I told my husband that it is tradition for the bride and groom to exchange gifts on the day of their wedding. At that time, I had visions of those heart-melting photos. The ones where the bride gets a surprise gift from her soon-to-be husband and everyone is in tears. But then I forgot about all of that when he bought me the most awesome present–a laptop I’ve always wanted. And so I started off my early wife days feeling guilty.

So what’s the 411 on bride and grooms giving gifts to each other? Well traditionally, women get jewelry and the groom gets a watch to wear on their wedding day. But gifts can range anywhere from extremely pricey earrings to inexpensive but thoughtful gifts such as a photo album. And etiquette says it’s best to discuss this with your loved one to make sure you’re on the same page, or else you’ll end up empty handed like me.

I had a lot of place cards left that I didn’t use. One thing you could do is to leave your loved one little notes on the place cards to let them know you’re thinking about them. And, whether it’s an expensive bracelet or golf clubs, the gift doesn’t really matter so much as if you’re doing it from the heart. You’ll be getting enough gifts anyway from your guests, so the best thing to do is to do something personal that’s sure to make them feel special.

Photo from WeddingChannel.com.

Well my wedding day came and went. Just like that it was over in a flash! After 14 months of planning, it’s a little weird that it’s finally over. I know a lot of people didn’t tell me how weddings truly are and I had been won over by the millions of magazines I had read up until this point where weddings are a perfect and flawless affair. I wanted to dedicate this post to all of you brides out there to learn the truth of one bride’s real wedding.

I don’t know how your wedding went or is going to be like, but I can say for my own the entire week before the wedding and a few days after was filled with emotional highs and lows. From rehearsal dinner to the after wedding breakfast, I felt like I was a walking zombie filled with anticipation and nerves. I did not sleep a wink the whole week before the wedding nor could I eat the day of. Talk about needing to relax-I should have listened to my own advice I wrote about in a previous post! Everything I said I needed to do and swore I would like eat throughout the whole day and really get some rest was thwarted by nerves. And forget about trying to be perfect or having a perfect wedding, my wedding I like to say was “perfectly imperfect.”

The wedding itself was filled with things that didn’t go as planned-caterers were late, food wasn’t what we ordered, I was 20 minutes late myself. But with that being said, I could not have imagined a more sincere and simple display of my new husband and I. Everyone commented that they knew they were at our wedding because from our unique ceremony to our first dance and all of our songs, everything was so us!

One thing I learned is that it was the things I hadn’t planned for that was the best most memorable moments for me. My dad giving a brief toast saying I was the best daughter and my husband was “cool,” hanging out with friends I hadn’t seen in years and just the feeling that everyone was there for us. That’s why though I wish it wasn’t as windy or the caterers weren’t late or that I had eaten a little, when I think back to that Friday I know I wouldn’t have wanted anything different than what it was, “perfectly imperfect.”

It’s cool to see how couples are really taking risks out there on the dance floor. One wedding I went to featured the couple dancing first to a choreographed slow song and then sped up with something fast and funny. What I’ve been noticing on the Internet is surprising first dances in which couples seemingly dance to a slow, romantic melody and then the music is cut and the laughs begin! Today’s bride and groom want to really entertain guests instead of making them watch several minutes of boring and awkward shuffling back and forth. As a result, it looks like they’re taking lessons and practicing before hand and the results are hilarious. See for yourself!