What I would and wouldn't do again...

[Jenn6603]

This is an awesome thread! I am just at the beginning of my planning and reading everyone's "would dos" and "wouldn't dos" is really helpful!

Keep 'em coming!

Jenn

[Jackie]

Would Do Again

1. OOT Bags - Our guests loved them, and I think it really made them feel like they were part of this special event and not just on some random vacation. They also used the bag itself to carry poolside stuff (camera, suntan lotion etc) down to the pool area, which was also really helpful because in the morning we all knew where the others pool chairs were because of the bags.
2. Destination Wedding - I cant believe I ever questioned doing it this way for one second. This was the one of the smartest decisions I have ever made.
3. DJ - We didn't want to spend a lot on a DJ but I also didn't want to rely on an ipod. We hired a very inexpensive DJ and I made all the Cd's myself and gave them to him to mix and fade with specific instructions not to play anything but our music. He cost just a little more then it would have for the Ipod speaker system and music flowed much better then an IPOD would have.
4. High End Photographer - To me pictures where the most important aspect of our wedding, our photographer put us over budget but It was well worth it IMO.
5. Small Budget for Flowers - We had some beautiful flowers but not many of them. The scenery is so stunning at a DW that we really didn't need to dress the place up with a lot of expensive flowers.
6. Not hire an outside WC - The extra cost would have been money thrown out the window for us. Everything turned out perfectly and our resort WC was so helpful we didn't need an outside WC.
7. Welcome dinner cruise - What a fantastic way to show our guests the main sites of Cabo, we all had so much fun.
8. All Inclusive Resort - By far the best choice for us and our group.
9. Splurged on the Dress - It was on the high end of my budget and I really wanted to spend about half of what I did but when its "the dress" you just know it and I'm glad I went with my gut instinct and bought it.
10. Not spend a lot on Cake - We didn't spend anything on our cake. We took the one that came with the package and had the WC throw some rose petals on it. It came out beautifully and no-one ate it anyways. We had our twin niece and nephew (almost 3 years old) cut the cake with us which they were soooo excited to do. Cake was just not a big deal to us.

Wouldn't Do Again

1. Not Have A Video-ographer (sp?) - This is my BIGGEST regret. Your wedding goes by so fast, I was so nervous I don't think I remember one moment of the Ceremony. And there are so many little moments that I'm sure I missed. And I just want to watch it, I will never have that day back and if I had it taped I could relive it over and over again.
2. Stay for only a week - We stayed 8 nights 9 days and only had one day to ourselves at the end. We could have used 2 or 3 more days. During the week with family and friends and wedding activities you wouldn't believe how little time you actually get to spend with you fiancé.
3. Timing of the First Dance - I was so dead set on getting all the formalities out of the way that I insisted on having the first dance the second hubby and I arrived at the Reception. What a mistake it was still daylight out and people were just being served their apps, and I was still a ball of nerves. It would have gone much better after dinner and a few cocktails and at dusk.

[LC_Rachel]

Gosh, I've seen this thread pop up a thousand times since I've been married and I've had a hard time deciding what I would do and what I wouldn't do again. I was happy with how it went, but I suppose I need to figure it out to help some of the future brides. Here's my attempt:

What I would do again:

1. Stay two weeks!
This was the BEST time the hubby and I have ever had together. We have done lots of vacations but not to this caliber. It was a wonderful time together and really enjoyed that extra week after everyone went home. We really got to enjoy each other and not feel as if we always had to be concerned with what our guests were doing.

2. Blow the budget on my dress and photography.
We went into the DW process thinking we were going to have a really inexpensive wedding. Somewhere in the process, we (mostly I if I'm honest) got wrapped up in the details and realized I wanted the wedding every girl wants. I spent double on my dress than what I had originally intended- mind you, I only budgeted $400 for a dress! We skipped the resort photog quality pics and extended our budget to include a photog we really liked. She wasn't as high end as some of the photogs on here, but we were really happy with what we chose since it suited us.

3. Not hire a DJ.
We debated on this, but when it came down to it, we only had 20 guests. It seemed stupid to use a DJ instead of just an IPod. I controlled the playlist (although I had set up a mix to just play, but occassionally I got a wild hair and skipped songs.)

4. Stayed at an AI.
Our guests had a great time and it was so nice to not have to worry about how much we have spent, how much money we had left, etc. It was all paid for except the little extras we wanted to do. Money was less on the brain than it is when we go on other vacations.

5. Get a small cake.
We only spent like $60-75 on our cake. We didn't not have a cake as part of the package, so we opted to add one. So glad we did- not because it got ate or that it even tasted good, but rather it was some of my fav pics. We had so much fun feeding eachother and I really liked how cute the pics looked. It was a really sweet moment captured.

6. Get fire dancers.
I loved them even though it was really short and sweet. DH and I argued over this for a LONG time, but I did it anyways. In the end, I was right. He loved them too and our guests got a really big treat!

What I would not do again:

1. Not hire a videographer.
We debated this but decided we didn't want to pay $500 for a stinking video. LOL we were stupid. I wish I would have- at least I think I wish I would have. Our friend videotaped the ceremony for us, but we have yet to recieve the copy of it. I'm assuming it probably isn't the greatest because he was so far away during the ceremony. We shall see though.

2. Have our WD at our AI resort.
We paid extra to have our WD at the resort, which ended up being the same cost had we chosen to take our WD off property. We really debated this one for a long time, but we chose to have it on resort property since our resort was 15 mins from town. We thought it would be a pain coordinating getting everyone to a restaurant in town. Hindsight- stupid. Everyone kept trying to convince me to cancel the dinner and just meet up in the buffet. At that point, I had already paid. No one even liked the food. It was too "fancy" for our party.

3. OOT Bags.
I didn't do them and my guests were none the wiser since they most likely don't know they exist. I know some girls really like to do them, but for me, it seemed like a HUGE pain. I didn't want to spend that kind of money either- we opted for a WD instead, which ended up being a flop. LOL

For now, that's all I can think of. I may have to come back and edit. I hope that helps some future brides out.

[SIMBASIM]

I absolutely LOVE this thread!!! The long reviews are helpful but this really puts IMPORTANT things into perspective.

[Team Gracey]

Thank you all for taking the time to write in this thread... I will do the same once married. I was able to make a book out of all the tips, so thanks!

[melglnh2o]

What I would do again:

1. Have a destination wedding. It was magical. It was amazing. It was beautiful. It was more than I could have ever imagined. Don't even question it. Just go for it!

2. Treat all of our guests (70 total) to a sunser dinner cruise the night before the wedding. We did this through Aquaworld Aquaworld Cancun's Sightseeing & Attractions , Cancun, Cancun Diving, Diving in Cancun, Cancun Tours, Cancun Fishing,Swim with Dolphins Cancun, Cancun Jungle tour, Cancun Snorkeling, Cancun Hotels. It was exactly right and everything went perfectly smooth. We had a blast!!

3. Make OOT bags. It was quite a bit of work but all of the guests loved them and we received so many comments from guests about how they really felt welcome and appreciated for their coming to our wedding. That was so great to hear. We didn't go overboard with the OOT bags but we did the iron-on transfer canvas totes with welcome notes, itinerary, personalized map, personalized custom crosswords and word searches, personalized frisbees (although we could have done without these but FI really wanted them) snacks and water.

4. Hire a videographer. Well this was actually a surprise gift from FI's - I guess I should be saying husband now - grandmother and there was so much that I missed that the videographer captured. I would definitely say get one.

5. Hire Martha Roque to do our photography (she also did the videography). I took a chance on her since I couldn't find any reviews but it was a chance worth taking. She captured out most precious moments and it was like she wasn't there! It was one of our best choices.

6. Have fun!! Don't worry about the small stuff. There were several things that went wrong with our wedding and no matter how prepared you are, that is just the way it goes. Don't get caught up in. The day and weekend was still unbelievable.

What I would have done differently:

1. Stay longer. We went Wednesday to Wednesday (wedding was on a Saturday) but we really needed at least 2 more days but probably more. It all went by so fast but it was a blessing to spend a lot of that time with family and friends.

2. Be adament about using my sand ceremony instead of letting the person do hers. I wasn't clear enough about what I wanted and I ended up liking the sand ceremony the least. Although we had a church ceremony, I also wanted to do a sand ceremony just for symbolic purposes and to take advantage of the beautiful backdrop (ie the ocean). It should have been short and sweet but the "minister" asked if she could do her reading and I said yes. What I didn't know is that she was going to make us read our vows again and exchange rings and it lasted a lot longer than we thought. This was definitely not what I wanted but it was my fault and I am still beating myself up about it but we joke about it. Of course the guests didn't know that it went wrong but my point is to be clear about what you want. Have people repeat things so they understand it and don't assume that they will do it the way you want.

3. Stay at the Fiesta Americana Condesa. They are fabulous at selling the place (it is a gorgeous hotel) but once you are there, they don't really care too much about you. I expected more, a lot more.

Those are the highlights.

[Morgan]

Originally Posted by melglnh2o

What I would do again:

1. Have a destination wedding. It was magical. It was amazing. It was beautiful. It was more than I could have ever imagined. Don't even question it. Just go for it!

2. Treat all of our guests (70 total) to a sunser dinner cruise the night before the wedding. We did this through Aquaworld Aquaworld Cancun's Sightseeing & Attractions , Cancun, Cancun Diving, Diving in Cancun, Cancun Tours, Cancun Fishing,Swim with Dolphins Cancun, Cancun Jungle tour, Cancun Snorkeling, Cancun Hotels. It was exactly right and everything went perfectly smooth. We had a blast!!

3. Make OOT bags. It was quite a bit of work but all of the guests loved them and we received so many comments from guests about how they really felt welcome and appreciated for their coming to our wedding. That was so great to hear. We didn't go overboard with the OOT bags but we did the iron-on transfer canvas totes with welcome notes, itinerary, personalized map, personalized custom crosswords and word searches, personalized frisbees (although we could have done without these but FI really wanted them) snacks and water.

4. Hire a videographer. Well this was actually a surprise gift from FI's - I guess I should be saying husband now - grandmother and there was so much that I missed that the videographer captured. I would definitely say get one.

5. Hire Martha Roque to do our photography (she also did the videography). I took a chance on her since I couldn't find any reviews but it was a chance worth taking. She captured out most precious moments and it was like she wasn't there! It was one of our best choices.

6. Have fun!! Don't worry about the small stuff. There were several things that went wrong with our wedding and no matter how prepared you are, that is just the way it goes. Don't get caught up in. The day and weekend was still unbelievable.

What I would have done differently:

1. Stay longer. We went Wednesday to Wednesday (wedding was on a Saturday) but we really needed at least 2 more days but probably more. It all went by so fast but it was a blessing to spend a lot of that time with family and friends.

2. Be adament about using my sand ceremony instead of letting the person do hers. I wasn't clear enough about what I wanted and I ended up liking the sand ceremony the least. Although we had a church ceremony, I also wanted to do a sand ceremony just for symbolic purposes and to take advantage of the beautiful backdrop (ie the ocean). It should have been short and sweet but the "minister" asked if she could do her reading and I said yes. What I didn't know is that she was going to make us read our vows again and exchange rings and it lasted a lot longer than we thought. This was definitely not what I wanted but it was my fault and I am still beating myself up about it but we joke about it. Of course the guests didn't know that it went wrong but my point is to be clear about what you want. Have people repeat things so they understand it and don't assume that they will do it the way you want.

3. Stay at the Fiesta Americana Condesa. They are fabulous at selling the place (it is a gorgeous hotel) but once you are there, they don't really care too much about you. I expected more, a lot more.

Those are the highlights.

I'm doing the same time frame. too late to change it, but I hope its enough time. Our guests are only staying 3 nights. how long did your's stay? if people were staying 5-7 I'd want more time for sure. I want some alone days.

[LC_Rachel]

I think your guests will regret staying only 3 nights. We had a few who did that and they were so sad they didn't splurge more. But you can't help that. :)

[Morgan]

Originally Posted by LC_Rachel

I think your guests will regret staying only 3 nights. We had a few who did that and they were so sad they didn't splurge more. But you can't help that. :)

it's an issue with vacation time for most people. they are all just making a long weekend of it. 2 couples are staying 4 nights. it's a quick flight from texas & that's how long my parents usually stay in mexico. So I hope by our guests not staying as long it will make 7 nights enough for us. We'll see.

[melglnh2o]

Originally Posted by Morgan

I'm doing the same time frame. too late to change it, but I hope its enough time. Our guests are only staying 3 nights. how long did your's stay? if people were staying 5-7 I'd want more time for sure. I want some alone days.

Originally Posted by Morgan

it's an issue with vacation time for most people. they are all just making a long weekend of it. 2 couples are staying 4 nights. it's a quick flight from texas & that's how long my parents usually stay in mexico. So I hope by our guests not staying as long it will make 7 nights enough for us. We'll see.

I guess it all depends. We had 70 people who came and people stayed anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 days. I loved spending all our time with everyone but I felt like we just needed some more time. I guess if we would have had 10 days there we would have probably still wanted more. Wednesay was pretty much a travel day. Tuesday was really the only day we had for ourselves and we did a day trip to Isla Mujeres but we were so exhausted from all the other activities that it would have been nice to have a day to do nothing! It will be fine for you I am sure. You are going to have a blast Morgan!