In every girl’s life, her big day holds one special place in her heart. There are thousands of things she wants to do and most of them, thankfully, are actually able to pull it through their way. Even if you will ask a girl a day before her wedding whether her preps are done, she will name a thing or two which still needs to be done. Some girls get so much tensed about the prep that they hardly enjoy their own wedding – I personally know some who were literally giving directions while being on the stage 😐

Anyway, all girls might have a different style of conduct but they all want similar results – a memorable event which is perfect from every angle.

My own wedding took place 7 years ago alhumdollilah and I did everything myself. Not because there was no one else ready to take charge – I was too involved myself. So from selecting the wedding card to writing the text over it and from finalizing my photographer to booking the beautician – I was all in all. Although it went well according to my then-standards but when I look back now, there are some things I should have done differently. Now that my time is gone, I still would like to give you girls few tips. May be, it will help you!

1- Small Jewelry Items.

Most of the girls, like myself, get very greedy when they are getting married and want everything on their wedding. Especially when they are hopelessly in love with it then there is no stopping to them. I loved gold back then. I still do but we need to make sane choices with our wedding jewelry. Not only did I get everyday wearable jewelry but also spent a fortune on the big, gigantic wedding set which is usually showcased on the roadside steamers and billboards to entice single girls. Trust me, it is not written anywhere to have a big wedding set which is destined to be parked in a bank locker for the rest of your life.

Buying huge wedding sets is a mistake. You end up giving zakat for something which you will not wear enough in your life. These are the kind of mistakes only realized later. If you love jewelry and can buy it then try to spend it on the pieces which are everyday wear. With a lousy security situation in our country, it is sheer non-sense to keep such jewelry at home or even wear it at someone else’s wedding. Then what’s the point? Either wear small sets or get yourself artificial jewelry. Try making up your mind now to save yourself from doing something whose loss is irrevocable.

Btw, gold is not the kind of asset one must invest in. You buy it one day and sell it on the same day, none of your jewelry maker will pay you its full price. Then, what’s the fun?

2- Economical Wedding Dress.

I’m thankful to God that I didn’t make a mistake here. My dress was quite economical. But I know girls who wouldn’t want to even listen to what I have to say here. Even if you can afford a designer dress – I would still suggest you to be moderate in terms of your spent. It eventually becomes part of the suitcase. I’m seriously thinking about giving away my wedding dress to some needy girl these days – I might save the dupatta for my girls – only if they somehow want to re-use it when they will get married in their time but keeping the whole dress makes no sense to me.

I understand that wedding happens once (or at least that’s how we think about it) and people have a lot of dreams around it. But you can still look pretty only if you prepare it better and think logically. Do not spend a fortune on your dress especially if you have limited resources but have a heart of a princess.

3- Things you should spend on.

I will ask you to make moderate choices around your dress and jewelry but I might not ask you to go miser on your beautician. So you need to make smart choices here. Also, venue, caterers and interior decorators are a great wedding investment. If you plan to get married in spring or in winters, outdoor weddings are a dream. Your memories, your photographs – everything will eternally be leveled up. Also, do spend on a good photographer. The end-results matter the most after all.

4- Facilitating the guests. 

Gone are the days when your relatives would come weeks earlier and stay through the entire wedding. People neither have the time nor the relationships have any depth these days. Hence, guests usually come at the venue, wish you well and go back to where they belong it. Even then, if you see that someone has finally decided to stay a day or two earlier, please facilitate them and respect their thought on sharing the happy moments of your life. Get them a decent stay, make sure that their transportation is taken care of. You might not remember later how your guests felt about your wedding but they always will!!

I was the last one to get married in my family and my husband is the only son.Both our parents, for their own reasons, wanted to give the perfect wedding experience to all the guests. Till date, our relatives tell us that ours was the best wedding. From involving everybody into the dance practices and dholki sessions to buying the ice creams for all the kids in the evening whenever that ice-cream guy came on his tricycle – everything was fun. Please respect your guests and pay full attention to the details regarding their comfortable stay.

5- Plan your honeymoon.

In case you are in talking terms with your spouse-to-be, do plan your honeymoon. Talk about it. This is where you should spend. Trust me, it makes a huge difference. I made a mistake here btw. I knew my husband from my college and we were friends. I somehow convinced him into going for an adventurous honeymoon rather than a relaxing one. And by adventurous I mean hardcore trekking and hiking under harsh freezing weather 😐

Trust me, you will get a lot of time and opportunities later on to go for trekking – a honeymoon is not designed for it. I got him into it – the plan failed miserably and we somehow landed into the world’s most lazy vacation eventually but we did get ourselves into big trouble initially.

So you need to have a relaxing honeymoon – to set out your life on the right foot. You need this.

6- Just one Reception

I couldn’t convince my parents about it but having one function for Mehndi and Baraat would have been a block buster. I still don’t understand how can we dedicate one full function on dholki and dances and then another full day on Nikah and Rukhsati when both these days can be happily combined. People do it all the time but it is still not very popular and acceptable.

Telling you the truth, people don’t even prepare dances for the Mehndi. Even then they spend one full event on doing either absolutely nothing or performing traditional rituals where at least 1kg sugar is shoved into the mouth of both bride and groom whereby 200 people keep on silently watching this. If you ask me, this is a total waste of time and money. Once I did attend a reception where they first did the nikah, followed by dances and traditional rituals and finally the rukhsati. Even the food they served was a combination of what is usually given at both these days separately and it was perfect!

I’m a big fan of one dish wedding party and the restrained function timings. It helps many people to plan their wedding on the weekdays and also allow the guests to join their work the very next day without feeling any sleep deprived. Can you believe that I was sound asleep at 11’0 clock on my Mehndi night? The venue was close by. The function got off at 10 and an hour was enough to settle in everybody. I think it was a great initiative by the previous government and I hope it continue to prevail.

Anyway, I enjoyed my wedding but I could have easily saved a million by amending few of my life choices. Have a great day 🙂