Wedding Recap and Withdrawal

Questions for post-wedding brides...

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Re: Questions for post-wedding brides...


  • 1. What was the most special moment of your wedding?
    Definitely the ceremony.  But after that...there are too many to decide!  My dad walking me down the aisle and our father daughter dance, my first dance with my husband, all of the speeches, getting ready with my girls and my mom in the morning...I could go on.  The whole day was perfect, I can't decide...


    2. What do you wish you had done differently?
    Nothing.  Anything that went "wrong" was so minor that it is just a fun story to hear after the wedding.  

    3. What is something you regret spending money on?
    I can't think of anything.  We focused our spending on things we really cared about and cut out things that didn't matter to us ahead of time so no money was spent.  We used a special picture frame/mat for signing and it was great.  We got lots of compliments on it and it was money well spent even though it was expensive for a guest book.  

    4. What is something you wish you would have spent more money on?
    Nothing I can think of.  We were lucky in that our budget was a little bit flexible (because we were hosting) and I did change it a little bit throughout the process as needed.  Nothing drastic, but a few tweaks here and there.  

    5. What's the best (and worst!) advice you got during the planning process?

    Worst advice was mainly related to using my bridal party as some sort of free labour...that was all ignored.  

    Best advice was not to sweat the small stuff on the day of but also to plan ahead as much as possible.  I was organized and knew what mattered to me.  If it mattered, I had it taken care of and I wasn't worried about it.  If it didn't matter, I made that decision and moved on. 


  • Here you go:


    1. What was the most special moment of your wedding?
    The moment in the car that took my husband and I to the church

    2. What do you wish you had done differently?
    I would have chosen a different MOH

    3. What is something you regret spending money on?
    I would have to say it'd been the cute signs I got on Etsy some of them didn't get put out or used.

    4. What is something you wish you would have spent more money on?
    I would have spent more money on the photographer to get a few more hours (we had 7 hours of time I still feel like we could have had more)

    5. What's the best (and worst!) advice you got during the planning process?

    Best advise..no matter what happens because it will happen seriously let it go and be happy its your day.

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  • 1. What was the most special moment of your wedding?

    We both loved our first look.  It was special, just the 2 of us.  We were both very nervous and anxious.   This really just helped us enjoy our day.

    2. What do you wish you had done differently?

    Waited to pick my bridal party.  One bm kicked me out of her wedding and our friendship ended.  I just wish she never would have been part of mine in the first place.
    Also, my photographer was a snot.  Rude to me, rude to my family. I wouldn't have hired her.

    3. What is something you regret spending money on?

    My snotty photographer. Other than that, we were really budget cautious and didn't by anything totally worthless.

    4. What is something you wish you would have spent more money on?

    A better photographer.

    5. What's the best (and worst!) advice you got during the planning process?

    Best: To look at my guests as well as my groom while walking down the aisle.  It was great to see my friends and family all smiling supportive at me.

    Worst: It's your day! Screw everyone else!
    No. Just no.
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  • I'm a month into the planning process for our September 7th wedding of this year, and I want to try and gain as much wisdom from others as I can!

    1. What was the most special moment of your wedding? Having my mom walk me down the isle (my dad has passed) and seeing the look on my FI's face when he saw me for the first time.
    2. What do you wish you had done differently? I love love love my dress, but I wish I had gotten something without so many layers. It wasn't a ballgown, but it had about 7 layers and it was HOT. June where I live is pretty unpredictable, and it turned out to be hot and humid on our wedding day; if it had been about 10 degrees cooler I would have been fine, but I was sweating buckets most of the day. I kind of wish I had gotten a simple cocktail dress to change into after dinner so I could be more comfortable dancing and moving around.
    3. What is something you regret spending money on? My shoes. They weren't expensive, but I don't wear heels, and I'm not entirely comfortable in them. While they were only 3 inches, I managed, but I wasn't comfortable. I wore them for the reception and walked around barefoot the rest of the night. I ordered them because they were knock off's of a pair of Badgley Mishka's that I wanted desperately (they were pretty...).
    4. What is something you wish you would have spent more money on? Better wine for dinner. We had complimentary wine for the evening; every table got red and white but we could only have one selection of each, and it wasn't to most peoples liking. Unfortunately we couldn't do a tasting before hand, but if we had, we probably wouldn't have chosen the type we did. Then again, I'm a bit of a wine snob.
    5. What's the best (and worst!) advice you got during the planning process? Best advice was probably consider your guests comfort and enjoyment before your own, which is why we decided on a photobooth over a candy bar. FI and I have a huge sweet tooth, but the majority of our guests did not, so we chose the booth, which was consequently a HUGE hit. Worst advice was to replace one of FI's brothers who dropped out as a groomsmen (he ended up being able to make it after all).
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  • loca4pookloca4pook member
    First Comment Name Dropper 5 Love Its First Anniversary
    edited July 2013
    I'm a month into the planning process for our September 7th wedding of this year, and I want to try and gain as much wisdom from others as I can!

    1. What was the most special moment of your wedding?
    2. What do you wish you had done differently?
    3. What is something you regret spending money on?
    4. What is something you wish you would have spent more money on?
    5. What's the best (and worst!) advice you got during the planning process?

    1) Too many to name. Walking with my dad who has been sick. Seeing my groom. At one point, I played ring a round the rosy with my flower girls. That was pretty precious..oh and having MY friend and HIS friend table have contests all night competing on who was the best table..pretty funny actually

    2). Asked specific questions about the venue. I had a little minor snafuse but realized it wasn't because I didnt "ask" certain questions. For example, my guests had cocktail hour on the "terrace" but I didn't realize that meant they were FORCED to stay outside...thus wasting my photobooth which was placed inside during that hour..It also made my guests forced to STAND..I felt awful. I thought they would have a choice to stay inside, and they didn't..My fault, I just assumed it was true..

     

    3) Nothing. People told me NOT to waste money on chair covers and bathroom baskets, but I honestl am happy I did both. People were crazily excited about the bathroom baskets and the stuff got used. I loved how the room was setup with chaircovers

    4) Videographer. We didn't want to waste money and then our attempt at getting it video's got messed up so I have no coverage of me walking up aisle with my dad. SOO sad over this now...:(

     

    5) Best--don't take advice from everyone

    One piece I learned. Don't "not" invite someone because someone else doesn't like them. Ther was several people we chose not to invite to invite conflict with OTHER people..Low and Behold, those "original" people declined invited...I ended up feeling guilty for excluding people

  • 1. What was the most special moment of your wedding? I think for me it was a moment after we had gotten done with the garter/bouquet tosses and he hugged and we just held each other. It was the first time all day that we had stopped for a minute to realize we had actually gotten married. After postponing 3 times, it was a big deal
    2. What do you wish you had done differently? I wish we HAD eloped. Just taken a few friends and headed to Vegas or something. I loved my wedding and having everyone there, but in the middle of the ceremony I couldn't help but think of how pointless the whole thing was. All that should have mattered was that we got married and nothing else really mattered.
    3. What is something you regret spending money on? I bought a lot of decorations and due to change of venue we couldn't use them
    4. What is something you wish you would have spent more money on? If we were going to do a big wedding re-do, I'd save every penny and have an indoor, air-conditioned, catered, open-bar reception.
    5. What's the best (and worst!) advice you got during the planning process? Best Advice- was to just chill out and let things go. Trust my husband to do everything that morning because I couldn't be there
    Worst advice- That I didn't need tent coverage for the guests because it wasn't supposed to rain. And I listened. Well it didn't rain, but it was so hot, a lot of guests left really early.
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  • arae81arae81 member
    5 Love Its First Comment

    I got married Sept of last year, and it was a great time to do so... Congrats on your upcoming nuptials!

    If only I had thought to ask some of those things ahead of planning my day, I could have saved myself a lot of stress. I had a DIY wedding to save on costs, and there was a lot we could have done without that I absolutely freaked over, thinking they were necessary because they were traditional.

    1) The most special moment of my wedding was the following realization: Three days prior to our event, the building where we were to exchange our vows went under construction. The rose bushes were dug up, the parking lot was torn up, and it was too late to find another venue at a good rate. The crew was there on our wedding day, working! We had to ask them to take lunch during our vows so our guests could hear us. The realization? If we could make it through that, if we could roll with the punches, then we were going to be okay... We would make it.

    2) If I could have done anything differently, it would have been spending so much time and money on things that didn't matter to anyone other than me. Seriously. The pomp and circumstance IS overrated.

    3) As a continuation of #2, I spent a lot of money on save the date postcards, personalized stamps and address labels, and favors. Spend less money and truly personalize your event by doing these things yourself instead of ordering them from a company. I used stamps and inkpads on nice cardstock to make my invitations, and no one complained. Favors, truth be told, are a quickly fading tradition. Hardly anyone took them home with them, and I had to figure out what to do with them all. If you want to have favors available, consider a candy buffett or make fans for your guests if your wedding is outdoors... One afternoon is all that is required, and it's a way to really channel your inner child... Have fun with it, and your guests will, too.

    4) There's nothing I would have spent more on... Weddings are expensive enough as is, lol! But if I had been smarter with my spending on the wedding, I would have had more to spend on the honeymoon...

    5) And that leads right into #5: My aunts' and uncles' advice was to be frugal on the wedding and splurge on the honeymoon, which is solid advice. The wedding lasts for just one day. Don't stress over it, simply enjoy it. Don't go traditional because you think you have to with all of the frills, only if you truly want to. The more frills you get rid of, the less stress there will be, and it won't be any less fun or memorable. Focus on the people there with you instead. This is my best advice :D

  • 1. What was the most special moment of your wedding? Honestly the whole ceremony was beautiful. From the moment I saw his face I couldn't look away, I don't even think I looked at our guests once. Our vows were really special to me because my husband has always been quiet about emotions publicly and he was so open, in a way that I had only seen when we were alone.

    2. What do you wish you had done differently? I wish I had stopped and smiled at everyone on our way back down the aisle. We just kinda of walked off staring at each other.

    3. What is something you regret spending money on? Our unity candle! We had an outdoor ceremony and while the weather was nice, we couldn't get our candles to stay lit to light the unity candle. I think we actually pretended to light the candle and just laughed with each other. 

    4. What is something you wish you would have spent more money on? Decorations for the patio outside. We had our ceremony and reception at the same place, and after the ceremony the patio area became a place where guests could relax and smoke, if they wanted to, and I realized late in the night that it was bare.

    5. What's the best (and worst!) advice you got during the planning process? The best advice was to know that things weren't going to be perfect and accept it. Things definitely weren't perfect, but I had a wonderful and beautiful day.

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  • I got married last September mazel tov on being so close to the date. If you haven't noticed yet the stress is fading and now it's just a matter of are we there yet. 1. The most special moment was the speech my husband gave thanking everyone and telling me in front of all of them how beautiful I looked how much he loved me, also my brothers speech made my husband cry, he told them even though our parents are deceased they would be proud to call him a son. 2. I wish I had hydrated better that sounds crazy but I was so caught up I didn't drink enough water and wearing that heavy dress in Atlanta heat caught up with me. 3.i wish I had found a cheaper dress. My dress is still hanging un preserved and with the grass stains on it I looked great and I loved it but now what? 4. I wish we had planned or found a better photographer our photos are great but it took almost 6 months and a lawsuit to get them. 5. Something will go wrong and when it does roll with it. Our ceremony started late because my husband forgot the ring and while his dad was driving to go get it my MOH dropped my husbands ring and frantically searched for it. In the end it makes a funny story and doesn't change that by the end of the day we were married.
  • 1. What was the most special moment of your wedding? Too many! Our excange of vows blew me away. I almost never get emotional...didn't even cry at the proposal...but I was a basket case in the moment. My husband's vows that he had written himself were everything I thought they would be and more. I also had a few minutes alone with my Dad before the ceremony that I will always remember. I blame him for the fact that I was too in the moment ro pick up the boquet that was right in front of me. :) Our father/daughter dance will be forever etched into my memory as well. This is a man who does not dance. EVER. But he danced with me in front of everyone. My Maid of Honor's speech was beautiful too. I'm not going to lie, it was also an insanely awesome feeling to walk down the aisle and know you are the center of attention for those few moments. I'm pretty understated most of the time, but it was just an amazing feeling I can't say I've ever experienced before.
    2. What do you wish you had done differently?
    Not really...other than change the location where we actually got ready. My apartment is too damn small or the number of women we had there.
     
    3. What is something you regret spending money on? Nothing. Some of our candy that was meant to be placed on the tables didn't get passed out. No big deal. We now have desert for the next six months. :) No waste.
    4. What is something you wish you would have spent more money on? Nothing.
    5. What's the best (and worst!) advice you got during the planning process? A lot of advice here on the Knot was very helpful. Other than that, we really didn't get a ton of advice. I really didn't ask for it though. My DH and I were just really into planning the day just the two of us.
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  • 1. What was the most special moment of your wedding? 
    Our first look moment.  I was so excited to see my soon to be husband that I was practically running up to tap him on the shoulder and the photographers had to yell at me to walk slower.  But seeing the look on his face when he turned around and having a moment for just the two of us (even though the photographers were there, they were not right in our faces, but probably 25-30ft away) was amazing.

    2. What do you wish you had done differently? 
    Even though we paid for a reception that lasted until midnight, I wish it had ended around 11pm instead.  Since we did a first look and got all of our photos out of the way we went right to cocktail hour and started greeting guests.  By the time 11pm rolled around I was exhausted and ready for bed and getting through that last hour was  struggle, and probably not needed because by then about 75% of our guests had left already.

    3. What is something you regret spending money on? 
    I think we had a really good budget, and I have no regrets about the way the money was spent.

    4. What is something you wish you would have spent more money on? 
    a videographer.  we didn't hire anyone, and 4 days before our wedding we found out my grandfather wouldn't be able to attend.  I know he is really really bummed he missed the wedding, and I regret that we don't have any video footage to send him.

    5. What's the best (and worst!) advice you got during the planning process?
    Spend money on photos.  We originally looked into some budget photographers and realized early on that we wanted good quality photos we would be happy with.  We spent almost $6K on our photographer and it was worth every penny.  I got a lot of "it's your day, do what you want" advice, and while I think sometimes that advice is ok for the ceremony (because that is about you and your FI and what you want), when it comes to the reception that's all about your guests and if doing what you want would offend your guests or goes against etiquette than that "it's your day" bs is a really really bad idea. 
  • 1. What was the most special moment of your wedding?
    Walking down the aisle with my dad and seeing one of my best friends out there in the crowd.  Post wedding celebration moments with my husband were memorable he took good care of me and we talked about how the whole day went  and how much we appreciated all the family and friends who came out and those who wanted to be there etc, I'll never forget that.
    2. What do you wish you had done differently?
    Planning if I had more time I would have went home earlier to get a jump on planning so that week would not have been as crazy as it was but that's what happens when you plan a wedding from 2000 miles away.
    3. What is something you regret spending money on?
    I think all the money we spent was well spent but I felt bad that my aunt paid for little plastic wine glasses that we didn't end up using.
    4. What is something you wish you would have spent more money on?
    Hmm I'm not sure I think we did good in that respect.  Maybe a venue with air conditioning lol but the lack of made me realize how much people loved us to sit through that (we did have giant fans though).  It was much more personal that we did it at the church with the family though.
    5. What's the best (and worst!) advice you got during the planning process?
    Best: My aunt and cousins had a lot to say about the reception and so I took their advise on linen table cloths and accepting help for nice plates and forks etc.  When I told my mom I was going to get any old dress she offered me hers and I'm glad I took it.  When I was being super accommodating people reminded me that I did get some say as it was a celebration of our marriage.  My husband also had a lot to say about it and at first I was some what hesitant but I'm glad I listened and took most of his advise it really made the event a lot more like my simple elegant vision, it seemed he was also on board with that.
    Worst: Honestly I frequent another wedding site and most of the advise on it was crap, it was there that I distinguished between good and bad advise and figured out most of what NOT to do on your wedding day, lol. 

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  • Gosh, this is popular!

    1. What was the most special moment of your wedding?
         My husband and I opted for a first look, and I would have to say this was the first best moment of the day.  We had our bridal party there and it was just great to bask in the moment with each other. A very close second is when my tough guy husband cried during his vows. There was not a dry eye in the house after that.

    2. What do you wish you had done differently?
        
    The hotel we were at the night before and day of (getting ready) was nightmarish, but there was not much we could have done at the time about that.  But I do wish I could have taken more pictures in our photo booth with my family and friends.

    3. What is something you regret spending money on?
        
    Nothing.  Our budget was tight, if not a few dollars over, but we saved on a lot and got a lot for our monies worth.  It was all worth it.

    4. What is something you wish you would have spent more money on?
        
    If we had any money to spare, I would have paid for a videographer.  I gave up on that dream early in our planning stages, when it just was not going to be possible. Sad, yes, but most of my family had a recorder glued to their hands all night anyway!


    5. What's the best (and worst!) advice you got during the planning process?
        
    I didn't get much advice, I am far away from all my family and friends, and I had been planning my wedding for years, so I really just tried to keep a level head.  Not getting caught up in a fantasy of what a wedding could be was easy for me to do.  We both knew we just wanted something fun, romantic and special for the both of us.
  • 1. What was the most special moment of your wedding?
    Walking down the aisle with my nephew.  My brother missed his plane!!!

    2. What do you wish you had done differently?
    Invited more people!!  57 was a bit too small.

    3. What is something you regret spending money on?

    the bar.  Most people didn't drink alcohol.
  • edited August 2013
    I wish I'd been more proactive asking questions...and your big day is ALMOST HERE!!!
    1. What was the most special moment of your wedding?
    Standing there with my soon to be in just a few moments husband and feeling like we were the only two people there and feeling that moment.
    2. What do you wish you had done differently?
    Spent more time planning some specific picture moments with friends and family.  We ended up not having a lot of the typical group shots which I really regret.
    3. What is something you regret spending money on?
    Honestly, we were pretty frugal so the only decision here was to have a wedding or to take a trip instead and just do a small ceremony/no reception.   It was not easy to pick a reception over travel or some other expense, but I cherish each and every memory of that day more than I ever thought possible.
    4. What is something you wish you would have spent more money on?
    Planned events with friends and a more structured wedding party, maybe...I opted not to have a wedding party.
    5. What's the best (and worst!) advice you got during the planning process?
    BEST - What matters is you are marrying the person you love...all of the other stuff does not matter.  Also, pay attention to some details to make it special if you are normally a casual "whatever goes" kind of person in your daily life.  It is a wedding not just a party, and no matter how casual you are...you will want to feel like you are at your wedding.  Another thing I told myself was to decide what matters to me, no matter how small.  I wanted to keep the tradition of not being seen the night before and day of the wedding by my husband even though we've lived together for years.  People did not think it mattered, but it mattered to me...and it is part of a great memory for me.
    Worst - Honestly...I did not hear any bad advice.  I think the people in my life truly know me and my husband.  If they said any "worst" advice, it must have fallen on deaf ears ;-)
    Congratulations and relax!  Whatever the day, it belongs to you!
  • Most special moment: top 3 seeing the look on my husbands face during our first look photos, seeing my dad get teared up (and make me do the same) and dancing with my 79 year old grandfather who showed me a few new moves. lol
    What do I wish I had done differently: I wish I would've wrote a toast, everyone toasted including my husband after we agreed we wouldnt, but in the moment he did.  I am so not a in the moment public speaker so i didnt.  I wish i would've prepared one just in case.  
    Something I regret spending so much money on: alcohol, but then again its not like it goes bad I guess we will just have a couple of cases of emergency champagne and wine for the next year or so lol
    Something I wish we had spent more on:  A wedding planner, I  was the wedding planner, decorator and visionary along with my mother.  We did it all and we're both very stressed.  We hired a day of coordinator who was helpful but fell short in a few key areas.  
    Best advice: take a step back and breathe, realize this is going to "hopefully" be one of the happiest days of your life and you don't want to be so stressed you can't enjoy it.  Also don't neglect your future husband, its so easy to get caught up in planning and to forget him, the love of your life who also needs attention.  What is love if you can't take a break to enjoy each other once in a while.  I got super caught up in the planning.
    Worst Advice: Our wedding was on a rooftop with an indoor reception, it had rained on and off all that day right up until time.  Everyone was trying to convince me to move it all inside and give up. Don't give in, this is your day and if you want it on a roof or inside or on a boat whatever!! Do whatever it takes to make it happen and if it comes down to it and it won't work, do plan B, but not until there are no other options.  There are no do-overs, this is it! have it your way if possible, if not possible take a drink and move on.  It stopped raining 45 mins before the ceremony was to start and everything worked out perfectly.  :)  Good Luck
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