Your wedding celebration will take hours before the last guest says goodbye, and no matter how strong your bladder may be, it may be inevitable that you will need to relieve yourself while in your beautiful gown.

Here are some tips for a full-bladder-bride:

Plan your breaks. Try to time your ‘visits’ before heading to the church and in the gap between the ceremony and reception. It would be too odd to excuse yourself during the solemn ceremony especially when you and your groom are already bound with the cord and the veil.

Notice that women rarely go to bathroom alone. It’s definitely one of those ‘girl things’ so make your wedding no exception. Take a bridesmaid or a very close friend with you. Make sure she understands her duties and treats you like royalty. She has to be with you all the way in the cubicle to lift and hold your skirt as you ‘go.’

Whenever available, use the cubicle provided for the handicapped. This will give you more room to move around with that bulky dress, not to mention the needed extra space to accommodate your companion.

If you can hack it, sit backward facing the ‘throne.’ This may not be a very glamorous position you want to be in with that beautiful dress but it will help keep your train from getting wet. This is no time to be modest. If necessary, toss your train over the stall door to keep the train off the bathroom floor. Never mind if other girls in the washroom see it. Let them take it as a bridal distress signal to warn everyone next in line to be patient as these things take time... lots of time.

Do not hurry. The cake-cutting won’t start without you. Besides relieving yourself in a wedding dress is not a hop-in-and-out affair.

And lastly, no matter how urgent it is, tell your groom where you’re heading. And for goodness’ sake, let go of that bouquet!

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