5 Feelings Every Bride Has on Her Wedding Day (But No One Talks About)

We all know how we're supposed to feel on our wedding days: Excited, ecstatic, and incredibly in love. Ah, the blissfulness of getting married…  

 However, in reality, you're probably going to feel more or less out of your mind. Yes, you'll be excited and in love and happy and all that good stuff. But the thing no one ever prepares you for is how downright weird you might feel when the big day finally comes after so much planning, wishing, and stressing. Here are some of the more common ways you might feel on your wedding day that are totally beyond normal.  

Even if you’ve never had trouble falling asleep—ever—you might find yourself unable to get some shut-eye the night before your wedding. Which means that when you wake up, you might feel like you’ve been run over by a truck… exactly the opposite of how you want to feel on one of the biggest days of your life. But don’t worry: You’ll have so much adrenaline pumping by the time the event starts that you won’t feel sleepy. In the mean time, get yourself some espresso and do a couple of sun salutations to get your blood flowing.  

It’s normal to be a little on edge while you’re preparing for your wedding. You may feel like you’re taking things more personally or even, say, that your bridesmaids are secretly mad at you. It’s just your emotions running high and the stress of having this one day be the best day ever. If you happen to cry for no apparent reason, it’s okay! So many brides before you have been there.

The combination of excitement and nerves may make you feel like you’re about to toss your cookies. Of course, this is not ideal when everyone is probably telling you that you need to eat something or else you’ll pass out at the altar. It may help to have some ginger ale or ginger candies on hand (or in your day-of emergency kit) to help settle your stomach. Chances are that as soon as you walk down the aisle, you’ll be just fine.

You’re going to want to clone yourself so you can talk, dance, and otherwise hang out with all of your loved ones all at once. Obviously, you can’t do that (yet…) so you might feel a bit crazed as you bop around from one friend group to one family group to another. You may even only have a real conversation for a couple minutes before someone else taps your shoulder or goes in for a hug. Again, super normal to feel overwhelmed by this!

Being at your own wedding can feel like you’re in a dream or some kind of alternate reality. (Like, Whoa, there’s my college roommate! And my uncle! And my childhood best friend! Or, Holy crap, I’m wearing a wedding dress!) The experience is honestly surreal. Stay grounded by taking deep breaths and reminding yourself to be in the moment. But remember that it’s perfectly okay to feel a bit in awe of everything and everyone around you—it’s your wedding day, after all!