What I would and wouldnt do again

[northernflasher]

This thread was invaluable to me in my planning. Its my turn to give back....

 

WOULD DO AGAIN:.....

* Choose our wedding date based on our 10 years to the day we met anniversary.

* Announce we would be having a destination wedding asap but have a two year engagement to allow family to save up. It didnt mean we had any more guests, just that we didnt feel so guilty about the expense incurred by the guests that did attend.

* DIY projects, as much as they stressed me out I was so pleased with the results except... see what I wouldn't do below.

* Arrive as close to the wedding day as was legal (4 days prior) so I had less time to stress and more time to relax with our guests afterwards and make a "holiday" of it.

* Destination Wedding at Dreams Tulum.

* Ultimate Wedding package.

* Small intimate wedding with lots of personal touches.

* Go on a full day excursion with all our guests to Xcaret the day before the wedding. I didnt have time to get stressed and we were all tired enough to sleep soundly.

* Get my dress returned to my MOH's room after it had been steamed because they left it hanging on her bed canopy in full view!

* Get a pre-wedding make up trial, treat myself to the products I wanted and do my own make-up on the day using products I know and love.

* Ask my dad and sister to present me with their completed "from you to me" books early in the day so we could all have a family moment and a good cry without risking ruining make up or getting red eyes.

From You To Me Journals | Gift of the Year | Home

* Walk up the aisle with my dad on one arm and my sister on the other.

* Wedding ceremony in the Spanish chapel.

* Bring our photographer Christian Sinkinson from home for the ceremony and use the resort photographer for the reception.

CJ Photography

* Write our own personalised ceremony including sand ceremony and coins ceremony.

* Set up a photo props table for guests to amuse themselves whilst we had our official photos done.

* Learn salsa for our first dance and perform at the front of the chapel at the end of the cocktail hour getting it over before the reception so we didnt have to worry about sand or be nervous all through dinner. It also made it feel much more informal once the reception started so everyone got up to dance together.

* Reception on the beach.

* Mariachi Trio to play at our reception rather than the cocktail hour. We got to enjoy them too and they got the party started in full swing. They were excellent, everyone left the table before our main meal was served to start dancing. I actually ate my dessert on my feet.. dancing!

* Maracas as wedding favours but.... See what I wouldnt do below.

* Not pay any extra for chair bows / decorations or centrepieces for the reception. Our guests didn't care and were too busy dancing barefoot in the sand and shaking there maracas to notice.

* Not have official speeches to get stressed about, various people made impromtu toasts as the night went on which was really sweet.

* Not buy an expensive wedding dress so I could relax, have fun all day and have no intention of wearing it again.

* Trash The Dress.

* Buy a really cheap, full length veil which looks fab for photos without the expense.

* Stay for an extra week after the guests left for our honeymoon.

* Leave our breakfast in bed for the last week so we could really enjoy it in "privacy" and not worry about showing up for our guests.

* Upgrade the cake to chocolate and baileys with edible flower topper. It was the most delicious cake I've ever eaten, our guests are still raving about it.

* Ipod playlists for everything:

Cocktail hour.

Chill out background music whilst eating dinner.

Dancing queen for reception.

We asked all our guests to choose their 3 favourite songs to dance to for the reception so there really was something for everyone.

We have listened to this numerous times since the wedding and it makes us smile every time. Its so nice that we get to keep this forever and have wonderful memories of all our guests dancing to some of our favourite songs.

If you do one thing, do this but... read what I wouldn't do below.

 

WOULDN'T DO AGAIN:...

* Book with Thomas Cook travel agents.

* Take on the responsibility of booking for the entire party, collecting in outstanding balances and making payments. It was all so stressful, took so much valuable time and caused a lot of fallouts and friction with our family beforehand.

* Waste so much time procrastinating about my DIY projects and leave everything until the last minute despite having a 2 year engagement.

* Waste weeks of valuable time sourcing, buying and personalising maracas. DONT DO IT! You can buy the nicest authentic ones in Playa Del Carmen. My guests loved mine but would have been just as happy with bought maracas and personalised tags and to be honest I much preferred the style of the ones in Mexico.

* Allow my step son to get sunburnt on the first day, not only does he look so sore in the wedding photos but we had to spend the rest of the week being extra cautious and keeping him out of the sun. I regret this enormously.

* Decide not to hire the speakers to play our Ipod through for the reception. We brought a docking station that sounded well loud enough at home but just didnt cut it at all on the beach. It didnt spoil the atmosphere but we would really have liked to be able to crank it up!!!

 

THINGS TO DO DIFFERENTLY

* Ask our judge to hand her microphone to us during our vows and to guests for our readings. There is virtually no sound on our wedding video except from the judge who's English was awful!!!

* Spend less time on my DIY projects in the last few weeks and more time practising my hair style with my veil.

* Get my hair done professionally and put my sister in charge of sorting it out for me before I walked into the church and before the photos. I hate my hair in both the video and almost every picture, I know its a small thing but its so annoying!!! Its ridiculous if you saw how short my hair is but my fringe stuck to my head with sweat and stayed there all day!

* Take our wedding cake to the disco with us for a midnight feast.

* Write a must take photo list. Its crazy that this is what we do for a living so we were convinced we had it covered and would remember to ask Christian to shoot everything but on the day we were thinking like bride and groom not as photographers so we missed key shots. Its the one thing I insist to couples to make the day go smoothly and yet we didnt do it!!!

 

I think thats everything. Basically our wedding day was the best day of our life and even with the changes we would make, we were ecstatic at how our day turned out.

Hope you find something here to help you along your way.

Happy Planning.

[Sjnovot]

great advice!

[mistibuard]

Thanks for sharing!

[dmkn77]

Thats a lot of great info! I hope I can find more threads like this one. Thanks VERY much!!

[rbowman]

Thank you for sharing!

[jennifersyble]

helpful, thanks!

[kerrib]

Thank you so much for this!!

[johnnmakenzie11]

awesome thread! thanks for posting!

[Line M]

great advice- Thank you

[jamie0820]

Love the advice thank you!