I have a strong memory of chatting to my hairdresser when I booked him for my wedding… I was quizzing him about what time he thought he would need to get there, uuming and aahing about timings, and when I told him the wedding was at 2pm, he said 9am.
I was aghast! 5 hours! To do my hair and the bridesmaids?!
And his response was to reassure me, that he would have 2 assistants. I nearly fell over myself.
I don’t mind sharing with you that I’m a pretty get up and go kind of girl. I have a standard make-up routine day to day, I take about three minutes flat in the shower, and I don’t have a bob for nothing. I have better things to do with my time than blow dry my hair until the end of time. Of course, you might say that your wedding day is hardly the average day, but even for a big event, with the utmost care for my make-up and perfect hair… hell I might even top to toe in body lotion, but we’re still talking an hour and a half, tops.
And you know what, on the actual day, time slipped through my fingers like sand. Josh never uttered a truer word than when he said ‘would it be the worst thing in the world if you’re ready early and have to sit around with your best girls drinking champagne?‘ Erm, very good point. No tragedy there then.
Now, I know that despite my apparent lack of respect for the amount of time it takes to get a Bride ready, I was very concerned about being on time and not being stressed, so I planned my morning meticulously. There was indeed a schedule. Did I look at it? No. I was too busy having a great time absorbing the happenings around me 
But worry about it in advance I did nonetheless, just like I know many of you guys will be doing, or will have done (and if you have done marrieds, we need your help today!)
So this is how my morning went… (not, not how it was planned!)
07.30 – Woke Up
08.00 – Breakfast
08.30 – Bath and some quiet me time!
09.00 – Hairdresser arrived and started to set up.
09.20 – I started to have my blowdry while my MIL and one of the bridesmaids were also being blowdried.
10.00 – My Make-Up (while the other bridesmiads were getting blowdried/curled
10.30 – My Mum decided she wanted her make-up done(!)
11.00 – Back downstairs to get my Hair pinned up and mum started with Make-up
11.30 – Mum decided she wanted her hair ‘smoothed’ while I watched the girls get their hair finished
12.00 – Photographers arrived, bouquets arrived and I enjoyed it all while the girls finished make-up etc
12.15 – Champagne and I gave everyone their Presents
12.30 – Got the maids dressed and then had no time to get myself dressed!
12.50 – Rushed outside for photos and then panicked that we needed to leave the room (and my bridesmaids had to clear out their stuff as it was the bridal suite!)
13.30 – Leave for the church!
Now there were a few girls who after my plea on Facebook last week very kindly sent in their w-day schedules and I was all for putting it in this very post. But then I realised it wasn’t that useful to read how someone else with different numbers of bridesmaids did it, who may or may not have had hair or make-up or [insert preening routine here] if your morning will be different.
What I did realise is what everyone wants to know is… what would you do differently, or what did you do that was a great idea looking back?
So, what did I learn?
Make sure if you know your Mum is going to be nervous and stressed you book hair and make-up for her regardless of her saying she’ll ‘feel better doing it herself’.
Allow much more time than you think to get your girls dressed. This is where it all fell apart for me – I Imagined they would just slip into the dresses but in fact there was underwear to tuck or stitch in, sashes to tie, jewellery to put on, shoes to find… it was never ending and as each one helped the other, they slowed each other down.
Think about who is going to tidy the room.
Schedule at least an hour for photos (including outside/group ones with your girls if you want them prior to the church, and relaxing ones with a drink!)
And now it’s your turn! Brides, pitch your questions below in the comments box and marrieds do your bit and tell us what went well and what you would do differently with the benefit of hindsight.
Yours (loving the Rock My Wedding community spirit) Truly
Rebecca
xoxo
