February 2013 Moms
meechellebelle
member
NBR wedding plans
meechellebelle
member
So a few weeks ago we found our wedding venue in NH and set our date for September 6, 2014! I am trying to figure out planning while taking care of twins and its hard. But since many of you ladies are already married I thought I would ask your advice. Is there anything you regret spending money on? Or regret not having? What was important to you on your wedding day that may normally be overlooked? Also the boys will be 18 months, do you think they would be able to make it down the aisle? I want them as cute ring bearers haha. I'm overwhelmed with planning already! I could post to The knot but they're obviously not married there yet so I hope I can get some advice here. TIA!!
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Re: NBR wedding plans
I loved my dj, however. He basically let me pick every song.
We did not get a videographer and I'm glad.
I bought a dress at David's bridal for like 499 and though I liked it enough, I wish I had held out for a better dress, but I had procrastinated so much I ran out if time.
The only thing I regret is that I didn't get the wedding dress I wanted because my mom wanted to buy my wedding dress for me but refused to pay for that one - not because of how expensive it was (around $1000) but because she thought it was too plain for that price. It was so me though, and fit perfectly - wouldn't have even had to have it altered. Being na?ve and the obedient daughter, I chose another one (which, actually, DH found for me, which made it special in that way), when really I think I should have just plunked down my own credit card and said "Charge it!" Yes, you only wear it once, but I've always regretted that.
My best advice is to do what you really want to do and screw everyone else. I didn't invite certain people I had known my whole life and gone to church with because, honestly, I thought they were annoying. It would have been polite to invite them, but I didn't really want them there so too bad. Also (and this horrified my mother), we had KFC cater and ordered two double-sheet ice cream cakes from Baskin-Robbins (my DH doesn't like regular cake). My mom ended up making a three-tiered, beaded wedding cake herself and having the "fancy" restaurant in town also cater, but everyone said how fun the other stuff was, and we had a blast with it. I will never regret eating fried chicken and ice cream cake on my wedding day. It was flipping awesome.
Do what you want, regardless of whether it is "traditionally done" or not. Make it special for you. :-)
Make a top 3 list for yourself and DH to be and use that to prioritize everything else. Don't make your guests pay for booze, serve what you can afford, and if that's beer and wine, then that's fine. There will be little things you want to splurge on and do not feel bad about it, you don't want to regret anything. It's better to spend a bit more for something you really want than to feel like you wasted money on the cheaper alternative.
I also had no videographer and did not miss it.
This! It is your day so do what you both want! Compromise for each other and make it special for you two.
We didn't have a wedding party because we felt that a wedding is about the couple in love, not the formality or the show. My in-laws did not like this idea and tried pressuring us to have my husband's siblings in our wedding (especially his older brother as the best man- someone he would not have even chosen!). They changed their minds after the wedding and said that it wasn't missed at all. They also liked how our siblings and best friends didn't have to spend additional money on us or dress up in clothes they don't like. Everyone just enjoyed being guests and there was no pressure or unnecessary drama.
We also only invited the people that we really wanted there. My in-laws tried pressuring us to invite "cousins" that my husband had met once as a kid and we refused to give in because we were paying for the wedding. It was never brought up again after the wedding so I guess it didn't matter all that much in the end. We were surrounded by familiar faces and that was most important to us.
My dress was $200 because it was a bridesmaids dress that was ordered in off-white. Think about this as an option! Spending thousands on a gown that you wear once is ridiculous to me. You can always get a plain dress and add to it to make it as fancy as you want. We got married on the beach so I ended up keeping it plain and wearing more jewelry to dress it up.
We did spend money on a photographer and a videographer and we feel that it was worth it. We searched on theknot for the cheapest companies with the best reviews. To us, there is nothing that can replace watching your family members laugh, dance, etc.
We only got flowers for my bouquet and for the groom, our parents, and our grandparents. I'm not a flower person because I think it's silly to spend money on something that dies a few days later. I've heard of friends having flower centerpieces that cost $500+ per table. REALLY?! What's the point?
I hope this helps put things into perspective for you. Do what makes you happy!
CONGRATS!
Luckily my best friend owns a salon so she is doing hair, SO's cousin is a makeup artist so she's doing makeup, our friend is an amazing photographer so we have that and the cost of the place includes cake, floral centerpieces and a DJ! All are the top ones in NH so that makes stress of planning way less. Definitely plan on open bar with th crowd we have haha. Thanks ladies!!
get the videographer! my dh wanted his friends to video tape it and i was sp freakin annoyed b/c i didnt want it. however, it was the best decision ever. we watch it here and there and im so very thankful my dh refused to budge.
Not worth it.... Chair covers or expensive decorations. If you're crafty make your decorations personal to you guys and they'll be special!
We picked out splurge areas - venue, photographer, food and booze. I would definitely recommend doing so. Suprisingly, food and booze were cheaper than a lot of places (we found a venue that let us bring in our own food and wine which saved a TON of money. Also, if you can bring your own booze and get it from somewhere like BevMo, you can return any leftovers.) OUr photographer was midrange, but I still wished we'd gone with someone better. At the end of the day, the photographs are the biggest reminder of your wedding day (other than your hubby!), so I think it's definitely worth the splurge.
Our middle of the road areas - dress, DJ, and favors. I wish I hadn't spent as much on my dress. Especially since someone ripped the train.
Cheaped out - decor, 'extras', and flowers - we didn't decorate the ceremony site AT ALL except for some potted flower baskets from Lowes.. But our ceremony site was so awesome on it's own, I don't regret the decision AT ALL. We didn't add a whole lot of cutesy details, I saved a ton of headache, and no one noticed. For flowers, I had a florist tell me $1500 would be enough for bouquets and HALF our centerpieces, so spending $1000 for flowers online seemed like a steal.. At the end of the day, we had WAY too many flowers, and although they were beautiful, I definitely think it was worth it.
I second the food thing! We had a BBQ restaurant near us cater and I don't regret it one bit! I actually enjoyed the food. It seems as though you pay so much for the traditional wedding food and to me it always tastes very bland and its what is expected. I had so many compliments for doing something different as well.