About a week ago, I put a question box up on my Instagram asking for blog post ideas for this month. I want to post things that are helpful for you guys! One person said she would like to see a post about my favorite parts of our wedding, as well as any regrets or things I think were unnecessary. I thought that would be a really fun post to write and also helpful for any of you planning a wedding! I’m excited to think through all of the different aspects of my wedding, so let’s get into it!
Related: 6 Things I Learned as a Newlywed Wife
My Favorite Parts:
First look
We absolutely loved doing a first look! It was so special to see each other alone before everything began, plus we didn’t have a whole crowd waiting to see our reactions. We got to talk about how excited we were and it was just a sweet moment. It also allowed us to do most of our pictures before the ceremony which helped SO much with time!
Letters to each other
We both wrote letters to each other and were able to read them before we even did the first look. It built the anticipation of seeing each other and we still have those letters in a special box!
Also, that picture was just taken for fun; we read them before we saw each other.
Writing our own vows
I highly recommend doing this! If you’re anything like me, you’ll be so nervous and excited in the moment that you really won’t know what you’re repeating after the pastor, so I loved being able to intentionally think through and write down my vows in the days leading up to the wedding. I think they just meant a lot more, too. After the wedding, I wrote them out and they are hanging by our bed as a daily reminder.
Doing my own makeup
I know this isn’t for everyone, but I loved doing my own makeup. I really just wanted to look like myself on my wedding day, and it saved so much money. I just bought some nice makeup products in the months leading up to the wedding, and I loved how it turned out. No regrets!
Having our bridesmaids & groomsmen walk down alone
Okay honestly, I always thought it was cheesy when bridesmaids and groomsmen would walk down the aisle as couples. Most of the people in our wedding party didn’t really know each other and I feel like it would have been awkward and it really wasn’t necessary. So we had them walk down alone and it was perfect! Plus one of my bridesmaids got covid and couldn’t be in my wedding, so it helped mask the fact that we had uneven numbers haha.
Cake for us, cupcakes for guests
We decided to do a little (6 in I think) cake for ourselves to cut into, and then we did cupcakes for everyone else. I have to eat gluten free anyways, so it made it so much easier and cheaper just to do a small gluten free cake. But also, we were able to take the rest of our cake with us on our honeymoon!
Renting flowers
We saved SO much money on flowers by renting silk flowers from Something Borrowed Blooms. They look real in pictures and everybody I talked to said they didn’t even know they weren’t real. We loved them and the process was so easy! I think we used the Taylor Collection.
Taking to-go boxes home with us
We had the caterers make to-go boxes for us and it was perfect because we were hungry after the wedding! And the food was so good and we were able to enjoy it even more after everything was over.
Putting numbers on the back of RSVP cards
Some people don’t put their names on RSVP cards when they return them, so I put numbers on the back of every RSVP card, and then had a list of the numbers with the guests’ corresponding name. I had a few people not put their names on the card, but I was able to look at my list and see who it was from. So helpful! I can’t take credit for this idea though; I saw it on Pinterest.
No dancing
We did do the first dance and the mother/son daddy/daughter dances, but that was it. We didn’t do group dancing and I’m so glad we didn’t. If that’s your thing, go for it! It is just not us and I don’t think our crowd of guests were really the dancing type either, so it worked for us.
Wedding album
I made our wedding “album” on Shutterfly and it was so easy and fun to do. I love how I didn’t have to get pictures printed to put into an actual album, plus it fits with all of the yearly albums I make for our family.
Not hiring a videographer
I was so scared I was going to regret not having a video of our wedding day, but I just couldn’t justify the price. Thankfully I haven’t regretted it, but I know every couple is different. I’m happy just looking at the pictures!
Regrets:
I will say, I tried my best to keep things very simple and budget friendly, so I don’t really have many regrets. Even the things I’m listing I wouldn’t necessarily say are regrets, but maybe things I would do a little differently if I were to do it over. Just some things you may want to consider!
Expensive venue
At the time of our wedding, our church was meeting in a small community center where we couldn’t have our wedding. We also didn’t know of any churches where we would have liked to get married, so we decided to book a venue. We absolutely loved our venue, and while it was one of the cheaper ones that we looked at, it was still so expensive. We don’t really regret having our wedding there, but I think that if we really wanted to save money, we could have found a church or maybe even land to do it on.
Expensive wedding dress
I absolutely love my wedding dress, but I feel like if I had kept looking I could have found one cheaper that I loved just as much. I bought one at the first place I went to, and looking back, I could have just went back there if I didn’t find anything else I liked elsewhere. I just spent more than I had wanted to, plus the alterations added a lot of money.
Making my own invitations
I bought a template off of Etsy and printed and cut them myself to save money, but I kind of wish I would have just bought the template on Etsy and ordered the prints. It still would have saved money but it would have saved hourssss of work.
Not learning how to dance
For our first dance, we really didn’t know what we were doing haha. I think it would have been nice to take a lesson or two so that we could have been a little more confident in our dancing skills.
Well there you have it! I hope that was fun to read and/or helpful. I enjoyed reminiscing about our wedding, and I think I want to go look through our wedding album now. Thanks for reading!
Blessings,
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