I don't mean for this post to bash my sister at all. There were just things that came up that I hadn't thought of and now I think it might be useful.
1. I'm definitely getting a DOC. Everyone kept coming to her with the stupidest problems. Aunt Margaret isn't on the seating chart. FIND SOMEWHERE FOR HER TO SIT! Don't come to the bride with this sh!t!
2. More hors d'oeuvres, less late-night snack, at least for our family anyway. People were fighting over cheese and crackers at 6:30 when 99% of the guests were there and starving. She also had an ice cream bar at 9pm and pizza and hot dogs at 10pm, I think. As I said in my FB post, most guests left by 9pm.
3. You really don't have to spend a lot of money on decor. I'm going to have to rethink a lot of the stuff I planned for my wedding because I think I went overboard. It was the end of the night before I realized the tablecloths weren't floor-length, something that was really important to me before.
4. People LOVED the photo booth, but it took the attention away from everything else. People were lined up for it all night. It didn't seem like people noticed the cake-cutting or the first dance.
5. Discuss your exact ceremony wording with your officiant. My sister and her husband are not religious, but got a Christian minister to do the ceremony. The first thing he said was a speech about marriage being between a man and a woman only. I love my sister, so I didn't cause a scene, but wtf? I know my sister doesn't feel that way either. I didn't ask her about it because I didn't want to cause drama on her day. She never even talked to the minister before until the rehearsal. She did the seating chart the morning of while we were getting hair and makeup done. Yes really. She chose her ceremony music when we got there. (Canon in D and the Wedding March).
6. I gave her $400 to get personalized shot glasses and chocolate coins as favors. I wish she had that $400 on her honeymoon right now.
7. Show the makeup/hair people a picture of what you want. I told them I didn't want brown eyeshadow because it makes me look tired. Guess what. I was the only one they put brown eyeshadow on. Everyone else looked stunning. I looked like I had the flu. I told the hair lady to just curl my hair with a curling iron. I got a Snooki poof. I think I'm going to have to have 3 trials before my wedding. Ha!
Overall, it was a beautiful wedding. My sister looked stunning, and she ended up married, which was the ultimate goal.