Author, Ginger Thulander
For years I have collected wedding stories like some people collect dolls, plates and baseball cards. Weddings have been my livelihood for most of my adult life and I felt the experiences I have encountered first hand from these stories could only make me better at the vocation I love by sharing them.
Wedding Day Wisdom is a compilation of fifty anecdotes of Wedding Day mishaps, or weddings gone awry due to details not considered. Most are a result of plain unclear thinking, which can certainly be a side affect from the sheer euphoria of planning your wedding.
Some of these stories resulted from brides trying to make their weddings unique by altering traditions. Wedding traditions have been handed down for thousands of years. When brides try to be different, they usually try something that someone else tried somewhere in the past and it didn’t work. That’s why it’s not a tradition.
What happens to one’s frame of mind when they become engaged is unexplainable. Making clear, sound decisions become a challenge. A detail that otherwise might be obvious gets overlooked. A decision which, in any normal circumstance, would clearly be a bad one, receives a thumbs up.
I realized that the stories I have collected of good intentions gone awry could offer years of advice to the bride-to-be. What I have tried to accomplish through my storytelling and Wedding Day Wisdom, aside from some lighthearted reading, is to expand your thinking. Thinking outside the box is what every bride must do to address individual circumstances and people. I wanted to write a book with “down home” practical that I could offer to my sister if she were getting married.
As founder and publisher of New Hampshire Wedding Magazine, I have read dozens and dozens of bridal “How to” books. I have discovered that one doesn’t realize until the wedding is over that the books don’t address the little details or provide the perfect solution to a situation unique to your day. They provide generic solutions to generic problems. However, there are no generic weddings. In each family, and set of circumstances present unique issues. Specific advice can only be gathered through experience. Ah, there’s the clincher. There isn’t a bride out there that wants to get married enough times to gain the experience to plan the really truly “Perfect Wedding.”
The most important thing to remember as you start your journey toward your new life is to Enjoy the Journey. You will spend nearly a year of your life totally focused on the planning of one very significant day. You will experience challenges, indecision, frustration and distractions to the point of tears. Step back, take a deep breath and remember your purpose and your goal. You have found true love and hope to create the most memorable day as the beginning of the rest of your life. Don’t let the stress get you down.
The real key to a perfect wedding has never been the amount of money spent. If your guests feel welcome, comfortable and feel the love your wedding will be a joy-filled memory for everyone, especially you.
