Wedding Journals

Journals have always been a part of our lives. As a little child, you probably had a notebook wherein you kept an account of the important – and not so important – things that went on in your daily life. As a teenager, this habit may have continued. With the rise in popularity of blogs, the habit of writing down both the significant and the mundane has not waned a bit. Why not consider keeping a wedding journal for you and your partner?

A wedding journal is one way to make your memories even more tangible. Later on down the road, you would certainly appreciate going down memory lane and revisiting one of the most momentous occasions in your life. How do you go about making your own wedding journal?

Why not start at the moment you get engaged? Go to your local bookstore or crafts shop and pick out a blank journal. Of course, you may not be able to carry this with you at all times so it would be a good idea to have a scratch pad handy to take around with you. This way, you can write your thoughts and feelings any time you want to. Later on, you can transfer these into your journal. You can even turn it into a scrap book and add photos and other memorabilia. You will be sure to have tons of these as you plan your wedding.

What can you write in your wedding journal? Starting from your engagement, you can write about the proposal and your feelings about that. Later on, you can write about events and happenings related to your wedding planning. From the choosing of the venue, the theme, the people involved, and more, you can jot all these down and document your activities.

So what is the point in keeping a wedding journal? After all, you may be thinking, the wedding ceremony itself will be well documented with videos and pictures. Still, a wedding is not a stand alone event. As you probably already know, a wedding is the result of months of planning. You would probably go through a lot – both good and bad – in the months prior to your wedding. Documenting these times may even be more precious as time passes by. More so, writing things down can help alleviate some of the stress that you will surely be undergoing. Much like other journals, let your wedding journal be your outlet in times of pressure.

Getting Slim the SMART way

You wake up, you look in the mirror and you decide that you are not content with the shape you see in the mirror. It isn’t that you are obese at all. You aren’t really fat but you would like to have a sexier, shapelier figure on your wedding day.

You tell yourself firmly that today, you will work on having a better figure. Then you walk into the kitchen and grab a soda and some chips. Hold it right there! That’s what is keeping your figure the way it is.

If you are truly serious about reshaping your form, you need to start eating smart. You can’t just go off and eat anything you crave. This impulsive eating is going to keep you from becoming slimmer.

You need to make your goal very clear to yourself. It isn’t enough to say, “oh I want to be slimmer for my wedding”. That’s like saying, “I wish I was thin”. We all know that that doesn’t work. You need to make your goal SMART.

S-specific

Decide what exactly you want to happen. How many pounds do you aim to lose? How many inches do you want to lose and in what areas? Knowing these numbers makes it easier for you to visualize what you want to look like on your wedding day. It can make a big difference in achieving your goal.

M-measurable

How do you know if you actually are accomplishing your goal? The only way to know is if you are able to measure it. It would be ridiculous to say simply buy a dress too small for you and keep trying the dress on everyday until you fit into it. True, you will at least be able to determine that you did slim down but it’s an erratic process.

It would be far easier to use a weighing scale and a tape measure. They will not lie to you. You’ll be able to see for yourself every week what kind of progress you are making.

A-achievable

If your wedding is only a week away, don’t set a goal to go from a size 15 to a size 2 in the time remaining. You are setting your self up for failure and ill health. Achievable means you have to work with what your body can truly do.

Unless you will spend the next few months living in a “Biggest Loser” farm, you will have many concerns to distract you from your goal. You have to decide, given your schedule, eating habits and current form what figure can you realistically achieve - in terms of both weight and inches.

R-realistic

If in order to achieve your specified goal means you will only eat one small meal a day and spend 5 hours in the gym, you might not be able to stay committed to your target. It is just too unrealistic. You will be too hungry and tired.

Aiming to lose two to three pounds a week is realistic but will still call for some effort on your part. If you want to lose more, you will need to make a bigger commitment in terms of time to exercise and eating habits. It will be a change of lifestyle. Take a good look and decide can you truly commit to doing this everyday?

T-time bounded

This is the simplest part because the deadline is quite clear: your wedding day. The question you have to ask yourself to set your goal is how much weight or inches can you lose between now and your wedding day?

For example, assuming that you aim to lose 2 pounds a week and your wedding is 6 months away, you can lose a whopping 48 pounds.

Target weight or inches to lose per week
X Number of weeks to the wedding
_______________________________________
Goal: Target weight or inches lost by the big day

You can do this easily if you just stay focused. You’ll be very pleased with yourself when your wedding comes around.

Natural Beauty Brought Out

If you are like most women, you cannot help but think you aren’t beautiful enough. You don’t believe your fiance when he tells you that you look beautiful. You think he says that because he loves you. You are partly right.

The truth is nature granted you great beauty. You may just need to choose the style that brings it out best. You may not need any artificial assistance such as botox or surgery of any sort.

For example, ladies who have curly hair often complain about how unruly it can get. You might be surprised but that may be what your fiance likes about you. You yourself may actually like your curly hair, if it would just please behave for the big day. Instead of having your hair straightened, why not simply have your hair cut to suit your curls. You will look less messy if your hair is cut in layers and thinned out, without taking out the curls. Finding a stylist who truly knows how to work with curly hair may be the greatest gift you can give yourself for your wedding.

Speaking of hair, you may want to get rid of the unsightly facial hair over your lip. No, you don’t need to shave. You may however want to check out the option to bleach the hair so it seems invisible against your skin. The other option is to wax it off - have a professional do this as it can be painful to the uninitiated. They’ll make it as quick and painless as possible for you. Hair removal of the face is best trusted to professionals.

If you think that your face lacks that glow that every bride should have, don’t panic. The answer may be as simple as drinking multi-vitamins. Let’s face it, everyone gets stressed during the day. You are probably trying to do more than your usual work load which can put strain. Guess the first place that stress normally shows? If you answered your skin, give yourself a pat. Specifically, it normally shows on your face’s skin. Once your body gets the right amount of vitamins and minerals it needs, your skin will have that natural glow you’ve been looking for.

Ladies, we often reshape our eyebrows as we grow older. We are told that it looks better if we make it thinner and the arch higher. You may be surprised to learn that nature actually gave you the perfect eyebrows for your face. You just needed to clean it up a little. Allow your brows to grow back and then make them a bit neater. You’ll be amazed at how beautiful your natural arch is and you won’t have that surprised, too arched look that some ladies get n their pictures.

If you don’t smile much because you think you have bad teeth, go see a dentist and find out what you can do about it. Sometimes a beautiful smile can just a few hours away. Whitening your teeth for example can even be done gradually, simply by getting rid of your caffeine habit, stop smoking and use whitening toothpaste regularly. No fuss, no muss, just whiter teeth.

Get Into Shape Together

Many a bride is concerned about getting slimmer just for the wedding day. That often means that they feel pressured to get fit. They will willingly get into crash diets and sign up for gym memberships just to try to achieve that one size smaller waistline they’d like to have for their wedding day.

What most brides realize is that doing so puts pressure on the groom as well. Now, that can be a good thing. This means that both halves of the couple are working to get healthier. Whoever said they had to do it alone and separate? Why not just do it together and motivate each other?

There are any number of physical activities that a couple can do together to get fit. Depending on one’s interest, the range varies from simple walking together everyday to maybe doing extreme sports together. The sky literally is the limit. Some couples actually decide to get into an activity in preparation for their honeymoon.

For example, a couple who love the beach would most likely choose to have a vacation somewhere near water as well. Working out together, they can encourage each other with thoughts of how great they’ll look in their swim suits. If they are into water sports, they can work out together in preparation for trying something new like scuba diving. The preparation for that will usually be weeks ahead of time (taking classes together) and they do have to be able to rely on each other as partners. That is great motivation to get into shape together.

Dancing is a physical activity that is practical for a couple to get into together. Think of it as preparation for the first dance. Dancing gives you a high impact work out and you get to hold each other close while learning how to move together on the dance floor. Learn to do a fancy move or two just to surprise yourselves. You’ll be able to strut your stuff at your reception and amaze your guests at how absolutely hot you look together on the dance floor.

Why don’t you just enroll in a gym together? You can be motivation for each other to work out, especially on those days when you feel you have a million and one excuses not to go. You can flirt with each other while you lift weights or just talk about your coming life together while you run on the treadmill.

If running is something you both enjoy, why not challenge each other to prepare for a marathon? The point of joining this kind of race isn’t to win, though that’s a cool thing. The goal is to finish. Choose a race that neither of you have joined and you’ll need to prepare for. You can help each other get stronger and go farther each time. Before you know it you’ll be in great shape for the competition and your wedding.

How about going cycling together? You can learn to ride bikes meant for two or just go mountain biking together. It’ll be great for the heart, lungs, legs and derriere. You also burn a lot of calories with this kind of a work out and you get to see some great sites.

Just don’t forget that it has to be something that you both enjoy or one (or both) of you will quit and that’s the last thing you want. Keep it fun and effective and you may just amaze yourself at how great you both look as you walk down the aisle together.