{Guest Bloggers} SouthBound Bride

Today's Guest Blogger is a real treat for anyone in the midst of planning/organising or "bridesmaiding" a wedding - Gaby of SouthBound Bride (SBB) is here to share her number one tip for how-to-remain-calm on The Big Day. I first met Gaby (in the flesh) midway through last year and we hit it off like a house on fire. It was probably the enthusiastic wedding chatter or the two bottles of red wine that did the trick - but either way, I can personally say that Gaby is one of the loveliest gals on the internet. Even The Warr who has never met Gaby has realised that we are kindred spirits and whenever I have gone off to meet Gaby he remarks, "Oh, are you off to meet your new BFF SBB?" He's so funny with his double acronyms.



SouthBound Bride - has been a real inspiration during my wedding planning phase - and I really love the inspiration boards that you can request from Gaby -  gratis! They are so gorgeous - like one of her more recent boards - Coral and Chalk (above) - doesn't that name enough just sound so delicious! Gaby also curates awesome weekly round-ups and shares her favourite wedding-finds from around the web - so you can always be sure to find something on SBB to get your creative-juices flowing.

What I love about Gabys wedding blog is that unlike many wedding blogs - each of her posts feature "the voice of Gaby". In amidst all the gorgeous wedding inspiration you get a glimpse of Gaby's personal taste, style and (often hilarious) wedding-related stories. Hop over to SBB to see just what I mean.

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Hello lovely Indieberries readers, it’s Gaby of SouthBound Bride, Che’s favourite wedding blogger* (Gaby totally just put that in herself - but, I do whole-heartedly agree!). When I offered to write a little guest post while she’s on the wedding crazy train, I asked her what she’d like me to write about. “How to keep calm on the big day,” she said. And so here I am, to tell you all just that.

Thing is, for all my years of wedding blogging and advanced (self-awarded) degree in flower and veil terminology, I’ve never been a bride, so to answer this question I thought I would fall back on my experiences as a bridesmaid. And what I can tell Che, and all of you brides (and bridesmaids) to be is that something will probably go horribly wrong. Fact.

The first wedding I bridesmaided for was relatively disaster free (although we almost forgot the groom’s ring and had to turn back for it). The second was for my school friend a gorgeous girl with a flare for the dramatic. She wanted to make a grand first impression, and picked Pavarotti’s Nessun Dorma as the perfect tune. You know the one – starts off soft, builds to “vincero, vincero, viiiiiinceeeeeeeroooooooo” (If you don't speak Gaby you can listen to the song here). Problem was, her chapel was tiny, so the plan was that the church doors would stay closed for the first part of the song while atmosphere and anticipation would build, then the bridesmaids would come in just before the chorus and the bride would follow for her triumphant (operatic) entrance. We had it timed within milliseconds. Problem was, nobody told the man who was opening the door. He flung it open at the first strains of the choir. So there my fellow bridesmaid and I stood, all eyes on us from inside the little church. For five full minutes. We couldn’t move, because that would ruin the bride’s big moment. (The bride who, by the way, was standing off to one side

doubled over with laughter.) AWKWARD.

The last time I was a bridesmaid, I thought I had just about every eventuality covered (and by then, I was running SouthBound Bride, so I had the benefit of hundreds of real brides’ hindsight advice). After the ceremony, I headed off with the rest of the wedding party for photos, confident that the guests would enjoy their cocktail hour sipping lemonade through stripey straws, eating canapés, and admiring the bride’s unusual choice of wedding cake – a tower of donuts. The donuts were supposed to each sit on a delicate paper doily, having been placed stylishly on a lovely platter and encircled with flowers and berries. Tres Martha. What we didn’t know was that the co-ordinator (and I use the term loosely) had simply piled them up on a plate. Yep, you can see this coming. By the time we got

back from the photoshoot… the guests had eaten the ‘cake’.

The thing is, that while neither of these specially planned details went to plan, they’ve become some of the funniest memories from those happy days. We’ll still be laughing at them on ten-year anniversaries, and twenty, and beyond. So my keep calm tip is this: Something is probably going to go wrong. But when it does, go with it. It’s all part of your story, and while every love story is perfect, they’re not

built on perfection.

And if you’re still worried, arm your bridesmaids with an emergency kit. 

You can download mine here.

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Thanks so much Gaby! I am preparing myself for the rings to be dropped, my bridesmaids to be drunk, a tropical torrential downpour with no umbrellas, the minister to forget the date, my dress to rip and my photographers hair to catch on fire. And surely if I prepare for all that - then there's much else that can go wrong. Right?

Right.