1. Enlist a friend or family member to bring you water throughout the night. This is a must. As a Bride, you do not get time of your own. With every step towards the bar, you will get bombarded with people wanting to talk and take pictures. I had one glass of water after I stood up from dinner. Thanks to my brother, who asked me if I needed any. Otherwise, I had nothing for over 8 hours. You don't have time to take care of you, so you need to enlist someone to do it. I did not go to the bathroom once! NOT ONCE. It was awful. At the end of the night I was dehydrated, had a headache, my feet were swollen and felt awful.
2. People will not R.S.V.P. - You know this, I know this...they know this! However, it is hard to make time to call everyone who hasn't R.S.V.P.'d to your wedding. Devise a plan when you send it out. Designate a friend and a family member or two to split the duties for calling people and finding out. Not "RSVPing" is one of the worst mistakes people make without realizing it makes that big of a difference. It was one of the most irritating things for me, as I'm planning every second of my free time, for people to not RSVP. It's the only thing I ask of my guests. It's already stamped and has a return address label. I spent hours trying to get answers from people. Some people I even see everyday. More likely than not, if they don't RSVP, they're not coming.
3. RSVP issues - However, I was at a wedding where someone did not RSVP both guests, just one. The seating was set, 8 chairs, 9 guests. The staff had to smoosh everyone at the table to accommodate this extra guest. Then, we had uneven bread amounts, my husband had to wait to get his meal because this "extra" person was given his. It was an awful experience as a guest and the Bride was not that happy with the commotion of bringing many guests that didn't RSVP. Make a plan for it. If you have place cards, make a few ones that say, "Didn't RSVP? Table ##." Or you can just have open seating and a buffet, haha.
4. DJ requests - Decide if you will allow requests. If so, make sure your DJ knows that your "top 10" are a priority to play and let him/her know what songs/genres you don't want played. For our wedding, the rules were 1) No Country 2) No Robin Thicke (my request) 3) No 50 Cent (hubby's request). 4) Nothing inappropriate (kids, grandparents and parents are there!). My DJ was amazing and told people no. He played a great mix of what we wanted and what he though we'd like. If you're in the Twin Cities and looking for a DJ - use DJ No-Mic! He's great to work with!
5. Rent, don't buy! Soooo we bought all our Table Cloths, Chair Covers, Sashes and Table Liners. We saved money, yes, but the amount of time we spent ironing was horrific. We had my sister, mother-in-law, aunt-in-law, cousin and husband working pretty much for 2 weeks straight on ironing. It was NOT worth the amount we saved. I thought I'd make all my money back by selling them after the wedding. I didn't. I even bought them on Black Friday for a much better rate. Still not worth it. Just don't do it. Plus, the man power it took to put all those things up just wasn't worth it! It did look great, though it was super annoying!
6. Last thing. People say it won't be the end of the world if you don't get to do something you wanted to do for your wedding. I disagree, to a point. There are some things that I wanted to do, but didn't do it. There were some things that were no big deal...but there were a few that I am still upset I didn't do. They were things I had been envisioning for years. If it's something you have thought about for years and you don't do it, because you run out of time, you'll be upset. If it's due to money, I think it's a different story. If it's due to time or help, you will probably regret not doing it. Of course, no one will know if you didn't do something like a slide show or a photo booth, but if it's something you really want and it's not a matter of money. Do it. These little things may seem "trivial" to others, but you will feel like you missed out if you don't do it. Find a way. Ask someone for help. I had my Maid of Honor do some great things for me, because I just didn't have time! She made these great things for my wedding reception!
She made this sign for our cupcakes!
And she completely made our Ad-Libs Guest Book sign and Guest Book Pages!
7. Download the Wedding Party App! You get a custom password and people can upload the pictures they take at your wedding reception to the site. It is private and you get so many great pictures that would probably be stuck on people's phones for the rest of your married life, haha. We got some great pictures that we wouldn't have gotten if we didn't use it! 215 pictures our professional photographer didn't catch! Like this one - my grandpa in a Tiara!
Well, that's my list of wedding suggestions and advice! Just remember, Bride's need to stay hydrated!
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