(Closed) Looking Back, What Could You Have Done Without on Your Wedding Day?

• strawbs
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: May 2012

Guests.

• michiru4ever
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: Central Park

Menues. I haven’t had my wedding yet but I’m not doing them. We’re having a buffet and it’s all normal, traditional food, so I’m not going to go through the trouble of making one when the caterer and staff will be there to serve people and tell them what it is.

• EffieTrinket
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: March 2014

@FutureMrsClayshulte:  That’s crazy! I’d be grabbing those by the handsful!

• Mrsluckywife
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: July 2011

@TaurianDoll:  🙂 hehe. I was being a bit cheeky saying that, but I kind of never really wanted them in the first place as I wanted to keep things simple, but then my Mother-In-Law told me I had to have Future Sister-In-Law as one so I just did it to keep the peace and had 2 other of my good friends. I paid for all the dresses, shoes, hair, everything as I wanted to treat them nicely, and pretty much organised my own hen party as they were so disorganised/uninterested. It’s led me to be quite disillusioned about friendships..:(

• Nic01
• 8 years ago

@strawbs:  lol

• FLBlonde93
• 8 years ago

@moniquaa:  Your flowers are beautiful!

• FLBlonde93
• 8 years ago

@strawbs:  Guests is an awesome answer!

• nativedesires
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: September 2012

 

1. Bathroom baskets
2. I spy fans, two people uploaded photos after I sent a reminder but not pics from the list
3. We did not hire a dj and I am gla we didn’t for our outdoor wedding no one danced except us 
4. Programs only a few people took them so we had plenty leftover
5. too many DIY items and we had set it up ourselves with the bridal party so we couldn’t find things and some of it never got used like the sand ceremony jar and sand

 

• Slinatech
• 8 years ago

Following!

• MrsPaulsBabyBallerina
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: July 2012

I don’t think I’d have cut anything from our day but I did majorly edit long before the wedding. We didn’t do: welcome bags, bathroom baskets, programs, menu cards, uplighting, photobooth, favors, and hosted hard liquor (beer and wine were hosted but hard liquor was there if guests wanted to buy…this is common in our circle and families). No ceremony musicians, traditional guest book (matted engagement photo for guests to sign), a dessert table (we had 5 or 6 different cake flavors), no late night snack/second meal.  

I did do those little kissing bells at each place and had ribbon wands I made for our send off.  We also had personalized cocktail napkins but they were on sale.  I did make goodie bags for the kids under 5 because there were so many of them.  I raided the dollar store and dollar bins at Target.   The bags were a hit.  I bought about two dozen fans and parasols in case it was warm and too sunny that day and our older guests needed shade.  the weather was perfect, but the fans and parasols were a big hit with the kids,  they were a good buy.

i think the best money I spent that day was a wedding planner (actually it was a team of two ladies). They were fantastic and earned every cent of their pay.  A fantastic time was had by all and if there were any hiccups that day, I never knew and still don’t know about them almost 10 months later. 

• wahmjess
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: September 2013

Great great post! Commenting to follow as well!

• EastMeetsBarn
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: June 2012

I thought pretty much everything was worth it. The only thing I can think of that I’d change is our hair. We paid a premium to have the stylist come to the location. The convenience wasn’t worth it, and we should have just gone there. We probably all could have had our hair done at the same time by different stylists, and been ready sooner.

Also, there’s all the time and energy I put into lighting the paper lanterns. It was CRAZY hot, so ended up moving the dancing outside, so once it was dark we weren’t dancing under my lovely lanterns (there were some people who stayed inside to chat, I suppose they may have enjoyed the lanterns’ glow). We also bought some floral urns at Home Depot to decorate the “alter” at an outdoor ceremony, and I suppose we could have done without those. We did programs, but I printed them out myself on paper I bought on Amazon for $7. Easy peasy, and cheap.

There are many things (in addition to programs) that we did on the cheap, and I never felt like we should have spent more:

Favors (made them ourselves and they were sentimental to us, if they didn’t have such meaning, we’d have skipped them)

Invitations (printed them ourselves from a Michael’s set)

Escort cards/table signs (another cheap DIY job)

Veil (Michael’s again, less than $10)

Shoes ($20 at Payless)

Chairs/linens

Centerpieces (didn’t use flowers)

Guestbook (we used a deal from Mixbook, which is good because it didn’t get as much action as I hoped, so I’m glad we didn’t spend much)

Live ceremony musicians (we had teenage sisters, and they were AMAZING)

Dress and alterations (cost well under $1k total)

Cake (local woman charged us around $200, and it was beautiful and delicious)

We splurged on our photographer and videographer, and they were worth every penny. Our caterer was pretty amazing too. We had a shuttle to take guests to/from the hotel, and that was very much appreciated. We had so many out of town guests that we couldn’t invite them all to the rehearsal, but we were able to go to the guest hotel with a bunch of wine and spend some time with them there. We had a caketopper made on etsy for about $80, and we have that on display at home now). We did a post wedding brunch (the wedding caterer brought quiches that we heat up, and then we got bagels, fruit salad, muffins, etc., from the grocery), which was a nice way to spend time with guests who’d traveled so far to be with us.

We did spend some money on umbrellas that we didn’t need since it was dry. If you are doing something outside, you will have to spend more for those possibilities. We also bought a canopy for either a light sprinkle or harsh sun for an outdoor ceremony (I hoped it’d be overcast and we wouldn’t need it). It was crazy hot and sunny, so we very much needed it. We also used the paper fans that we bought on the cheap months before.

• EastMeetsBarn
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: June 2012

Several people have mentioned wishing they’d done bouquet preservation. We didn’t do that, but I did dry several of the petals, etc., from the bouquet. Then I got a large clear glass Christmas ornament bulb. I put the dried petals, etc., into the bulb. So we have that as an almost free keepsake of my bouquet.

• moonSSo91
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: May 2013

commenting to follow!