Quotes - Your biggest wedding regret.

Knot Annie

Hey Ladies (and gents, if we have them),

I know that we have quite a few married ladies on this board and I am hoping that you can help me with an online article. I want to know your biggest wedding regrets. Less stuff like, “I wish I didn’t hire such-and-such,” and more “I wish I would have not tried to DIY my cake. I’m not a pastry chef.”

I’ll give you my only regret. I wish that I would have hired a videographer for my wedding. My dad passed away shortly after and I’d give anything to have that on tape. There would be so much more that I could capture there w/ video than photos.”

Just a quick note. I saw your comments about the mag. The next Community VIP is in the NEXT issue and you’ll see more quotes there. Also, I always edit these for articles.

Thank you SO much in advance.
KA

goheels05

My biggest wedding regret was having 8 bridesmaids and 9 groomsmen. My bachelorette party was a drama-filled disaster and there were too many people to keep up with the day of the wedding. We were late to our own reception because 2 bridal party members just wandered off between the wedding and the reception and were nowhere to be found. 

MeaghanandMichael

Yay so exciting You know we love seeing ourselves in print.

I regret worrying so much about my MIL's behavior before the wedding. On the day of the wedding, yes she did some things that were annoying, but I didn't even notice that day. I was way too into my wedding day to bother getting worked up over her and I wish I had known that to save me weeks of pre-wedding worry.

raynes

I regret not finding my own photographer.  We went with my step-dad's digital photography instructor (should have been a good thing, right?) but it's been a disaster.  He missed so many of the pictures I asked for, and has been a giant pain in trying to get our album.  We're coming up on a year since the wedding and all I have is 2 CDs with unedited pictures and a book with a few proofs.

LesPaul

I wish I would have paid more attention to the photographer's 'must have' photo list.  We didn't get photos of all the family groups that I wanted to get. 

opalsky007

I wish I had picked a photographer with a better personality. Instead of picking someone easy to work with, I picked someone whose only advantage was his low rates. He was pushy, slow, unprepared for the job and repeatedly ignored my requests. He made my wedding day much more stressful than it needed to be!

ricksang

My biggest wedding regret was spending thousands of dollars on a huge wedding. I wish we would have had a small wedding and saved the cash.

Nebb

I regret letting the wedding become bigger than we originally wanted it. While I loved our entire wedding day, I think I would have enjoyed a more intimate reception a bit more. I always felt we didnt give enough face time to all of our guests, but it was impossible to spend any more time with them than we did.

COkristi

My biggest regret was trying to entertain too many out of town guests. I was so grateful our family and friends travelled out of state to be at our wedding, but I got so little sleep the two nights before the wedding that I was exhausted all day. A 20 person family birthday party plus a rehearsal dinner for 140 was just too much.

betrothed123

My biggest wedding regret was having a family friend take photos instead of hiring a photographer.  She had a lot of heart, but the pictures were really disappointing.  It took me over a year to get the pictures back.  Over 2 years after my wedding I still haven't looked through all of them because of how disappointed I am in myself for opting out of going with a pro.

kikibaby

My biggest wedding regret is being too cheap to get my dress bustled!  I dragged it around all night and tripped over it way too many times.

stephl3055

I regret letting our guest list balloon to a size that DH and I were not comfortable with.  DH, I, and my parents paid for the wedding.  My ILs kept wanting to add a few more people here and there, and eventually the guest list was more than we wanted.  The day of our wedding we were so busy trying to talk to everyone that we never really got to enjoy ourselves.

twilight.rose

I wish I would have done a photobooth at the reception.

We had three photographers, so I could easily have had one of them doing a photobooth, and then I would have made sure I had pictures of everyone who attended. We missed getting photos of a few people who we would have loved to have shots of, and I think a photobooth would have alleviated that issue.

AmoroAgain

My only real regret is not having my makeup professionally done so that I wasn't a shiney face three hours in. 

Knot Annie

These are so great. (Amoro, you made me laugh w/ your regret.)

Thanks so much! Keep 'em coming. I'll post this as a hot topic so expect some unfamiliar faces.

KA

ohwhynot

My biggest regret is not factoring in what a huge pain in the azz it would be taking everything down/hauling it back to our house at the end of the reception.  The cost savings of DIY tend to disappear when you remember that you have to provide table linens, silverware, coffee cups, etc., AND that you have it all up and take it all down. 

We had a lot of people who sweetly helped, but it wasn't fun hauling boxes of soiled napkins and full vases into the car at midnight in my wedding dress. 

Lenore2010

I regret trying to pack so much into a two day destination wedding in Las Vegas. We should have come out a day or two sooner and then taken at least two nights after the wedding to ourselves there.

The schedule of having the Welcome Dinner the day we arrived, the wedding the next day and then going home the following afternoon was just too much.

mssillysarah

Im not married yet I will be in 30 days but I do so far regret not having my invitations done professionally. 
I did them myself on my computer/printer and it was a major pain in the ass! 

Iwish I would have hired someone to do them.  It seemed like a good idea at the time but the time & frustration factor just wasnt worth it. 

maratea

Two things- I really regret not having a DW. It's what husband and I wanted, but we caved in and had a wedding in our hometown.
A regret about the wedding we actually had- not inviting everyone to the ceremony. It was family only (immediate and extended), but in hindsight, there were some friends that I really missed having there.

barbbhoww

My biggest regret was that I skimped on photos.  I tried to play it off like I didn't care if they were fancy as long as they were cheap, but I really miss the artistic side that I could have had if I've done more research.

Another one was choosing a dress too early-I didn't have the money to buy a new one, but didn't like the style a year later.

georgia_bride09

I regret giving other people too much power (i.e., my MIL inviting everyone she's ever met). I wish I had given her a limit and held her to it. My wedding was the twice the size I wanted it.

I also regret not researching vendors more. I will forever regret my florist and baker; they both messed up day-of, and it has definitely tinged how I remember the whole day. I also wish I'd paid a little more for a more established photog so that my pictures as a whole turned out better.

Basically, less people and better stuff.
 

mobridetobe

I also regret not hiring a professional videographer. There were so many funny, sentimental, thoughtful, surprising, best-day-of-our-life moments that I wish were captured on video.

AmoroAgain

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_quotes-biggest-wedding-regret?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:0e230854-a12a-4d49-86d8-86b2ba119374Post:e56e0311-2804-438a-a486-61d3e29cd945">Re: Quotes - Your biggest wedding regret.</a>:
[QUOTE]These are so great. (Amoro, you made me laugh w/ your regret.) Thanks so much! Keep 'em coming. I'll post this as a hot topic so expect some unfamiliar faces. KA
Posted by Knot Annie[/QUOTE]
ha!  Well really, everything was pretty great except for that and thinking I should have bought bigger earrings.   I kept all the control of the guest list, put my foot down (without being bridezilla) on things that were getting crazy (bridesmaids, I'm lookin' at you!) and we gave everyone a wonderful experience with our venues.  Sure, my photographer could have been better, but I'm overall pretty happy with my $300 investment on those! Honestly, I could have gone off the deep end but the boards really helped me pull back and take a strong look at what it was I wanted from the day.

[Deleted User]

I wish our photographer had stayed for our reception. He left just after the reception started and didn't get any of the fun stuff.

I also wish I hadn't spilled so much champagne all over my dress while dancing.

And I wish that I hadn't put on so much damn make up and made myself look like a clown. Luckily it sweated off during the ceremony.

julezlee

I wish we would've taken more pics with our BMs and GMs and their SOs.  We got so caught up taking pictures just the two of us, that time flew by and I didn't get all the pics I wanted with the wedding party. 

ETA: Also, since our wedding was totally not traditional I wish I wouldn't have gotten hung up on things like needing wedding colors.  Didn't need them at all and things would have been more fun if I hadn't worried about things like that. 

CynthiaJH

I'm not married yet but I think alot about a few things:
The Hall, I really wish I would have chosen a place with a great view or lots of windows but I did neither. I chose the place that had an unbeatable package and no views at all.
The Dress, I love my dress everytime I put it on-I just beam, but I always think maybe I should have tried on more than 5...but then I think I love my dress. It's a vicious cycle.
DW, I wanted it but my fiance' does not so we are getting married in our hometown. But man do I wish we could have done Vegas!!!
Cost, I wish we would have had a smaller wedding and pocketed the cash but too late now.
BM's, there are 8 adult BM/GM, and I just keep thinking it is too much-but again too late now.

drwedding2

Having a family member make my cake.  While she was a trained pastry chef and the cake was delicious.  it just didn't have a great presence.  Also not paying more attention to the fit of my dress as the wedding approached -- I lost weight in my lower body and it could have fit more snuggly and thus was too long.  

JD807

Not putting more emphasis on what photos we wanted taken. I'm not too big on smiling on command...and holding it for 10 minutes...as a result we have a lot of 'force posed' church pictures and no pictures outside...the best ones we have are candid from me getting ready (none from him getting ready) and the reception photos that, again, aren't posed.

[Deleted User]

Can I change my biggest regret to not sprouting wings and becoming a real, live butterfly princess for my big reveal at the reception? I really do regret that.

[Deleted User]

Ooooh! And I really wish I had been able to incorporate more lasers into the overall theme. And not the lame laser light show lasers. I'm talking about the real deal, burn you in the baby maker kind. That would have made MY DAY really super awesome.

Norms Angel Forever

agreed that comment was entirely unnecessary... but just let it go ladies, ok so back to the regrets...
i still have a long way to go before my wedding but my regret was asking my cousin to DJ and then changing my mind... i decided she should just be able to attend and enjoy my wedding and i wish i hadn't asked her in the first place