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

[jcoop]

This has been so helpful! Definitely put into perspective what is and is not important in the long run...thanks girls!

[Celina]

I know I am so late in doing this but better late than never!

 

What I would do again:

Marry DH

Have a DW

Buy inexpensive BM dresses

Use an IPOD for music

Arrive a few days early and stay a few days later than the rest of the guests

Trust the hotel to make the cake

Be so detail oriented - Everyone loved the small touches and appreciated all of the detail that went into everything

Have our wedding at an AI - it just worked for us. With the kids and adults alike. Everyone loved it.

Write our own ceremony

Buy our flowers on site instead of going with artificial. I still brought my bouquet back!

Use a TA for our trip - it gave everyone a go to person and I didn't have to get involved.

Use vistaprint for a lot of the printing - they were cheap and fast

Have the hotel salon do my hair. I gave them great pics and it turned out just how I wanted it.

Start my planning as early as I did - the wedding wasn't a huge chunk of my pocketbook and I spread the expense out over a years time.

 

What I wouldn't do again:

I wouldn't worry about what everyone else thought - sure it kind of stung when so many people weren't able to make it, but in the end we had a great group of people that DID go and they will be a part of that memory forever.

 

Have an AHR - we went with a brunch and did all of the catering ourselves. It cost us about a thousand dollars and it was the biggest waste because we had 75 RSVP's and only 35 who actually showed up. Those who didn't show up are now on my "never invite to a party again" list.

 

I wouldn't have packed so many shoes that I didn't wear

 

I would have made my MOH go back to the room and get the vows I wrote down instead of just winging it.

 

I would have sent the kids with family members for a couple of days. DH and I really could have used some time alone.

 

I would have booked more time at the bar for our reception - three hours FLEW by because we ran long on dinner.

 

I would have had someone make sure all of the stuff we took for decor got returned back to us. The hotel lost some of our stuff and/or never returned it.

 

I wouldn't have used luminarias as decor because no one noticed them.

 

I would have went with a strapless gown. Even though I am a DDD - it could have worked.

 

I would have remembered to write a toast for each of my BM's, Parents and DH. I was so busy with the planning I forgot to write a toast and I felt terrible because I couldn't think of anything to say!

 

That's all I can think of right now ~ hope this helps out another DW bride!

[tvt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by soon2bePowers We are traveling on US Airway, hearing a bad review from KEVSGIRL scares me. Has anyone else used them? Good luck, bad luck? It is to late to do anything about it know but I would like to prepare myself if it is going to be horrible! Thanks, Ashley

We flew US Air and we had a great experience - especially on the way down. I carried on my dress and was really worried about where I was going to put it on the plane. They allowed us to board early to talk to the flight attendants about my dress. As we boarded, I asked the flight attendant if there was any place to hang my dress - he said no. Well the pilot was standing right there and smiled at me and said "oh I can hang that up for you in here" and he proceeded to take my dress and hang it in the cockpit. I was so thankful and touched by his offer as getting my dress there was one of my biggest concerns.

Also, they didn't charge us for being over the weight limit either way because it was our wedding. Overall a good experience on US air! We also changed our flights home and the customer service was great and really easy, they changed our flight for us and only charged us a small change fee.

[kevsgirl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by soon2bePowers We are traveling on US Airway, hearing a bad review from KEVSGIRL scares me. Has anyone else used them? Good luck, bad luck? It is to late to do anything about it know but I would like to prepare myself if it is going to be horrible! Thanks, Ashley

Ashley, I'm sure you'll be fine. I think it's really 80% who you have working on any given day, representing the airline.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mel&B We traveled US Airways to go home for Christmas. There was no beverage service at all, the seats were really hard and actually made my but ache, and they lost our luggage too. I hope your experience will be much better! Just keep your dress with you! Good luck.

That sucks you guyslost your luggage too... on the way home is much better than on your way to your wedding, but either way it sucks!
For us, it was just the combination of them losing all our luggage both ways and the fact that someone spilled coffee on my dress because the only place they'd put it was the floor. Can't win 'em all. :shrug:

And Tara had a great experience! Here's hoping yours will be perfect and smooth, Ashley

Quote:

Originally Posted by tvt We flew US Air and we had a great experience - especially on the way down. I carried on my dress and was really worried about where I was going to put it on the plane. They allowed us to board early to talk to the flight attendants about my dress. As we boarded, I asked the flight attendant if there was any place to hang my dress - he said no. Well the pilot was standing right there and smiled at me and said "oh I can hang that up for you in here" and he proceeded to take my dress and hang it in the cockpit. I was so thankful and touched by his offer as getting my dress there was one of my biggest concerns. Also, they didn't charge us for being over the weight limit either way because it was our wedding. Overall a good experience on US air! We also changed our flights home and the customer service was great and really easy, they changed our flight for us and only charged us a small change fee.

[EricaG]

What I would do again

-Have a DW @ an AI

-Order the flowers from the resort

-Write our own ceremony

-Use Photo Souvenir for photos and video

-Musical Trio

-Bubba Kegs in the OOT bags

-Chair covers(theirs) & chair ties(ours)

-Photo guestbook (I made this myself and everyone wrote their advice and words of wisdom and there is a spot to put their picture in it)

-Wedding favors - heart shaped ornaments that I put sand from our beach in as well as some sea shells. These were a great hit with all the guests.

 

What I wouldn't do again

-Sand Ceremony (If having an AHR do it there, if your climate is similar to DW location, then it should be fine. All the humidity in the sand from down there was sucked out by our dry climate here, and after making it home perfectly, a couple days later the sand was all shifted. We are redoing it at our AHR)

-All the little decorations for the reception. (We hauled them all down and didn't end up using a bunch of them, so them we hauled them back)

-Get my hair done at the spa (It turned out really well, and no complaints there, but the cost for it was unbelieveable because it was for my wedding!! My sister could have probably done something just as nice for free!)

[lil_miss_frogg]

OH MY GOD! This has been the best 3 hours of my life...LOL....maybe not...but you know. I read all 21 pages while at work! I loved reading all these would/wouldn't do.

 

KEVSGIRL: Can I see a pic of your wedding topper that offended people?

[saraece]

What I would do again

DW

AI

Riu Bachata

Pick the beach location

the dress

OOt Bags (posted the stuff we were glad we use and the ones we could have skipped in http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t35759 )

Welcome books with guest photos

Scavenger hunt - everyone had a great time running around the resort taking photos

Asking a guest to be our photographer (amatuer photogragher)

Write our own vows (they were the only ones people could hear)

Ipod and portable Docking station

Not bring down extra decor. It was beautiful as is.

 

Wouldn't do again

8:30 sitting for dinner (way too late for my daughters and they were miserable)

hair style (i think it looked good but not perfect)

Jump over my balcony the night before to sprain my ankle.

Some how arrange my girls to be watched by family for a few mornings so Hubby and I could spend some time together relaxing. We spent 4 full days apart on our 7 day trip!

Find someone to take my girls for a few days to get a honeymoon.

Put someone in charge of a wedding pic list. I didn't realize (and I am not heart broken) that some photos were missed. It was too much for my photographer to handle ontop of taking the photos.

Allow guests to change our playlist. We spent time on the music and had certain songs included for different reasons and they didnt' get played because everyone took out there Ipods and started taking over. We still had fun though.

Miss the Trash the Dress session - we didn't really have time to do this, but I should have made the time.

[ccarmany23]

Thanks everyone- these are soo useful. I will post mine too in a few weeks when I get back. LOL_ I already think one of mine is "wish i had planned more time for photographer to take group pics". It was a budget decision but I hope I don't miss tons of time from guests to take them after ceremony!

[deefalvey]

OMG! I think this is THE most valuable thread on this whole site! Thank you so much to all who have contributed. I have learned SO much - and worked SO little while reading it

[Banana11]

I have also loved this thread over the months and wanted to make sure to contribute to it! Here it goes...

 

Would do:

 

• Have a cruise DW!!! It was great to have everyone be able to do separate activities all day long but come together at night for dinner.

• Use a planner on the island vs. through the cruise line (cheaper, more control, many positive reasons).

• Guest book from Welcome to the Guestbook Store! Guestbooks for Every Occasion!. I was undecided until the last minute about even having a guestbook. At the recommendation in this thread I decided to go for it! Our guests had so much fun filling out the pages and we had even more fun reading them!!!

• Hair flower from Etsy! I LOVED the look of the hair flower and veil together!

• Cups sewn into my dress (under the lining) vs. wearing a strapless bra. I have a DD chest and cups worked fabulously!

• Use Hollywood Tape! This was my security blanket because I couldn’t wear a bra with my dress. That tape is amazing! It held up through humidity, wind, and pouring rain! It also comes off easily and is hypoallergenic. Highly recommended!

• Buy wedding flip flops! I didn’t know how badly my feet were hurting until I switch to the flip flops after we got back to the ship.

• Make personalized luggage tags for guests, people loved and used them!

• Welcome book came in handy often.

• Hair and makeup in the Freedom of the Seas salon! They did such an amazing job and I have never felt more beautiful in my life!

• Buy special wedding perfume to wear on my wedding day! DH actually picked it out for me as a Christmas present and I love it! I wore it today while I was back at work to remind me of our wedding!

• Take the next day after getting back off work! You will need it!

• Pay to have a videographer make a DVD of the ceremony. I haven't even seen it yet and I'm already so happy we decided to do this. I can't wait to relive our ceremony as it's all a blur right now!

 

Wouldn’t do:

 

• Pick early February. The weather was just okay. We had 3 warm sunny beach days out of 8, a few rainy days (on our wedding), and all windy days. I think March or April would have been a better weather choice.

• Stress about family! It’s hard to let this one go and I told myself the entire trip to do it but couldn’t. And everyone was totally great! It’s just difficult to travel with a large group like that for a long week. Intense is the best way to describe it.

• Let my WC choose a song for the signing of the marriage register. DH & I came loaded with music but when she asked if she could choose a special song for us we gave in. Suddenly during our ceremony Jessica Simpson was singing “Take My Breath Away” which is totally not our style. But it is hilarious in retrospect! And even funnier, the guy in charge of the CD player continued to replay it throughout our mini-reception. We did finally ask him to change the disc!

• Not eat. I was so excited, nervous, anxious on our wedding day that I couldn’t stomach more than a few bites of food. By the time we were back on the ship at 4 p.m. I felt really sick. I had to force myself to eat a sandwich and then take a little nap before the reception to make it through. Felt WAY better after that! So even if you don’t think you can do it make yourself eat all day long on your wedding day! Even little bites here and there will help a ton in the long run!

• Not have a honeymoon separate from everyone else. We did a cruise and rolled our honeymoon and wedding into one big week. I really wish DH and I would have planned a get away right after the cruise. Maybe we’ll do something special in the near future as a late honeymoon. With everyone there it was difficult to get alone time.