10 Things You Should Do Before Your Wedding

It can be difficult to be completely ready for every surprise that your wedding day will throw up. You do need to still try your best to anticipate it all. In the week before your wedding, it’s the right time to pay attention to a few of the less obvious details. Here are a few things that you need to get ready, practice or get in order.

1. Get your marriage license

Once you file for your marriage license, it stays valid for between 30 and 90 days, depending on where you live. It’s a good idea to make sure that you don’t get it too early and let it expire before your wedding.

If you cut it too close, you might run into problems that you find hard to fix. It usually works well to apply for your license a week before the wedding.

2. Look up your list of things to bring up with the vendors

As you make complex arrangements with your photographer, caterer, florist, wedding music providers and other vendors, you’re likely to think of points to bring up with them nearly each day. You’ll need to write these ideas down.

In the week before your wedding, you need to sit down with each vendor and use your list to work on fine-tuning your arrangements. This way, you will avoid a lot of trouble and stress.

3. Work out how much you wish to tip each vendor

You will be in a difficult position on your wedding day if you have no idea how much each vendor expects to be tipped. It’s important to prepare a cheat sheet for what to tip each vendor and to give a copy to whoever plans to take care of the bills.

As a general rule, catering providers expect a 20% tip. The wedding planner deserves 10%, the photographers expect something under $100, the reception staff hopes for $50, and the officiant will be happy with a $100 donation to his church.

4. Break in your wedding shoes

You’ll need to spend several hours in your wedding shoes on your wedding day. It’s unwise to trust in untested shoes for the first time on such an important day.

Rather, you should try the shoes on for a few hours, at least a couple of times before the wedding. You could try walking in them, standing in them and dancing in them. You can only wear them on your wedding day when you’re sure that they don’t hurt your feet.

More: Bridal Tips: The Best Shoes to Wear to Your Summer Wedding

5. Plan how you’ll pack

If your wedding is at an outside venue, you’ll need to do some serious planning on what to pack to take there. It wouldn’t do to forget anything at all.

The actual packing is best done in the week before the wedding, when your mind is primed and able to think of everything that you’ll need. If you are planning to have a destination wedding, you may want to start planning even earlier.

6. Pack an emergency kit

A couple of kits with aspirin, combs and hairbrushes, a bottle of skin lotion, a nail clipper and other such items, always turn out to be immensely useful. There’s always someone who needs these things.

It’s a good idea to make two or three such kits in the week before the wedding. Weddings are full of surprises, especially if you are going to have a lot of guests.

7. Pack your honeymoon bags

After the wedding, you will be in the mood to kick off your shoes and have fun at your honeymoon. You probably won’t feel like organizing yourself yet again and packing your bags. It’s a better idea to do that before your wedding.

Many couples say that packing the honeymoon bags is a bit harder than preparing for a wedding. Whether it’s true or they just exaggerate, packing your honeymoon bags in advance is a smart decision.

8. Make sure that you’re ready for your out-of-town guests

Some brides forget about their out-of-town guests, but it’s important that you review your wedding guest list before your big day. Whether you’re having your out-of-town guests stay at home with you or at a hotel room that you’ve arranged, you need to make sure that you have all the arrangements ready. It’s a good idea to call the hotel ahead to make sure that they do have your reservations.

9. Pack your favorite foods and beverages

If you’re someone who can’t function without your favorite cup of coffee each morning, you need to pack whatever equipment you need to make that coffee. You need to plan for the needs of other members of the family, too. You may also want to pack some healthy snacks and drinks to beat hunger when it strikes.

10. Make some time to spend with your friends

Getting married is a huge change – your friends will undoubtedly worry if you’ll be the same. For old times’ sake and to show your friends that you will always care, arranging some private time together before your wedding should be a nice gesture. Let your friends know that your friendship won’t end even when you get married.

More: 10 Things You Shouldn’t Do before Your Wedding

Tying the loose ends up before a wedding takes a great deal of effort. With a to-do list handy, though, you should have no trouble.

While there are many other things you should do before your big day, these ten are the most important ones. Do you have anything to add to the list?