No woman wants to be known as bridezilla. Just hearing the word conjures up images of a monster with a bouquet, veil and wedding dress. Your wedding is the one day when you want to look like a princess, so this makes it even worse to be tagged with such a dreadful name. In order to make sure that you don’t lose it on your wedding day, here are a few things to keep in mind.

Everyone Should Enjoy Your Wedding

Although it starts with a ceremony full of symbolism and meaning, the reception that follows is really nothing more than one big party. Parties are supposed to be fun. Although you’ve spent months planning this party, and thousands of dollars making sure that everything goes according to plan, when the day finally arrives the running of the party will be completely out of your hands. The time comes when you will need to take a step back and let the professionals do what you’ve hired them to do.

So when the vanilla cake that you ordered turns out to be chocolate when you take the first slice, just take a deep breath because things happen. In many cases, the more work that you’ve put into preparing the reception, the more things there are that can possibly go wrong. But even something as seemingly disastrous as having the wrong flavor cake is not a reason to flee your party. Nor is it a reason to fling cake at anyone except your new husband during the traditional feeding. Although it may not be the cake you ordered, it probably didn’t ruin your wedding or destroy your life. It’s just a cake. So take a slice, or even two and enjoy it.

Nothing Is Ever Perfect

When thinking about remaining calm for your wedding, it is important to consider the idea of perfection. For everyone planning a wedding, the ideal situation is for everything to be perfect. But that’s a lot of pressure to put on any human being, especially a bride. It’s important to remember that although perfection is a goal, it’s rarely attainable. If you plan well and keep track of everything then you can come close to perfection. When the time comes for you to walk down the aisle, simply let it all go, center yourself, relax and enjoy your day.

Don’t Forget to Smile

Think about the last time you had a job interview. You were nervous and dizzy, and felt like you were going to faint. You had to explain why you were leaving your last job while remaining politically correct and speaking positively about your boss, your colleagues, and your working conditions. These are the skills that you will need to use during your reception when your mother-in-law criticizes your hair or the best man starts telling raunchy stories over the microphone. Don’t lose your cool. If you take out your frustration on the guests, you will find yourself branded a bridezilla for the rest of your life.