For all you married ladies out there - helpful advice!

Jen72682

I thought this would be fun and helpful for us soon brides-to-be.

1. What is one thing you wish you would have done differently about your wedding if you could do it all over again?

2. What was your favorite thing about your wedding?

3. What advice can you offer for us soon to be brides?

whitneykaye87

1. What is one thing you wish you would have done differently about your wedding if you could do it all over again? 
I honestly can't think of anything I'd do differently.  We made every decision based on what we wanted, so we were happy with all of it!

2. What was your favorite thing about your wedding? 
The dancing!  We had a blast.  My favorite moment of the day, though, was the like 20 seconds we had to ourselves after leaving the sanctuary of the church before the rest of the processional came out.  It was the only alone time we had all day until we left the reception.

3. What advice can you offer for us soon to be brides? 
Relax.  The day goes by sooo incredibly fast, and you will regret it if you waste even 1 minute on being stressed out about the details or what others are doing.  I gave everyone the itinerary beforehand, and I gave envelopes to the coordinator at our site with payments/tips for the dj, caterers, etc.  Then, I got to spend every moment enjoying all of it.  It still went way too fast though!

sarahbeth_01

1. What is one thing you wish you would have done differently about your wedding if you could do it all over again?
In the weeks leading up to the wedding, the only thing I wish I would have done differently was hire a photographer with unlimited time.  We only had our photographer for 7 hours, which made planning the order of reception events a little tricky.  I also had to wait a little longer to put my dress on because I wanted a few shots of the dress hanging.  In the end though, it was NOT a big deal.  He stayed a little longer than the 7 hours we payed for and we got pics of everything we wanted! 

2. What was your favorite thing about your wedding?
Agree with Whitneykaye - the dancing!!  I only wish the reception could have lasted longer so we could have continued dancing!  I also really liked taking pictures with our wedding party.  We rented a trolley and drove around the Westbottoms for pictures.

3. What advice can you offer for us soon to be brides?
Stay organized and make to-do lists!  Make a packing list a month or so before the wedding (allow yourself plenty of time to add things to it!)...mine was split up into categories like Ceremony, Reception, Attire, etc.  If you planned the decorations yourself, write directions for whoever is setting up the venue as to exactly what you expect.  We didn't have a wedding coordinator, so instead we asked some friends to be "host/hostess".  They were awesome in helping things run so smoothly.  Also, if anything goes wrong, DON'T STRESS IT!  I had two candy buffet vases brake the day of the wedding and noticed a typo on the programs the week of the wedding, but in the end none of that mattered!  Oh, one more thing - make your rounds saying hi to everyone early in the evening so you have plenty of time on the dance floor later!

whitneykaye87

Oh Sarah is right- definitely stay organized.  I did all of our own decorations for the reception, and I boxed them all up with directions and taped it onto each box.  (ie taped onto one box said 36 votive candles- around the centerpieces, 14 disposable cameras- one for each table, etc...)  The simpler you can make it for everyone, the more you can just relax and trust that they can get it done without your help.

sarahbeth_01

Yep--that's exactly what I did too!  And I'm pretty sure my mom and others who helped decorate were very thankful for the specific instructions!