Our Own Wedding Planning Regrets vs. Wins

With my little sister Ellen getting engaged & beginning to plan her wedding, it has brought back so many memories and feels and emotions from when Derrick & I planned our wedding (7 years ago! How is that even possible?!) I have been helping Ellen where I can thru the planning process & sharing my own experiences and I thought it would be fun to compile a list of our biggest wedding planning regrets vs. wedding planning wins! Hopefully this will help someone else who is entering in to the planning stages of their own wedding!

Wedding Planning Regrets

• Not Picking A Theme: So, for our wedding, we picked main wedding colors (a bright blue & yellow), but that was the extent of our guidelines as far as bridesmaid dresses, decor, details, etc. We were trying to plan things as inexpensively as possible, so for some reason I thought that the absence of a “theme” would help with the budget. I was sorely mistaken. Here’s the problem: our colors didn’t exactly go with the venue we booked. Our reception was held in a fabulous Italian restaurant’s banquet room, but it was definitely themed to look like Italy. Murals of wineries and grape vines were on the walls of the hallway, they had centerpieces I could have borrowed (but didn’t) that held candles and had grape vines on them, and the tone of the room was very warm. Looking back, I should have embraced the Italian vibe & used that as my theme. It would have saved us money (I could have used their centerpieces instead of going out & making my own) and we would have fit into the space so much better.
• Not Taking My Dress Elsewhere To Be Altered: I bought my dress for $99 at David’s Bridal. I visited several dress shops & tried on multiple dresses before I ended up at David’s Bridal – I simply could not find anything that I truly loved! I was so blessed to take both of my Grandmas with me to that dress appointment & I wouldn’t trade that precious experience for the world! It was so sweet to have them both there when I found my dress. However, I should have bought my dress, took it home, and found an “outside” seamstress to alter my dress. Instead, I made the mistake of leaving it with David’s Bridal & paying them to alter it. It was definitely the easy choice & those sales ladies definitely pressure you into going that direction, but I should have said no. All in all, my $99 dress (that was 2 sizes too big) turned into a few hundred dollar dress after all the alterations were said & done. I literally could have bought a regular priced dress in the correct size for what I paid. They did a good job, they just charged way too much money. My sisters took their bridesmaids dresses to a seamstress that was a friend of the family & she charged them pennies compared to what I paid & their experience with her was so much better!
• Not Renting A Limo/Party Bus: Again, we were trying to cut as many costs as possible while we were planning our wedding, however, we should have splurged and rented a party bus to carry us & our briday party from the ceremony to the reception venue. Looking back, here’s how it played out: our ceremony & reception were about 30 minutes apart from each other & when you tack on some extra time for the park we stopped at for our formal portraits – we spent about 45-50 minutes in transportation time from one spot to the other. Here’s the deal: I feel like we hardly got to see our bridal party at all on the wedding day – I mean sure, we got ready with our respective bridesmaids/groomsmen, but it feels like that’s about it! And there were so many things happening while we were getting ready, we didn’t really have time to “hang out”. So, in retrospect, having those 45 minutes to celebrate with our closest friends would have been treasured time! Now, if you are planning your wedding & your venues are much closer together – I’d say definitely skip the transportation! But, if a long drive is in the forecast for the day – I’d totally recommend it!

Wedding Planning Wins

• Creating Our Own Bouquets: Derrick’s Mom & my Matron of Honor, Naomi created the masterpieces that were our bouquets & boutonnieres. Both had some experience with flowers (Naomi actually worked for a flower shop at the time) so they generously volunteered to create our flowers for the day! They turned out AMAZING. I loved my flowers so so much!! I wasn’t too picky about the flowers that went into my bouquet, I just knew I wanted a mixture of white & yellow. I ended up working with one of the managers at Trader Joe’s in downtown Pittsburgh to get in loose flowers in bulk the days before our wedding. She was so incredible to work with & not being super picky about what types of flowers I wanted helped too! The day before our wedding, my parent’s dining room table turned into flower-central as big buckets of flowers, leaves, flower cuttings, ribbon, and bouquet creation took place. Obviously, I wouldn’t suggest just anyone attempting to create your wedding bouquets, but a little knowledge goes a long way!
• Doing A First Look: Derrick & I choose to break tradition & see each other prior to the ceremony. It was so profitable for several reasons: it eased our nerves and anxiety – the thought of walking down an aisle with everyone looking at you is daunting! Add to the fact that you’re potentially seeing each other for the first time and hoping that you approve of how the other looks – it can be a lot of pressure! Seeing each other before the ceremony removed all of that pressure & made the moment (still monumentous!) but much less stress-filled. We were also able to do all of our family formal portraits prior to the ceremony! This allowed for a much less hurried time for family portraits, plus our families were then able to go & enjoy all of cocktail hour with our guests – many of whom had traveled in for our wedding! It also allowed us to take tons of fun bridal party photos & portraits of just Derrick & I at a much more relaxed pace! First Looks are awesome!
• Hiring An Awesome Photographer: When we started planning our wedding, I didn’t even look around for a wedding photographer – I already knew who I wanted to capture my day. Kristen was one of the first wedding blogs I began following & I was instantly hooked. I’ll never forget, probably year 2007 or 2008, my Mom was pointed to Kristen’s photography blog because she photographed a homeschoolers wedding & that blog post was circulating around via email newsletters (this was before the age of Facebook shares!) and she called me over to her computer because I just had to see this wedding! At the time, photography wasn’t really even on my radar! But I was instantly hooked. I began following every line that Kristen wrote and every photo she took & I was mesmerized. There was simply no contest several years later when Derrick & I got engaged! Kristen simply had to shoot our wedding! And I’m so glad she did – I love our wedding images! I promise, I’m not just saying this because I’m now a wedding photographer: hire an awesome photographer who you love & who’s work you love! Don’t skimp on this one! Their images hold the memories of your day! Move heaven & earth to find & hire someone you absolutely love.