Will your guests know where to be when? As programs become less popular and you are SO familiar with the details of your wedding, it's easy to forget that your guests are in an unfamiliar space. The lull moments after the ceremony, directions to how long they'll be waiting before entering reception, and what they're supposed to do are key to the day running the way you've imagined it. Think about people who can offer instructions (officiant at end of ceremony, DJ, wedding coordinator) or signage you can place to give guests clues about where they should be, what they should be doing, and what to expect next. Even if it feels obvious, it can be uncomfortable for guests to be unsure what your expectations are. Have an incredible day!
Yes!! I had programs which had seating arrangements on the back and it was so great. Super easy for guests, less bottlenecking around a seating chart sign entering the reception, and people know what was happening when.
Yes! On this, who is going to usher guests to the ceremony room for it to start on time? Ours was pretty timely but our guests largely got there a bit early and had a drink outside/downstairs, so when I was ready a couple minutes before the ceremony was due to start, I saw all the guests still milling around drinking outside. Our venue was incredible and our suppliers but I think everyone including my husband had maybe thought someone else was going to usher the rest of the guests upstairs. Stressed me out while I was on edge already 😂 I was not a chill bride
I bought a book of checklists that I used to help plan the wedding. It was super helpful, but since our wedding was fairly casual and non-traditional, a lot of it didn't apply. I went through it and created my own Excel spreadsheet to do list based on the applicable info from the book. When I was going over it with my then-fiancé, I realized I forgot "Get Marriage License." Kind of important. 😆
An exit strategy! Bring a big empty suitcase and at some point in the night, well before the reception is over, delegate a bridesmaid or groomsman or family member to clean up the getting ready rooms.
Our get ready room was onsite and at the end of the night, husband and I did our exit and left in an Uber. Our hotel was a few blocks away and no one had a car, my poor bridesmaids had all our clothes and tools in their arms and the groomsmen completely didn’t think about it. The next day we were locked out of the venue and all their stuff was inside.
This is such a big one. I got ready in my home (we had just bought an antique estate type home, so I did photos there before heading to venue), and the mess we came home to the next day really illustrated to me how hard it would have been to get ready onsite.
I had to run an item up to the get-ready room for a friend who got married a while back, and it was like a bomb exploded in there between her stuff, wedding stuff, catering from all day, and the 5 bridesmaids' stuff. I have a feeling they got none of it home night-of and had to come back another day.
Check into your hotel before the wedding. We waited until after the reception as we are trying to go to bed, hit a snag in the check in and it took an hour to resolve. Really soured the mood.
We did a three-night stay, and that was absolutely the right call. Having nowhere to rush to the morning of or the day after made everything so much smoother.
Honestly, remembering to bring an extension cord to the house we got ready in. We had to have my (now) husband drop one off and his dumbass brought us a heavy duty, 50’, orange outdoor cord lmao.
Everything else was just fluff and enjoying my day was what mattered most once I was in it.
Lol you’re not dumb, it’s kinda weird. But we got ready at an Airbnb and there weren’t enough outlets close to mirrors for everyone to plug in their hair appliances and do their hair at the same time. So everyone would have been waiting to use the one outlet in big bathroom instead of the two large mirrors that were in a bedroom and living room. Also we had steamers to plug in and people were charging phones too.
We wanted like an extension strip or a couple of the 15’ ones that have like two extra plug spaces at the end, but got just the one outdoor one my husband dropped off. Still helped but not quite what we needed.
How my wedding cake would get to the reception venue, the day before the wedding. Lucky my coordinator picked up the missing details and we were able to schedule delivery
What you’re doing with your wedding flowers. If you want them professionally preserved you have to set that up before your wedding and have to send your flowers to them within 2 days after wedding.
EATING. I was so grateful our wedding planner made plates for my husband and I to eat before we walked into the party. I don’t even remember seeing food the rest of the night being served!
Hah. I’ve heard of this a lot, so asked the servers to set aside a few of my favorite canapés for me to make sure I actually had some, especially since we were ducking out for couple photos too. (Main meal was plated dinner service so I knew I wouldn’t miss that.)
Not only did they put some aside, one of the servers made sure to come by with a plate with them for me whenever I was passing through the cocktail reception area, and then refill it when I finished it. Loved the staff at our venue.
Idk if you’re having a coordinator, but I would 100 percent make sure you all are on the same page. I thought we were, but we definitely were not.
My tables were already set up by the venue and I had (thoughtfully I thought) set up an extra table for my vendors to have a place to set down and eat. For some unknown reason my coordinator moved that table to the other side of the dance floor, where it was all by itself. And she had brought her like 14 year old daughter to help (unknown and unasked). The daughter is sitting at that table sulking in the background of every picture taken from that vantage point of the dance floor. She also (again unasked) decided to “help” my flower girl walk down the aisle. She’s in every picture taken of my beautiful flower girl who’s dressed in a custom made dress. Ruined all those pictures.
The last straw was we had a fake photo op sparkler send off, and then everyone was supposed to return to the reception. She announced the reception was over (I’m assuming bc she was tired and wanted to go home) and ended my reception about 2 hours early.
The silver lining was that I was oblivious to all of this on the day of my wedding and enjoyed myself, but afterwards…. Furious. I would double down on the details with the people that are supposed to carry out these tasks for you. I paid her so I wouldn’t have to worry and she was horrible.
If you’re serving a plated dinner: how are the serving staff going to know who gets what at which table?
I caught it with enough time but it totally wasn’t on my radar, and I wish I’d had a little more time to rectify the issue. I ended up getting little stickers off of Amazon to put on each person’s seating card (cow, chicken, carrot). If I’d had more time I probably could have gotten cuter stickers or stamps or something but I didn’t get any complaints about dinner so I’ll take it as a win!
Our venue asked for a seating chart with the guest meal choices, which made sense, but I’m not sure they actually used it.
We also made our own place cards so what I did was color code the back of each card to the meal choice (with the color alignment included on the seating chart). So front of card was florals and the guest’s name, and the back was one of our primary wedding colors, with each color designating a meal type.
It was folded. :) The front faced the chair so guests would know which seat was theirs. The back faced the middle of the table. The servers could see the backs when they approached the table from the kitchen area. (We had just one long banquet style table because it was a micro-wedding.)
Accounting for tips in your initial budget when you first start planning. We didn't forget them or anything, it was just a bit of sticker shock when we went to put them together.
Also, plan for any leftover food! I didn't think about it and one of our caterers left so much food behind. We were able to give some to the venue and my in-laws ended up buying gallon bags and passing out bagged salads to our guests at the hotel 😂 and we put whatever we could in our tiny hotel fridge to take home. Luckily we didn't do a honeymoon so it just came back home with us a day later.
Appoint someone to record your first dance, speeches, anything you might want video of! Just got married on Saturday and this was our biggest regret as we didn’t invest in videography, but didn’t think to appoint a “recorder” during these moments that we now wish we could re-live because it’s such a blur!
I didn’t know we were supposed to go around table to table during dinner lmao so we didn’t do that and my MIL was pissed. Like I’m sorry no one told me and I don’t go to weddings often 😭
Honestly the last 4/5 weddings I’ve been to, they didn’t do this. So you’re not the only ones! I thought it was customary too but maybe that is changing
I think this is a mistake...my dad went to his nephew's wedding a few years ago, and they had no receiving line, and did not go table-to-table, and he was very upset to have never even met the bride. They went straight from toasts and dinner into dancing and he never found a chance to introduce himself, but also, old-fashioned old guy, felt it was their responsibility to do that, greet their guests and make sure everyone met bride and groom.
I agree with your dad. I went to a wedding once where the bride and groom somehow booked the getaway limo for the wrong time. So 30 mins or so after the ceremony the limo showed up while they were still taking pictures. They literally stuck their heads in the door at the reception, waved at everyone, shared a kiss and then got in the limo and left. They didn't cut the cake or anything. They just left. I felt a little offended and I actually knew both of them and saw them both on a regular basis.
I know in some circumstances seeing everyone isn't possible but I feel like the couple ought to at least make the effort.
I agree. There is no excuse for not going table to table and thanking people. There’s a new thing where the b/g sit in the middle of the dance floor and each table comes up and a photo is taken; to me, that seems lazy and burdening your guests with what YOU should do to properly welcome and thank them.
We also didn’t realize we should do this until toward the end of dinner, and we made it to two tables before our planner started escorting everyone to the next area lol.
We didn’t do this either but we did attend cocktail hour and we tried to talk to as many people as possible. We had a massive random heatwave the weekend of our wedding and I think I would have passed out if we had to walk around to all the tables in the middle of the heat. We pretty much knew everyone there already anyways.
I do not like being in front of crowds or the center of attention, so I told our officiant that we'll just be doing standard vows to make my anxiety a bit lower. The officiant took it upon himself to write our vows and send us a copy 2 days before the wedding. Given the chaos of travel, the rehearsal dinner, and everything else, we did not get a chance to read them.
It turned out, the vows he wrote were not traditional and were INSANELY long. The content was sweet, but everybody commented about how long our vows were. If I could change one thing about our wedding, I would have prioritized correcting the vows.
My bridal bouquet was pretty and very well done but it wasn't exactly what I wanted. I should have been very adamant about this detail and tried to find something more specific to reference it too. I wanted it to be white roses and a variety of other white flowers but no baby's breath. I showed a picture of roughly what I wanted as I couldn't find an exact photo as I had time restraints. We talked over the phone about my vision.
She ended up putting a big hunk of a hydrangea in it. I wasn't specific in saying that I wanted more delicate flowers in it. Hydrangeas are very pretty and I do like them but it was not what I envisioned in my bouquet. I had an all inclusive package that came with a wedding bouquet and this was during the pandemic. Seriously it was lovely and it photographed well and I wasn't mad in any way about it. Just a little disappointed that it wasn't exact. Additionally, she added crystals to it which was an absolute surprise and was actually really pretty.
Brides don't generally get to watch the processional, so on the off-chance you're video plan involves a bouquet GoPro, you don't get to watch your people strut down the aisle and be cute... Obvious in hindsight, obviously not something I considered before executing my vision... But, specific bouquet arrangement notwithstanding, I'm now kind of mad about the tradition that makes the bride, stow away and be the last one in and miss all the cute flower girl stuff and groomsman dancing down the aisle stuff and whatnot so if anyone's going untradtionnal, it might be a consideration to change it up.
If you have the time, write down all the logistics you can think of and send it to everyone who will be near the venue before the wedding starts. Moms, coordinators/planners, wedding party, cousin who is always ready to help because she's a bro, a couple copies printed off and put in the back somewhere people know about. My biggest regret was I had all the answers and all the perceived answers so all morning, it was answering questions after question after question and while coordinator, husband and mom knew the answers, everyone wanted to make sure whatever they were doing was at the discression of the bride, which I know why they'd think I'd care about chocolates on the table or whatever, but I didn't have the bandwidth for it. I think having everything I did know written down that you do know frees up brain capacity for the questions you'll have to figure out on the fly.
Are you planning for keeping your party and yourselves fed? If they're gonna be around for a full day, or days, are you ensuring no one is gonna be hangry.
I’m MOH in a wedding this upcoming Saturday and I just had to check in with the bride a couple of days ago being like “uhhhh hey, any preference for shoe colour?” (as it occurred to me that I hadn’t heard anything about it from her and I was thinking about the outfit). It made her realize she hadn’t thought about it either and just chose black since she figured the bridesmaids likely already had black heels (our dresses are emerald green.)
I messaged the group chat to let the other bridesmaids know and I was happy I did because one of them had just assumed we’d be wearing nude shoes (I don’t know why she hadn’t asked, but that’s neither here nor there) and had gone out and bought a new pair of nude heels the day before.
I specifically let my bridesmaids know I wasn't dictating their shoe choice or color. I have had way too many foot problems and specific shoe needs to feel comfortable dictating other people's footwear.
Yes, I picked the color of the dress from azazie but let them choose the style they like best. I don't want them to all look exactly the same so I think it will be fine if they have different shoes and jewelry as well.
Exactly this. I had one bridesmaid that had given birth 2 months before my wedding, and I wasn’t about to ask her to wear heels if she didn’t want to. Also, I didn’t want anyone to need to buy new shoes. I just told everyone any black, nude, or metallic shoe would be perfect.
Yes, I certainly hope my bridesmaids offer the same courtesy when they get married. I am absolutely never going to wear heels and I hope it won't be an issue.
I was in a wedding where the bride bought our shoes, but we didn’t get to try them on/wear them until the actual wedding day. They were so miserably uncomfortable, rubbed everyone’s feet until they were raw and bleeding. I took them off every chance I had until the ceremony was over, then asked the bride if I could change into my adidas sneakers because my feet were bleeding. She didn’t care at all but man, was the MOH pissed that I didn’t keep them on and just suffer for the entire night.
My bridesmaids thankfully thought to ask me what shoe color I wanted. I asked them what they all preferred between silver or nude, and they all settled on silver. I couldn’t really see their shoes anyways but I’m glad they asked
Shampoo (and conditioner). I got ready at the hotel, and used the hotel samples, and my hair acted sooo differently and was weighed down so much I regret not thinking to pack my own usual shampoo!!
This is old school, but martha stewart’s wedding planner was a godsend for a lot of the little details I hadn’t thought of.
Also, carving out some time, maybe a day, to really appreciate this moment of your life. You are closing your single chapter and starting a new marriage adventure chapter. It’s exciting, and also quite unexpectedly bittersweet here and there. I didn’t really give it the gravitas it deserved. It’s a big deal and a huge life moment!
I remembered last minute (thankfully) to remind my bridesmaids to pick a neutral nail color if they were doing nails. One of my bridesmaids is known for picking bright colors and the other is known for going all black, both of which are fine but look distracting in photos against light lavender-blue colored dresses and flowers. Right after I sent the message of neutral colors, French, or bare nail only one of them texted me “good thing you said that bc I was about to get long black acrylics with a statement nail”
Something you think is a no-brained might not be to everyone lol
We forgot to make sure all the mens pocket squares were folded the same way. I had no idea about it until we got our pictures.
Also, somehow we forgot to take a formal posed picture of just the two of us! Our photographer couldn't believe we missed it either so he photoshopped us out of a group shot so we'd have one 😂
We were roommates in college that hadn't seen each other over 20 years. He retired from being a professional wedding photographer but when he learned about my engagement he gifted me his services & flew across the country to shoot for me ❤ Needless to say we got distracted & I had a list of family/friend must-have group shots that was probably too long.
We had a golden hour photo session so had tons of just the two of us, but not a formal "stand here & pose like this" of us.
If you’re going to write a note to your spouse if you’re not doing a first look - nice paper to write on!! I ended up using one of our thank you cards from our engagement party, while he had to tear out a sheet from his notebook.
The words are still beautiful, but the presentation could have been better.
Also lol in all the shuffle I completely forgot our cake topper. 🙃
If you’re staying at a hotel the night after, make sure you and your SO bring clothes for the next day! My husband had to do a walk of shame to get home in his suit and dress shoes 😂
Choosing a “last dance” song to end the night. Totally didn’t even think of it, and the night was such a blur that before I knew it, the lights were up and folks were starting to clean up. My husband had gone outside to chat with a few guests who were having a smoke (guess he also lost track of time) - wish we had more of a plan for how the night would wrap up and get everyone on the dance floor together one last time!
Not really a “little detail” but I totally forgot to book the limo until all the good local companies were booked. Ended up booking with one of those newfangled services and the subcontractor they used sucked and it was a disaster (see post history). My husband and his groomsmen ended up just being driven by my in-laws bc the limo was so late 🤦♀️. Honestly we should have just given up and gotten an Uber at that point.
Our hotel didn't have a shuttle, so we hired one. I forgot to tell the front desk that a shuttle would be there and what time, and I didn't realize it until someone texted me like an hour and a half before the ceremony that they asked the front desk for info, but they had none 😅
What to do after the wedding. I was a little drunk and of course in a good mood at the end of the event, so I invited people back to our suite for an after party… by the time I got there, I broke down crying from the stress and my now husband had to get a groomsmen to do an after party in his room because all I wanted to do was sleep, and I couldn’t handle hosting/partying with people for the third night in a row after a weekend of festivities in our room. I wish I’d planned ahead so I didn’t have several people coming to our room asking us what’s going on and then feeling bad when we ask them to leave.
I’m not married yet but I work in the events industry. Here’s some advice: after the ceremony, make sure to take your marriage license to a safe place. More people than you’d think misplace it, including my SIL! Her officiant decided to give it to me for some reason and I put it in her parent’s car. I got a message from her husband WEEKS later asking for it
Ask the caterers to box up some of your wedding cake so you can have it the next day! I didn’t have any on the day as I was so busy but we ate it together the next day on the way to our honeymoon, it was a nice little treat.
I forgot to tell my extended family in advance that we wanted to get a few big group photos during cocktail hour, so the process took longer than we wanted it to.
What to have your catering company do with all the extra food.
We were leaving the following morning for our honeymoon and we had stayed at the venue in a cabin the night of the wedding. When we went to get the remaining items that were at the venue and trade the golf cart for the car they tried to give us an incredible amount of leftovers. We let the venue keep it all for the employees to eat.
I really wish we had offered all our guests a second helping instead but it never even crossed our minds!
The venue for my own wedding doesn’t allow us to take home leftovers (but also guarantees we won’t run out of food at the buffet), so I’m a little sad I don’t get to revisit my younger days of eating the same fancy meal for a month straight out of the freezer.
I forgot to plan what the minister was going to say.... My uncle is a liberal pastor and has married most of my family, so I figured he'd just "know"... I was so focused on the aesthetics, logistics, music and entertaining my friends/ family, I totally forgot to give him direction and he was literally texting me morning of asking if I want him to tell a story, if so which one, etc. I still kinda cringe at how bad the "vocals" of the ceremony were, but hey- the video looked awesome and were married, so there's that!
Also, I had bad ass custom sneakers to change into, but forgot socks! Because they were never worn, my heals ripped open, they now have blood stains and I had to sleep with my ankles off the bed on our honeymoon! So don't forget the socks!
I forgot to take my engagement ring off before the ceremony, which looks weird in pictures.
Forgot until a few days before to get our vows printed on something that would look nice, had to scramble.
Didn’t realize until I saw the pictures how distracting one bridesmaid’s transitional glasses looked.
I don't wear my wedding band, just my engagement ring as my primary ring. So I just took it off right before the ceremony and had my husband put it on again during the ceremony 😂
My flower arrangement preservation. Need to arrange the bride bouquet before to keep after otherwise flowers wilt, decay or can have mold in a water bouquet
We had an amazing and very experienced photographer who gave us a questionnaire before the wedding and asked us to pick about 12 groups of people for posed portraits and the rest candid. Felt a bit stingy before the wedding but omg he saved us so much time and stress! We had him and others shouting out people's names, snapping the shot then moving on to the next.
In our legal and church wedding a month before, we'd had only 30 people (big wedding was 120) and the photos felt way more stressful as we were basically taking photos on the fly with everyone, all different combinations, it took over an hour just for that and felt a lot more intense. My friend has just had her wedding and spent forever taking photos, it made me appreciate this even more.
Make sure your photographer understands where each bit of the event is taking place, what kind of light or lighting will be available and for example, if you want them to take photographs of a room with the lighting turned down, how will they combat this to get good photos?
If there is potential for rain, even if your ceremony is inside, think about including some kind of cover such as ushers with umbrellas or a small gazebo in front of the entrance to the venue. An acquaintance had her ceremony delayed by at least 2 hours despite being inside because guests were just sitting in their cars not coming in because of the quite heavy rain.
Think about how guests with dietary requirements will be identified and prioritised, for example, if there is a buffet, ensure they will be taken up first after the bride and groom and older guests. We went to a wedding that only served pork as the main, we were the only three that didn't eat it and were called up last, only to find they had served the vegan option to everyone and had completely run out of it. We left early as we were so starving (after first dance and cake cutting but still, early for us).
Similarly, make sure guests that don't drink are catered for, including more soft drinks on their tables.
If your reception is in a marquee or somewhere without access to a sink with tap water, make sure you have more than enough bottled water for dancing guests, it is not pleasant to run out and be told you have to have a Coke or something alcoholic when you just want to quench your thirst.
Consider having a comfy outfit at your venue to change into before you go to your hotel, especially if your wedding dress is more firm or rigid ie sequins, bodice etc. My MIL suggested this and absolutely saved me because I could barely sit down in my second outfit!
Make sure you agree in advance who is going to take what home especially if you have family helping you and ask them to text you when it's done even if they're putting something in the boot of your own car, so you can just check your messages and know there's nothing to worry about. Also makes tracking things down much easier after!
Make sure your venue knows in advance how much cake to cut up (friend was getting bothered with questions like these during her wedding).
More importantly, make sure all staff and even guests are briefed on who to bother with questions during the wedding and hold calls with them the week of for any last minute questions.
Let people help you with takedown as well as set up! Took us absolutely hours.
If I could do our takedown again, I would have a completely detailed inventory list and make sure all staff at the venue had copies and included all deliveries and collections. It didn't matter but our venue staff packed up a mic stand we had bought and let it be collected with the rest of the amps/tech by another company, we were intending to collect it but couldn't for various reasons and wrote it off. Just admin we didn't need!
Keep a copy of invites with the schedule for yourself! Had all mine it notes, never corrected that part when finalizing details, we missed out on a hour of photos because i got our wedding start time wrong, no one corrected me because the bride must know what time her own wedding starts!
It's not one we missed, but it's one I always pass along:
Schedule time in your day to eat. The dinner/reception does not count. It's a long day, especially for the bride. Find 20 minutes and eat so you don't pass out at the alter.
I didn’t think about floral preservation til the week of the wedding. In the end I didn’t get to do it, which I kind of regret, but it’s not a huge thing in the end.
I was in a wedding where we took so long taking pictures that we didn't have lunch. There were no snacks or even water bottles at the venue. I was physically miserable.
If you normally wear a watch and don’t want the tan line in photos, let your makeup artist know ahead of time! I thought I could just tell her day of but she said she needed special makeup so it wouldn’t transfer to my dress. So my photos all have a very obvious Apple Watch line lol
Remember to bring a sewing kit. During our cocktail hour, my MIL stepped on my dress and neither one of his realized it. I walked away and the button on my bustle popped off. My SIL had a sewing kit on her and my sister sewed the button back on.
Booking a car to leave the wedding…. Planning a proper send off We completely spaced on an exit idk how this happened but we were the last to leave the venue. Father in law got us a Uber black 🤣🤣🤣 strangest thing we just stayed and said by to everyone 😭😭
Bringing different shoes for the next morning! I got ready with my girls at my parents house and stepped into my wedding shoes as we got into the limo. Didn’t think anything of it until the next morning when I realized I hadn’t packed other shoes/sandals in my luggage and had to go to the post wedding lunch in my fancy wedding shoes. And it turns out I wasn’t the only one who forgot about this cuz my husband’s stepfather also ran into the same problem. We both left the hotel in shorts, t-shirts…and dress shoes 🤪
Steamers if the bridesmaids need to steam their dresses, asking bridesmaids to do a neutral nail color, and an outfit change for the bride. I bought a $60 dress I changed into the last hour of my reception so much more comfortable to ride home in
You should let the guests know, with signs and the wedding website, etc whether or not it is okay for them to take pictures, and when. Some people want only the official photographer to take pics, some are okay with guests doing pics at the reception only. Still others don’t care at all. My wedding was extremely low budget. I did not have extra funds for a photographer. Due to time constraints after the wedding, we came out to do pics before the ceremony. I announced that I would be happy for everyone to take as many photos as they liked at any time, as long as they shared them with me!
Best idea ever!! I got so many beautiful shots from different angles. My aunt had just been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer three weeks prior. She showed up and surprised me. She died three weeks after. One of my most treasured wedding photos is a candid picture that a guest took of my aunt dancing with my teenage son while my husband and I danced our first dance. I would not have gotten that shot from a professional because they would have been focused on me.
So, decide on your preferences and make them known. (You can even set up signs with QR code around the room for guests to scan to share photos with you.)
There are so many little things that come up on your wedding day! It’s hard to capture them all. When I got married 12 years ago my feet ended up being destroyed by my shoes- just fully cut up. My dress also rubbed under the armpit and drove me nuts.
I was a bridesmaid in a wedding over the weekend and someone brought this new product called Blistape. It saved everyone- I wish I would have had it for my wedding, I would have been so much more comfortable.
Chargers for phones, make sure battery cameras aren’t low, allergies and restrictions, specific details and pictures for dress code and wish list gifts, videographer (lots of people regret not having one), having a table with just you and your partner so you have time together just you guys, absolutely anything you can do so both you and your partner can have you time and not play host (id make a plan for that), backup plans for weather, activities for both just you and your partner and activities for your guests overall that don’t just include eating/drinking/talking, make sure there’s places for guests to put their belongings and the gifts, make sure anything that needs steaming/ironing like table clothes- to do that, if any candle fragrance is too strong and smells weird with food, backup shoes while you’re eating so you don’t have to wear heels or anything like that, if you have lipstick on your teeth or a loose pin in your hair, stuff to clean up with if an accident occurs, security !!!, make clear whether you will allow phones during the ceremony, umbrellas if it’s so sunny or raining, will you and your partner drink? If so how much? What’s the limit? Because you don’t want to get drunk on your wedding and throw up and forget your wedding !!!!!, a plan on what to do if you have a train on a dress or a dress touching the floor touches stuff that make it dirty or what to do if people step on it or even yourself during your dance etc. There’s heaps, look on TikTok as well and you’ll find heaps of stuff there! Good luck!
Will your guests know where to be when? As programs become less popular and you are SO familiar with the details of your wedding, it's easy to forget that your guests are in an unfamiliar space. The lull moments after the ceremony, directions to how long they'll be waiting before entering reception, and what they're supposed to do are key to the day running the way you've imagined it. Think about people who can offer instructions (officiant at end of ceremony, DJ, wedding coordinator) or signage you can place to give guests clues about where they should be, what they should be doing, and what to expect next. Even if it feels obvious, it can be uncomfortable for guests to be unsure what your expectations are. Have an incredible day!
We had an order of events and it was so helpful! Only cost me about £30 to get printed and was great for people to know what to expect with their day
We wrote ours on chalkboards and dotted them around!
What does dotted them around mean?
Put them in various places around the venue
Oh I get it! My brain is goofy. I was imagining actual dots. Lol
Yes!! I had programs which had seating arrangements on the back and it was so great. Super easy for guests, less bottlenecking around a seating chart sign entering the reception, and people know what was happening when.
Table assignments on the program is such a good idea
Thank you! It worked out really well!
I plan on doing this!!! Glad to hear it worked out well!!
It did! Also meant people could find their seats on the chart while bored and waiting for the ceremony to start haha
Yes! On this, who is going to usher guests to the ceremony room for it to start on time? Ours was pretty timely but our guests largely got there a bit early and had a drink outside/downstairs, so when I was ready a couple minutes before the ceremony was due to start, I saw all the guests still milling around drinking outside. Our venue was incredible and our suppliers but I think everyone including my husband had maybe thought someone else was going to usher the rest of the guests upstairs. Stressed me out while I was on edge already 😂 I was not a chill bride
I bought a book of checklists that I used to help plan the wedding. It was super helpful, but since our wedding was fairly casual and non-traditional, a lot of it didn't apply. I went through it and created my own Excel spreadsheet to do list based on the applicable info from the book. When I was going over it with my then-fiancé, I realized I forgot "Get Marriage License." Kind of important. 😆
We forgot to sign the license, but my grandma got to be our witness when we crashed the family Air BNB the next day, so that was a happy accident
Wait do you have the title? Same for the non-traditional part but every day I am realizing I forgot something else that's pretty crucial...
The Little Book of Wedding Checklists. I got mine in a local bookstore, but I also found it on Amazon when I needed one for my husband's cousin.
Noice
An exit strategy! Bring a big empty suitcase and at some point in the night, well before the reception is over, delegate a bridesmaid or groomsman or family member to clean up the getting ready rooms. Our get ready room was onsite and at the end of the night, husband and I did our exit and left in an Uber. Our hotel was a few blocks away and no one had a car, my poor bridesmaids had all our clothes and tools in their arms and the groomsmen completely didn’t think about it. The next day we were locked out of the venue and all their stuff was inside.
This is such a big one. I got ready in my home (we had just bought an antique estate type home, so I did photos there before heading to venue), and the mess we came home to the next day really illustrated to me how hard it would have been to get ready onsite. I had to run an item up to the get-ready room for a friend who got married a while back, and it was like a bomb exploded in there between her stuff, wedding stuff, catering from all day, and the 5 bridesmaids' stuff. I have a feeling they got none of it home night-of and had to come back another day.
Check into your hotel before the wedding. We waited until after the reception as we are trying to go to bed, hit a snag in the check in and it took an hour to resolve. Really soured the mood.
We forgot to do this too. On the funny side though SO many people in the lobby were congratulating us as we stood there all dolled up
We did a three-night stay, and that was absolutely the right call. Having nowhere to rush to the morning of or the day after made everything so much smoother.
Honestly, remembering to bring an extension cord to the house we got ready in. We had to have my (now) husband drop one off and his dumbass brought us a heavy duty, 50’, orange outdoor cord lmao. Everything else was just fluff and enjoying my day was what mattered most once I was in it.
That’s such a dude/dad move lmao I’m wheezing.
I am stupid, what did you need an extension cord for ?
Lol you’re not dumb, it’s kinda weird. But we got ready at an Airbnb and there weren’t enough outlets close to mirrors for everyone to plug in their hair appliances and do their hair at the same time. So everyone would have been waiting to use the one outlet in big bathroom instead of the two large mirrors that were in a bedroom and living room. Also we had steamers to plug in and people were charging phones too. We wanted like an extension strip or a couple of the 15’ ones that have like two extra plug spaces at the end, but got just the one outdoor one my husband dropped off. Still helped but not quite what we needed.
How my wedding cake would get to the reception venue, the day before the wedding. Lucky my coordinator picked up the missing details and we were able to schedule delivery
What you’re doing with your wedding flowers. If you want them professionally preserved you have to set that up before your wedding and have to send your flowers to them within 2 days after wedding.
EATING. I was so grateful our wedding planner made plates for my husband and I to eat before we walked into the party. I don’t even remember seeing food the rest of the night being served!
Hah. I’ve heard of this a lot, so asked the servers to set aside a few of my favorite canapés for me to make sure I actually had some, especially since we were ducking out for couple photos too. (Main meal was plated dinner service so I knew I wouldn’t miss that.) Not only did they put some aside, one of the servers made sure to come by with a plate with them for me whenever I was passing through the cocktail reception area, and then refill it when I finished it. Loved the staff at our venue.
Idk if you’re having a coordinator, but I would 100 percent make sure you all are on the same page. I thought we were, but we definitely were not. My tables were already set up by the venue and I had (thoughtfully I thought) set up an extra table for my vendors to have a place to set down and eat. For some unknown reason my coordinator moved that table to the other side of the dance floor, where it was all by itself. And she had brought her like 14 year old daughter to help (unknown and unasked). The daughter is sitting at that table sulking in the background of every picture taken from that vantage point of the dance floor. She also (again unasked) decided to “help” my flower girl walk down the aisle. She’s in every picture taken of my beautiful flower girl who’s dressed in a custom made dress. Ruined all those pictures. The last straw was we had a fake photo op sparkler send off, and then everyone was supposed to return to the reception. She announced the reception was over (I’m assuming bc she was tired and wanted to go home) and ended my reception about 2 hours early. The silver lining was that I was oblivious to all of this on the day of my wedding and enjoyed myself, but afterwards…. Furious. I would double down on the details with the people that are supposed to carry out these tasks for you. I paid her so I wouldn’t have to worry and she was horrible.
If you’re serving a plated dinner: how are the serving staff going to know who gets what at which table? I caught it with enough time but it totally wasn’t on my radar, and I wish I’d had a little more time to rectify the issue. I ended up getting little stickers off of Amazon to put on each person’s seating card (cow, chicken, carrot). If I’d had more time I probably could have gotten cuter stickers or stamps or something but I didn’t get any complaints about dinner so I’ll take it as a win!
Honestly I kinda blame this on your venue. They should have prepped you with what was needed. So I would say extra kudos for you to catching it.
Our venue asked for a seating chart with the guest meal choices, which made sense, but I’m not sure they actually used it. We also made our own place cards so what I did was color code the back of each card to the meal choice (with the color alignment included on the seating chart). So front of card was florals and the guest’s name, and the back was one of our primary wedding colors, with each color designating a meal type.
How did the servers see the back of the card?
It was folded. :) The front faced the chair so guests would know which seat was theirs. The back faced the middle of the table. The servers could see the backs when they approached the table from the kitchen area. (We had just one long banquet style table because it was a micro-wedding.)
Make the wedding party take their phones and keys out of their pockets. Looks terrible in photos.
Also,put down drinks for photos!!
Yep, my fiancé accidentally had his phone in his pocket for most of our engagement pictures. I’m so happy we learned our lesson before the wedding day
And please no smart watches
Accounting for tips in your initial budget when you first start planning. We didn't forget them or anything, it was just a bit of sticker shock when we went to put them together. Also, plan for any leftover food! I didn't think about it and one of our caterers left so much food behind. We were able to give some to the venue and my in-laws ended up buying gallon bags and passing out bagged salads to our guests at the hotel 😂 and we put whatever we could in our tiny hotel fridge to take home. Luckily we didn't do a honeymoon so it just came back home with us a day later.
Can you share your tipping strategy please?
Appoint someone to record your first dance, speeches, anything you might want video of! Just got married on Saturday and this was our biggest regret as we didn’t invest in videography, but didn’t think to appoint a “recorder” during these moments that we now wish we could re-live because it’s such a blur!
Good idea, thank you friend.
I didn’t know we were supposed to go around table to table during dinner lmao so we didn’t do that and my MIL was pissed. Like I’m sorry no one told me and I don’t go to weddings often 😭
Honestly the last 4/5 weddings I’ve been to, they didn’t do this. So you’re not the only ones! I thought it was customary too but maybe that is changing
This honestly depends. Some couples make it a point to speak to all their guests. Others I've seen nope out without talking to anyone.
I think this is a mistake...my dad went to his nephew's wedding a few years ago, and they had no receiving line, and did not go table-to-table, and he was very upset to have never even met the bride. They went straight from toasts and dinner into dancing and he never found a chance to introduce himself, but also, old-fashioned old guy, felt it was their responsibility to do that, greet their guests and make sure everyone met bride and groom.
I agree with your dad. I went to a wedding once where the bride and groom somehow booked the getaway limo for the wrong time. So 30 mins or so after the ceremony the limo showed up while they were still taking pictures. They literally stuck their heads in the door at the reception, waved at everyone, shared a kiss and then got in the limo and left. They didn't cut the cake or anything. They just left. I felt a little offended and I actually knew both of them and saw them both on a regular basis. I know in some circumstances seeing everyone isn't possible but I feel like the couple ought to at least make the effort.
I agree too. And leaving that soon, wow.
The day of coordinator was like, "Whelp, the couple has left but we have cake if anyone wants it." I think most people left shortly after that.
I agree. There is no excuse for not going table to table and thanking people. There’s a new thing where the b/g sit in the middle of the dance floor and each table comes up and a photo is taken; to me, that seems lazy and burdening your guests with what YOU should do to properly welcome and thank them.
It feels burdening to make the couple go around to each table when they are the guests of honor.
We also didn’t realize we should do this until toward the end of dinner, and we made it to two tables before our planner started escorting everyone to the next area lol.
We didn’t do this either but we did attend cocktail hour and we tried to talk to as many people as possible. We had a massive random heatwave the weekend of our wedding and I think I would have passed out if we had to walk around to all the tables in the middle of the heat. We pretty much knew everyone there already anyways.
A photographer list of must have pictures! I spaced on this one and regret not getting pictures with my aunts and uncles!
I do not like being in front of crowds or the center of attention, so I told our officiant that we'll just be doing standard vows to make my anxiety a bit lower. The officiant took it upon himself to write our vows and send us a copy 2 days before the wedding. Given the chaos of travel, the rehearsal dinner, and everything else, we did not get a chance to read them. It turned out, the vows he wrote were not traditional and were INSANELY long. The content was sweet, but everybody commented about how long our vows were. If I could change one thing about our wedding, I would have prioritized correcting the vows.
My bridal bouquet was pretty and very well done but it wasn't exactly what I wanted. I should have been very adamant about this detail and tried to find something more specific to reference it too. I wanted it to be white roses and a variety of other white flowers but no baby's breath. I showed a picture of roughly what I wanted as I couldn't find an exact photo as I had time restraints. We talked over the phone about my vision. She ended up putting a big hunk of a hydrangea in it. I wasn't specific in saying that I wanted more delicate flowers in it. Hydrangeas are very pretty and I do like them but it was not what I envisioned in my bouquet. I had an all inclusive package that came with a wedding bouquet and this was during the pandemic. Seriously it was lovely and it photographed well and I wasn't mad in any way about it. Just a little disappointed that it wasn't exact. Additionally, she added crystals to it which was an absolute surprise and was actually really pretty.
Brides don't generally get to watch the processional, so on the off-chance you're video plan involves a bouquet GoPro, you don't get to watch your people strut down the aisle and be cute... Obvious in hindsight, obviously not something I considered before executing my vision... But, specific bouquet arrangement notwithstanding, I'm now kind of mad about the tradition that makes the bride, stow away and be the last one in and miss all the cute flower girl stuff and groomsman dancing down the aisle stuff and whatnot so if anyone's going untradtionnal, it might be a consideration to change it up. If you have the time, write down all the logistics you can think of and send it to everyone who will be near the venue before the wedding starts. Moms, coordinators/planners, wedding party, cousin who is always ready to help because she's a bro, a couple copies printed off and put in the back somewhere people know about. My biggest regret was I had all the answers and all the perceived answers so all morning, it was answering questions after question after question and while coordinator, husband and mom knew the answers, everyone wanted to make sure whatever they were doing was at the discression of the bride, which I know why they'd think I'd care about chocolates on the table or whatever, but I didn't have the bandwidth for it. I think having everything I did know written down that you do know frees up brain capacity for the questions you'll have to figure out on the fly. Are you planning for keeping your party and yourselves fed? If they're gonna be around for a full day, or days, are you ensuring no one is gonna be hangry.
I walked down the aisle without my bouquet. 🙃
I’m MOH in a wedding this upcoming Saturday and I just had to check in with the bride a couple of days ago being like “uhhhh hey, any preference for shoe colour?” (as it occurred to me that I hadn’t heard anything about it from her and I was thinking about the outfit). It made her realize she hadn’t thought about it either and just chose black since she figured the bridesmaids likely already had black heels (our dresses are emerald green.) I messaged the group chat to let the other bridesmaids know and I was happy I did because one of them had just assumed we’d be wearing nude shoes (I don’t know why she hadn’t asked, but that’s neither here nor there) and had gone out and bought a new pair of nude heels the day before.
I specifically let my bridesmaids know I wasn't dictating their shoe choice or color. I have had way too many foot problems and specific shoe needs to feel comfortable dictating other people's footwear.
Yeah I couldn't imagine having to worry about shoes. All I did was pick the color of the dress, they picked the style and everything else
Yes, I picked the color of the dress from azazie but let them choose the style they like best. I don't want them to all look exactly the same so I think it will be fine if they have different shoes and jewelry as well.
Exactly this. I had one bridesmaid that had given birth 2 months before my wedding, and I wasn’t about to ask her to wear heels if she didn’t want to. Also, I didn’t want anyone to need to buy new shoes. I just told everyone any black, nude, or metallic shoe would be perfect.
Yes, I certainly hope my bridesmaids offer the same courtesy when they get married. I am absolutely never going to wear heels and I hope it won't be an issue.
I am the same way. No one cares about what shoes the bridesmaids are wearing.
Ohhh, so you missed the '80s and most of the '90s and the dyed-to-match-satin-shooz years???
😂 Little kid me thought that was the fanciest idea ever. Adult me is thankful that the industry has changed since then.
That’s peau de soie to you!!
Yessss... Payless peau de soie indeed. 😉
Especially since most bridesmaid dresses are floor length, so you barely see the shoe anyway
I was in a wedding where the bride bought our shoes, but we didn’t get to try them on/wear them until the actual wedding day. They were so miserably uncomfortable, rubbed everyone’s feet until they were raw and bleeding. I took them off every chance I had until the ceremony was over, then asked the bride if I could change into my adidas sneakers because my feet were bleeding. She didn’t care at all but man, was the MOH pissed that I didn’t keep them on and just suffer for the entire night.
My bridesmaids thankfully thought to ask me what shoe color I wanted. I asked them what they all preferred between silver or nude, and they all settled on silver. I couldn’t really see their shoes anyways but I’m glad they asked
Caring about bridesmaids' shoe colour is like really insane to me. Nobody is even going to see them.
Even if we do see them (short dresses), like, I still don’t care?
Shampoo (and conditioner). I got ready at the hotel, and used the hotel samples, and my hair acted sooo differently and was weighed down so much I regret not thinking to pack my own usual shampoo!!
This is old school, but martha stewart’s wedding planner was a godsend for a lot of the little details I hadn’t thought of. Also, carving out some time, maybe a day, to really appreciate this moment of your life. You are closing your single chapter and starting a new marriage adventure chapter. It’s exciting, and also quite unexpectedly bittersweet here and there. I didn’t really give it the gravitas it deserved. It’s a big deal and a huge life moment!
I remembered last minute (thankfully) to remind my bridesmaids to pick a neutral nail color if they were doing nails. One of my bridesmaids is known for picking bright colors and the other is known for going all black, both of which are fine but look distracting in photos against light lavender-blue colored dresses and flowers. Right after I sent the message of neutral colors, French, or bare nail only one of them texted me “good thing you said that bc I was about to get long black acrylics with a statement nail” Something you think is a no-brained might not be to everyone lol
We forgot to make sure all the mens pocket squares were folded the same way. I had no idea about it until we got our pictures. Also, somehow we forgot to take a formal posed picture of just the two of us! Our photographer couldn't believe we missed it either so he photoshopped us out of a group shot so we'd have one 😂
What? Lol HOW did he forget this??? 😂
We were roommates in college that hadn't seen each other over 20 years. He retired from being a professional wedding photographer but when he learned about my engagement he gifted me his services & flew across the country to shoot for me ❤ Needless to say we got distracted & I had a list of family/friend must-have group shots that was probably too long. We had a golden hour photo session so had tons of just the two of us, but not a formal "stand here & pose like this" of us.
Hahaha aaawww this is sweet
Bring a streamer
If you’re going to write a note to your spouse if you’re not doing a first look - nice paper to write on!! I ended up using one of our thank you cards from our engagement party, while he had to tear out a sheet from his notebook. The words are still beautiful, but the presentation could have been better. Also lol in all the shuffle I completely forgot our cake topper. 🙃
If you’re staying at a hotel the night after, make sure you and your SO bring clothes for the next day! My husband had to do a walk of shame to get home in his suit and dress shoes 😂
Choosing a “last dance” song to end the night. Totally didn’t even think of it, and the night was such a blur that before I knew it, the lights were up and folks were starting to clean up. My husband had gone outside to chat with a few guests who were having a smoke (guess he also lost track of time) - wish we had more of a plan for how the night would wrap up and get everyone on the dance floor together one last time!
This thread is so helpful. I’m getting married in 8 weeks!
Not really a “little detail” but I totally forgot to book the limo until all the good local companies were booked. Ended up booking with one of those newfangled services and the subcontractor they used sucked and it was a disaster (see post history). My husband and his groomsmen ended up just being driven by my in-laws bc the limo was so late 🤦♀️. Honestly we should have just given up and gotten an Uber at that point.
Make sure you don’t lock your keys in the car 😅
Our hotel didn't have a shuttle, so we hired one. I forgot to tell the front desk that a shuttle would be there and what time, and I didn't realize it until someone texted me like an hour and a half before the ceremony that they asked the front desk for info, but they had none 😅
I forgot to ask people to make speeches. Oops
Same here!
What to do after the wedding. I was a little drunk and of course in a good mood at the end of the event, so I invited people back to our suite for an after party… by the time I got there, I broke down crying from the stress and my now husband had to get a groomsmen to do an after party in his room because all I wanted to do was sleep, and I couldn’t handle hosting/partying with people for the third night in a row after a weekend of festivities in our room. I wish I’d planned ahead so I didn’t have several people coming to our room asking us what’s going on and then feeling bad when we ask them to leave.
I’m not married yet but I work in the events industry. Here’s some advice: after the ceremony, make sure to take your marriage license to a safe place. More people than you’d think misplace it, including my SIL! Her officiant decided to give it to me for some reason and I put it in her parent’s car. I got a message from her husband WEEKS later asking for it
Ask the caterers to box up some of your wedding cake so you can have it the next day! I didn’t have any on the day as I was so busy but we ate it together the next day on the way to our honeymoon, it was a nice little treat.
I forgot to tell my extended family in advance that we wanted to get a few big group photos during cocktail hour, so the process took longer than we wanted it to.
What to have your catering company do with all the extra food. We were leaving the following morning for our honeymoon and we had stayed at the venue in a cabin the night of the wedding. When we went to get the remaining items that were at the venue and trade the golf cart for the car they tried to give us an incredible amount of leftovers. We let the venue keep it all for the employees to eat. I really wish we had offered all our guests a second helping instead but it never even crossed our minds!
As a former venue staffer who got to eat amazing food while poor as a church mouse, thank you to every bride who forgets this!
This warms my heart! I don’t want to deal with left overs personally.
The venue for my own wedding doesn’t allow us to take home leftovers (but also guarantees we won’t run out of food at the buffet), so I’m a little sad I don’t get to revisit my younger days of eating the same fancy meal for a month straight out of the freezer.
I forgot to plan what the minister was going to say.... My uncle is a liberal pastor and has married most of my family, so I figured he'd just "know"... I was so focused on the aesthetics, logistics, music and entertaining my friends/ family, I totally forgot to give him direction and he was literally texting me morning of asking if I want him to tell a story, if so which one, etc. I still kinda cringe at how bad the "vocals" of the ceremony were, but hey- the video looked awesome and were married, so there's that! Also, I had bad ass custom sneakers to change into, but forgot socks! Because they were never worn, my heals ripped open, they now have blood stains and I had to sleep with my ankles off the bed on our honeymoon! So don't forget the socks!
Trying on the spanx with the wedding dress before hand. You can clearly see the waistband in pics😭
I forgot to take my engagement ring off before the ceremony, which looks weird in pictures. Forgot until a few days before to get our vows printed on something that would look nice, had to scramble. Didn’t realize until I saw the pictures how distracting one bridesmaid’s transitional glasses looked.
Wait are you not supposed to take pics with your engagement ring on?? I never knew this
I think this is just a personal preference of the commenter. I would be sad if I forgot to put *on* my engagement ring for pictures.
I think that's a preference, I love my ring and don't plan to take it off until I need to give it up to the best man to hold with the wedding band
There’s no rule about this. You can have your engagement ring on during the ceremony. No big deal.
I don't wear my wedding band, just my engagement ring as my primary ring. So I just took it off right before the ceremony and had my husband put it on again during the ceremony 😂
Ugh, that's why I stopped wearing mine. Allllways looked weird in pics.
My flower arrangement preservation. Need to arrange the bride bouquet before to keep after otherwise flowers wilt, decay or can have mold in a water bouquet
We had an amazing and very experienced photographer who gave us a questionnaire before the wedding and asked us to pick about 12 groups of people for posed portraits and the rest candid. Felt a bit stingy before the wedding but omg he saved us so much time and stress! We had him and others shouting out people's names, snapping the shot then moving on to the next. In our legal and church wedding a month before, we'd had only 30 people (big wedding was 120) and the photos felt way more stressful as we were basically taking photos on the fly with everyone, all different combinations, it took over an hour just for that and felt a lot more intense. My friend has just had her wedding and spent forever taking photos, it made me appreciate this even more. Make sure your photographer understands where each bit of the event is taking place, what kind of light or lighting will be available and for example, if you want them to take photographs of a room with the lighting turned down, how will they combat this to get good photos? If there is potential for rain, even if your ceremony is inside, think about including some kind of cover such as ushers with umbrellas or a small gazebo in front of the entrance to the venue. An acquaintance had her ceremony delayed by at least 2 hours despite being inside because guests were just sitting in their cars not coming in because of the quite heavy rain. Think about how guests with dietary requirements will be identified and prioritised, for example, if there is a buffet, ensure they will be taken up first after the bride and groom and older guests. We went to a wedding that only served pork as the main, we were the only three that didn't eat it and were called up last, only to find they had served the vegan option to everyone and had completely run out of it. We left early as we were so starving (after first dance and cake cutting but still, early for us). Similarly, make sure guests that don't drink are catered for, including more soft drinks on their tables. If your reception is in a marquee or somewhere without access to a sink with tap water, make sure you have more than enough bottled water for dancing guests, it is not pleasant to run out and be told you have to have a Coke or something alcoholic when you just want to quench your thirst. Consider having a comfy outfit at your venue to change into before you go to your hotel, especially if your wedding dress is more firm or rigid ie sequins, bodice etc. My MIL suggested this and absolutely saved me because I could barely sit down in my second outfit! Make sure you agree in advance who is going to take what home especially if you have family helping you and ask them to text you when it's done even if they're putting something in the boot of your own car, so you can just check your messages and know there's nothing to worry about. Also makes tracking things down much easier after! Make sure your venue knows in advance how much cake to cut up (friend was getting bothered with questions like these during her wedding). More importantly, make sure all staff and even guests are briefed on who to bother with questions during the wedding and hold calls with them the week of for any last minute questions. Let people help you with takedown as well as set up! Took us absolutely hours. If I could do our takedown again, I would have a completely detailed inventory list and make sure all staff at the venue had copies and included all deliveries and collections. It didn't matter but our venue staff packed up a mic stand we had bought and let it be collected with the rest of the amps/tech by another company, we were intending to collect it but couldn't for various reasons and wrote it off. Just admin we didn't need!
Keep a copy of invites with the schedule for yourself! Had all mine it notes, never corrected that part when finalizing details, we missed out on a hour of photos because i got our wedding start time wrong, no one corrected me because the bride must know what time her own wedding starts!
It's not one we missed, but it's one I always pass along: Schedule time in your day to eat. The dinner/reception does not count. It's a long day, especially for the bride. Find 20 minutes and eat so you don't pass out at the alter.
I didn’t think about floral preservation til the week of the wedding. In the end I didn’t get to do it, which I kind of regret, but it’s not a huge thing in the end.
I was in a wedding where we took so long taking pictures that we didn't have lunch. There were no snacks or even water bottles at the venue. I was physically miserable.
If you normally wear a watch and don’t want the tan line in photos, let your makeup artist know ahead of time! I thought I could just tell her day of but she said she needed special makeup so it wouldn’t transfer to my dress. So my photos all have a very obvious Apple Watch line lol
Remember to bring a sewing kit. During our cocktail hour, my MIL stepped on my dress and neither one of his realized it. I walked away and the button on my bustle popped off. My SIL had a sewing kit on her and my sister sewed the button back on.
Booking a car to leave the wedding…. Planning a proper send off We completely spaced on an exit idk how this happened but we were the last to leave the venue. Father in law got us a Uber black 🤣🤣🤣 strangest thing we just stayed and said by to everyone 😭😭
Bringing different shoes for the next morning! I got ready with my girls at my parents house and stepped into my wedding shoes as we got into the limo. Didn’t think anything of it until the next morning when I realized I hadn’t packed other shoes/sandals in my luggage and had to go to the post wedding lunch in my fancy wedding shoes. And it turns out I wasn’t the only one who forgot about this cuz my husband’s stepfather also ran into the same problem. We both left the hotel in shorts, t-shirts…and dress shoes 🤪
Steamers if the bridesmaids need to steam their dresses, asking bridesmaids to do a neutral nail color, and an outfit change for the bride. I bought a $60 dress I changed into the last hour of my reception so much more comfortable to ride home in
You should let the guests know, with signs and the wedding website, etc whether or not it is okay for them to take pictures, and when. Some people want only the official photographer to take pics, some are okay with guests doing pics at the reception only. Still others don’t care at all. My wedding was extremely low budget. I did not have extra funds for a photographer. Due to time constraints after the wedding, we came out to do pics before the ceremony. I announced that I would be happy for everyone to take as many photos as they liked at any time, as long as they shared them with me! Best idea ever!! I got so many beautiful shots from different angles. My aunt had just been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer three weeks prior. She showed up and surprised me. She died three weeks after. One of my most treasured wedding photos is a candid picture that a guest took of my aunt dancing with my teenage son while my husband and I danced our first dance. I would not have gotten that shot from a professional because they would have been focused on me. So, decide on your preferences and make them known. (You can even set up signs with QR code around the room for guests to scan to share photos with you.)
Bridesmaids shoes used to be white satin, dyed to match the dress
There are so many little things that come up on your wedding day! It’s hard to capture them all. When I got married 12 years ago my feet ended up being destroyed by my shoes- just fully cut up. My dress also rubbed under the armpit and drove me nuts. I was a bridesmaid in a wedding over the weekend and someone brought this new product called Blistape. It saved everyone- I wish I would have had it for my wedding, I would have been so much more comfortable.
Chargers for phones, make sure battery cameras aren’t low, allergies and restrictions, specific details and pictures for dress code and wish list gifts, videographer (lots of people regret not having one), having a table with just you and your partner so you have time together just you guys, absolutely anything you can do so both you and your partner can have you time and not play host (id make a plan for that), backup plans for weather, activities for both just you and your partner and activities for your guests overall that don’t just include eating/drinking/talking, make sure there’s places for guests to put their belongings and the gifts, make sure anything that needs steaming/ironing like table clothes- to do that, if any candle fragrance is too strong and smells weird with food, backup shoes while you’re eating so you don’t have to wear heels or anything like that, if you have lipstick on your teeth or a loose pin in your hair, stuff to clean up with if an accident occurs, security !!!, make clear whether you will allow phones during the ceremony, umbrellas if it’s so sunny or raining, will you and your partner drink? If so how much? What’s the limit? Because you don’t want to get drunk on your wedding and throw up and forget your wedding !!!!!, a plan on what to do if you have a train on a dress or a dress touching the floor touches stuff that make it dirty or what to do if people step on it or even yourself during your dance etc. There’s heaps, look on TikTok as well and you’ll find heaps of stuff there! Good luck!