A wedding comes with a giant price tag especially the celebrations after the ceremony. For some it is all about showcasing the bride and for others the huge celebration party after the ceremony, no matter what the cost. Trying to outdo the “Jones’s” or impressing the guest is the most important goal. It is sad how often you hear couples say that they cannot get married until they can afford the wedding of their dreams, which for some it could take up to five years of saving.

The sentiment of a wedding day hasn’t changed over the years as most people often speak about it as “The most important day in a person’s life”, but is it really? I would rather say it is one of the most important days of your life just as the day you met your partner for life.

The stress having the perfect wedding, pleasing the family and guests, the overwhelming details involved in both the ceremony and reception can sometimes take the joy out of the entire event and can even split families apart. Brides cannot believe how fast it went and often say that everything was a blur. They can hardly remember anything and regret the fact that they have missed out on so much due to exhaustion. Then we do not even speak about the stress knowing that there will be huge bills waiting for you after your honeymoon. Is all this really worth it?

Being part of my nieces wedding preparations and after attending her wedding on Saturday made me think about "Why do we do this?". Was the amount of stress and money that went into it really worth while?. Do not get me wrong, It was an amazing venue, the food was excellent and the people truly enjoyed the evening with the bride and groom.

Sometimes we don’t even know or lose sight on why we are planning the wedding celebrations after the ceremony. The wedding is really there to celebrate your love for each other. It is not about the perfect dress, the most exquisite venue, the breath-taking flowers, delectable food or the important people you invite. The only real value of a wedding ceremony is to celebrate the spoken promise, the vows of marriage before God and witnesses, it is the beginning of a lifelong commitment, a bond of two people becoming one in purpose.

The wedding ceremony is the most important as it sets the tone for the day and very often gets neglected.

The celebrations after the ceremony can be great fun but it can be done without breaking your bank and neglecting more important things. Look at your finances, decide what is worth more to you and then arrange a wedding according to that.

Having organised many weddings myself and looking back on my own, my advice for brides to be will be as follow:

Do not look at a wedding as the “Best day of your Life”, but rather as the “Beginning of the Best still to come”.

Take your circumstances into consideration and what is most important when planning your wedding.

Family can be quite demanding, decide before hand how much influence you will allow them to have on your special day (even if they pay for it) and take control (it is your day and your memories after all).

Plan well in advance so that during the month before the wedding you only need to see to it that all preparations are on track.

If you are in the fortunate position rather get a wedding planner or other people than your own family or bridal party to take care of the preparations.

Make a 100% sure that your dress designer, makeup artist, hairstylist and florist can do the job you expect them to do, your instructions to them must be crystal clear.

Proper planning and follow up is crucial, especially for preventing stressful situations.

Do not leave anything for the last minute (even month before might be to short).

REMEMBER: YOU CANNOT PLEASE EVERYONE!!!

All photos taken with a Samsung Galaxy S7.

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