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What I wish I had known before the big day - advice from past brides


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There are so many things I wish I had known or thought of before the wedding happened. The wedding was great but I am so organized that a few things never occurred to me to be prepared for. Any other brides have similar moments? Here were mine...

 

- I wish I had shared the bridal party entrance with my bridal party... I had a print out for the coordinator, but when it came to the moment. No one knew where they should go, particularly our parents who we had to grab from inside the club.

 

- I wish I had figured out who was taking the luggage and who was going in who's car. I figured it'd be so easy to figure out when we were ready but it got confusing for everyone.

 

- I wish I had made someone in charge of handing out corsages. But no one was familiar with everyone getting one so I had to run around trying to find mothers, grandmothers, and stepmothers.

 

- I wish I had made someone in charge of gifts/cards earlier. I kind of just started to hand my dad everything.

 

- I wish I had designated someone to take everything back with them like left over favors, "guest book", etc. I thought I had lost these things, but apparently my dad saw it and picked it up for me!

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I also wish I had given more direction when it came to the lineup of the bridal party.

 

I wished I would have given my photographer examples of pictures I wanted, after looking at the pictures for the uptenth times they are all blah!

 

I wished TWE would have told me or maybe I should have asked how many layers my cake was, to my surprise it was 1 layer and I was beyond disappointed with that!

 

I wished I would have given the DJ the music for the reception!

 

I wished I would have omitted alochol and did the buffet instead, it would have been a better look for the pictures as oppose to the h'odevers!

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These are the things I would have done different:

 

1) Booked my wedding package sooner so we could have had the 2hr reception. Another bridal party beat us to the punch even though we booked our wedding package 10 months in advance.

 

2) Ask TWE coordinator how many servers were expected to be used during the reception. I feel like I under tipped the bartenders and servers since there were more than 4 and I was only prepared for two bartenders.

 

3) Budgeted a higher amount for photos. $600 was not enough.

 

4) Create a list of all photos I wanted taken to give to the photographer.

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Here are the things I would have done differently:

 

Packed more efficiently:

Made sure everything was properly labelled and I knew where in the bags to find them. The morning before the wedding was a gong show getting us there and we lost some parts of the DIY stuff that I had worked on.

 

Told the piano player to make the first dance song shorter: instead she added extra verses and for my fiance and I who aren't dancers and aren't centers of attention, this was painful :D

 

Prepared a Day-of-TIme line in advance: It was on my list of things to do, but I forgot!

 

Prepared a must have pose list for photos: We got great photos, but I am missing some of my fun one I really wanted.

 

Brought touch-up makeup: The makeup artist was great, but I sweat... a lot... and wore these big white sunglasses before we went to check-in which combined with sweat left marks in my makeup. So then I needed to touch-up and my MOH is about 4 skin colours too dark and she was the only one with stuff... it looked really really funny close up!

 

 

Other than that, it actually went very smoothly!

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I wish I would have known I could not use the unity sand I had brought in port (Bermuda)

 

Although a NCL dancer I met was AWESOME and did my hair for me, I wish I had made an appointment for makeup so I could have had one less thing to stress about

 

 

I am glad I:

Booked as a group via NCL and recieved amenity points to use.

 

Bought "thank you" money envelopes for tips and filled them out for the appropriate person, then I just had the best man/ father give them out at each event.

 

Booked a massage and mini facial at the spa before the big day. Not only was I relaxed, but my face was so clear for the wedding (mid-20's)

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I just wished I would have had someone not in the wedding party in my cabin during the rehearsal... i was so bored waiting for my bridesmaids to come back that I drank the bottle of water that was in my room because i was so bored...

another one is assign someone to pick up the cards from my guests, we also forgot to make sure we picked them up and was freaking out because we went back to the disco and they were not there...we went back to our cabin and called his mom and my mom to see if either of them picked them up as they were the only ones sailing with us... thank god my mother saw them there and picked them up... she took them back to the cabin and put them into the safe until after we finished taking pictures... if she didnt we would have to wait until we reached the 1st port of call to call some family members back home...

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I wish I would have done more research as to a embarking port or destination port but that aside...

 

very important... make sure someone has a printed copy of the final contract, what is included in the contract in full and the receipt. If I had this on hand I would have actually received what I paid for.

someone in the room with you to help you get ready or just keep you company for a bit.

 

A list of what photos you want. Do your homework for your location and look at photos. So many people get home and say I wish I would have had a "Trash the Dress" or "Getting Ready" (before, during, after) certain pose or location on the ship or beach etc...

 

depending on the size of your wedding party/ guests, have designated people to carry things on and set them up for you. Be responsible for collecting things (extra favors, sand vase, envelopes, flowers etc)

 

most important!!! no matter what goes right, wrong or just as expected... have fun, enjoy it, the wedding will be a memory but the marriage is what is important :)

 

Best Wishes to all the future brides and Congrats to all the past brides :)

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I wish I would have known I could not use the unity sand I had brought in port (Bermuda)

 

 

I had a sand ceremony in Bermuda, no one said a word to me about it. The part that made me mad was the stupid a$$ that ran in through the xray scanner laid it down after my mother told them to keep it standing up!

 

- Relax, it's not going to be 100% perfect, just roll with the small things.

- Family is going to drive you bonkers. It's like there job apparently. My FIL blew our room phone up the day after our wedding. We finally unplugged it =)

-Assign a person who will be going to the ceremony before you to handle certain things with the wedding planner. Thank god for my Aunt. She made sure the bubbles, cake stuff, glasses, ipod and dock all made it to the site before me. Went over everything with my coordinator. It was so much easier.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I also wouldn't believe everything TWE tells you. For example, I was told I couldn't have bubbles but I brought them anyway since I had already purchased them and the coordinators actually handed them out beforehand so people could blow bubbles as we walked up the aisle.

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  • 11 months later...

This was a WONDERFUL thread.. Thank you soooooooo much ladies for helping us Future Brides out *+* Congrats on ur Weddings :)

 

Updates:

 

And Brides since July 7,2011 what do you wish you would had done differently?

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This was a WONDERFUL thread.. Thank you soooooooo much ladies for helping us Future Brides out *+* Congrats on ur Weddings :)

 

Updates:

 

And Brides since July 7,2011 what do you wish you would had done differently?

 

Shatima,

 

Thank you for finding this and bringing back into circulation! :)

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Shatima,

 

Thank you for finding this and bringing back into circulation! :)

 

LOLOLOl it was NO problem.. As im new to these Wedding threads Im going through Everyone.. U can learn so much from the questions and the answers.. Oh How I love me some CC.. Thanks again Ladies for ALL ur help :)

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LOLOLOl it was NO problem.. As im new to these Wedding threads Im going through Everyone.. U can learn so much from the questions and the answers.. Oh How I love me some CC.. Thanks again Ladies for ALL ur help :)

 

 

Our weddings are just a month apart! very exciting! but far away LOL

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I wish I had known:

 

1. People didn't expect the favors and OOT bags and probably didn't use them. I could have saved a bunch of time and money.

2. How great the photos would be. I too would have budgeted more for the photos.

3. I was going to be starving by the time of the reception because I didn't have time to get anything to eat and my piggy friends and family were too busy stuffing their bellies to bring me anything (I say this lovingly :-). I would have had a bag of trail mix or something in my carry ons.

4. My panty lines showed through the dress (luckily I discovered this before the ceremony). I won't tell you how I solved that :-)

5. That we were never going to wear all the just married crap we bought. That too would have saved us money.

6. That my JBM's families were going to have them change into different clothes for dinner. I really wanted more pictures with them later on the ship.

7. That a certain in law was going to try to drive me batty- I would have had ear plugs and Xanax :-)

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I wish I had known:

 

1. People didn't expect the favors and OOT bags and probably didn't use them. I could have saved a bunch of time and money.

2. How great the photos would be. I too would have budgeted more for the photos.

3. I was going to be starving by the time of the reception because I didn't have time to get anything to eat and my piggy friends and family were too busy stuffing their bellies to bring me anything (I say this lovingly :-). I would have had a bag of trail mix or something in my carry ons.

4. My panty lines showed through the dress (luckily I discovered this before the ceremony). I won't tell you how I solved that :-)

5. That we were never going to wear all the just married crap we bought. That too would have saved us money.

6. That my JBM's families were going to have them change into different clothes for dinner. I really wanted more pictures with them later on the ship.

7. That a certain in law was going to try to drive me batty- I would have had ear plugs and Xanax :-)

 

Woooow Thanks for ur top 7 (my favy #) and im REALLY going to use them too.. lollolol #3

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I got married a lot longer ago than 2011 (last fall we celebrated our 10 year anniversary), but I had a 4 year engagement and thought I'd researched enough to anticipate everything that could possibly happen. We did plan for most things, but the one single thing I wish I'd known was that neither I nor DH would be up to actually eating anything at the reception because we were too keyed up with nerves. We ended up leaving our hotel at midnight and going in search of any fast food place that was still open - so our first married meal together was actually at In-n-Out for double doubles and fries. ;) So my advice would be to arrange to have room service bring you something post-wedding, or to make sure you've got some snacks in your cabin.

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I would not change a single thing with my ceremony and reception. It was absolutely perfect. Carnival Conquest June 5, 2012.

 

DO have assigned seats the night before the wedding. Family members can get upset.

 

DO NOT get upset if a lot of people do not go on your cruise. The more people, the more to worry about. I had 29 sailing guest and it was stressful making sure everyone was ok and getting along.

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I would not change a single thing with my ceremony and reception. It was absolutely perfect. Carnival Conquest June 5, 2012.

 

DO have assigned seats the night before the wedding. Family members can get upset.

 

DO NOT get upset if a lot of people do not go on your cruise. The more people, the more to worry about. I had 29 sailing guest and it was stressful making sure everyone was ok and getting along.

 

Omg please tell me u wrote a review. And have pix...... Congratsssss im so happy for you..

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I would not change a single thing with my ceremony and reception. It was absolutely perfect. Carnival Conquest June 5, 2012.

 

DO have assigned seats the night before the wedding. Family members can get upset.

 

DO NOT get upset if a lot of people do not go on your cruise. The more people, the more to worry about. I had 29 sailing guest and it was stressful making sure everyone was ok and getting along.

 

....Gezz on the wedding guests getting upset.

 

Did you have the luncheon reception?

 

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

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I Know right.. But u have to give some people ALOT of notice.. I will see how many REALLY want to go.. :)

 

I hear you about having to give lots of notice. But this is good for me too to pla things out and to be able to know things that I would have never thought of.

 

Good luck with the weddings ladies!!

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I can't take any credit for this, I can only pass it on to you. A bride on these boards went through a lot of trouble making this spread sheet. I wish I could remember her name to give her the credit (I think her email is on the spreadsheet) but anyway...

 

I wish I had this sheet during my planning. She has thought of it all...

I had to upload it to my site... you can download it here

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I hear you about having to give lots of notice. But this is good for me too to pla things out and to be able to know things that I would have never thought of.

 

Good luck with the weddings ladies!!

 

Yeah thats why everyone should give them self enough time to plan, look over stuff, get money saving tips/tips period.. Good luck with yours too :)

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I wish I had known about these boards earlier. As soon as I found them, I got all sorts of wonderful advice that helped me avoid some pitfalls. But there are few things I wish I knew ahead of time.

 

I wish I had know that even though our reception was in a bar, that there was not going to be a bartender. Instead, we had two cocktail servers running to a service bar somewhere. They couldn't possibly keep up with my very thirsty guests :rolleyes: Fortunately, the best man "handled" it (no doubt with a hefty tip) and a bartender appeared to help out the servers.

 

I knew to make a shot list for the photographer, I just wish I had remebered to give it to him! I should have made that the job of the MOH.

 

I wish I had made more an issue of the fact that RCI wouldn't let us book as an official "group". We didn't get any perks or special accomodations, even though there were 60 of us. It didn't impact the cruise itself, but it made the planning much more complicated. And I never did get a clear answer about why.

 

I wish I had known that about 10 of our sailing guests were going to send champagne to our room. We could hardly drink it all!!

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