Hello Ladies,
I haven't posted in a minute but I'm back and married. We got married on May 26th and between the honeymoon and the new job I've been very busy. Here's how it went. The rehearsal and rehearsal dinner was the night before. The rehearsal went fine. I had one bridemaid who everyone wanted to punch in the face but other than that it went smoothly. My parents hosted the rehearsal dinner at their house. My cousin, who is from Mexico, made us authentic Mexican Cuisine. We had homemade guacamole, pico de gallo, enchiladas, tacos, mexican rice and beans. It was delicious!
I went to the hotel after the rehearsal dinner for the night with 3 of my bridesmaids. I probably got 3 hours of sleep before I had to get up at 4 a.m. for my hair appointment. After my hair appointment, I went back to the hotel to get my make up done and right before it was time to head to the venue it started to rain. Storm would be more accurate. I was so scared because we didn't have a plan b for our pictures. When I got to the venue we all started to get dressed and my maid of honor zipped her dress and as soon as she took a breath the zipper busted. So she had a gaping hole on the side of her. I was about to start crying but they rushed me out of the room and promised that they would sew her into the dress.
I went to my waiting area and when I asked for my bouquet, I realized it was not what I had asked for. Apparently, my mother in law and wedding planner knew about the bouquet the day before but they didn't want to worry me. At this point I started drinking. My stress level was super high. However, when they opened the door for me to walk down the aisle everything stopped. I didn't even hear the music playing, I just saw my husband standing at the end of the aisle. I made it through the ceremony and reception without crying so I'm proud of myself.
People are still raving about the cocktail hour we had crab cakes, chicken wellington, braised short ribs and cheddar grits as appetizers. We also had passed champagne punch and homemade lemonade (which was served in a champagne glass and I panicked when I saw my daughter drinking it. I thought she was getting drunk. LOL). We also had a harpist who was excellent. The waiit staff at the venue was very on point. The food was excellent and eventhough my groom couldn't stop laughing during our first dance that was great too. The photobooth was a huge hit. I got a great deal (Groupon) and bought extra props from Etsy.
My advice for future brides would be:
1. If you want to kick a bridesmaid out of your wedding do it. I know it's a huge etiquette faux pas but I say eff etiquette on this point. If you have someone in your wedding that is simply making you miserable due to their own issues they don't need to be a part of your day. I no longer consider one of my bridesmaids a friend and I wish I would have followed my instinct and kicked her out before we bought dresses. Now I have to look at my wedding pictures and see this broad that I don't i don't like and yes my wedding pictures are more important to me than her hurt feelings.
2. Don't sweat the small stuff. Somehting will go wrong and trust me, no one will notice but you.
3. Don't expect to eat at your cocktail hour. I got one crabcake. You'll be too busy taking pictures.
4. Deduct 5 to 10% from your final count. We had about 10 rsvps that were no shows.
5. Try to greet all of your guests. I really regret not making it to every table but it seemed like the time just flew by.
Here's a link to sneak peek slide show
Thanks for being the best board on the knot. I really appreciate all the support I got here