Words of advice - sort of long!
I will post some advice based off my own wedding later, but here is some advice based on a wedding I recently attended:
1) If you are not particularly organized or don't have a lot of free time to plan the wedding, get a wedding planner or enlist a friend who loves to do that type of stuff to help run the day behind the scenes -- don't depend on your hall to provide a person for you who can really pull it off.
2) Don't have 'everyone' give a speech. I have been to 2 weddings now where multiple bridal party members AND parents gave speeches, and if they all talk for a few minutes, before you know it your wedding reception has been halted for 30-45 minutes (no food, no music, no dancing, etc.). If you must have more than 2 people give speeches, enforce a time limit.
3) Kids are wedding are really cute, but if you are having young kids at the ceremony, make sure you discuss with the parents beforehand what to do when the kid starts to cry. At our wedding, a 2 year old started to cry and within a matter of seconds, the mom had picked the kid up and was out of the ceremony room. But at a recent wedding I attended, the kids were allowed to cry, the parents did not attempt to remove them/step outside, and they definitely impacted the ceremony. I am sure they can all be heard on the wedding video.
4) Make sure your vendors will be appropriately dressed. The photographer was wearing jeans and it really stood out. This was a classy wedding, everyone in suits and fancy dresses, and then wandering around was this lady in jeans. It was really out of place. (ETA - This was NOT our photographer, but the photographer at the wedding I attended).
5) If you are going to do dances or other things that are religion- or ethnicity-specific, have the MC do a 10 second explanation of what is going on. Not every guest understands the significance of a particular dance/tradition but we would love to join in and help celebrate if we knew what was going on.
6) Don't assign a task to your RH and not check it over! At the recent wedding I attended, the bride gave the RH the table assignments and the RH printed up the seating cards. Well, for out table of 10 they assigned 17 people somehow! It was a massive mess. This was also the table of the MOH, right in front of the bride, and it took them a long time to get it fixed... meanwhile 7 extra people were standing around with no place to sit, no salad, or anything.
1) If you are not particularly organized or don't have a lot of free time to plan the wedding, get a wedding planner or enlist a friend who loves to do that type of stuff to help run the day behind the scenes -- don't depend on your hall to provide a person for you who can really pull it off.
2) Don't have 'everyone' give a speech. I have been to 2 weddings now where multiple bridal party members AND parents gave speeches, and if they all talk for a few minutes, before you know it your wedding reception has been halted for 30-45 minutes (no food, no music, no dancing, etc.). If you must have more than 2 people give speeches, enforce a time limit.
3) Kids are wedding are really cute, but if you are having young kids at the ceremony, make sure you discuss with the parents beforehand what to do when the kid starts to cry. At our wedding, a 2 year old started to cry and within a matter of seconds, the mom had picked the kid up and was out of the ceremony room. But at a recent wedding I attended, the kids were allowed to cry, the parents did not attempt to remove them/step outside, and they definitely impacted the ceremony. I am sure they can all be heard on the wedding video.
4) Make sure your vendors will be appropriately dressed. The photographer was wearing jeans and it really stood out. This was a classy wedding, everyone in suits and fancy dresses, and then wandering around was this lady in jeans. It was really out of place. (ETA - This was NOT our photographer, but the photographer at the wedding I attended).
5) If you are going to do dances or other things that are religion- or ethnicity-specific, have the MC do a 10 second explanation of what is going on. Not every guest understands the significance of a particular dance/tradition but we would love to join in and help celebrate if we knew what was going on.
6) Don't assign a task to your RH and not check it over! At the recent wedding I attended, the bride gave the RH the table assignments and the RH printed up the seating cards. Well, for out table of 10 they assigned 17 people somehow! It was a massive mess. This was also the table of the MOH, right in front of the bride, and it took them a long time to get it fixed... meanwhile 7 extra people were standing around with no place to sit, no salad, or anything.
