I'm back from the wedding and honeymoon and had a day to relax. Just wanted to let you know how things with the wedding went. I don't have professional pictures yet, so I'll post those later. I do have a picture on Facebook that a friend took, but the Knot is being problematic in letting me upload it (any advice would be helpful).
Everything was almost perfect on our wedding day. The sun was out, and we were very lucky as it had rained the day before (very unusual for San Francisco). I never caught a fever, and my sister was healthy enough for the wedding. The vendors exceeded my expectations. For example, the organ at the church was beautiful. And we were pleasantly surprised that at our Greek Orthodox Church, the priest without our knowledge recruited a member of the congregation who was Brazilian to be the chantor. It was amazing hearing some of the responses, readings, and singing in Portuguese (the hubby is Brazilian, and many of his relatives there couldn't understand English or Greek).
I have only a few recommendations based off my experiences:
1. Leave enough time before the wedding for preparation. I started having my hair and makeup done at 10 AM for a 4 PM wedding. I left only 30 minutes as buffer time, but that wasn't enough. The hair stylist took way too long, so we ended up leaving late to take pictures. Also, the day before, we had the dress rehearsal. The church secretary said it would take 30 minutes. It ended up being an hour.
2. Things beyond your control will happen. For us, it was a massive traffic jam on the Golden Gate Bridge. We had to start the ceremony 30 minutes late. And the reception started an hour and 15 minutes late. We had to pay for that extra time, and people were tired by the end. Because of traffic, we had to improvise new photo shoot locations. But it ended up working well, even better than our original idea. Just be flexible.
3. Review with guys the day before what is going on! Do a walk through. The hubby was so confused what was going on with even basic things. For example, I told him the florist would come by to drop off flowers, but when the florist came, he called me asking what he has to do ("Honey, just pick up the flowers!" "But who are they for?" "You and your parents and the GM!")
4. Remind guys the day of what they have to do! The day before the wedding, my dad and I agreed that he would take my suitcase from the house and leave it at the hotel across the street from the reception on the day of the wedding. He totally forgot. So when it came to our wedding night, I didn't have a suitcase. My dad had to drive after the reception back to our home to get the suitcase (30 minutes away), drive back to the hotel to drop it off, and then drive back home. We didn't get the suitcase until 1 AM.
5. Remember how some women on here were suggesting that you have your hymen stretched or broken before the wedding night/honeymoon if you're a virgin? I strongly urge you to follow their advice. PM me for details. I'm too recognizable on here to share publicly.
6. I was feeling miserable in the month leading up to the wedding from planning stress. But it's amazing how that all goes away on the day of the wedding. It all goes by so fast, so enjoy it when you can.