For Past Brides - any regrets or mistakes?

there isn't a lot that I regret from that day because quite honestly I do feel like it was everything I'd wanted it to be. The only things I WOULD change -

1. I was so busy that morning getting ready that i didn't have anything to eat or drink at all. I just completely forgot. And I was too dehydrated (I have a problem - I'll black out if I don't get enough water) and it happened towards the end of my ceremony. The room started spinning and I began to tremble. I had to sit for a moment before we could finish. Embarrassing. That might have ALSO been that I locked my knees (which they say to NEVER do). But as soon as I had water, I was fine. And the rest of the night was fabulous.

2. I wish I would have paid more attention to the photographer. I shouldn't have had to, being that it was my wedding and there was a lot going on. But I never got a picture with my grandmother at all. I guess I didn't explain to her that she needed to stay at the church after the ceremony. We did a ton of family pictures and she's not in any of them And then even so, I could have gotten one with her at the reception, but nobody remembered (even though I had it on the must-take photographers list). That still really bugs me.


... if i think of any more i'll post them

1. Picking bridal party so early
2. Closing on a house the month before the wedding...finalize your living arrangements way before your wedding lol
3. Hardly being by DH's side the whole reception
4. Setting ground rules for the bachelor/bachelorette party and do not even bother asking anyone during your party what the guys are doing...people just dont use their heads sometimes...trust me on this one

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Posted by IrishBrideASmiling

1. Picking bridal party so early
2. Closing on a house the month before the wedding...finalize your living arrangements way before your wedding lol
3. Hardly being by DH's side the whole reception
4. Setting ground rules for the bachelor/bachelorette party and do not even bother asking anyone during your party what the guys are doing...people just dont use their heads sometimes...trust me on this one

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Not married yet...but closing on a house this week and getting married next month - an I totally couldnt agree with you more on #2 above. So ready to pull my hair out!

That I stressed over the weather for like 14 days. There is nothing you can do to control it and the weather forecast is a joke and it said there was going to be hurricane like rain on my wedding day and it was the most beautiful weather day of the entire summer.

this is SUCH a helpful post! keep them going girls

but i will say ... i can certainly bet your guests thought your wedding was AMAZING! and in hindsight i hope these little things never take away from your beautiful day!

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Posted by AugustBridein09

That I stressed over the weather for like 14 days. There is nothing you can do to control it and the weather forecast is a joke and it said there was going to be hurricane like rain on my wedding day and it was the most beautiful weather day of the entire summer.

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I TOTALLY agree with this… I was checking every weather forecast I could find like every hour the week before the wedding… even the morning of the wedding they were predicting rain and other than a few clouds when we were leaving the church it was a perfect, sunny day!

Yes... make sure have a good photographer who knows what hes doing and knows what shots to get... Im disappointed with my photos but hoping my video will make up for it!

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Posted by SoonToBeMrsONeill

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Posted by MrsDrinkh20

Not doing what I wanted as far as my bridal party...I listened to everyone in my family and did 'the right' thing and regretted it. Choose who YOU want to stand by you on the most important day of your life!

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I've already made that mistake.

That's pretty much what prompted me to post this topic - I listened to my mom and asked a girl that I've been friends with for a few years but we've lost touch... I didn't even think to ask her until my mom mentioned her and after I did, regretted it hard core...

Turns out that she's too selfish of a person to be able to give the spotlight to someone else... You know, you think you know a person and then they show their true colors lol

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Not sure what decision you made, but if you have to... KICK HER OUT ASAP!!!! I had to make the deicison to do so as well, and im SSOOOO happy i did... she didnt ruin my wedding like she did every other event bc not only was she booted from the bp, she was uninvited to the wedding.... im so very proud of myself for having the ballz to do it bc she was the 1 person i always had a softspot in my heart for

Oh yeah.... and not to go into detail, but do not think your man 'would never do that' at this bachelor party.... Even the most true men have their moments when they just seem to completely lose their damn mind.... I dont have advice on how to correct it (bc you really cant tell them what they can and cannot do), but just keep that in the back of your mind

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Posted by CantWaitMrsH

this is SUCH a helpful post! keep them going girls

but i will say ... i can certainly bet your guests thought your wedding was AMAZING! and in hindsight i hope these little things never take away from your beautiful day!

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I agree, this is soo helpful!!!

If you have a quirky idea and people think it's strange...go for it anyway! It's YOUR wedding. Since I was having a winter wedding, I wanted an indoor photo location, and I thought it would be really fun to have a shoot inside a library. Everyone--even my DH--thought that was really strange, and it wound up being a LOT OF FUN; they are our favorite shots of the day! People might not get 'your vision' right away, but it's your day, not theirs :).

These are print-screens of actual pics, so don't mind the quality (they look a million times better in person):

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Posted by coldasice217

I regret actually trying to 'keep up with the Joneses' so to speak, and by that, I mean blindly following what other LIW girls were doing, who they were using, etc. I made a few vendor choices that in the end disappointed me, and I chose them because of the glowing LIW recommendations. Had I gone my own way, I might have chose differently, and the outcomes could have been different. That's not to say I wouldn't have been unhappy with another choice as well, but definitely don't fall in to that trap. If you find a vendor that you like, and no one else here is using them or you can't find any reviews on them...that's not necessarily a bad thing. Pick who you want because you feel good about them, not because 'everyone who's everyone' is using them, so you should too.

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That is some of the best advice i have ever herd. Sometimes i feel left our bc my Photographer isnt Duet like every other person on here but when i think about how much i love him i don't even care. I feel like there are a handful of vendors on here that everyone uses and if you dont use them its like the not cool thing to do. I will definitely keep this in mind when choosing the rest of my vendors!

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Posted by miamimerger

If you have a quirky idea and people think it's strange...go for it anyway! It's YOUR wedding. Since I was having a winter wedding, I wanted an indoor photo location, and I thought it would be really fun to have a shoot inside a library. Everyone--even my DH--thought that was really strange, and it wound up being a LOT OF FUN; they are our favorite shots of the day! People might not get 'your vision' right away, but it's your day, not theirs :).

These are print-screens of actual pics, so don't mind the quality (they look a million times better in person):

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OMG I LOOOOOOOOVE your idea! so unique..plus I'm a book geek! :)

ahhhhhhhh only thing I would have changed was the Groom!!!!! Ahhhh bitter ex wife arent i?!?!

The only regrets I have were
1- not having a back up / action plan on photos if the weather turned out to be gross out. We had our reception at Chateau La Mer and I was banking on all the family photos being outside. UNTIL we got there and the fog rolled in!! So our family photos were rushed and we ended up having them on the stairs which are ok, but I should have thought about another location should the weather not cooperate.

2- I also wouldnt have gotten so drunk that I didnt care about anything but having fun LOL. There were some family tables I didnt get to take photos with or see to much because I was all over the place and your getting pulled in so many directions, being slightly sober I would have had some more control than just going with the flow lol.

Other than these regrets I had a grand ol' time :)

I regret not FORCING myself to walk around to each table to thank everyone for coming and saying hello. I remember I kept getting up to go do and cheers with everyone and I just kept getting pulled from one thing to the next AND plus at that time I remember DH wanted us to be dancing to keep everyone else dancing. We were presant at the cocktail hour and said most of our hellos then...of course, I can't help but feel guilty about this.

During the wedding, I remember there was no time and looking back...I feel I should have made time.

Of course, this is a double edge sword because they say the 'walking to all of the tables' takes up half of the wedding.

I do feel I did share a moment with most of my 225+ guests...so this helps me live with my regret although I would have liked it is we got the chance to say hello to everyone.

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Posted by KerriJohnS

Oh and about bridal parties.

Usually those people that you end up putting in for purposes of 'doing the right thing' or appeasing someone else (usually a family member) or just to be nice... they don't work out. Those are usually your 'dead weight' bridal party members. Go with your gut and don't listen to anyone else. don't even bother putting them in. Trust me... they probably don't really care about being in it at all anyway.

You want to ONLY have those that ARE close to you AND care a lot about you! If it's super small and you just have 2 or 3 REALLY fabulous people... so be it!! It's a lot better than having 8 or so girls who most of them couldn't care less about being there.

The bridal party really comes into play more on the year of your wedding and increasingly so as the day approaches. So don't pick your BP when you first get engaged. WAIT!! things change. Pick maybe a year ahead of the date. I wish I waited to pick my BP.

I really had some interesting BP members!!!! the things some of them did would shock you!!!!!

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Kerri! I haven't seen you post on the wedding boards in a while... you should check out my menu post http://www.liweddings.com/chat/topic.aspx?ID=684240&Highlight=royalton ... I can't believe it's less than 2 months away! any advice as I get closer to the big day?