Planning your wedding, no matter how heavily or little you are involved in the planning process, is a real roller coaster of a ride! Accommodating the input, wishes and needs of the bride’s and groom’s families, executing bridal vision, incorporating families and guests, planning however many events go along with the wedding - it can be overwhelming. Even if you choose to keep things simple and streamlined, there is still plenty to think about.

Amid all this, we want to focus on the bride: What tips and tricks can help brides manage everything that happens on their big day and help them to enjoy the wedding experience unfolding around them? We took this question to you – past brides – and you had some great advice to share! Here are 17 great tips to help you have the best wedding experience!

1. If you' wear hijab, get your hijab as soon as you can and practice how to wear it! I added a crystal headband and veil but wasn’t sure how I’d attach them, so practicing ahead of time helped! Also, it’s important to know what you’re going to do with all the extra fabric if the hijab is on the larger side. Don’t experiment with something new the day of.

2. If you’re having a cocktail hour, make sure to have food brought up to your bridal suite and eat, because the rest of the night flies by and you will not have time to eat. People will come up to you during dinner for pictures, and before you know it dinner is over and you haven’t eaten.

3. Stay hydrated! So important!

4. Things will go wrong (not to be a pessimist). Let it. Know that you’ve done all you could in your power but sometimes things out of our control happen, and that’s okay! Roll with the punches! Chances are your guests won’t even notice.

5. Smile! All eyes, cameras and phones are on you today.

6. My favorite thing that I did was to create a Google photos shared album. I shared the link with our guests and asked them to dump their photos from the night into it. This gave me and my husband something to look through while we waited for our professional portraits. It also gives you a glimpse of your guests! Your photographer is so focused on you and your bridal party that he/she may not catch photos of the guests.

7. Don’t do mail-in RSVPs. Chances are people will lose them or forget to send them back. There are so many great websites now that allow your guests to login and RSVP right from their phone. You can even add a QR code for them to scan to direct them to the website for easy access.

8. Have fun! You made it! The day you dreamt of is finally here. Enjoy it and take it all in. It goes by so quickly!

9. Don’t wear anything for the first time on your wedding day. Let me explain: Break in your wedding heels to avoid unnecessary blisters, try on your hijab and veil/dupatta before, and make sure you perfect the styling. If you can, do a makeup and hair trial. If you can’t, stick with tried and true colors – you don’t want to try anything you’ve never done before and end up hating it.

10. This is YOUR day. Stop worrying about everyone else and family politics and what not. When you look back on your wedding in 10 or 20 years you want to have the best memories! Party it up, girlfriend!

11. Have a designated wedding planner or point person for the day of. This person doesn’t have to be hired, she could be a hyper organized friend of yours or a family member. This person should be the contact point for all the vendors and be the director, if you will, of the wedding. She should be the person who knows where and what is happening at all times, in the correct order, with the correct people ;)

12. Don’t go crazy spending. That money is better spent on your first home or your first travels together as a couple. Invest in key, non-negotiables for you and your hubby (for some that’s flowers and photography, for others it’s venue and food, others it’s the dress, etc).

13. I bought a skin-colored, sleeveless, fitted crop top turtleneck off Amazon that is a gem for hijabis! It covers my chest, neck and back, and so I was able to also place jewelry on top to cover it. I wear it all the time even now when I have a low cut top or low cut back.

14. If you’re planning to have a split wedding at any point, where the men and women will be separated, don’t bother taking off your hijab when you’re in a women-only space unless you have a stylist there to fix your hair. And even if you do, I’d recommend keeping your hijab on because it takes time to go upstairs or to a private space and have your hair fixed, and meanwhile your guests are waiting around for you to come.

And then after you put your hijab on at the end of the night, it’s usually wrapped kind of messy and not polished like when you started the wedding. For me, personally, it wasn’t worth the hour that I had my hijab off. We did take photos at home without my hijab, but the photos my husband and I took at the wedding venue without my hijab, I just did not like them. I felt my hair looked like a hot mess.

I remember getting so many pieces of advice before my wedding day. One of them was about the art of saying hello. Since I’m of Egyptian descent, we culturally say hello to our guests by kissing both cheeks, and your wedding day is no different. One thing I hadn’t thought of before was makeup. What if someone kissed you who had red lips or a lot of makeup that rubbed off on your white/ivory (or whatever color) hijab? Sounds like a disaster, right? Doesn’t have to be if you come prepared. So with that, I’d advise two things:

15. On that particular day, try to only do air kisses – no need to get so close, especially with Covid being so common now. That’s the last thing you need on your honeymoon.

16. In the event of an accident happening (ie. something spilling on your hijab, someone getting a little too close with their makeup, etc.), it’s best you come prepared with two wedding hijabs, just in case! The last thing you’ll want is to step away from your wedding to remove your hijab and wash it when you can just replace it with another identical one. Better safe than sorry!

17. My biggest piece of advice is to prepare yourself with straight pins! I only had safety pins to make my turban hijab, and it was a bit of a disaster. (Here at Haute Hijab, we'd also recommend having some of our No-Snag Hijab Magnets at the ready as well to help you style your hijab) My maid of honor ended up cutting a piece of my hijab off to cover the safety pins.