A bride under the microscope

The countdown is on for my big day, I’m getting married in July and I’m beyond excited. The wedding preparation process is so exciting but also, it’s overwhelming, stressful and at times, a little sad.

You are under SO much pressure (inadvertently I must admit) but have pressure and expectations from everywhere:

- The Pinterest wedding (which is a whole other blog post entirely)

- The weight loss story

- The bridal magazines

- Your family and friends

- The ‘my friend got married last year and they had …’

- Your own fairy tale expectations which you’ve had since you were five

The list could go on and on and on …

You’re told your wedding day is the most important and special day of your life, which it is, people aren’t lying. But that throws up SO much more pressure for everything to be perfection – especially yourself.

It’s your wedding day, you want to look the best you’ve ever looked, and will probably ever look again. And I feel like that, but with that feeling of excitement comes an overwhelming feeling of self-doubt and self-consciousness. I’m finding new flaws every single day. You look at yourself in a whole new light and find problems which have never been problems before.

When I tried my dress on for the first time I felt unbelievable (and I still feel fabulous don’t worry) but as I have tried it on since I’m looking at my arms, and my back and the way my shoulders tip forward and my nose has a bump … and before you know it you’re sat in a bridal changing room welling up and feeling a mess.

My fiancé is marrying me because he loves me however I am. He finds me beautiful when I have a unicorn onesie on, my bed head hair sticking up all over and my face resembling that of sloth from the goonies. I could walk down the aisle looking just like that and he would still say yes. And all the guests would smile and say how happy I look. The only person who gives a shit about how you look in the big day is you. And if you’ve got someone at your wedding who is sat thinking that you’re too fat or too thin; that your hair is a mess or your make ups off; that your birthmark on your back is ruining your whole look; or anything negative whatsoever; then should they really be there? Fuck ‘em. Fuck the lot of ‘em.

It is your day and it is your marriage.

Your friends and family will just be focusing on how happy you are, the food, the booze and the music.

So take yourself out from under the microscope, enjoy the wedding planning process and go and give your fiancé a smooch.

Jess x