Is there anything you wish you had known before the day of the wedding? After all, they say hindsight is 20/20. These are real answers from real brides. We hope you find them helpful!
What do you wish you had known/done differently?
“I wish I wouldn’t have gone last for hair and makeup. I ended up feeling rushed with the timeline and didn’t totally love my hair. The makeup artist did a great job even with being on a time crunch, so no complaints there. It really did work out, but I wish I would’ve had time to adjust my hair a bit. I suggest going third or second to last.”
—
“I wish I remembered to try sitting in my dress after it was altered. I remembered when I first put it on, but completely forgot after it was altered. I could barely sit so dinner was really uncomfortable.”
—
“Certain little details don’t matter. I’m talking about bridesmaids shoes, their jewelry, their hair, stuff like that. I asked my bridesmaids to wear silver shoes and I spent weeks making their jewelry and guess what? You can’t really see their shoes and their bracelets are so small in pictures that you don’t even notice them. Even my own shoes, in retrospect, weren’t a big deal.”
—
“I wish we wouldn’t have scheduled a day after brunch. I was SO tired when 10 am rolled around (our wedding didn’t end until 1 am,) and I really just wanted to chill with dear husband. ”
—
“Wish I had asked my husband to empty his pockets before the ceremony. He had his wallet and keys in his pocket and never took them out—got some pretty odd bulgy photos because of it.”
—
“Budget for alterations. I did not expect $500 weeks before the wedding. Yikes.”
—
“I wish we’d registered. I thought it would feel gift-grabby. But, because we weren’t registered, we spent weeks exchanging things.”
—
“I wish I had hired our photographer for longer. You would be surprised how long it all takes. We had ours booked for 5 hours and he ended up staying 30 minutes late just to get to the first dance and mother/groom father/bride dances. “
—
“I wish that I had given the photographer more specific instructions. I did my research and loved their photos. We clicked personality wise so I told myself that they are professionals and will know what to get. I gave them a list of the family photos so we got all of those. Unfortunately, the photos were basically mute. My family is incredibly awkward in photos. I wish the photographer had helped them pose so they didn’t look so awkward. Also, there are no photos of my family at the reception. I assumed that they would take pictures of the bride’s family. Don’t assume anything.”
What are you happy you did?
“I’m so glad I numbered our RSVPs. You’ll be shocked how many guests won’t write their names on them. Assign each invite a # and it saves you from having to figure out where the name-less rsvp came from.”
—
“First look. I 100% advise doing one. It totally reduced my nerves and allowed husband and I to have a private moment. It also did not take away from the walk down the aisle. Both moments were special.”
—
“Great decision: You get fifty guests; I get fifty guests. End of guest-list story.”
—
“Hired pros! All the little details were in place and no one was stressing me out while I was getting ready. The officiant made a beautiful personalized ceremony which everyone loved. The food and cake was excellent and served so quickly and efficiently. The flowers were beautiful and set up without any fuss. It took so much stress off of me to know I had a great team behind me. “
—
“About 1 hour into the reception (after dinner) half my wedding party changed back into street clothes. I thought I would care (wanting a perfect vision all day) but I didn’t at all. I just wanted them to have fun.”
—
“I told my husband, my mom, my MIL and my BMs that if anything went wrong the week or day of the wedding that I didn’t want to know about it. I had a stress free week and day of. Turns out that several things went awry leading up to the wedding. I’ve heard the stories and think that the craziness is funny now but would have been a ball of stress had I known then. “
—
“So glad that I got a photobooth. It was the hit of the reception.”
—
“I used the bathroom immediately before putting my dress on. I didn’t have to worry about trying to go while wearing my dress. “