As a recent bride, I know how hard wedding planning can truly be and how hard it is to know what you should focus on and what things don’t really matter at the end of the day.
I’ve compiled a list in hopes it helps the next bride. Take a look below at some of the things I recommend for any brides planning their wedding:
THINGS I’M GLAD I DID
- Picked a venue that doesn’t require much florals and already offers a beautiful space. This saved us a lot of money. We picked an outdoor venue by the water that didn’t need much “dressing up.”
- We didn’t ask for gifts on our registry, instead, we asked for contributions for our honeymoon fund and our new house fund. We were living in an apartment at the time, had no space, and already had everything we needed. Besides, who needs three cheese boards? We used Zola.com for our registry.
- Hired a second shooter! You really want two angles of the big moments of the day like walking down the isle, dancing, etc., but also key is that you want moments captured that you weren’t a part of, for example, your cocktail hour of guests, or photos in the Groom Suite while the bride gets ready in the Bridal Suite. Just remember, the second shooter shouldn’t be with you all day, that’s what the first shooter is for. It truly makes a huge difference!
- I didn’t assign any tasks to family members for the day of the wedding. You want them to enjoy the day too stress free!
- A first look! The day gets chaotic and it was our few moments alone to really talk to one another and truly enjoy the moment and excitement about to walk down the aisle.
- Last but not least, hired a planner! This made our day COMPLETELY stress free and I can look back at our wedding day and truly remember how amazing it turned out and nothing went wrong. Believe me, when you spend a lot on a wedding, you want to feel so good about it. I hired Completely Coordinated who was worth their weight in gold!
THINGS I WISH I DID
- Preserve my Bridal Boutique
- Made sure DJ has EVERY single announcement. Just remember, if the DJ doesn’t say it, people don’t know. For example, I went to a wedding recently where the bride and groom paid for coffee service at the end of the night but the venue placed the coffee station not in plain sight and so many people missed it.
- Paid more attention to turn around time for your photographer and videographer during the contracts and hiring phase of wedding planning. This was a huge oversight on my part. It really sucks to wait 8 weeks for photos and 3-6 months for your wedding videography and no sneak peaks.
- I wish I handed my phone to someone who could take a few photos for me to have personally and immediately. Although, my planner was genius and captured our entire First Dance and Mother-Son Dance on my cell phone and it was the first thing we watched together the next morning- it was a special moment to remember our big day.
THINGS I WISH I DIDN’T DO
- Not much here but only one thing sticks out: Read my vows from my phone. This was totally my fault because I didn’t finish writing my vows in time to write down in a booklet. It wasn’t very professional looking- eek!
There are so many more things I could have included, but here are a few major things I wanted to share! I hope this was helpful!
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