Photo: Laurine Paumard
Wedding planning can be stressful and it’s easy to forget to do the little (or big) things that will make your soon-to-be spouse happy. But these real-life couples were able to keep their eye on the prize — walking down the aisle! — while still making all kinds of romantic gestures for their partner. Here’s how they did it.
“My husband is extremely into maps; reading maps, following roads on a map to see where they go, and just genuinely interested in the world! To honor his love for maps and his love for me, I ordered him custom wedding cufflinks for him to wear on our wedding day. One link was a nod to the place where he proposed. The other link was a nod to where we would soon marry…which happened to include the street of the house he grew up in his entire life just a few blocks away.” — Miranda T., Chancey Charm Charlotte Wedding Planner
“My fiancé really wanted live music at our reception, and at one point even told me that was his childhood wedding plan. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t afford a band and had to go with a DJ. After months of planning and feeling guilty that it wouldn’t happen, I finally found the daughter of my mom’s co-worker — a very talented violinist at just 12! I surprised my husband with a string quartet of kids to play during our cocktail hour. Our guests were awed by the young talent and my husband was able to get a little piece of his wedding dream.” — Charissa F.
“I made my fiancé a darling little picture book explaining why I want to marry him. I also made a basket for him for his friends for the night before the wedding. It had mini Jameson and Baileys bottles around a six pack of Guinness so he could have an Irish car bomb with his best friends at the hotel. They really liked the surprise, but if you ask my husband he might say the most romantic thing I did was let him wear a kilt to our wedding.” — Candace F.
“One of the most memorable things I did for my fiancé was surprise her on her journey to an outstation where she has to travel for some work. I booked a seat just beside her, dropped her at a previous stop and then just hopped in at the next stop. Her expression was simply outstanding.” — Hemang R.
“For our wedding, I really wanted a mariachi band that was dear to my heart. He told me he wasn’t available on my wedding day and I was crushed. Well, turns out my husband had already booked them for us! About ten minutes left into the party, in walked the mariachi band and out poured the tears in my eyes. During the planning process, I made sure I had something special for my fiancé. He also works in the entertainment industry and had done a commercial with a mime and was obsessed. I took that idea came up with a living statue that would serve our guests my fiancé’s favorite wine.” — Andrea G., Weddings Unique
“Since I am in the thick of planning my own wedding right now, I tend to put all of our wedding to-dos on the same to-do list as the one I have for my clients. However, our own wedding to-dos always fall to the bottom of the list. My fiancé finds my to-do list and just starts randomly checking things off. Then when I come back to it the next day, I notice my load is a little lighter.” — Alex C., Taylor’d Events Group Senior Planner
See More: Real Brides Reveal: What I Wish I Knew When I Was Wedding Planning