Tamera Mowry-Housley Shares Her 6 Wedding Planning Must-Haves!

Three people you should have leading up to the wedding…


A fiance…who is involved. People always say to the bride, “This is your day!” but I wanted our wedding to be a reflection of both of us. Adam chose three or four things that he really wanted to be involved with—and I let him have at it. He loves taking pictures, so he used photos from our travels to represent a city that we visited at each table. A lot of my family members who lived across country had never met him, so this was an easy way for them to get a glimpse of who I married.


A close friend…who will put things into perspective. There are so many decisions to make—you really need to have a support system around you. My best friend and my cousin flew out from Texas to be there for me, and they were there every step of the way. When things got overwhelming, they’d tell me, “Focus on who you’re marrying—it’s not so much about having everything perfect. You are marrying the man that you love.” That helped me a lot.


A wedding planner…be it a professional or just someone you trust to help you make big decisions (and stick to your budget!). Whoever you have helping you, make sure that you click with her as a person, because you’re going to be together all the time. My planner, Mindy Weiss, is the most humble, caring, genuine person that I’ve met in the whole wedding business. At our first meeting, she said to me, “I can’t promise you a perfect wedding, because there is no such thing. Things will go wrong, but I can promise you you’ll have an amazing time. It’ll be a great wedding.” And that’s exactly what it was. She prepared me for the inevitable from the beginning, and it really helped me along the way. She was so calm, always picking up the pieces. Even when I called her crying, she’d just say, “OK, we’re going to work this out.”


And three things you things you should have on the day of…


Dresses that you and your bridesmaids feel good in. Each of my bridesmaids picked a dress according to her body type. My friend Jessica has beautiful, broad shoulders, so she wore something strapless. Tia was pregnant, so she needed to feel comfortable. And everyone looked gorgeous! As for me, I wore a long, mermaid dress by Carolina Herrera that I dream of renewing my wedding vows in. But I probably wouldn’t have changed three times. When your husband says he can’t find you because you were changing, that’s not good!


Time to yourself. Wendy Raquel Robinson gave me this advice: You’re going to be surrounded by so many people on your wedding day, so whether it’s getting up in the morning and doing yoga or just stretching for a few minutes (which is all I had time to do!), reminisce about all the amazing memories you’ve shared with your fiance. The best thing you can do on your wedding day is be present. Take everything in!


Meaningful music. We had some of our favorite songs playing before the ceremony—“I Die Without You” by P.M. Dawn, “No One” by Alicia Keys and “Brown Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison because Adam loves my brown eyes. My close friends would listen to the verses and chuckle because they understood the meaning behind each of our choices.