r/Brides

Hi Brides!

I am getting married in exactly 13 days! My period is projected to start on May 31 to June 2... which is either 2 days before the wedding or on my wedding day! As we know, the 2nd or 3rd day of a menstrual period is usually the heaviest so I am hoping I either start on my wedding day or by some miracle, I am late and start on June 3rd. However, I am defeinitely really regular :(

Anyway, I'll post a photo of my dress.. the bottom is satin material and flowy but you can def see an outline of underwear / shapewear if its not seamless. I am really worried about my period and what to wear under there. I don't use menstrual cups nor do I want to try for the first time on my wedding. I can use Super Tampons, seamless underwear and put on two liners, but I usally like to wear boy shorts to keep my underwear in place.

Also need suggestions on shapewear thats easy to slip on and off or has a easy bathroom function.

Any suggestions?

https://preview.redd.it/g9fz5d3drf2h1.png?width=890&format=png&auto=webp&s=31f249eea22ce66d8b06c2651ca746ec87142c20

Me casaré el año que viene, y mi novio ya escogió a sus caballeros de honor, personas con las que él habla mucho y son muy especiales para él, sin embargo, me encuentro en una encrucijada porque algunos de estos hombres se encuentran casados, y mi novio me dijo que sería correcto que las esposas de ellos sean damas de honor también, que si no lo son se vería mal y podría tomarse como una ofensa, sin embargo, de lo poco que sé, las damas de honor son personas muy cercanas a la novia y la acompañarán en momentos muy importantes; me sentiría incómoda con ellas por ejemplo al momento de la reunión en la que les pida ser mis damas de honor ya que nos llevamos normal pero no hablamos o simplemente no son mis íntimas. Qué debería hacer? Por favor ayudenme con pros y contras y lo que opinan

Hi everyone! My partner and I are looking into a destination wedding, and we’re considering Portugal. I’m just starting the process and would love any recommendations/advice from other brides who have gone through it 😊

We’re thinking around 40–60 guests with a rough budget of ~$20–30k USD total (not including engagement ring, wedding bands, dress, or wedding attire). I'm not sure if this is realistic for Portugal, so would love honest feedback there too. We’d also be open to doing a weekday wedding.

A few things we’re looking for:

• coastal venues or places within driving distance to the beach
• Lisbon/Cascais/Ericeira/Algarve areas, but open to anywhere in Portugal
• relaxed, intimate vibe (not super luxury palace, but also not overly rustic)
• possibly a villa/quinta-style celebration with accommodations where everyone can hang out for the weekend

So far, I’ve started reaching out to a few venues but am still waiting to hear back regarding more detailed pricing/packages. We also currently have tours set up for Solar de Pancas, Quinta da Conceição, and Quinta da Bichinha when we visit in August.

Would love:

• venue recommendations
• planner/vendor recs
• photographer/florist/catering experiences
• insight into actual budgets and what things ended up costing
• any surprise fees or hidden costs you didn’t initially think about (transportation, rentals, staffing, sound restrictions, taxes/VAT, etc.)

We’re still very open to the celebration format, so would also love to hear if anyone has experience with either of the options below and any pros/cons to consider:

1. a full quinta/venue buyout with accommodations where everyone stays together for the weekend, or
2. a one-day wedding where guests stay at nearby hotels/Airbnbs instead.
3. renting a large vacation house/villa (Airbnb or VRBO that allows wedding events) and having a more intimate ceremony/celebration there

Very excited to start the planning process and would truly appreciate any advice, recommendations, or experiences you’re willing to share 🤍

Am I being unreasonable? I keep being made to feel like I am.

I live in Florida. We’re getting married in Italy. When searching for seaside weddings, I found the location on the planner’s website so obvs we hired her.

I am very thankful to have her assistance, but there have been many times where I’ve been made to feel like I’m being unreasonable OR whatever basic request I have, is just something that they don’t do in Italy.

The requests for details that I’ve made thus far:
- Sample menus. There are different price tiers. I would like to see examples of what the chef will prepare to decide which we like best. Asked multiple times to choose which tier, but told only generally what is served. *Asking for a sample menu, advising of allergies/dislikes, etc. These are important to me. Why pay an additional $1000-3000+ if it’s not worth it to us?! Or equally important, do we even like what’s on the menu?*

- Flowers. I was told the florist plans to use 4 flowers and 4 colors from my palette. ALL of the flowers have multiple varieties of each and come in different colors. All flowers have to be imported so we’re not using locally sourced unfortunately. I have a generic list of what will be included (bouquet, arch, centerpieces, etc). I don’t expect that the mockup / examples of previous work will be identical to the final design, but even asking for this,
I was told that is not something they do in Italy. Am I crazy?! Do ZERO brides in Italy want to see their flowers before the wedding?!

Part of me feels guilty even just for posting this, but I would like to know if you all think I’m being unreasonable in my requests? AND how do I discuss how I’ve felt while being polite and respectful, but direct?

Hi everyone! Please help me on what I should do in this crazy situation.

I got engaged October 2025. I went wedding dress shopping this past weekend, as our wedding is May 2027. I went to a store I was super excited about and ended up finding a dress. You custom order the dress through the store and in about 6 months it comes in and you do another try on and go from there. We had a wonderful experience and the owner has been doing it for nearly 8 years. Two days after I made the purchase of over $3K, my friend had sent me a video of a local news reporter saying the owner of this business had been not delivering dresses to many clients by the time of their wedding, in some cases never placing the order, and having terrible communication throughout the process. The owner has since posted an apology on her instagram attempting to do some damage control and justifying her actions due to the designers she works with changing things on their end. Some women have even made a group chat and said she should shut her shop down due to all of this. I have tried to call her 4 times, left her a voicemail, and an email asking her to call me. I want to address this with her directly and see what she has to say or what my options are. I’ve been freaking out all week trying to figure out the best plan of action. I’ve also called my credit card and told them about the situation. What would you do in this situation?

I want to ask my cousin and my best friend to be my "unofficial bridesmaids" for my wedding. My fiancé and I are eloping so we are only having about 11 people at our ceremony but we're having a bigger reception with about 50 guests afterwards. I don't want to do the traditional bridesmaids duties that require the girls to wear a certain dress or do all the extra stuff (I've been a bridesmaid before and I'll never do it again). That being said, I would like to honor my two girls by asking them to be there with me on our wedding day while we get ready and to be present at the ceremony. Do you guys have any suggestions for how to go about this? Is there a different term other than "bridesmaid" that I can present to them with a small, intentional gift? Thanks!

Hi Brides!

What shoes are we wearing for beach ceremonies? Mine will be in Tahoe so I’m a bit nervous about the thick rocky sand. I’m getting my dressed altered next week and need to land on shoes by then.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Can anyone speak from experience on what worked for them?

TIA!

This is more for one of my friends who’s a bride than for me but I’m trying to be supportive and helpful and idk how.

One of my best friends is getting married!!! She’s gonna have a huge bridal party and she’s torn. She has a “friend” who hasn’t been the best to her. She constantly tears her down and makes everything about herself. There’s been multiple occasions where she’s bitched her out and made her cry over something as stupid as turning away to talk to another friend at a bar. Like it’s really insane how she can turn on her so quickly over something so stupid. This friend also has a history of making bad decisions and leaving her friends to clean them up. She’s constantly hammered and a messy drunk and puts all of her friends in uncomfortable and messy situations.

She also has spurts of kindness. Shes planned her birthday parties and even wanted to throw her a engagement party. She’ll pay for things for her and tell her not to worry about it. But it’s all very superficial things.

My best friend’s fiancé HATES this girl and does not want her in the wedding. My best friend also does not want her to be apart of the wedding. She already stressed and doesn’t want to worry about drama or her getting her bridal party in a bad spot. She also already has so many girls and none of the girls in the bridal party really like her. She heard from another friend that this girl is really counting on being in the wedding and is expecting to be asked. We’re trying to think of alternate ways for her to be involved in the day without her being in the wedding party or going on the bachelorette.

Has anyone else had this happen to them? What did you guys do?

I am getting married in 3 months and I’m seriously considering removing my former maid of honor (she is now a bridesmaid) from the wedding party. We’ve been close friends for around 10 years and I genuinely love her like a sister, which is why this whole situation has been so hard for me emotionally.

The issues started around 5 months ago when we tried to go dress shopping for her bridesmaid dress. We had to reschedule three times because she kept having work, family, or personal issues come up. I know life happens and I really tried to be understanding because she does tend to have a lot going on. When we finally went shopping, though, she showed up drunk. I had offered to pay for her dress because I know money can be stressful, but she declined and bought it herself. The dress was only around $80, but ever since then she’s brought up multiple times that she paid for her own dress, and I’ve started to feel guilty even though she originally insisted on buying it herself.

A few months later we had a get together with the wedding party, and she ended up getting drunk and sleeping with the best man. Since then, she’s refused to communicate with him at all. Unfortunately, they were also the two people who were supposed to help plan my fiancé and I’s combined bachelor/bachelorette party, so now the best man has basically been left to handle everything himself. I also feel like alcohol may be becoming a bigger issue than I originally realized, because when we discussed everyone bringing drinks for the bach trip, her response was basically that she’d just drink whatever was there and that she didn’t want to bring anything.

Most recently, she came over so we could spend one-on-one time going over wedding schedules, tasks, and details because she had a lot of questions and I wanted to make things easier for her. I explained the few setup tasks I needed help with the day of the wedding, but she immediately said she didn’t want to do any of them. I offered different options, trying to find something she’d be comfortable with, but she declined every suggestion.

During that same conversation, she also said she didn’t want to drive to the Airbnb we rented for the wedding weekend and asked if she could ride with my fiancé and me. I said yes and explained the check-in schedule, but then she said those dates might not work because she could possibly have class. I tried suggesting other options, including driving up the next day before the wedding, but that “might” not work either. Her final suggestion was coming after our rehearsal dinner.

I already demoted her from maid of honor to bridesmaid because I was feeling overwhelmed, but now I’m wondering if I’d be wrong for removing her from the wedding party completely. Part of me feels guilty because I know she may be struggling personally or emotionally in ways I don’t fully understand, and I don’t think she’s intentionally trying to hurt me. But another part of me feels unsupported and stressed during a time where I really need reliability from the people closest to me.

EDIT: yes, I have spoken to her a couple of times throughout the months to see whats up and what she needs, she expresses her stressors and says she wants to be part of it and to help. I always try to make sure she feels heard and have told her if she ever needs to take a step back to just let me know!

Where is everyone getting their future husband's wedding ring? my guy wants something simple, durable, inexpensive but not cheap. I have no idea where to start. The jewelry store where we got my engagement ring has men's rings starting over $1000, which my future husband said is ridiculous. What are you all doing?

This is mostly a vent but any kind words or advice is welcome.

My extended family specifically have made getting married feel awful.

The latest is that my uncle has gotten into a fight with my mum and my grandma because his 2 adult sons aren’t invited. I was never really close with them when we were growing up, they never seemed interested in spending time with me, and as adults we do not see each other socially at all, even at family events. I saw one of them at my grandad’s 90th birthday, the other I have not seen in about 10 years. I have no idea why he thought they would be invited, but he has now accused me (and my mother) of “tearing the family apart”. I’m really upset that this has caused stress for my grandma and my mum when they’ve done nothing wrong. They both tried to persuade me to invite them but I stuck to my guns because I don’t like tip-toeing around people. I wish he would just be mad at me.

There have been other little things, one of my cousins has refused to go because I didn’t invite his mother (she has been really awful to me and my mum in the past, her 2 other kids get that and are coming).

Another cousin and her husband won’t eat any of the food on the menu and seem to think getting food at a wedding is like ordering food from a restaurant.

I’m just so sick of them all. I have been so relaxed with planning, I have made such a big effort to make our wedding a nice event for all our guests and all I’ve got at the moment is whiny entitled extended family members.

My bachelorette is this summer in Ogunquit Maine and I want to do something special for my bridesmaids. I don’t think they are expecting me to pay anything towards logistical things like food/housing, but I want to do something special for them as a thank you and token of appreciation. There will be 6 of us total. Share your ideas!!

I’m getting married in a couple weeks and two of my bridesmaids bought matching shoes with each other which is fine however our colors are purple and they bought shoes that have red and green in them….it looks like shoes you would wear to a corporate Christmas party.
I tried to politely say it’s not on theme it doesn’t match but they just say “it looks great together”.
There is nothing in my wedding with those colors and their dresses aren’t floor length their mid.
I’ve been letting everyone steam roll over me because I don’t want to come across a certain way because you can lose friends/family during this process. But I really hate their shoes for my wedding.
It seems like no matter what I say they will find a reason why they should wear the shoes. They won’t match the other people in my party either, everyone else is wearing nude open toed heels. These are pointed closed toed shoes with embroidered green and red starbursts with a giant bow on the back.
What can I even do?

EDIT:
I told them any style lavender/lilac dress just nude shoes
I have 5 people in my party including MOH, only one is in satin she chose it everyone else in chiffon or a ruffle style dress
The shoes aren’t also stilettos, everyone else is wearing a heel block because we will be on grass
I’m sure it will look nice in the end but I just feel like my “requests” were completely ignored and they are dead set on wearing them so I’ll just let it happen.