I have always enjoyed reading these kinds of posts so now, 3 weeks after my wedding, I decided to write down what went wrong and what went right with my wedding (in my pov). Warning: this is a LONG post lol
WRONGS:
- My veil fell off my head as soon as I greeted my husband down the aisle, and then again when we were finishing walking out. One of my bridesmaids was my hair and make up artist, so she immediately picked it up and put it back on my head. We still don't understand why it would not stay, since she put a bunch of pins lol
- I don't know if I'd say this went WRONG, but I had my grandma make my fake florals right before the wedding (she lives back in my home country and only arrived in town a few days before the wedding), and she didn't have time to make the aisle chair markers I was planning to have.
- My bustle turned out HORRENDOUS lol Not sure if my bridesmaids just didn't know what they were doing with it, but I didn't notice how bad it looked until I saw the pictures.
- We had fans to give out to people for the outdoor ceremony, since it was a summer wedding in California. But the day of the wedding was the coldest and cloudiest summer day you could imagine and from 90 guests, probably only 20 really grabbed the fans. I spent days cutting out tags and tiyng them to the little fan baggies :( BUT, we were dancing so much during the reception that my sister asked the coordinator to bring the fans to the dance floor and a lot of people used them then.
- We had street tacos as our late night snack. Even though the DJ announced it a couple times, everyone was having so much fun at the dance floor that barely anyone had our late night snacks (sadly, because I did and they were AMAZING!)
- I forgot to buy a cute hanger for my dress, so the pictures the photographer took of my dress before I put it on had an ugly plastic hanger in them lol
That's honestly all I can think about going "wrong", but none of those things really mattered in the grand scheme of things. To me, the day was absolutely PERFECT. We felt so loved and we had so so much fun.
Now what, in my opinion, went right and I would absolutely recommend to future brides:
- We went with an all inclusive venue (Redwood Canyon by Wedgewood Weddings) and I cannot stress enough how helpful this was! It took out SO much stress from our backs having multiple planners and coordinators working on our wedding, recommended vendors, a whole team of people answering questions, meetings planned since the very day that we booked the venue. As a type A person, this all helped A TON. I literally told the team after the wedding that I don't know how people actually have weddings without an all inclusive venue lol
- We had a wedding party, but we did not put a bunch of crazy pressure on them at all. We didn't have bachelor/bachelorette trips or parties, we didn't have a bridal shower or any other events other than the rehearsal dinner and the wedding itself. My bridesmaids all live in my home country so they were only in town for the wedding, which contributed to this. I also didn't tell them a specific dress they should wear. I just told them to pick a light pink dress that they like. My husband had one of his guys pick up baked goods from Costco for the desert table the day of the wedding, I had my MOH call the photographer and videographer the morning of to confirm their time of arrival to ease my anxiety, and that was it.
- I booked an Airbnb because the wedding venue was 35 minutes from our place, and we stayed there from the day of the rehearsal dinner (day before the wedding) until 2 days after the wedding. I had my mother and my girls come over the morning of the wedding so we could all hang out and get ready together while my husband hang out with his guys at their hotel, and then my father picked me up and took me to the venue. Best decision!
- We did not do a first look! I was very firm on the idea that I wanted my husband to see me for the first time as I walked down the aisle, and it was perfect! Would not have changed that for anything.
- Bought my fake florals from Shein and they looked amazing! We bought a couple pieces from a florist and they blended so well with the fake ones we diyed.
- For our dance floor, we gave the DJ a playlist that we carefully made together, blending songs that we love to dance to, to classic dance floor songs that we thought our guests would love. We also told the DJ to play 90% from our playlist and to feel out the crowd to add a few songs he would think would be a success based on it. He ROCKED it! Everyone said our wedding was so much fun because the music selection was great and because they saw how much fun me and my husband were having!
- We had a bilingual ceremony. I am Brazilian and my husband is American, and our wedding happened in the US. However, most of my guests from Brazil do not speak English, so we had my aunt translate the whole ceremony and the speeches. My aunt was fortunately friends with our officiant, and they worked wonderfully together to craft a short ceremony so that it wouldn't be to tiring for our guests. It was incredible and I'm so glad my family was able to understand everything that was being said. That was very important to us.
- I wore a $30 pair of low heels from Amazon. They were SUPER simple. I did not want to spend money on shoes that no one would see anyway because it would be hidden under the dress the whole time. My shoes were so comfortable that I wore them all night and didn't feel any pain at all!
- Instead of a cardboard welcome sign, we got a beautiful wooden sign from Etsy that said "Welcome to our forever", with our names and the wedding date. After the ceremony, we laid the sign on our welcome table for guests to sign on them. It turned out SO beautiful and we plan on hanging it somewhere in our house now!
- I had a father and daughter dance and also, a mother and daughter dance. I feel like the mother of the bride doesn't get a moment like that in the wedding, so I wanted to make sure that my mother felt loved and appreciated as well!
- I have some graphic design knowledge (more of an interest as a hobby than a knowledge lol), so I subscribed for Canva Pro for the months leading up to the wedding. It was a great idea! I got to design some of the signage such as the signature drinks, favors, QR code for guests to upload pictures, digital invitation for the rehearsal dinner, table numbers with pictures of us, tags for favors etc. 100% recommend!
- Our coordinator was incredible and fed us the whole time! She brought us apps from our cocktail hour and our signature drinks when we were in the bridal suite waiting for our grand entrance, she made huge dinner plates for me and my husband, cake after the cake cutting and would always bring our signature drinks for us. Before I walked down the aisle, I joked about needing a shot to calm my nerves and she immediately went "vodka or tequila?" and brought it to me. All of this made SUCH a difference for us during the night. We felt spoiled and pampered lol
- We decided to do table touches after calmly eating our dinner and it was a very good experience. We got to talk to and take a picture with each table and thank them for being there.
And that's all I can remember for now! I have diagnosed anxiety, so wedding planning was VERY hard for me. I had so much anxiety in the last couple months before the wedding that I couldn't sleep, I got sick multiple times, I had tendonitis from the nerves and doing diy projects for the wedding, and I even got laid off right after we booked our venue. So to anyone going through wedding planning and struggling, I can tell you it is ALL worth it! I am so relieved we had the best day ever, but now I kinda wish I could go back haha
If you have any questions, feel free to message me too and I'll be happy to help :)