The Nest

I would have just had a small, intimate brunch wedding with close friends and family only, rather than a big, traditional sha-bang. 

I'd have ordered beef tenderloin for everyone instead of the chicken and turkey.  The food was great, don't get me wrong, but there was just too much of it.  We could have paid the same amount and gotten less food, and had beef.

We should have gotten a different photographer.  We hired a family friend and it just didn't turn out well.  I had seen a ton of work that hid did before and all of the pictures turned out really nicely, but I didn't realize or pay attention to the fact that the pictures were not from weddings.  He was loud, took forever, and I look really washed out in all of my prints. 

I would have not asked one of my bridesmaids to be in it. I had this mutual friend of DH and I's as a bridesmaid, and she was awful. Also, I would have had different bridesmaids dresses. I liked the color I chose, just not the style.

I would elope.

snowday!:

I would elope.

 I attempted too... I still ended up with my parents and his bestmad. But It was what I wanted so DH went along.

I wouldn't have stressed about the small stuff and taken time to relax. At the end of the day we were husband and wife (we thought, lol) and that's what mattered, not the details.

I also would have hand-delivered our signed marriage license myself to the courthouse. Just to be safe...

I would have planned more time for pictures

I would have hired a videographer... maybe....

It was sooo expensive, but it would have been nice to have a professional video.

I would have taken more pictures. I realized I didn't take any pics of just me and his mom or me and some of my guests.

i wouldn't have booked things so soon.  i'm not happy with my photographer anymore because he refuses to sell me the copyrights.  i would have asked my parents for money instead of crossing my fingers that they would offer it to me.  turns out my mom had money saved, and i went and spent all this money without even asking for it.

Instead of going around to each table I would have just got on the mic and thanked everyone for coming.  We had our ceremony and reception all at the same place and did not have enough time for a receiving line so decided to go around to each table and thank everyone.  Well we had almost 180 guests so that took a lot longer then we expected. Of course you can't just say hi and thank you for coming because everyone wants to stop and talk..lol!  I just wished I had more time to relax and dance!  The night was over before we knew it!

I can't think of anything I'd change.

I would have remembered to bring my own digital camera so I could take personal photos with my friends.  The professional photographer couldn't catch everything and I realized I didn't have any pictures together with some of my friends.

I would have done without the hoopla...we should have just done a brunch with parents/ grandparents / sibs

but since we went all out anyways...

I wouldn't have gone around thanking everyone for coming. That took a looong time, they would have come up to us anyways...

I would have been more of a bridezilla...lol...I think I was too nice and some of my bridesmaids forgot their sashes for their dresses and one of my bridesmaids had french tip nails instead of natural burnt orange nails that I asked for and wore similar but not the specific shoes that I wanted. I thought by being nice and giving over a year's notice, that everything would turn out great. But sometimes being nice doesn't get it. I also would have been a little more patient with the photographer.. I know I was a little impatient and irritable.  :)

The photographer I hired is fabulous, but because of scheduling we agreed to have her assistant shoot the pre-wedding pictures. She was wonderful... but not so creative. Not a whole lot of vision!!! I didn't want to be pushy at the time, but now I wish I would've put together a "must-take" list along with a bunch of examples of the type of photography I was looking for. I would also tell her that SHE needed to yell at people for pictures, instead of standing there blanky and making ME yell at various family members to keep on schedule!!!

I would have made the wedding a little later in the day... My wedding was outdoors in July and I started the ceremony at 3:00 and alot of people left by 5:00.

No kidding! The judge lost our marriage license and we almost had to get remarried!!! I got a call a month after we were married and was told they didnt have a marriage license on file, did we get married? My DH uncle is a judge and he married us, put the license in the car after the wedding, and FORGOT about it!!!!!

I would change a few things:

• Help my mom avoid falling within the first 45 minutes of the reception (she stepped weird on the pebble walk-way and twisted her knee and spilled wine all down the front of her dress. She had to sit down with ice on her knee all night:( And didn't even get to dance with my dad!)
• I would get my cake locally - my MIL badgered me into having one of her best friends make the cake and drive it 3.5 hours down to the reception.
• I would have chosen a different photographer. Ours took some good pictures...but absolutely NOTHING creative.
• I would have done my hair differently - and probably done at a chain salon (Mario Triccoci's or something).

That's it!!

Would have had different photographers. Again family friends. They got every picture we asked for but very few "snap shots" and they ones they did get thay didn't take the time to pose us so some pictures I'm cross-eyes or the bridesmaid eyes were closed or slouching. Things like that. But I do love the book they put together for us!

Nothing really major. I wish had not been so focused on being easy going because the hair lady butchered my hair. I wish I would have gotten a different dress (but the one I had was fine). I wish the photographer was better, she was a pro, a neighbor of my parents, but didn't do weddings. I'd seen her work and it was great but she hadn't done a wedding and I was disappointed. Lastly, our officiant was my mother's best friend. She insisted that there be no photos or video during our ceremony, and I wish I had overrode her because we have no photos of us at the altar, kissing, etc.

I could go on with little things but overall it was a great day and I have no serious regrets.

We did the simple court house wedding with just my parents and sibs and his parents which was perfect for us.  I still don't think I could have done a big wedding. 

I would have not had my reception at my IL house and I wouldn't have let my IL take away the planning of it.  They wanted to host and pay for the party but they didn't plan it well at all and we ran out of food other than the veggies that my mom did.  It was horrible and I got stuck scrubbing their house and doing a ton of yard work the week before and morning of.  I mean my IL had me washing the brick by the front door and front door so it would look nice and no one even came in the front door.  I hated my reception and was exhausted by the time it started and only knew about 10 out of the 50 people there.  My IL got ahold of the guest list and invited a ton of their friends who my H new but I didn't so it was really uncomfotable for me and my family who didn't know many people and I couldn't even introduce them around.  I have vowed to never let my IL plan another party for us.

does marrying someone else count? lol. i was divorced after by our 3 yr anniversay.

but....next time i am just going to vegas. screw spending all the time and money for a few hours of my life. i have finally learned that a getting married is not about the celebration and details that surround it. it is about two people who love and respect each other comitting the rest of theirs lives to one another.

First, I would have hired a DOC. I didn't think I needed one because my Personal Attendant was a super-organized person, I thought she could handle all the details, and that there really wasn't that much to do. As it turned out, there actually were a lot of little things that needed to be done on the wedding day, and it felt weird to ask my friend to do all of them. I would have felt better asking someone who I had hired. In addition, my friend had never been married before, and I think that even though she was super-organized, she would have instinctively known more about what to do if she'd had her own wedding before.

The other thing I would have done differently was that I would have had somebody announce that there was an open bar located at the back of the reception area. The bar wasn't set up when people were seated for dinner, and I don't think that many people realized it was there.

I would have hired a different wedding planner, and booked a different first caterer (our caterer backed out two weeks before the wedding and we had to replace him at the last minute, but the food ended up being delish from the second caterer).

And our wedding planner... oy. She told us we didn't need a license for our beach wedding, and we ended up with lifeguards threatening to break up our wedding over a $10 permit. No one needs that kind of fun on their wedding day!

I would not have invited every single person in my extended family that I knew would not show up, and saved about $3k in extra food/drinks that went to waste.

We would have hired a day-of planner.  We did a lot of stuff DIY, and on the day of, my husband was very busy running to the venue and setting up (I was busy getting my hair did - I really lucked out in this scenario!). It would have been nice for someone else to have taken care of the last minute details.

Our photographer did a nice job...she was creative which many of you wish for, but she missed A LOT of the traditional shots.  I don't have a close up of my daddy and I walking down the aisle and or the ringbear and flower girl and they were precious!  Thankfully, however, I had my SIL as my candid photographer and she captured those moments my prof. photographer somehow missed.  I guess she was so busy (and her assistant-yes there were 2 loaded with cam's) being "creative" they forgot about those once in a lifetime moments.  I would have handed her a list and said, GET THESE SHOTS!  I took it for granted though bc she was a professional.

I also would have give more attention to my mom and grandma.  I was so caught up in the whirlwind of things and my mother is a social butterfly-she feels like she needs to greet and welcome and have a 20 minute conversation with everyone.  The only time we had together was at the salon and in the car. 

Finally, we greeted everyone at the church after the ceremony-instead of the ushers we came back in and stood at each pew to hug them and thank them for coming.  However, we were late getting to the reception (we had a ball cruising around town taking pics with our party, tho!) so the reception ppl were rushing us to get everyone fed.  We had the BM and MOH speeches and then it was food time.  Never crossed my mind again to pick up that mike...we were on fast fwd the rest of the night.