It’s been over a month since our wedding day and being married is honestly pretty great. You get to spend every day with your best friend and finally refer to him as husband. You say “we” whenever we make decisions and actually know that it is a “now” thing instead of a “soon-to-be”. You know that they are now your forever person until you are grey and old. But as each day as a married woman goes on, I can’t help but randomly think about our wedding day and things that make me go: “I’m so glad we did that!” and also, “Eek, we probably didn’t need that”.
I have always heard about having “wedding regret”. Don’t get me wrong, our wedding day was the best day of our lives. All of the things that “went wrong” really didn’t make a difference at all, and to my surprise, I really didn’t have many regrets about the wedding. But as Drew and I are unpacking all of our wedding things (yes, one month later), I can’t help but think that we probably shouldn’t have gotten so many koozies, or, maybe we didn’t need to have candles.
Now that I have experience planning a wedding, here are 10 things that I loved and not-so-loved about our wedding day!
1. LOVE: Uplighting is everything.
Drew and I made our list of the top three things we wanted to focus our money on and everything else beyond that was just the cheapest we could find. Well, uplighting was not one of our top three so we didn’t even really consider it. That was until the week before our wedding. For some reason I was thinking about how to fill up our reception space and uplighting came up. We didn’t want to spend any more money than we already had, but when our DJ gave us a great deal on uplighting, we jumped on the opportunity! Thank goodness we did because it completely changed the vibes! It fills all of the spaces of the venue to make the room feel cohesive and cozy. We had the lights on a warm “amber” color and then they went to party mode for the dancing!
2. NOT SO LOVE: Having extra dessert.
Instead of having a groom’s cake, Drew opted for having pies (cherry for him, apple for me). While these pies were super tasty, we didn’t need them. The cake alone is honestly good enough. We thought having pies would be a nice touch and an extra dessert. But if you have a great dinner, the cake will be just enough dessert and guests probably won’t have the stomach room for anything extra. We got a whopping 16 pies for our wedding and at the end of the night, people were walking away with multiple ENTIRE pies. I’m glad they didn’t go to waste but a cake was all we needed!
3. LOVE: A good photographer is worth every penny.
Photography was definitely one of the top things on my priority list. I probably spent a solid month researching the perfect photographer for our wedding, from looking at reviews to stalking their portfolios/blogs. I had a list of 25-30 photographers but the only photographer that Drew and I both loved in terms of photography style was from Dallas. We reached out to Lindsay, had a Skype call, and pretty much signed her immediately. I have to be honest, photography was one of the top expenses of our wedding but it was worth every penny. Lindsay’s pictures were exactly what we wanted and she was the absolute SWEETEST. She had the best personality and kept a positive attitude, even with our Houston heat. She made the day such a great experience for our friends and family. Now we have the most beautiful pictures to remind us of the best day of our lives.
4. NOT SO LOVE: Only get a fraction of the favors you need!
I’ll just say it – we had way too many wedding favors! From extra koozies, extra bubble wands to extra red pouches with chocolate (Chinese gift), we had sooooo many left over. You will go into wedding planning thinking that you need one for every guest. I hate to break it to you but people who RSVP’d “yes” will not show up and people who do show up might forget to grab those wedding favors you thought so hard over. We got about 200 of everything and probably have at least 1/3 of those as wedding leftovers. (Ps. Sorry if you get a “Vivian & Drew” wedding koozie as part of any gifts in the future).
5. LOVE: Get a videographer.
Drew and I were both on the fence about getting a videographer because we didn’t think that we would ever watch the video. But after talking to lots of other married couples, they either said that hiring a videographer was the best decision they ever made, or their biggest regret to not have one. Once I heard that I knew we had to have a video of our day, whether we would watch it or not. Just having these special moments on video, like my dad’s 15 minutes tear-jerking speech, will definitely be worth it later on when we want to relive our special day or share it with our kids and grandchildren in the future.
6. NOT SO LOVE: Having too many extras.
We wanted to give guests the option of playing lawn games outside if they got bored during the reception. Drew and I ordered and gathered a bunch of different lawn games to set out during our cocktail hour and leave out throughout the reception for guests to play. Looking back, it would have saved me, the groomsmen, our wedding coordinator, even our DJ, the stress of having to worry about how to get them to the venue and set them up. In the end, I don’t even think all of them got set out and it was too hot to even play them! Your guests will have a great time no matter what! If you have good food, good music and are having fun yourself, your guests will have the best time! They are there to celebrate you after all!
7. LOVE: Professional hair and makeup make all the difference.
Getting my hair and makeup professionally done was the one of the most relaxing and rewarding parts of our wedding day. I mean pictures last forever, so I knew that I wanted to look as flawless as possible. Considering how hot and humid the day was, I would say that my hair and makeup looked pretty amazing and lasted all night without any shine! It definitely costs a pretty penny to have it done but those memories will last a lifetime and who wouldn’t want to be pampered on one of the most important days of her life!
8. NOT SO LOVE: Keep some surprises until the day of.
It was hard not to share ever fun surprise we had planned for our special day! Drew designed the cutest koozies that I had wanted to keep a secret, but they were so cute that I had to show everyone. We also got cute dinosaur bubble guns for our exit and I ended up showing all of our family and friends because I was so excited for them. Before I knew it, there weren’t many fun touches left. I wish we had just kept all of those fun things hidden away so our guests would have been extra surprised!
9. LOVE: Photobooths are the life of the party.
We knew we wanted a photobooth for our wedding, mainly as an activity for our guests in case they got bored during the reception. Luckily for us, no one seemed to get bored and it was a total hit! All of our friends and family absolutely loved taking pictures all night! I knew it was a good investment when I talked to Drew’s dad after the wedding and he said he forgot to eat dinner because he was having too much fun with the photobooth!
10. LOVE: Hire a day-of-coordinator. You won’t regret it!
This was probably the most recommended component of wedding planning when talking to other brides. I totally get it. Daniella, our coordinator, was AMAZING. We hired her within the first month of planning and it was easily one of the best decisions we ever made. We went with a “month-of” coordination package. Six weeks prior to our wedding, Daniella helped us finalize all wedding details with vendors. She created packing lists and timelines for us and pretty much knew every detail of our wedding. Our last meeting with her was the week before the wedding and I knew that I had nothing to worry about. I could let her run the day so I could be in the moment and enjoy all of our hard work. If you’re questioning hiring a coordinator, don’t! Just do it! You really won’t regret it.
Honestly – At the end of the day, every part of our wedding was perfect! Even with all of those not-so-love things above, I wouldn’t have changed anything about our day. Hopefully the few things I learned along the way will help you with your wedding day planning! It will be the best day of your life and the start of your forever.
Love,
Vivian
