We are in the thick of it. The cocktail hours, the holy matrimony, the oh no I forgot a wedding card-stop by CVS on the way to the ceremony- no no no why is this card $7.95??? days of bliss are here.

Having had my own, been in a few and attended many here are my top 5 tips to surviving the wedding season this year.

Shower and Wedding Cards – buy them now

Why are greeting cards $6 now? Why are only the weird ones left? And why do we always forget to pick them up until the day of the event? Save yourself the trouble by buying this pack of 8 wedding and shower cards for $16 and unburden yourself from the madness. If you buy 8 cards (4 showers/4 weddings) that can be $50 on cards a season. $50 just on cards! That’s 3 shirts on sale at Loft. See ya never, CVS!

8 cards for $16, delivered right to your door via Amazon. You’re welcome.

White. Wine. Spritzers.

Weddings are marathons with a lot of variables. Heat, nerves, sleepiness and forgetting to eat can place major havoc on your ability to remain level headed when it comes to both alcohol consumption (no matter how delicious it sounds in the moment, it’s never a good idea to start cocktail hour with a dirty martini) and how that alcohol is processing.

Let me let you in on a little secret wedding day weapon: white wine spritzers. A little wine, a little seltzer and a little ice can afford you a lotta drinks without losing your dang mind or lunch.

WWSs are refreshing, light and half the amount of alcohol and calories as a regular glass of wine. Think of it this way- for every 1 glass of wine poured, you could have had 2 spritzers.

If you’re at a wedding for 6 hours, you can have up to 6 spritzees and it’s the same as only having 3 glasses of wine. That’s only half a glass of wine an hour. All I do is win, win, win.

Attendee Attire 

Ok, rent the runway is cool and if you’re into it- continue.

There are too many what-ifs for me- what if  the dress doesn’t fit? What if it fits, but looks terrible? What if I forget to return it and I’m charged extra for something that doesn’t fit and looks terrible? That’s a hard pass for me.

If you’re like me and not into spending money to rent dresses, here’s my approach to wedding guest attire.

Find one dress that fits well, you look great in and you love. Buy it. Wear it to a lot of weddings.

That’s it.

Sure I try to wear each dress I buy to weddings with different circles of friends, but for the most part no one notices you are repeating an outfit and guess what? It’s not about you anyway–it is about the bride. I usually can get away with buying one or two dresses that I can wear to multiple weddings over the course of a few years. No one has really ever noticed and if they did, they never said anything and I thank you for that, kind friends.

What’s in my purse 

• emergency snack – almonds or some sort of granola bar incase you forget to eat and all the sudden cocktail hour is 2-hours away and you don’t know if you’re going to survive
• tissues – someone always needs a tissue and that someone is always me
• concealer/powder/bronzer – for you or the bride after you use the tissues
• gum – for you/the hungover groomsmen
• ID (incase someone cards you, hunnay!)
• cash – $1s to tip the bartenders and a $20 or two just incase it’s cash bar

Book your hotel early

My last tip is yawnsville, but when brides provide blocks of rooms they are usually discounted and limited so as soon as you get that invite or save the date with where to stay- book it. Even though for some reason it’s painful to book so early, just do it.

Nothing worse then paying surge charges for a La Quinta Inn 7 miles from the reception with no bar. Trust me.

Happy wedding season!