-hair and makeup team were on point & detailed
-cake, our bakery simply outdid themselves and I can’t wait to send them a thank you. They exceeded expectations!
-florist, again exceeded expectations and was so great to work with
-venue owners did everything to ensure my vision came to life
-catering, food was amazing
now for the things that went bad:
-OFFICIANT: He and his wife are a team and apparently she booked before meeting with us so we got him. Their reviews are amazing, have been in the business for a long time. He sounded drunk, read from his notebook verbatim (example: I am now going to read the Bible) we wanted a hand ceremony and he told us at rehearsal the night before he didn’t know how to do it! He didn’t tell me and the groom when to turn and face each other during vows.
-PHOTOGRAPHERS. Husband and wife team. Husband showed up almost 30 minutes late with the news that his wife wasn’t coming, she wasn’t feeling well. He had a second shooter thankfully. However, his wife and my planner visited the venue a few months ago to get a look at different areas to shoot, lighting, etc. We took EVERY.SINGLE. PICTURE. In the same spot. We didn’t do a first look and were supposed to get solo pictures before the ceremony. I didn’t get any alone shots at all during the day. H got solo daytime shots. He came to get me at about 9:30 when I looked exhausted for solo pictures in the dark. I communicated so many times that I wanted sunset pictures. There are beautiful balconies facing the sunset, rolling hills, etc. nothing. He came to get us after our first dance for sunset pictures but at that point the colors of the sky were gone. Even writing this I feel like crying because we paid a lot of money for this vendor. We had given him a shot list of friends/family. And I shared a Pinterest board with different shots I liked but I expected them to guide us to areas they had scouted for pictures. But, the wife wasn’t there and he didn’t go on the visit with them.
DJ: used to dj professionally, was gifted to us and is a friend. Make sure you hire an experienced dj with good reviews. Because of his lack of coordination, the buffet line got congested, we completely had to skip over first dances with mom/my brother to run out and get our pictures immediately after cake cutting. This part was all so rushed I hope pictures don’t show the chaos I was feeling inside. Thankfully my brother went to the dj table and spoke with him. We would have paid for a professional if we knew this would happen.
CATERER: after our entrance to the reception food for us and the wedding party was supposed to be brought immediately so guests could be called for food. Nope. We didn’t even have water. The venue owner noticed this and thankfully came over to give us drinks.
COORDINATOR: Should she have not been telling the dj what to do according to the timeline to help ease the reception along as it started and working closely with the photographer to make sure we made it outside for sunset pictures on time? Maybe have champagne for us at the cake table? Ensure we had water at the table? We didn’t even get to toast when cake cutting. In conversation with my bridal party we assume she maybe hadn’t coordinated a wedding of this magnitide before-which is something I should have asked.
GUESTS: about 6 couples (12 people) were simply no shows. One even messaged me that morning about their excitement.
this was not my dream wedding. I think the guests had a great time and I heard many compliments. I included pictures of our reception area but don’t have any other pictures yet.
I know I can’t change any of this but I am so disappointed. The day flew by and I didn’t get to enjoy much of it. I know it wasn’t all bad but the moments I wanted to be special were pretty bad. How do I move past this? Did any of you have a similar experience or feeling after your wedding day?
