WOULD DO:
-Have a destination wedding. Hands down best decision we've ever made.
-Have an AHR. I won't lie. It was a bigger pain in the butt than the wedding. After the wedding was over, I didn't want it. At all. I just wanted everything done. But I am SO glad we had it. It was so nice to see everyone and just let loose for a night.
-Go on a cruise!!! I am officially addicted!
-Make a song list for the DJ. We slacked on this badly for the AHR. He did alright but the music was pretty generic and not really "us".
-Go down a few days early with just FI/H. It was SO nice to just have a few days together before everyone else arrived and it got crazy. Honestly one of my best memories of the entire trip was sitting on the balcony at the resort in Puerto Rico just eating Subway together and watching the ocean. It was SO. NICE.
Im putting this in the middle because I'm torn on whether I would or wouldn't:
Get white girl wasted at the AHR. One the one hand, my memory is a little foggy after about 12:30am and I think our DJ hated us (I do remember yelling "RYANNNN!!!!!" at him constantly after a certain point lol). On the other hand, what I do remember I will forever. From my cousin doing karoke for us to The Darkness, to seeing MY MOTHER , who NEVER DANCES AT ALL getting up to dance to Van Morrison with my cousin, to sobbing (???) at the end with my best friend about how much we love each other......it was a hot mess all around but I'll remember that hot mess until I die.
WOULDNT DO:
-Worry so much. I know it's easy to say once it's over, but our day wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination. It doesn't matter. It was still the best day of my life.
-Go to my dress fittings on my own. My MOH was utterly dumbfounded at how to lace up my corset-back dress. Thank you Jesus for the hair stylist who was sweet enough to do it for me!
-Consider the wedding trip a honeymoon. Don't get me wrong. I love that I took a vacation with my best friend and family. However......we also took a trip with my best friend and family. It was CONSTANT calling of 8 other people before we could do anything. My 14 year old brother was in our room ALL. THE. TIME. It was fun, but I had bascially ZERO alone time with my husband. We are absolutely 100% going on a trip just the two of us within the next year becasue that was NOT a honeymoon.