#163: Eighty-seven

There are 87 days left until our wedding! 87 is a special number to me, because I was born in 1987!! I hope that's not too much of a stretch for you.

To carry this theme even further, I will now provide you with a list of 87 things I have learned thus far in my wedding planning.

Just kidding. I'm only going to do 8.7. Yes, you read that right.

1. Do what you want to do. The wedding is about the bride and groom. If you want purple flowers, get purple flowers. If you want to serve escargot, "go" for it (really, though, don't...it's pretty gross). If you want to wear hot pink shoes, do it!
2. Don't stress over the little stuff. Chances are, you're the only person that will notice when a little detail isn't exactly right!
3. Don't forget that your friends have lives too. Your world may be 100% wedding, but your friends have things going on in their lives too! Don't forget to care for them.
4. Book vendors that you feel comfortable with! This should be a no brainer, but unfortunately, that's not always the case. I absolutely adore all my vendors!
5. Express your gratitude to every person who has done something for you during your engagement. Whether it be attending your engagement party or having you over to chat about wedding plans or offering to do your hair on the day of your wedding, make sure they know how much you appreciate them!
6. Take time for yourself. Wedding planning is stressful enough by itself. When you add in work or school and the rest of your life, it can get pretty overwhelming. Get a manicure or by a new shirt. It can really brighten your mood! You may think that spending money on yourself that could be used towards the wedding would be a waste, but trust me. It's worth every penny.
7. Start early. Now I'm not a huge promoter of super long engagements, but I do have to say that our eighteen month engagement has allowed me a lot more time to acquire certain aspects of our wedding. It has helped me spread out my spending so I'm not going broke. And it allowed us to get the big things out of the way (venue, photographer and dress)and then we had time to actually enjoy being engaged.
8. Don't forget what the day is all about! While a wedding reception is largely seen as a really great party, the ceremony happens first for a reason. The whole day is a celebration of your love for each other and about the joining of two lives into one.
8.7. (aka bonus #9). Book a honeymoon! I am yearning for our luxurious trip to Cancun! I know that I am going to be dead tired after it is all said and done, and a tropical vacation is just what I'm going to need. I think it's going to be great to relax with my husband for a week before entering this thing called married life.

So there is my list. I may have mentioned some of these things before, but everything I listed is 100% true to me. I have learned so many things on this journey thus far and I can't wait to see what the next twelve weeks and three days have in store for us!