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

[Bride2012]

This is a great thread and VERY helpful! Thanks all!

[AfricanVenus]

What a great thread! Here are mine:

 

Things I Would Do Again

• Do a DW in Mexico!
• Have a small wedding w/ close friends and fam
• Choose Grand Velas. Heck, just hit up my venue again period!
• Do convertible dresses for my BMs
• Fly first class
• Buy my DH's shoes
• Spa/Golf trip for guests
• Karaoke w/ our bridal party
• Pay/subsidize for some of our guests to go
• Choose our photog and video vendors (and all of our vendors really)
• Choose our custom cake flavors
• Almost everything was cool and I'd do it all over again

 

Things I Would Chop

• Get a different officiant that would have done it the way we asked it to be done
• Change the signature drink. I liked it at first, but it wasn't that great on the day (same for one of the hors d'oeurve
• Do the cake over. It was a small thing, but one of the colors wasn't what I asked for.
• Not sweat whether certain people you expected to show would show up or not
• Change my hair style and process. Used a different weave and it didn't come out the way I would like.
• Only allot 4 hrs for bridal party prep. You definitely need like 6, lol
• Select a photographer that has no real weddings under his belt.
• Do TTD in the sand. It'll look great, but I'm no top model. That sand was heavy!

[tillybean]

I went right from pictures during cocktail hour to dinner, my dress was wet on the bottom.  I did not mind or care!  The photos you can't even see the wetness of the dress. 

 

 

[lisa203]

I’ve always loved this thread and so I’m happy to be able to add to it:

 

What I would do again:

• MARRY MY FANTASTIC HUSBAND!
• Join this forum!
• Choose Moon Dance Cliffs. We took over the entire resort and were treated like royalty. Our wedding and the level of service we received during our week long stay is like no other we’ve ever experienced and we will never forget it.
• OOT bags – we gave our guests tote bags, travel mugs, first aid kits, t-shirts, pashminas, key chains, toys for the kiddies, and welcome letters/itineraries. They loved everything!
• Hire every single one of our vendors. Our WC, baker, makeup and hair artists, dj, florist, fire dancer, steel band, photographers and videographer all worked so hard and made our day and memories perfect!
• Treat our guests to a private catamaran cruise – what a treat that was. Besides the wedding, this is something our guests are still raving about.
• Arrange group flights for our guests with Air Jamaica. It made out to be a great deal and entitled my hubby and I an upgrade to first class!
• Remain super organized and stress free throughout the entire process. I kept track of absolutely everything in excel and put tons of faith in my WC who did not let us down!

 

What I’d do differently:

• I would not have concerned myself as much with who was or wasn’t coming. Some of the people we invited initially complained about the costs. It caused a lot of guest list doubts and there was even a time when we considered changing resorts. That would have been a huge mistake that we would have regretted. In the end we had over 80 of the most important people in our lives come to our wedding and most stayed on-site. Many have said that was well worth it and have plans to go back.
• I wish we went to the bank before we left and got small bills for tipping. I meant to but it slipped me. We had a hard time getting change in Jamaica and couldn’t tip people before we finally did.
• If I could go back, I wouldn’t have gotten eyelash extensions. I have naturally long lashes that I love and thought these would make them look extra special. They were pricey, not as full as I wanted them to be and I couldn’t use mascara on them. On the day of the wedding I still ended up wearing a strip of lashes and the other days I ended up not looking like myself. The worst part is they ended up breaking off my natural lashes.
• I’m on the fence about this one but maybe it wasn’t the best idea to go on our honeymoon right away. We were in Jamaica for a week and went for a week long cruise right after that. It was a really a great time but Jamaica was plenty. We got a bit homesick and missed our puppy. We could have probably waited until later in the year for the cruise.

[Bride2012]

Thanks for the great info Lisa! I love this thread and take everything to heart, I see most people regret stressing over people coming/not coming....im learning slowly that the people who come...will be people who WANT to be there and want to help us celebrate our day.  Now we wont have anywhere NEAR 80 ppl....but we know the people who matter will be there

[vbbbtk]

Thanks for posting... I am debating how long we are going to stay too because I'm afraid ill miss my critters!
 

Originally Posted by lisa203 

I’ve always loved this thread and so I’m happy to be able to add to it:

 

What I would do again:

• MARRY MY FANTASTIC HUSBAND!
• Join this forum!
• Choose Moon Dance Cliffs. We took over the entire resort and were treated like royalty. Our wedding and the level of service we received during our week long stay is like no other we’ve ever experienced and we will never forget it.
• OOT bags – we gave our guests tote bags, travel mugs, first aid kits, t-shirts, pashminas, key chains, toys for the kiddies, and welcome letters/itineraries. They loved everything!
• Hire every single one of our vendors. Our WC, baker, makeup and hair artists, dj, florist, fire dancer, steel band, photographers and videographer all worked so hard and made our day and memories perfect!
• Treat our guests to a private catamaran cruise – what a treat that was. Besides the wedding, this is something our guests are still raving about.
• Arrange group flights for our guests with Air Jamaica. It made out to be a great deal and entitled my hubby and I an upgrade to first class!
• Remain super organized and stress free throughout the entire process. I kept track of absolutely everything in excel and put tons of faith in my WC who did not let us down!

 

What I’d do differently:

• I would not have concerned myself as much with who was or wasn’t coming. Some of the people we invited initially complained about the costs. It caused a lot of guest list doubts and there was even a time when we considered changing resorts. That would have been a huge mistake that we would have regretted. In the end we had over 80 of the most important people in our lives come to our wedding and most stayed on-site. Many have said that was well worth it and have plans to go back.
• I wish we went to the bank before we left and got small bills for tipping. I meant to but it slipped me. We had a hard time getting change in Jamaica and couldn’t tip people before we finally did.
• If I could go back, I wouldn’t have gotten eyelash extensions. I have naturally long lashes that I love and thought these would make them look extra special. They were pricey, not as full as I wanted them to be and I couldn’t use mascara on them. On the day of the wedding I still ended up wearing a strip of lashes and the other days I ended up not looking like myself. The worst part is they ended up breaking off my natural lashes.
• I’m on the fence about this one but maybe it wasn’t the best idea to go on our honeymoon right away. We were in Jamaica for a week and went for a week long cruise right after that. It was a really a great time but Jamaica was plenty. We got a bit homesick and missed our puppy. We could have probably waited until later in the year for the cruise.

 

[redginger]

Thank you for sharing, Lisa! May I ask who you used for your DJ? Also, we're thinking of booking a private catamaran cruise...what company did you hire and can you share the cost per person?
 

Originally Posted by lisa203 

I’ve always loved this thread and so I’m happy to be able to add to it:

 

What I would do again:

• MARRY MY FANTASTIC HUSBAND!
• Join this forum!
• Choose Moon Dance Cliffs. We took over the entire resort and were treated like royalty. Our wedding and the level of service we received during our week long stay is like no other we’ve ever experienced and we will never forget it.
• OOT bags – we gave our guests tote bags, travel mugs, first aid kits, t-shirts, pashminas, key chains, toys for the kiddies, and welcome letters/itineraries. They loved everything!
• Hire every single one of our vendors. Our WC, baker, makeup and hair artists, dj, florist, fire dancer, steel band, photographers and videographer all worked so hard and made our day and memories perfect!
• Treat our guests to a private catamaran cruise – what a treat that was. Besides the wedding, this is something our guests are still raving about.
• Arrange group flights for our guests with Air Jamaica. It made out to be a great deal and entitled my hubby and I an upgrade to first class!
• Remain super organized and stress free throughout the entire process. I kept track of absolutely everything in excel and put tons of faith in my WC who did not let us down!

 

What I’d do differently:

• I would not have concerned myself as much with who was or wasn’t coming. Some of the people we invited initially complained about the costs. It caused a lot of guest list doubts and there was even a time when we considered changing resorts. That would have been a huge mistake that we would have regretted. In the end we had over 80 of the most important people in our lives come to our wedding and most stayed on-site. Many have said that was well worth it and have plans to go back.
• I wish we went to the bank before we left and got small bills for tipping. I meant to but it slipped me. We had a hard time getting change in Jamaica and couldn’t tip people before we finally did.
• If I could go back, I wouldn’t have gotten eyelash extensions. I have naturally long lashes that I love and thought these would make them look extra special. They were pricey, not as full as I wanted them to be and I couldn’t use mascara on them. On the day of the wedding I still ended up wearing a strip of lashes and the other days I ended up not looking like myself. The worst part is they ended up breaking off my natural lashes.
• I’m on the fence about this one but maybe it wasn’t the best idea to go on our honeymoon right away. We were in Jamaica for a week and went for a week long cruise right after that. It was a really a great time but Jamaica was plenty. We got a bit homesick and missed our puppy. We could have probably waited until later in the year for the cruise.

 

[britb618]

love this thread! thanks so much to all of you who have shared your great experiences, i'm only on page 48 but its fabulous so far!

[Peach]

This is a great thread and SO much help! Thank you so much to all the fabulous brides posting! Great things to consider.... like to remind myself to stop stressing about who is and is not going to come!

[kellygrrrl]

I can't believe how long it took me to find this (and to read through all 65 pages... hee : ), but WOW, what great info. some of my favorite tips were:

 

* having bottled water at the ceremony site

* adding a basket of toiletries (deoderant, hairspray, powder, tampons, etc) and monogrammed towels in the bathroom near the reception

* bringing dessert boxes/tupperware to pack up the extra cake (for guest favors) - in fact, I'd like to see the cake served alongside dessert

* putting flowers in bloom boxes so guests can take them if florists need their vases returned

* wearing light blue flip flops during the reception as your 'something blue'

* including blank CDs and postage paid envelopes in the OOT bags so guests can mail you their pictures (GENIUS!!)

* including stamped postcards in the OOT bags - one from Mexico that guests can send to their friends and one from the US that guests can record their favorite memory on and mail to you

* buying glow necklaces for the reception (target ususally has these in their $1 bins around summer)

 

there were so many more - those are just the highlights I noted down. again, WOW. LOVE this forum. : )