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GREAT POST! for me
"Hire a DOC. Your on site coordinator is not the same."
Huuuuge mistake on my part. Boy was I mistaken when I said "YEs she is!" HIRE A DOC
The only advice I've ignored thus far is to hire a DOC. I just don't have the money for it.
All other advice, I'll gladly follow!!
Wow. My site coordinator went above and beyond! A DOC would have been excessive. I even had a little attendant running after me the whole night bringing me drinks and taking all the cards people handed me and putting them in my card box.
@jocelyn - my ceremony was at a church and the reception was elsewhere. I needed someone to coordinate a TON of stuff from my house to where the GM were getting ready to transporting stuff, etc. the On Site Coordinator was incredible while we were there. I just needed someone else who could focus purely on the million things the OSC couldnt do
This isn't advice I ignored, but advice I wanted to ignore, but then ended up caving in on and am glad that I did.
I wanted to see my FI for the first time walking down the aisle, others wanted to have the pictures beforehand, I was a bit upset but eventually gave it up so I could make sure to have pictures in the location I wanted. We had a 'reveal' instead with family and friends and it was quite emotional for both of us and I don't think I would have been able to make it through the ceremony very well since I had to take a bit to get composed after seeing him. I teared up a bit still walking down the aisle (and I am not a huge crier or usually super emotional) but at least could pull it together faster. Also I loved being at the cocktail hour with people, it was really the only chance I got to really socialize with people as during dinner we skipped quickly from one to another and were interrupting eating, and then we danced a ton after dinner.
So I'd say I'm glad I compromised. There was still an emotional meeting. He had my bouquet at the bottom of this sort of spiral staircase and was waiting for me as I came down, but we got pictures and relax and all beforehand, it made it less stressful to see him in a way.
I wish I'd listened to my aunt's advice about sending out our Save The Dates too early...Telling everyone so far in advance about the wedding means more guests, which means more money on food and drinks, etc! ACK!
A part of me really wishes I had listened when folks said to call off all incompleted DIY projects a couple of days prior to the wedding. In my usual type-A fashion, I was painting the sign for the photobooth up until the final moment I left for my hair appointment, day-of. My hair dresser was doing her magic and says, "hun, do you know you've got paint in your hair?" LOL. :o)
Also, start your planning and arranging vendors early! I began the process about 14 months out but stopped when FI (now DH!) made me feel nuts for doing so. Where before he was asking, 'what's the rush?', now he wishes he had followed my lead. On several things, we were scrambling like mad men at the very end.
1. Have a hair trial, even if a pro isn't doing your hair. I figured since my girls were doing my hair, we could just come up with something the day before the wedding. HA. My hair is super baby fine, and doesn't hold a curl, so I knew a fancy up-do was out for me, so we were really just going to curl it and go. Well, my hair didn't cooperate. If we'd done this a few weeks out, we could have time to experiment and see if there would be a hairspray or something out there to keep the curl in my hair!
2. Don't assume your bridal party is going to read your timelines or other info you've carefully laid out for them. One lost his sheet, another didn't bother reading it. Make sure to talk to people personally!
3. Have a weather back-up plan and make sure your vendors know about it. I was the crazy bride who had plans A-D for weather. Yep. There were a few factors in mind: rain, temperature, etc. Plan A would mean we had everything inside. Plan D, everything inside. B & C were variations of such. On the morning of the wedding, I e-mailed my vendors and said "Plan B is in effect for today" and they took care of it. I'm SO glad I did it, because everyone was on the same page when they arrived at the venue.
4. Get your manicure two days out, especially for a Saturday wedding. Every nail salon in the county was insanely busy the day before my wedding. My girls had to forego getting manicures because we had to wait so long and needed to get ready for the rehearsal dinner.
1. Hired a DOC, my phone went out 2 days before the wedding, and none of the vendors could get ahold of me on the wedding day.
2. Hadnt procrastinated on the DIY projects, had plans to make cute lil church fans and petal cones, but neither came to light.
I already posted about this, but I wouldn't have gone to Macchu Picchu for my honeymoon on a 30+mile adventure trek where my hustband bailed on day two with diaherea and I went on without him. Not romantic at all. EVERYONE who has ever been warned me but it only made us too stubborn to go. I wish that I sat in a 4 star hotel for 3 nights. That would have been perfect. No planes, no stress, just consummation and relaxation. ;)
But as far as the wedding: I would have gotten a short dress for the second half of the reception. I TRASHED my dress because I love to dance. I looked like a wilted flower.
Also: no false eyelashes. Everyone thought I was crying tears of joy, but NO the darn things just made my eyes water.
EAT! I felt sick later in the evening because I hadn't eaten anything all day. :(
If you're doing your own flowers, don't wait til the morning of to remove all the thorns from the roses!
1. Make that detailed list for your photographer.
I gave our photographer a list, but I didn't put a lot of thought into it, and I wish I had jotted down some of our more creative ideas. For months, I was looking forward to taking pictures in this super awesome old-fashioned telephone booth in our hotel (we had a vintage theme, so it was perfect), and I figured, "Oh, I'll just remember so I won't write it down." Lo and behold, I was so caught up in our reception, I forgot to tell our photographer we wanted a picture in it. There were also a few shots I had in mind that I forgot about as well, included a group picture of all our guests.
2. Sleep is important.
Holy crap, did I underestimate this. I wish I had taken some OTC sleep aides during the days leading up to our wedding. I wasn't sleeping out of excitement, and on the day of the wedding, I was pretty sleep-deprived, and not feeling well because of it.
3. Eat.
Because I was so excited, I could barely eat, which also caused me to have a fluttery and upset tummy most of the wedding day morning. I was finally able to get some fruit and cheese in me, but after our "pre-wedding pictures" were done, during the 30 mins before our ceremony, I felt faint. One of my BMs had to run to the hotel bar and demand a fruit cup for me. Looking back, I laugh, but at the time, it wasn't funny!
I almost said oh well I don't need a videotaped ceremony and although I haven't seen it yet I'm glad I had one because I was emotional and so feel like my memories aren't as full of the ceremony as they could be.
Definately agree with the sleep part. I had a cold right before the wedding and my sister brought me dimatapp two days before the wedding and it knocked me out and I had a great nights sleep. The night before we went to a hotel and forgot the dimatapp and I had this medicine that said it would knock you out but kept me awake.
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wasn't sure how to title the post, but I think this would be helpful for those not married, too!
I think we all have this moment of "oh, THAT isn't important" or "THAT won't happen to ME" mine, in order ;)
1) you won't sleep well the night before -- I thought everything was under control, but I was a mess trying to sleep!
2) get everything in writing -- this didn't burn me big time, but my flowers weren't really as I wanted (or we'd discussed)...luckily flowers were pretty low on my priority list, and I was there when she made my bouquest (last)
3) tell family/attendants what you want from them -- I did email them the schedule, but I didn't want to seem bossy, so it was casual, and that left for some stressy moments last minute, when they flaked out...I had people that barely knew me helping more than my inlaws the day of ?!
as a guest, my biggest peeve was 'formality level' this is one of the rules I think you should follow...my friend had a night time, black and white, candlelit ceremony, but the reception was basically nothing, in the gym...no dinner, not even sure there was cake...you have to remember your guests...I felt like she wanted to spend all the $ on her (her dress was $700+ back in 2000) and not on her guests, but maybe I'm just being a judgy judgerton...what do you think?