Review your wedding day

74jax

ampafc wrote: »

So could we make this a thread for those that are married to remember and review their big day? What was the best/worst things about your wedding? Anything that you would have done differently? Anything that you wish you had spent more/less money on?

Would love to hear the story of you!

rosie-lee wrote: »

At last, someone has mentioned the actual marriage ceremony. Can't believe no-one remembers the ceremony or vows. It's meant to be the whole point of the day, otherwise it's just a big party!

I think the reason people are listing best/worst things and what they'd have done differently is because that is what the OP asked for.

I don't thing just because they haven't listed it in their write up mean they don't remember them.

Maddie_S_2

ampafc wrote: »

The red wine thing - that must be a bride's worst nightmare! I hope it was just a wee bit of wine, and not a full glass. Did you manage to get any of it out before the end of the wedding? i think you had every right to be upset!!

The waitress had actually split the wine on a chair, not cleaned it up and I leaned on the chair to talk to someone and it went all down the front panel of my dress. Tip for future brides- ban red wine or don't touch anything!

I got some of it out with White wine but two dry cleans later it's still there. I've got no idea what do with the rest now!

wiggychick

Wedding: Sunday 30th May 2010
Venue: Local Church followed by Ex-servicemen's club, South Manchester
Guest: 250
Bridal party: 3 BMs & Best man

Best things: My husband's face as I walked down the aisle and again when we said "I do"
The peace and quiet in the car on our way to the hotel at the end of the day.
My mum having a fantastic day.
Dancing in THAT DRESS!
My best mate coming all the way from the USA to be bridesmaid
Asking friends and family to help with the wedding as their "gift"
The Band - dance floor full all night.
Going down to the allotment for a few photos.
Sunshine all day.
Getting married after lunch meant I had time to do everything without getting stressed.
I planned everything for the day on a timetable so knew I wasn't going to be late or miss anything.

Worst things: Groom vanished for 30mins before the photos. Turns out he had to track down some keys by chasing after someone through the park who had dissapeared, lol.
Trying to manage divorced parents

Differently: A couple of photos were missed, but otherwise the photographers were amazing.
Would have planned to leave earlier. There is a point at which the realisation hits you that if you are going to stay late at your wedding, you WILL spend hours in the car park saying goodbye to people.

Budget: around £10k including honeymoon.
A third of our budget went on the band and the food (hog roast - expensive because of 250 people) but it made for a memorable night.

Best MSE: Venue cost us £100 plus corkage of £70 and they were fantastic.
Dress was £350 and new from Brides By Appointment in Telford (Barnados) Couldn't recommend them highly enough.

Still very happily married to the man of my dreams xx

trying_2_b_good

Wedding: Saturday 27th August 2010
Venue: 4* Hotel, North West
Guest: 50/80
Bridal party: 2 BMs & 2 Best men

Best things:
Getting ready was fun and not stressful at all as I stayed in the hotel the night before and the ceremony was there and not until 2pm. No travelling, worrying about traffic etc so was great!

Walked down the aisle to live music playing Can You Feel the Love Tonight took my breath away - plus I was so happy to see my husband looking smart and gorgeous!

The ceremony was wonderful - we'd chosen the vows and if you can do this I'd recommend it! They were stock vows (not our own creative ramblings), but meant we could choose ones that really reflected us.

2 readings - I didn't realise the importance of readings until during the ceremony when 2 of our nearest and dearest spoke beautifully and the meanings really touched me.

Night do - DJ let us do a list of "must play" and "don't play" songs, then he built a playlist around that. It was fantastic and I was on the dance floor until 1am!


Worst things: I can't think of any - still in wedding bliss!

Differently: -
Would have tried not to get stressed out in the weeks before - it was nerves, not that I was worrying about the details/suppliers etc, just that it was such a big day and had taken months to plan - I was worried about it all going wrong! Needless worry!

Didn't need as much buffet in the evening - no need to pay per head as the people who had the meal hardly ate anything

The walk down the aisle was too short and wish I'd slowed down

Budget: around £8k

Best MSE: Booked venue 5 months before wedding, so got 1/3 off per head, plus 3 free rooms and a few other bits and bobs

Dress, veil, tiara, shoes and alterations cost around £750 brand new. Not the most MSE, but much less than what I imagined.

Vistaprint invites, banners etc

Found a cheap florist who works out of a haberdashery shop (Bolton area) - flowers were beautiful, and only £45 for my bouquet of white roses!

bubbles0169

Maddie_S wrote: »

The waitress had actually split the wine on a chair, not cleaned it up and I leaned on the chair to talk to someone and it went all down the front panel of my dress. Tip for future brides- ban red wine or don't touch anything!

I got some of it out with White wine but two dry cleans later it's still there. I've got no idea what do with the rest now!

you could also try soda water but this is best done when the stain's fresh
what colours your dress? if its white try blotting it with hydrogen peroxide

Impet_Limpet

Wedding: Fri 23rd September 2011
Venue: A Hotel South Warrington, Cheshire.
Guest: 45/90
Bridal party: 2 bridesmaids, 1 best man, 1 usher,
Honeymoon: 4 days Las Vegas, 3 days San Fran, 7 days Cancun.

The Day: Was great! I spent the night before with the OH in the hotel and we had breakfast in the room together before getting ready separately. We had some people attend the ceremony even though they didn't have time to stay for the meal and that meant a lot to us.
I was late, I have no idea by how much (oops!). I walked down to Foo fighters Everlong. We wrote our own vows and my OH cried a little when he said his vows.
We managed to get time together during the day but once the evening guests arrived we barely had chance to see one another, we spent lots of time mingling, we didn't even have chance to play on the casino tables and we forgot to eat something in the evening! We had lots of pictures taken by the photographer and our guests.

Best things: Was great to have my family in one place, (my mum flew back from Turkey), it was also great to say "I do" and marry my amazing other half. My step dad gave me away and I was delighted when I was told it was perfectly acceptable to have my step dad on the wedding certificate instead of my father. We opened the cards from the evening do the following day together at home and we really enjoyed it, and we wrote down what people had given us so we knew what to write in their thank you card (see below under differently for what happened to the day ones)

Worst things: The evening passed by far too quickly (4 and 1/2 hours), would have like it to have been longer! Also the venue misplaced the dietary requirement details, which meant they were asking me on the day who needed what. Even after I told them which two needed kids meals one of the children ended up with a grown up one not that he minded but we had spent an absolute age sorting out a table plan with the dietary requirements on for the venue.

Differently: We were asked by a family member (after the meal) to empty the wishing well and open the cards because some had some money in and they didn't want it to go missing. I wish we'd just had the brains to just have the cards taken to the room instead.
I also wish I'd given the tables a quick check before the meal as they'd forgotten to put some stuff out (the favours were Thorntons choccies and we'd sorted an insert for each table so people knew what was in each choc, but they got left in the box) and some place cards were in the wrong place!
I wouldn't have worried so much about exact numbers or exact timings before the day as companies (venue drinks and evening food/chaircovers) provided extra and our photographer arrived early and left late.

Budget: We didn't set a budget except for the venue/food/reception but knew we didn't want to spend a fortune. In hindsight we spent somewhere between 6-7k but it didn't feel like we had spent that much as we paid for things under £100 out of the normal monthly budget.

codemonkey

Wedding: September 2011
Venue: Hotel in Edinburgh
Guest: 75 day/150 evening (in theory)
Bridal party: 2 BMs, 2 junior BMs, best man, 2 ushers

Best things: Finally getting to wear my dress and veil. Being in the car with my dad on the way and knowing how proud he was. Walking down the aisle feeling really nervous until I saw H2B. Giggling through the vows. Talking to family members. Dancing in the ceilidh. DH's face when the band started playing the wrong song for our first dance (this was deliberate).

Worst things: I had a horrible headache at the meal (thankfully had given my mum some painkillers to hold for me). It all went far too quickly.

Differently: Totally forgot the cars were sticking around for photos so didn't take any more with the cars. I think I'd have chosen different bridesmaids because one was a bit of a diva and the rest abandoned me after the ceremony and I had to get randoms to help me pee and I only have one bridesmaid in my group shot.

I also woudn't have gone on honeymoon the day after because we left so early, didnt get to enjoy the amazing suite we had or eat breakfast and packing was an extra stress.

Mostly though I'd have maybe waited a year as workwise, this year was a total nightmare and I was so stressed with work, and so stressed with the wedding that I was close to snapping, especially when I was called into a meeting and told that my taking time off for the wedding and honeymoon was "inconvenient".

Budget: Our budget was £10k but we spent a little over £8k. My parents paid for my dress and cars and DH's paid for our honeymoon.


Best MSE: Venue would have cost us at least £10k if we hadn't got their Sunday package. My shoes were £80 reduced to £13.99 on ebay. My veil cost £120 in the shop but I got one on ebay for £40 (could have got one even cheaper but I wanted one with hanging pearls and crystals). Our photographer would normally charge over £1k but charged us £800 (again we probably could have done this cheaper but he was amazing and I'd recommend him for any brides in Edinburgh or Glasgow and surrounding areas). Our cake was £200 for 150 cupcakes and a small top cake, from a small local baker. Bridesmaid's dresses were from huiyunkitty on ebay and cost £35 each brand new.

As I've said, a few things could have been done even more cheaply but for me, being MSE was about getting what I wanted at high quality for the lowest price.

abis21

Wedding: 23 July 2011
Venue: Civil Ceremony & large function room at a pub in town
Guest: 50 day/120 evening
Bridal party: My daughter (5) was chief bridesmaid. Also had 2 adult bridesmaids and 1 best man.

Best things: Ooooo, so MANY different things!! Having everyone we love share in our most special day. The whole day was informal and full of love, fun and laughter. The ceremony was beautiful and the registrars were amazing and were sooooo lovely with my normally very confident daughter who got a bad attack of nerves before the ceremony! The photographer was amazing and very MSE. I loved all the homemade things that we did for the wedding as they were very special on the day.

Worst things: Stressing over my sisters choice of bridesmaid dress as the colour wasn't the shade I had chosen. Being a control freak I found it very difficult to not be able to change it as my sister is v stubborn and it would have caused a fall out if I had pushed it further with her (all 3 bridesmaids wore different colours, so it didn't stand out like a sore thumb) I should have not got worked up about it as it wasn't in the slightest bit important on the day.

Differently: Would have asked the bridesmaids to go round earlier with the guess book as it was left til late when some people had left or were a bit drunk! Also I wish I had some extra photos in the night do with some people! In particular, I have been forum pals and email/facebook buddies with a lady for 8 years, and she travelled 250miles to meet me for the first time, and we didn't get a photo together!!! Said she has to come back again so we can fix that!! :rotfl:

Budget: £3k in the end, with £2k paid by us and we had some from family. I wouldn't change the amount as we made the best of it we could. Had an extravegance with a chocolate fountain, but cut back on other things which weren't important to us.


Best MSE: Quite a few in the end. My wedding dress was from china/ebay - £104, and I absolutely loved it. Photographer was £175 and gave us a disc so we could produce whatever we wanted, and out wedding album was £75 from photobox and although it took a lot of effort - its well worth it and I love it I loved the photobooths, but after getting some quotes realised they were very much out of budget! But we bought lots of fancy dress props and just put them out in front of the dj once the disco had started. We all had soooooo much fun trying everything on and taking photos with it all. Got most of the things from pound shops, with a few extra bits which are a bit more special and slightly extra. I did my own cake and cupcakes (300 of them!) and actually really enjoyed doing them as one of my bridesmaids helped out all day. We also decorated the venue ourselves including diy chair cover hire, balloons, centre pieces etc. We treated the cake making & room setting up as part of the preparations and made it fun - and we had lots of helpers so it wasn't too stressful thankfully!

wiggychick

abis21 wrote: »

Had an extravegance with a chocolate fountain, but cut back on other things which weren't important to us.

LOVE your priorities! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

1nmyopinion

Wedding - End Sept 2011 (during the heat wave)
Location - Nr Stansted Airport, church and then gorgeous venue
Guests - 50 day and 75 night (only 25 more in the evening)
Spend - £10k inc EVERYTHING. Make up, hair etc
Planning time - 13 Weeks
Wedding 1pm

Best
Seeing the grin on my OH's face the WHOLE day. For someone who 'doesn't like weddings' he definitely liked ours!!!

Having genuinely the BEST day of my life.

Getting it Filmed. I hate the way I look on camera, I hate the way I sound BUT it cost me £400 and was probably the best £400 I spent. On the way back from the church after the ceremony I remember turning to my husband and said to him that I was so glad it was videoed as it was all over in a flash and I want to re-live it and soak up what I missed the first time through nerves! It gave me piece of mind that I would have the closest thing to being there again to keep. Photos are good but videos capture it differently. She also was not in our face very much at all.

WORST
Not spending time with important people enough. I didn't see much of my nana.

MONEY SAVING - We got married mid week. with 3 months to plan. I saved a lot for choosing mid week. I then asked for other bits at the time of booking - our bridal suite, Teas'/coffee's and Mints all got thrown in which sounds naff but the Teas and coffees were £150 and the room was £270 reduced to £100 and then free.

With suppliers like DJ's negotiate and then tell them your cheaper quote - if you don't they have nothing to try to beat. I was quoted £500 for a DJ and spent £295 which included uplighters - not as cheap as I would have liked but on prices round here it was the cheapest.

We had canapes at the church - champagne glasses can be hired free at supermarkets, we bought ours for £20 from ikea so we didn't have time pressure of hand washing them, Presecco half price at £5 a bottle and £200 on M&S food to order. Guests LOVED it. and it cost us about £5 per head inc the drink which was under half what the venue wanted.

WOULD DO DIFFERENTLY - I would get married on a WED or THUR not a Mon/Tues as most places you need as a bride for girlie prep is 2 days before and on sunday's places are shut if you get married on a monday and need last minute stuff.

I would have also got my bridesmaids to carry my dress on the way to the church, my veil ripped on a twig on the way in! A dress being carried also makes for lovely photos

WOULD DO THE SAME - our guest book was a photo frame border. People wrote messages on the card border and we will put a wedding pic in the middle. It looks amazing and far better than books that you never look at again and NEVER get filled in fully.

We didn't upgrade the food. It was good and guests liked it as they mentioned it too me, the basic buffet of cold hams, salami, pates, cheeses and breads looked far classier than the hot finger food, I didn't taste any but they were apparently amazing!

Also try an 'impact' colour bouquet. I had a Blue Hydrangea one, nothing else, just them in a round shape. It looked incredible. most brides have a white one and the colour doesn't stand out in pic against the light dress and you can't see it! mine was very visible in the photos and when I had paid £60 for it, (which is average price for bridal bouquet) I'd like to be able to see it.

We ordered cars from a posh business travel place and got brand new gleaming merc's all ribboned up. Much cheaper than a classic car as cost us £35 per hour.

We made our own order of service on cream thick paper. They didn't look wow, but they were mainly left in the church. I also made our table plan, I kept it BASIC and it cost me about £5. People look at it for about 1 min. Spend time on stuff that has more impact - i used my time on the slide show!


WOULD SPEND MORE MONEY ON - Nothing. We didn't bother with chair covers. We didn't bother with favours - I regret Neither.

WOULD SPEND LESS MONEY ON - bridal prep food: cost a FORTUNE for what I got, and no one ate it! I wouldn't bother full stop.

FREE/CHEAP IDEA - we had a slide show of pics of the two of us growing up and then together in our relationship. Guests watched this in the bar and when waiting during the line up - many commented on it. It was funny, personal and FREE!!!

TIPS - Tell important people to you to approach YOU. You will only spend time with people who approach you as every time you move someone will talk to you and you don't get to go over to who you want to. Turns out the people who approach you aren;t the most important ones!!!

Girls - fake hair costs £70 and is colour matched and clipped in. If you aren't blessed with lushious thick and plentyful hair, ask your hair dressers. It is real hair and bulks out a bun, or bulks out hair at the back if you are having some forward over your shoulders.

Negotiate price at the time off booking. Some areas you can save in, some you can't.

If you stay on site or close by, ask them to put aside some plated evening buffet in your room, my venue did this without us asking and my husband devoured it!!!

Take a change of clothes with you - the dress is heavy and I LOVED it but by half 10 I wanted it off as I was beginning to feel unwell. I changed into Jeans and a custom Mrs (personalised) top (I bought the bling personalised Mrs .... from ebay and ironed it on). I wasn't planning on this - it was my outfit for the following day but I had no other choices. I spent an hour of my wedding in jeans and trainers!!! Not planned but other wise I wouldn't have made it to the end.

Go on the www dot gettingmarried dot co dot uk website, its free and you set up an amazing website which guests can use. I found my videographer on here for a bargain price as she is just starting up after children and having watched 20 demos hers was the best by far and she was the cheapest.

From your venue DON'T ORDER EVERYTHING immediately. They WILL SEND YOU EMAILS a few weeks before with Offers. If you have already booked it you won't get them. Chair covers went from £5.60 down to about £3. Arrival drink went from £6 to £3.60. Canapes unfortunately went down HALF PRICE - I did mine at church but if I hadn't it would have been a great offer!!!

Womens flower corsages can be put on Magnets to stop the pins from pulling down the fabric.

Do NOT stress about shades of colour. i had all different blues and it worked so well looking at photos I think it looks better than if I had tried to get the right shade with everything because 'close' is not enough if you want the same. I had light blues and dark blues etc.

If you are worried about being ill - I suffer migranes - give family members and bridal party your tablets so there will always be someone you can find if you need something.

If it is going to be hot, buy those forehead migrane strips and when you get hot put one on your lower back, it is AMAZING!!!

If you have done the planning hand over to others. I typed a sheet for the ushers and best man with photographer and videographer and vicar and cars details on etc, i told them I had done my best and if anything went wrong they could sort it as they had the numbers, and that I didn't want to be bothered at all on the morning! It all went to plan but it gave me piece of mind.

Be v specific as to what photos you want and dont ask for too many or your whole day is posing for them.

Get married early and make the most of the most costly day of your life (and the daylight for photos). It flies by as it is and you may as well make the most of it and have longer.

Above all have fun in the planning, laugh a lot and don't worry if things go wrong, something will but only you will notice so don't stress.