What’s one thing no one tells you as a bride? You’ll likely have some regrets after your wedding. It’s inevitable.
As one of the biggest (and most expensive) days of your life, and with often so much pressure for things to be “perfect”, there is bound to be something that you wish you had (or hadn’t) done on your wedding day.
As I reflect back on my own wedding day… and with 9 more years of event planning experience under my belt, I can definitely say that I have a few regrets of my own. BUT… we also incorporated some incredible elements into our wedding that I absolutely loved and would do over again in a heartbeat.
Here are our top wedding 6 regrets:
- Too large of a bridal party. With a bridal party of 11 (including two best men), it felt like herding cats for most of the day. While it was fun to include everyone we considered near and dear, it also added a lot more stress not only on the wedding day, but also in the planning process. If I could go back, I’d choose a max of 2-3 attendants on each side and try to include our other close friends in other meaningful ways.
- Not investing in videography. We added on a videographer last minute, didn’t take our time to vet them, and went with the most inexpensive option to boot. And let me tell you, you get what you pay for! And to this day, I still cringe when watching our wedding video. My advice? Spend money where it’s most important to you!
- Not involving our parents more. We both put a lot of focus on involving our bridal party in the preparations and on the day of… and being older when we got married, not so much our parents. If I could go back in time, I’d do a first look with my dad, and make sure we had more photos with our parents, maybe get them to do a reading or otherwise involve them as part of our day a little more.
- Spending too much money on shoes! Brides put so much emphasis on wedding shoes (and I did too), but at the end of the day, you’re likely not going to see them much under your dress (save for a few deliberate photos) and if they’re not comfortable, you’ll end up barefoot on the dancefloor anyway.
- Not getting sunset photos. We were having way too much fun to even think about the sunset, and I wish it was something we had built into our timeline. Now I do this for EVERY single couple I work with and those golden hour photos are often their favourite shots!
- Not hiring a day-of coordinator. Being a wedding & event planner, I planned my entire wedding on my own and I loved every minute. But on the day of, I asked two event planner friends to coordinate everything instead of hiring a professional. And while they did a fabulous job, it meant they didn’t get to fully enjoy the day themselves as guests.
If you were a previous bride, what else would you add to this list?
But it wasn’t all woe! I loved almost every single aspect of our wedding day and also wanted to share the 6 things we absolutely did right:
- Keeping the guest list small(ish). My husband has a massive family, and we both have a lot of friends, so it easily could have gotten out of control. But we kept it to just over 100 guests and that meant that we got to talk to, dance with and spend time with almost everyone who attended. PSST… it also saved us a lot of money!
- Incorporating fun & unique elements that were true to “us”. We wanted our family and friends to have a fun and MEMORABLE time at our wedding, so we incorporated elements like a cheese cake for dessert (yes, a cake made out of cheese wheels!), surprise gelato truck after the ceremony, writing our own vows, family-style dinner, and getting creative with our photos. After all, your wedding is about YOU and your spouse, so make sure your personalities shine through.
- Choosing an off-season date and a venue we loved! We fell in love with our venue and purposely chose an off-season date (April 26) so that we could not only save money, but also save our guests money on travel costs, and avoid competition for vendors. If the venue you love is out of your price range in peak wedding season, think about getting married in the off-season!
- Doing a first look — and carving out time for JUST us. Our first look was probably one of my favourite moments of the entire day, where we got to connect and spend time together, just the two of us, before all the craziness began. Even if you don’t do a first look, ask your planner to build in some time for you and your spouse at some point during the day.
- Making it all about the party. We purposely hired a fantastic DJ, and chose a venue with a late closing time to ensure that it was all about the party, because we love to dance and wanted to celebrate with our guests! Whether you’re a foodie, love to dance, want incredible photos, or if there’s something else that is REALLY important to you, make sure you make it a priority on your wedding day!
- Not caring if things went wrong. From ripping my dress climbing up a mountain before the ceremony to my hair completely falling out of it’s curls, to a crying child in the middle of our vows and a power outage in the middle of the dance… quite a few things went wrong on our wedding day! But at the end of the day, getting upset would only have ruined MY day even more. You put in a lot of work to plan your wedding, and things WILL go wrong, but at the end of the day, you’re marrying the love of your life surrounded by people who love you. The rest is just stuff.
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