The Buzz Guide To Your Wedding Morning

The Buzz guide

To Your wedding morning

How to keep calm and stay relaxed despite the wedding nerves on the morning of your wedding, from hair and beauty expert Tracy Pallari…

During her 30 years as an international bridal hair and makeup artist, which has seen her work with well over 1,000 brides, Tracy Pallari has witnessed more than a few wedding day disasters and helped salvage many of them! Here are some of her expert tips for keeping the wedding nerves at bay on your wedding morning.

Time flies quickly on your wedding morning, even if you start early! The last hour should be fun, exciting, and spent enjoying the atmosphere, having a glass or two of bubbly and working with your photographer to capture those special photographs with your bridesmaids and family. It’s not a time for tears, tantrums, shouting or running around frantically searching for shoes, fixing a broken zip, or struggling to pin on a corsage the right way up.

Before you know it, your photographer and videographer will arrive, and you’ll get the best from them if they have as much light as possible and space to move around to capture what’s happening from the best angles. It’s also a good idea to keep your room or bridal suite as clear as possible – you won’t want any unnecessary clutter in the background spoiling your shots or film.

Make sure you have a private, designated area for your own hair and makeup preparation – things can sometimes get a little overwhelming, and you’ll be grateful for your little bit of space for some calm, quiet time with your hairstylist or makeup artist.

If you’re getting ready at a hotel or venue, consider hiring an extra room for your bridesmaid’s hair and makeup, especially if you have a large bridal party – you can always assemble a little later in the morning. If you’re getting ready at home, choose the most relaxed spot with the best natural light and avoid the kitchen where people constantly come and go.

You’ve probably had 100% control (along with your fiancé, of course) of your wedding plans, but on your wedding morning, be prepared to delegate! You can hire a wedding coordinator just for the day or promote one of your bridesmaids to ‘most trusted’ status, but you don’t want a relentless barrage of questions coming at you while you’re trying to stay relaxed and calm.

You’ve probably spent a lot of time researching and booking your hair and makeup artists, so you’ll want them to do their very best to make you look and feel fabulous. They won’t be able to give you their best if you constantly must answer questions, keep moving your head to check things or worse – talk on your mobile. (This goes for all your bridal party, too!). You hired them to pay meticulous attention to detail to achieve flawless skin, accentuate your features and create beautiful bridal hair – this is almost impossible if you cannot keep as still and quiet as possible! Give your phone to your maid of honour or the bridesmaid who will best deal with any queries or issues that may arise… and trust them! After all your hard work planning your dream day, this is when you should really sit back and enjoy being pampered.

If you have very young bridesmaids, consider asking them to arrive already dressed towards the end of the morning. I’ve seen countless wedding mornings collapse under the screams and tantrums of unwilling toddlers as flower girls and ring bearers. It’s not always realistic to expect them to behave and wait quietly for a long time, and it’s often an extra pressure on their parents or other relatives to keep them happy. And you don’t need unhappy youngsters in your bridal suite!

If your hairstylist has asked that you all wash your hair the night before (and not on the morning of the big day), it’s for a good reason. Freshly washed hair is often too soft and silky to style, saving precious time within a tight working schedule on the wedding morning. Be clear about this the night before, and make sure long hair is washed thoroughly with two shampoos. This may sound like common sense, but if it’s not, any excess oil will surface the following day when heated tools are used, and this could compromise your chosen hairstyles and their durability.

Suppose you’ve booked a makeup artist for your bridesmaids. In that case, it really makes sense for all of them to have it done professionally because the one who believes she’s better off doing her own, or who always wears a red lip or doesn’t wear much makeup at all, will most definitely stand out in your group photos for all the wrong reasons!

Bridesmaids… You chose them carefully, and asking them to do this is a big honour so make sure they know everything you’re expecting from them. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve seen bridesmaids sitting around all morning, painting their nails, updating their social media, and taking selfies while the bride is checking everything, dealing with queries and potential issues. Remember that this day is YOURS.

Keep any potential family dramas away from your wedding morning and even send out a message the night before asking politely if any contentious issues amongst relatives could not surface on your morning. It’s also a good idea to avoid bringing parents and their ex-partners together in your bridal suite unless everything is amicable!

Allow more time than you think to get into your dress. I have witnessed three bridesmaids and a mum all fighting to get the bride into her dress; one with a video to show how to lace up and one trying to film the whole thing. What happens is the bride panics, gets hot, can feel faint, can cry – please let just one person be responsible for this job and have your bridal shop show them how to do it, or ask the boutique to send out a dresser instead. If you want a photo of your mum helping you into your dress, you can quickly mock this up for the camera!

Be realistic with your timings – a wedding morning timetable is a great idea. Let it be a plan rather than a rigid fixture list, which can only cause more problems as everyone becomes more anxious about sticking to it. I have seen a military-style operation sheet on a wedding morning with some timings as ‘non-negotiable’. This is unrealistic, and if you must factor in toilet breaks for all your bridesmaids (yes, one bride did!), you need to rethink.

Music… Fine-tune your wedding morning playlist literally by the hour! Start with some relevant and uplifting favourites, building up the tempo mid-morning, then choose some mellow and meaningful choices for the last hour. I have done weddings with the Jeremy Kyle Show on full volume or Peppa Pig to amuse just one small child… I can’t tell you the adverse impact this has on the ambience of a bridal suite.

Nerves are normal – I’ve seen Bach Rescue Remedy help many times, but it’s a calm bridal party that always ensures a calm bride. This time should of course, be exciting, but please ban shouting, screaming, slamming doors and phones constantly ringing! Try not to worry about trivial things that might crop up and focus on the fact that no matter what happens, at the end of the day, you’ll be married to your new husband, and that’s the most important thing.

Don’t panic because you think you will trip over walking down the aisle, forget your vows or have everyone looking at you – I can assure you that when you finally step into your dream dress and your hair and makeup are perfect, you will look in the mirror and see the most beautiful bride. You will feel incredible and will absolutely want everyone to look at you all day!