Weddings

Hilary’s Tips: 10 Ways I Made My Wedding Easier

Unconventional things I did that made my wedding a lot less stressful, more fun, and way more memorable.

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1. Skip the rehearsal dinner.

Everyone will be happier if you decide not to do a rehearsal dinner. They’re super expensive, they require people to stay overnight near you, and they are often embarrassing (do you really want to give your Aunt Hilda a microphone??) Skip it. One meal per wedding is more than enough!

2. Skip the showers.

None of your friends actually want to go, nevermind organize. Hang with the group at the Bachelor or Bachelorette party instead.

Hilary’s Tips: 10 Ways I Made My Wedding Easier

3. Don’t have bridesmaids or groomsmen.

Yes, you heard right. None of your friends want this responsibility, and it adds a LOT to the workload and cost (all that organizing… all those extra dresses and personalities to deal with — yikes!) What my husband and I did was have our parents stand with us at the front during our ceremony. We all gave 5-minute speeches and then the officiant did her thing and married us. The feedback we got was that was much more personal and touching this way.

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Avatar of Hilary Rowland

A writer, artist, and designer since she was young enough to put pencil to paper, Hilary taught herself code and created Urbanette when she was a teenager. Currently, she lives in Monte Carlo, but spent the past decade living in NYC, still considers herself a New Yorker, and visits regularly. She's always traveling, looking for hot new topics, destinations, and life hacks to bring to Urbanette readers.

Reader Discussion: 29 Comments

  1. Avatar of Mary Garcia

    Mary Garcia

    #6 sounds really fun including the bloopers, but most of my friends hate being flashed on the screen with their awkward speech and all. They would probably ditch my wedding if they knew there would be an interview (Nah, just kidding they love me too much to do that that.) But yeah. I’d love the bloopers instead. My friends are very wacky and fun so they would enjoy something like that rather than an interview. Thank you for these unconventional ideas! ❤️

  2. Avatar of Megan Smith

    Megan Smith

    I’m single so I have no idea about weddings and how hard it is to prepare them, but I’m definitely considering all of this.

  3. Avatar of Eleanor Bartal

    I’m not religious either so I really did ask to skip those parts. I’m glad the pastor didn’t complain.

  4. Avatar of Kayla Carlson

    I wish I’ve seen this before our wedding. It was so stressful I nearly backed out.

  5. Avatar of Lucia Pombo

    It’s crazy that some weddings hold their receptions far from the church wedding. Seriously? Book somewhere close. Not everyone has a car.

  6. Avatar of Bernice Perry

    Bernice Perry

    I don’t mind using silk flowers instead of the usual bouquet. To be honest, that’s least of my concern as long as I have a decent looking bouquet that doesn’t look like it’s for a funeral. Thanks for this advice. It’s even better that I could keep my wedding bouquet and treasure it for the years to come rather than take photos with it then throw it away afterward. We all know how expensive these wedding bouquets are… It can be insane. I’d go for the silk.?

  7. Avatar of Sheri Lawrence

    Sheri Lawrence

    Wow, doing all of this in my wedding for sure. I want my wedding to be like a breeze and less stressful.

  8. Avatar of Linda Dent

    Linda Dent

    I really like the idea of fake flowers instead of real ones. I also think that for decorations for the aisle, fake flowers would be better.

  9. Avatar of Felicia Sanders

    I would still prefer the traditional wedding. I want that day to be special.

  10. Avatar of Felicia Castro

    Weddings usually take about 3-4 hours depending on the program after the ceremony. If there’s anything that you need to shorten, it’s that reception after. Get rid of the usual bouquet throwing and all that stuff. Have a fun program that’s fun for all and less time consuming.

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