Wedding Recap and Withdrawal

what did you do the day of?

Hey everyone who has already tied the knot, I was wondering what you did the day of your wedding.  My wedding is on a Friday night at 7.  We are doing pictures for about 30 minutes beforehand and the hair and makeup people are starting at 1:30.  I decided to take my girls to breakfast at 10 so that we're not starving all day waiting for the recception.  What do I need to look out for that might pop up on my wedding day that I'm not considering?  What did you do on your big day before the actual wedding?  Thanks

Re: what did you do the day of?

  • We got married at 6 pm. I was at the hair salon from 8:30 until 11:30.  That gave us enough time to have lunch before the photographer came at 1:30.  We took photos at 2 locations until 5 pm them went to the ceremony. Honestly I think you need to allot more time for photos beforehand  30 minutes will get you only about 5 shots after all of the posing, etc
     
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  • Ceremony was at 6:00 pm so I tried to sleep in and chill for a while at home in the morning.  Was over at MOHs house around 11:00 am, had some lunch then went to the salon at 1:00.  Pictures started around 4:00 I think (we did a first look).  Back hiding in the bridal suite by 5:30 as guests started to arrive. 
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  • edited October 2012
    My ceremony was at 6:30, but we started pictures at 3pm. I was at the hairdressers from 9am til noon, then the bridesmaids and I grabbed lunch and ate in our hotel room until the makeup artist showed up. I had my make up done, the photographer showed up and started taking pictures, and the girls just hung out. We chatted. Got dressed aroudn 2:30, and travelled to where we were doing group pictures.

    My husband, who didn't need a hairdo or makeup, sat around with his party members playing on the computers and chatting. Went out for lunch, came back. Played on the computer some more. Then they quickly got dresses and met us for pictures. 
  • My ceremony started at 3pm so I got a mani/pedi, did my hair, got dressed, and took pre-ceremony pics with my BP.
  • our ceremony was at 5pm...

    hair (and make-up) started at 10am and went until 1, then grabbed lunch to bring back to the hotel.  photographer arrived at 2pm which was when I got into my dress for getting ready pics.  first look and group pics sarted at 3pm and then we relocated to the venue at 3:45 for family pictures.  our ketubah signing was at 4:30.  I wish we had had more time for pictures.
  • We were married at 3. We had hair and makeup at 9, then I went home and relaxed for a bit, and got to the church at noon. My dad brought sandwiches, fruit, and some other food for us to munch on when getting ready. We took separate pics before the ceremony and just kind of hung out and chatted while the guys were taking their pics.


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    Vacation
  • Our ceremony started at 5:30. It was really nice I was able to relax during the day with my Aunt and MOH.  I got to look out to a beautiful water view and just take everything in and I was just so excited for the wedding!  We had a girls brunch with cocktails and then we went back to the bridal suite, popped some champagne and started getting ready around 2pm.  It was a nice relaxing day before the wedding!
  • Our ceremony was at 6pm. I was wide awake at 6am because I was so excited....like it was Christmas morning! DH (well, my fiance, at the time!) and I moseyed on over to the hotel restaurant for some breakfast with the best man, while mostly everyone else was still asleep. After lingering around the restaurant, other people eventually showed up to eat. Then we all went to the gym for a pre-wedding workout! I'm SO glad I did this. It helped calm me down, give me a nice dose of endorphines, and made me feel strong, and ready for the day ahead! 
    We had our hair and makeup appointments at 1pm. That was fun, of course. I loved that our salon had mimosas ready for us! We headed to the Castle (our venue) for 4pm to meet up with everyone, got a head start on photos....and just had fun! Our photographer got the most amazing "first look" photos. I'm SO glad we did these! It allowed us to actually enjoy a bit of cocktail hour. Have fun!!!!! 
    Laura 

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  • edited October 2012
    Our ceremony was at 2, so I got up at 8am, had coffee, dashed to the salon with MOH, mom and another VIP for hair and makeup, where I was busy worrying about whether my dress will be ready on time from the cleaner's for a steaming. It was supposed to be ready 3 days before the wedding, then the afternoon before. It wasn't. Then they said it would be ready on Saturday at noon - 2 hours before the wedding! - and then Dad got on the phone with them and did a bit of yelling and they said it will be ready first thing Saturday morning. So I spent most of the time at the salon fuming over the misbooked appointments and worrying about whether the dress will be ready on time. (On the appointments, I was booked for a 30-minute massage, hair and makeup at 9, and my VIPs for hair and makeup at 9 as well. Well, I had the massage 9-9:30. Then I came back to the main salon area to see my VIPs hair already underway while I was told that MY hair and makeup weren't scheduled until 11:30. Luckily for me they were able to "squeeze me in." Even though I confirmed everything a few days before. On the dress front, luckily it was ready and my dad brought my veil over to the salon.)

    Then when I got back home to my parents' house around noon, I had to deal with my incompetent florist who messed up the MOH's bouquet (wrong colour) and the boutonnieres, some of which she was supposed to deliver to my parents' house and the others to MOG's house. Well, they all ended up at my parents' house and were completely wrong. I asked for boutonnieres with a rose etc. and a sprig of rosemary (an important wedding symbol and decoration in our culture) and got boutonnieres that consisted of NOTHING BUT ROSEMARY. YES, literally rosemary bunches with pins. (This after the florist called me the day before to go over everything for the umpteenth time.) I called the florist, didn't get a single apology from the snippy person who answered the phone and was told the correct things would be brought over. They were, 2 minutes before we left for the church (and the groom's family was already there.) So here comes the bride delivering the boutonnieres to the groom's party in front of the church! 

    At least bride and groom, priest and photographer all showed up at the same place at the appointed time! Moral of the story is: you can plan to have brunch, go to the gym, etc. (I would have looooooooved to do yoga in the morning but didn't want to wake up at the crack of dawn) but be prepared for a few things to go awry!
  • edited October 2012
    Our ceremony started at 3:30.

    One of my bridesmaids and I stayed in a hotel the night before (it was supposed to be all my girls but 2 had kids and decided to stay at Mom & Dad's instead with their kids).  We ate a quick breakfast at the hotel and were back at my parents house to start hair & makeup by 8:15AM.  Everyone ran behind (my sister and sister-in-law did all the hair that morning including their own) but as we were doing hair we were also doing last minute details (steaming dresses, ironing shirts for the paster/my brother, leaving instructions for the Dads of our ringbearer and flower girl (my brother-in-law and brother lol) on what time to have the kids there, what to have them dressed in, etc.  Also, communicating with my cousins (who had my groom) to make sure we didn't show up at the church at the same time!

    My cousins had my groom (his bachelor party was the night before and he just crashed at my aunts house).  They got up, had a pancake breakfast, went and got hubby's car washed, and just kind of had a relaxing morning (what was left of it once they woke up). 

    11:00 - Us girls headed to the church to do makeup/get dressed.  The boys followed shortly after.

    While my makeup was being done, my personal attendant ran and got us girls Subway for lunch!!  4 of us split 2 foot longs, and 2 bottles of water lol.  Once I had eaten we did makeup touchups and got me in my dress.  (our photographers started taking pictures once we were at the church).

    12:00 - Our photos started, first groom photos, then our first look photos.
    (while we took our "couple" photos, our bridal party finished getting ready, including flower girl and ring bearer).

    At 3:10 we were done taking most of our photos (the ones we could do before the wedding, we did a picture where our entire bridal party jumped and wanted to wait to do that until after the wedding so our hair was good for the wedding).  I kid you not there was hardly any breaks in that 3 hour window, we were constantly sending people to get people for pictures (because of course nobody stayed nearby, they scattered), and we did a bunch of outdoor shots between 12 and 1:30 so nobody should have seen us.

    I hid in the bridal room until 3:30 (by the way, we had guests getting there from 2:45 on, I just hoped none of them would come into the sanctuary).  A few people snuck in to see me, and my personal attendant didn't leave my side (by bridesmaids went out to mingle).  I recommend having someone set to stay with you, because just having someone there calmed my nerves. 

    I also recommend taking painkillers before pictures/your wedding.  I took tylenol because my ears, head, and feet would have been really hurting if I hadn't. 
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  • Another thought I had is depending on the ages of your flower girl and ringbearer.

    During our rehearsal neither one made it up the aisle, our ringbearer was 1.5, flower girl was 3.  She said "I don't want to Mommy" (to my sister-in-law) and I told SIL that it was fine if the next day she didn't want to.  But they practiced it a few times and she made it up with help the night before.  The ringbearer was cute, he just kinda turned circles during our rehearsal.  Our trick for him was the best man had some crackers in his tux pocket, and he held the crackers out so the ringbearer could see them, that kid darted to the front of the church as soon as he saw the crackers! 

    If you have trouble with yours, find a little treat or a way to help them through it.  The day of our wedding those two did almost flawlessly, and I can honestly say looking back on it the things they did made our day more fun than anything!
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  • Our ceremony was at 7pm.  I slept in a little, then had brunch with my man of honor.  Then hair and makeup appointment was at 2:30.  We were at the venue at 5:00.  Pictures lasted from 5:30-6:30, then I waited in the bridal suite until showtime!
  • Our ceremony was at 3pm.  Hair and makeup was arriving at 11:30am, so I slept in until about 9:00am and was planning on ordering breakfast.  But, around 9:15, I realized I had lost my panties, and had to go to walmart to find new ones.  So, breakfast ended up being an egg Mcmuffin on the way back from walmart !
  • Watch out for unforeseen changes in your schedule and allow a cushion. 
    My wedding started at 4:00 in the afternoon and I was up and going by 7:00 am.  We had a slight change in the arrival of the wedding cake so I had to pick it up and deliver it to the church myself. That set me back 45 minutes to an hour because when I arrived at the reception hall, the tables had not been finished. I still had a few errands to run for the after-party and I was so upset when I ran into my wedding coordinator/director who was buying birthday items for a party almost three weeks away. 
    Needless to say, I was just getting my hair styled at 1:30. I had to change into my dress at home and my photographer was upset because she missed me getting dressed. Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of my mom helping me into my gown. 
    I don't regret my day at all, it was a beautiful wedding and my memories are wonderful, I just wish I hadn't trusted in my wedding coordinator/director as I did...she is the reason my wedding day was rushed. 

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