All The Things My Mom Was Right About During Wedding Planning

By Alexandra Macon

We recently came across a quote on Instagram that said: “OMG. My mother was right about everything.” Nothing makes you feel this #truth more than the wedding planning process. So, in honor of Mother’s Day this Sunday, we tapped two of our favorite brides, Nell Diamond, the CEO and founder of Hill House Home, and Samantha Fuld, the vice president of The Pink Agenda—a not-for-profit organization committed to raising money for breast cancer research and care—to throw it back to their weddings and their favorite mother of the bride moments.

Both ladies threw pretty epic parties—Nell’s was in the South of France, while Samantha’s was at the New York Public Library—and they happened to really have mom on the brain right now as they just teamed up to design two special-edition pillows in honor of Mother’s Day that help fund The Pink Agenda’s life-saving breast cancer research and care. Interwoven with positive-thinking mantras that are inspired by Nell’s mother, Jennifer, and her battle with breast cancer, the script on the pillows is stitched in her daughter’s own handwriting. With this touching collaboration top of mind, we asked Nell and Samantha to share all of the things their moms were right about with regards to their weddings. . . and their poetic lists they came up with are at once hilarious and humbling.

The pillows are priced at $165 with $20 from each sale going to The Pink Agenda, and they can be purchased here.

NELL DIAMOND, the CEO and founder of Hill House Home on the 23 things her mother was right about during wedding planning . . . 

Above: Nell’s mother Jennifer Diamond with Prabal Gurung. Photo: @hillhousehome.

  1. Seating charts are not something to cry about.
  2. 8:00 p.m. is a perfectly reasonable bedtime.
  3. That skirt would look better a little shorter.
  4. Granola bars are tiny little cakes masquerading as health food.
  5. A bikini photoshoot at 6:00 a.m. on your wedding day is always a good idea.
  6. Your bridesmaids do not work for you; let them have fun.
  7. The font on a menu is not something to cry about.
  8. It’s OK to spend 56 minutes alone in a chair in a dark room while all your friends are outside because your cheeks hurt from smiling.
  9. Flower crowns are not, in fact, timeless.
  10. Hold your bouquet low so it doesn’t obscure the line of your dress.
  11. Please do not overdo it on the bronzer.
  12. When your wedding planner fails to use an exclamation point in an email, this does not mean he hates you.
  13. Nail polish is not something to cry about.
  14. When your two men of honor ignore the carefully thought out, perfectly orchestrated walk down the aisle to stay back and cry while you walk through the revolving doors holding your dad’s hand, don’t pay attention to the panicked look in your wedding planner’s eyes. Laugh with them while everyone watches, take a selfie, breathe, remember this moment. This is your life.
  15. You will not remember the best man who forgot the rings, you will remember the love so thick it feels like raindrops soaking you for one quick, hot night by the sea.
  16. When your dad tells you that he is “totally happy” sleeping in a chair so that you can stay with your mom the night before your wedding, believe him. Hand him a towel to use as a blanket, bring him coffee and a smile in the morning, laugh when he shows you his fit-bit sleep stats. That is all he wants. I promise.
  17. You will not remember the seating chart. You will remember how quiet it is under the vines, standing next to your husband, and the stillness of his mother’s hands, so much hope and hard work and love inside them that you can’t look away.
  18. Do not worry about the radiation treatment your mom finished exactly 15 days before your wedding. Do not worry about things you cannot control. Go with her to the hospital. Help her stuff her pink sweater and glittery bag and pointed shoes into the grey locker that smells like chlorine. Tie the ribbons on her hospital gown in neat little bows. Talk about Kanye West. Hide gallons of cold iced tea in your handbag. She will get through this. And so will you.
  19. When the zipper on your big fancy dress breaks 23 minutes after you were scheduled to walk down the aisle, forgive everyone for hiding all the clocks from you and pretending to get your shoes on slowly so you don’t notice. You will be sewn in. You will walk down the aisle. None of it matters.
  20. When your best friend changes the pattern on the dress he spent 5 months making for your mom to hide her bright red radiation burns 9 days before the wedding and says it was “for a more elegant look,” believe him. He is protecting you. He is protecting your mom. Your friends are gold. Hold them close.
  21. On the day after your wedding, you will sit in a car speeding away from the sea and think to yourself, “nothing will ever be this good again,” but there are so many more big, bold, beautiful things coming for you, little girl, and some hard things too, but it will never be more than we can handle together.
  22. One day your little curly haired boy with shark eyes and sticky fingers will slap his palm on your collarbone while he wails and that day in October by the sea will no longer be the best of your life, just the beginning of it.
  23. Yellow is not your color.

SAMANTHA FULD, the vice president and board of director at The Pink Agenda, on the 20 things her mother was right about during wedding planning . . . 

Above: Samantha being escorted down the aisle by her mother Lori S. Kanter Tritsch.

  1. Toile is for a bedroom, not your wedding venue’s walls.
  2. Picking your wedding dress will be your greatest high. 3 months later, thinking you picked the wrong one will feel like your greatest low. None of this matters. You will be beautiful.
  3. Working harder and faster doesn’t mean the wedding planning process will go by faster. Enjoy the creative process. Let yourself marinate. Don’t rush to make every decision.
  4. Play Grandma’s favorite song.
  5. Your wedding is not just a celebration of your marriage but also the people that helped you get to this point in your life. Never forget to thank them.
  6. Viva la vida/life’s short: go for the hair extensions.
  7. Try to create a timeline. Know that no one, including all the master vendors in the world, will ever be able to follow it.
  8. You are not allowed to wear a wedding dress that is bigger than you.
  9. Focus on the elements that you care about as a couple. Leave the rest to your mother.
  10. When someone tells you that the only way to get 290 people into the library is by cutting the band in half, don’t listen to them. Bring in your mom the architect instead.
  11. Life’s short, part 2: go for the CVS eyelash extensions.
  12. It’s ok to wake-up 6 months in and realize you don’t have a photographer. And your mother will sit by your side analyzing every photo and artistic angle on Instagram until you find one that feels right.
  13. Eat.
  14. Your husband is the greatest person in the world. Celebrate him every day. You are so, so lucky.
  15. You will be hypersensitive to everything. Ignore the friends who pick fights. Cherish the ones who knock down your door when you say nothing is wrong, but they know something is.
  16. It’s ok if your mother gets ready without you. What use is she if she’s not ready herself?
  17. It will all go by so fast, faster than you can ever imagine. In one breath it is gone. There will be nothing you can do to slow it down. So have fun.
  18. Your wedding year will serve as a hyper-emotional reminder of everyone you love in life and everyone you miss. Honor them all in your own special way. Keep them close to you.
  19. Go for the overly ornate menu. Serve the penne alla vodka.
  20. And yes, it’s true. Your happiness is my greatest happiness. The single mother who raised you has never been prouder to watch you get to this day. You deserve all the happiness you feel—so soak it up.