So I was married on Saturday and it was wonderful!
It rained on our rehearsal, so we had that inside, but I'd rather that than raining on the wedding.
I got up and took a shower and met my hair dresser at the building where we were getting ready (around 8am). (The venue had a lodging area, so everything was at the same place.) Well, we couldn't get into the building where the bridal suite was in. There was a banquet server outside, but she didn't have keys to the building. I called my wedding coordinator and she said she would send someone over. We wait a little longer, and the server said there was no manager on site. Ok, well eventually someone comes, and opens it up, about 30 minutes later. We're in, that's all that matters.
Hair and makeup goes very smoothly. There were 6 of us (me, 3 bridesmaids, and 2 mothers). And we were ahead of schedule. My makeup artist said I was the most relaxed bride she's ever seen. (There was some slight drama the night before, but I'll talk about that in a separate post.) Hair and makeup was ready about an hour or 2 ahead of time! I didn't want to be rushed, so I made sure I had plenty of time for everything.
We did a first look 2 hours before the ceremony. I highly recommend it! It was so nice to have a private moment alone (with the photographer). Then we took some family and bridal party pictures. It was great to get those pictures out of the way before the ceremony. We all then went back to the bridal for about an hour, to relax. The JOP came in at some point and took our marriage license and talked to us for a few minutes. Then we lined up and started the wedding.
The ceremony was absolutely beautiful. We made our own ceremony with our own vows. It's really true what people say about you don't notice anything but your groom and what the officiant is saying. People could have been dancing in the aisles, and I wouldn't have noticed. Our ceremony was about 20 minutes, but I felt it went by in a blur. My husband and his family are Jewish, but we didn't have a Jewish wedding. My parents (who are Catholic) made our Chuppah. People said it was one of the most beautiful Chuppah they've ever seen. Then my husband and I got a drink from our personal server, and we went and took private pictures on the golf course.
We got to attend part of our cocktail hour, and it was nice to chat with people before we lined up for introductions. Our introduction got a little messed up, but we improvised. Then we had our first dance, and we had all the couples join in after the first verse and chorus. Then we had our toasts, and my sisters were maid and matron of honor, so they did a little tag team bit. And then the best man made a really meaningful sweet toast.
Our reception went well. We got to eat, but I felt we really didn't get to enjoy our food as much as we would like. I only saw the cake once we were cutting it, so I would recommend not going crazy on the decoration. We had a simple design three tiered cake, and a sheet cake in the back for the extra.
We were able to talk to everyone. We went to husband's parent's tables first, because they were older, and might leave before our friends. We didn't get to one table, but it was my friends from work, that we saw on the dance floor, so it worked out. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, people loved the food, and my mom's best friend said I was a wonderful hostess.
My advice to other brides:
1) Do a first look (especially if your ceremony and reception are in the same place). I don't know when we would have done all those pictures if we hadn't done them before the ceremony.
2) Don't sweat the small details. It won't matter in the long run. We didn't have super tall flowers, we had smaller but beautiful arrangements. We had a simple elegant cake. We didn't care about napkin colors and other than the escort cards and programs, nothing was DIY.
3) Staples can print programs probably quicker and cheaper than you can. I went and bought program card stock, and printed 30 programs and it took me about 3 hours, because my printer was not cooperating (brand new). I went to Staples, 48 hours before my wedding, and they did it in 20 minutes (plain card stock). Seriously, I wasted 3 hours.
4) Try to enjoy your wedding and take it all in. It's hard, but it's going to go by in a flash.