What I would and wouldn't do again...

I just thought it might be helpful to know what i thought was worth doing and what was a waste of time/money/efforts. I think if I had known these ahead of time I could have saved money in some areas to spend on things that were more important...

I WOULD DO IT AGAIN:

Writing our own ceremony - this made it really special and I truly loved every minute of it!

Bouquet - I didn't think it would be important but I loved it. It was so bright and beautiful and it gave me something to hold onto for dear life when I thought I was going to burst into tears (of joy).

Video - Even though I don't have the whole thing yet I love watching the teaser video that Marci sent me. Plus it's great for those friends who weren't able to make it.

Welcome Dinner - Everyone had such a great time at Baja Cantina for our welcome dinner that I wasn't sure we were going to be able to top it for the wedding.

Bus for Welcome Dinner - the best decision ever. I have no idea how people would have found it or gotten there if we didn't have the bus.

DJ for our iPod - thank god we also hired a DJ to run our ipod. When the iPod froze half way through the reception he had music up and running off his system in less than a minute.

Chuppah w/ fake flower garlands - I loved the way this looked. Plus it provided us some shade on a very hot and sunny day.

Getting Married in Cabo - Ok, maybe this was the best decision I made (but the bus is 2nd!). Everyone had the best time and a number of people told me it was honestly the most fun they have ever had at a wedding.

Maye Cortinas - was awesome and she was able to hire vendors who were much more affordable than the ones the hotel provided.

Polaroid Guestbook

I WISH I HAD SKIPPED IT:

Cupcakes/Cake - no one ate them they were too full or drunk.

Beach bonfire - it was pretty unnecessary and people only sat down there for about an hour.

Believe it or not... My gorgeous (and expensive) dress. I ended up stressing so much over how it would look. Plus in order to afford it I am selling it so I don't have it as a keepsake. I loved how it looked and I felt beautiful... but there was so much time, money and stress involved in getting it and having it look perfect that if I had to do it all over again I might skip it. Don't get me wrong - if I could have kept it then my feelings may be different.

Mariachi Trio for ceremony and cocktail hour. I don't know if anyone could really hear them - they were really soft and in retrospect it would have been cheaper to just have music played through the sound system.

Thanks for that! I always wonder what pays off, and what you could have done without - those are all good things to know. But reading the part about your dress made me sad!! You look amazing in it - money/stress worth it IMO. Tammy's right, the pro pictures will totally make it worth it.

Oh great list,, I think I'll put mine in here too...

I WOULD DO IT AGAIN:

Cabo.. Hell yeah, it was a blast and now we want to move there it's really the best of both worlds if you want to party you can if you want to relax you can....

Sheraton It really was the prefect location for us

Bouquet I loved, loved it..

Maye She really was great and I don't even what to think about how the day would have turned out if she wasn't there.

Juan Need I say more.. Granted I still have yet to see my pictures but he really is great, fun and super nice.

I WISH I HAD SKIPPED IT:

The music, it didn't end up at all what I wanted, since the jazz trio bailed on us (or should I say raised their rate by almost $400.00) so we ended up doing a panio player... NOT AT ALL CABO

Rose petal toss It ended up flying over our heads and landed on the beach on the far side of the chairs

Ceremony fans Yes they were pretty, but now one person used it, it was a windy day in cabo the day of our wedding.

What I wish we did

Chair ties.. Yeah I know sounds silly but I think it really adds to the decor

Hair & Makeup at Hive Over all my hair turned out ok but the stress it put me though at the Sheraton and having them redo it several times I wish I spent the extra money and had it done at Hive

TTD It was probably the one BIG thing I wish I did, if we had the extra money it would have been on the top of our list.

OK, thanks for starting this Kash- great thread! I know other brides have done this and I think it really helps...

I'll go!

What I WOULD Do Again:

Dreams Los Cabos: I know people are probably tired of Dreams weddings on this board, but I couldn't be happier with my choice of venue. The food, atmosphere, location, and service was perfect for my group. People can't stop talking about how perfect my wedding was.

Be My Own WC, with the help of Mariana!: I almost freaked out and hired a day-of WC at the last minute. I totally didn't need it. I was very organized and planned well ahead of time. It saved me a lot of $$ I didn't need to spend. With all the resources on this board, and Mariana, who is AWESOME, it's probably not necessary unless you have a huge group.

Juan Carlos Tapia: I think my pics speak for themselves!

and on that note: Trash the Dress!: It was soooo much fun and we got such awesome pics, it was well worth the extra $$ to me.

Buy a Reasonable wedding dress: Puhleeeeeeze, nobody take me wrong on this one. I LOVE Kash's Scarlet and wish my budget would allow for that! A dress is such a personal choice, but I set a budget limit in the beginning and decided to stay within that and not even try on dresses above that limit. I was able to find not one, but TWO dresses for about half what I budgeted and I felt gorgeous that day. There are moments where I wished I had a designer dress, but looking back now on that day, my dress was perfect for me and I have no guilt whatsoever about what I spent. My husband thought I was gorgeous, but would have thought I was beautiful in pretty much any dress. The 3K I spent on photography was $$ MUCH better spent, in my opinion.

OOT Bags: My guests loved them, and used pretty much everything in them.

Chinese Lanterns & Luminarias: These were relatively inexpensive and added a great ambience to the reception.

Glow Necklaces at the reception: OK, this was probably the best 20 bucks I spent for the whole wedding. We had a blast with them- people probably treated them similarly to what others have done with chair ties, but no decor was harmed! lol

IPOD Reception: For my small group it was great. I'm so glad we didn't spend $$ on a DJ. We played what we wanted, changed up the playlist a little, and saved about $500 (at least).

Mariachi: They were great, and provided the atmosphere I wanted.

Use Tammy as my TA: She was an absolute lifesaver on multiple locations. I'm still trying to think of the appropriate thank you gift, but it's just not coming to me yet...how do you thank someone who saved you tons of $$, busts their a$$ to make things work out, then attends your wedding as a friend? Way cool...

What I WOULD NOT Do Again:

Such Expensive STD's: Yes, they were pretty. BUT, I sent them to everyone and it totally wasn't necessary. I should have sent the nice ones to the people I knew would come, and just a postcard to the others. But, i had to "do it big" so I wasted probably about $400 on that...wouldn't do it again.

Use Dreams Spa: This almost became my worst nightmare. Fortunately, I had learned to do my own makeup and saved my butt that way. My hair turned out the way I pictured it in the end, but I think it could have been better.

Petal Toss: Tammy & Edyta were the only ones who threw them! So, if you don't have as many forum guests as I did (lol) and your regular guests are as clueless as mine, skip this one! I got one cool pic out of it...

I think that's about it...if I think of more I'll add it!