee hours of the morning, so yeah, there will be a lot of sleep to catch up on. Tim and I planned to go to Newport Beach the day after the wedding, (it was only a five minute drive from the hotel) and we barely made it in time to see the sun set.

So there you have it, a small list of things that no one ever tells you about the wedding day. So my advice would be to pick a short song, or learn some killer moves, keep your picture-ruiners in mind (if you have a sneaky double chin like me, just remember that, and keep the angles in mind that make it show), just endure all the googly-eyed stares as you kiss, 'cause there is no way to avoid that, and like I said, don't make plans for the next morning. Your wedding day is the most exciting and beautiful day of your like (thus far), and you don't want to deal with the stress of getting up early the next day, so take your time. Really soak it in. Its not about checking items off your to-do list; all the planning stopped the moment you woke up (or just got out of bed, if you didn't sleep) to get ready for your wedding. You planned for months, now go and enjoy your stress-free vacation!

A worthy example of number 2.