Wedding Wednesdays. 4 mistakes we made when planning our wedding and 3 things we did right.

1. Didn’t hire a planner

   I did it alone and with family help. A planner could have saved us on our budget and directed us as we planned. On the day of our friends and family were running around like crazy setting everything up. I was alone many times in my bridal suite because everyone was so nice and helping. If we had hired a coordinator we could have enjoyed the full day knowing everything was being handled professionally.

   2. didn’t let our venue work for me

   We had a tented outdoor garden wedding that for some reason I wanted to turn into a glitzy new year’s Eve lookin’ event. So much gold. Gold foil, gold streamers, gold everywhere. I wish I had leaned into our beautiful venue instead of trying to change it. It was pretty, but this is one thing I would do differently if I had the chance to turn back the clock.

   3. Too much outside influence in our timeline

   I allowed outside voices to dictate which songs should be played, what formalities should be done, and our overall setup and so forth. I wish I had spoken up and put my foot down on things that were important to me.

   4. Rushed to book vendors

   It’s common to want to get all the main vendors booked quickly. I wish I had explored photographers and videographers more as well as flowers (I chose a strip mall florist- ahh!) I just didn’t know how many excellent vendors within our budget there were. Something a planner could have helped us with too.

   3 things we did right

   1. Made invitations a priority.

      I chose the custom route for invitations and I’m so glad I did. People have strong opinions on invitations but I like looking back and remembering how much effort I put into them. For our Save-the-dates I used vellum envelopes with little pastel colored confetti’s. (Again with the New Year’s theme…?)

      I loved them so much.

   2. Had a playlist of dance songs when the band took breaks.
      
      This was key for our reception. We had an oldies band who were phenomenal. To bring life to the dance floor when they band took breaks, we had playlists full of our favorite songs. I liked the contrast.
      

   3. Had a welcome party the night before.

      Another thing we did that was a great idea. All guests were invited to my in-law’s house after rehearsal for a welcome party. This gave out of town guests something to do while it let us get all the small talk and chit chat out of the way so we could more thoroughly enjoy our reception.

   Warmly,

   Michelle