Advice and tips from married ladies?

I've shared on here a few times that one of the things i learned was that keeping it simple is nice. there's a lot that as the host you think your guests will enjoy. such as small details and stuff that you think will make the experience better. but in reality, the guests are there for you. they don't care much about the details as much as you may think. so keeping it simple is better. it'll save yourself the time and energy and money

I recommend getting a day of coordinator, or have a family member/friend be the "point person" the day of your wedding. Just someone to take care of all the smaller details, making sure the timeline runs smoothly, and to make any announcements during the reception.

In my wedding, I didn't hire a DOC, but I chose someone from my family who is great at public speaking to keep the reception activities going, like starting the speeches, announcing the first dance, cake cutting, and helping with games, like the shoe game. The person kept my guests entertained and definitely helped with making my day awesome.

I learned that the smaller the guest list the better and less stressful. Due to covid we went from a 92 person wedding to 7 people. The day of my wedding I felt relaxed, I only had 7 people to feed and entertain and it was easy. I learned to budget and how important it is to save money. The shoprite red velvet wedding cake was $30 and delicious, and we got that instead of the bakery cake for 2x the price. Hubby DIY my bouquet with Walmart flowers and twine from his job. I spent less money and really enjoyed the day. If I could do it all over I'd choose a very limited guest amount, and look more into DIY. Originally we did an all inclusive venue for $7800. We lost our 1000 deposit due to covid but are getting paid back the other 6800. I wouldn't have went with a venue but instead maybe choosen a park for a reception or even a community center or restaurant. I wish I looked into more options before settling with the venue we did. Def explore your options.

Plan to spend extra money so save up a little more for unexpected expenditures. I would say it is easier said than done but do not let others opinions upset you. I feel one of my "close friends" has not really congratulated me on my wedding or liked pics or anything or asked me about it and I am working hard to brush it off because those that care have really been there for me. You will sometimes learn who truly cares for you and who may not as much but focus on those that do. I am glad I splurged on good photography and suggest you do the same. I have gotten so many compliments about it and the quality and they were such a joy to work with. I feel I splurged on memories. Ultimately do your wedding how you two want and it is sometimes easy to worry what others think but don't. My hubby and I agreed that we did not want to owe on the wedding when it was done so I suggest do the same. Have the wedding you want but within reason in regards to money because remember it is one day.

I recommend focusing more on the marriage compared to the wedding.

Excellent advice!

My advice would be make the day about you and your partner and no one else. We had to shift our plans completely because of Covid and ended up having a small elopement at our venue with just our parents and a few friends present. I wish we had eloped just the two of us instead, as including our families was complicated and stressful. Because of Covid my MIL wasn't really comfortable being around us or other people and every time I think about our wedding I think about how she wouldn't even hug us. It didn't feel like our day was a celebration at all. If we had made it just about us, and not our families, we could have embraced eloping by doing something unique that we couldn't have done with all of our guests, like saying our vows on a beautiful mountaintop. I feel like by trying to make other people happy and feel included, we disappointed ourselves.

Maybe if we are able to have a celebration with friends and family in the future it will feel meaningful, but I think there is only one "moment" when you become husband and wife and that is gone for us, so I'm not sure any "redo" will ever make up for it. I just hope I don't feel bitter about it forever.

I had always dreamed of a huge wedding and wanted all my friends and family there. After having done a modified (but still good sized) wedding- I wish there was more time for just my husband and I. I was so stressed about the timeline and if everyone else having fun that it really took away from the day. I wish I could do it all over again with ONLY my closest family and very best friends. I would never have taken my own advice if someone told me though 😂

I know that keeping guests happy & having a good time is very important, but don't focus so much on them that you forget what makes you & FH happy, specifically what will make you happy on that day. There will always be that one demanding relative who doesn't like where they are sitting, doesn't think you spent enough time with them, or picks apart your choices... LET IT GO. A few things went wrong on our day that I couldn't change, the biggest being that I woke up extremely sick. I woke up at 5:00 AM the day of our wedding vomiting. :-( Luckily I have a friend who had a prescription for Zofran (nausea med) which allowed me to walk down the aisle. I wasn't myself and couldn't drink but I made the best of it and tried to enjoy our guests. We also had some hiccups with the venue which were very disappointing but only we knew about them, our guests never had a clue and still tell us to this day how much fun they had and how beautiful everything was.

Excellent advice!