Oops! Planning Mistakes you Made?

Girlfriend of mine left her wedding website off the first Save the Date, and ended up having another made (a post card this time) with it on there. $$$

I forgot to put a date to RSVP by. Guests still have 3 more weeks til the date I should have put. So far I've only heard from 1/3 of invited guests.

Ordering 150 invitations for 150 guests... yea because I know 150 single people to invite to a wedding.

The week I got engaged my mom, grandmom and I was out shopping and I bought a ton of decorating stuff. I am only using maybe 3 things from that day. I had not picked my venue yet or any vendors. So now florist and decorator have almost everything we will be using. When I went crazy shopping that week I did not even know my colors, lol. Guess excitement took over.

We bought some decorations way early because I had so many ideas and was trying to DIY everything but it got to be too much so we are going in a different direction now so we aren't even using them. Luckily they were on sale and I didn't spend too much and I can possibly resell them and get some money back.

I also should have asked more questions when booking some vendors like my photographer. We did an engagement shoot after booking her and her style didn't exactly fit with what I wanted but I was happy with the pictures so it worked out.

Lol just like you, I was so excited about the STDs I sent them all out not having removed the ones of people i had later changed my mind about.

Chose BP too early, MPH is being a real PITA lol, bought favors that I ended up not using, bought a ton of those pocket card things for invites and decided against using them...I'm sure the list will get bigger. Ha

Budget $ for food for

immediate family and bridal party the morning of wedding

I haven't done or regretted anything too crazy, but do have a few hiccups I wish I could've avoided.

1. When friends initially asked me about being invited to the wedding I shouldn't have said yes right away. I didn't tell too many people yes, but now I'm regretting telling a few and can't take it back without hurting the friendship. Now we're paying more to invite the friends we really want to come on top of the people I shouldn't have said yes to so early.

2. Being so stressed out about picking a venue that my FH and I could both agree on that we chose somewhere that cost more than we really wanted to spend. We got caught up in the stress of choosing and the daydream of wanting a really nice venue--now, because of that, we can't afford fun extras like a photobooth, dessert table, etc. unless a chuck of our guests decline.

3. Asking my bridal party too early -- but only in the sense that I have a couple of other girlfriends I'm still debating on whether or not I should've asked. I'm very happy with the girls I did ask but since I asked them so long ago (and I'm sure these two others know I did) now I can't ask these other two to join. I've been debating about them both in my head for seven months now though and still can't make up my mind, so maybe that's a sign that I shouldn't anyway.

1. Wedding website: I don't think I properly advertised it / not sure all my guests know it's out there. . .

2. I tried to save $ on invites ( it's only paper!) and priced out invite kits online. But I didn't go to the actual stores. Just found out Michaels has a TON of invite kits on clearance. I could have done them for only 50 cents a person. Too late now.

I shouldn't have had my FH help me print invitations. We wasted like 10 of them. And I didn't have a backup plan for any of the wedding party attire. This is resulting in running to mens wearhouse at this point and hoping they can have suits in time and DB can have dresses. Not to mention I had to fly to another state for me to get alterations and I won't be there when the dress is ready to try it on to see if the alterations are correct. I am slowly but surely starting to have disasters strike.

Lol when I ordered our wedding invitation sample I forgot to add where the wedding is being held .... needless to say I had to reorder a new one including all the needed information... couldn't help but to laugh it off

I ordered my save the dates while intoxicated.

Nothing too major just yet, but I still kick myself. I decided against my top choice photographer because he was a little more than I could pay for. He had a team of 2 and no single photographer options, which was a bummer. So when I did my research and asked questions, I ended up thanking him for his time and choosing a cheaper photographer. The cheaper guy took 3 days to say he'd send a contract and has since never responded. Obviously not going with that one anymore! But I wish I just booked my first choice anyway and buckled down with the price

Not negotiating! We are horrible at negotiating and I feel we could have gotten vendors down in price.

Following!

So far picking the bridesmaids too early

Not exploring other venue options

Letting my mother tell me what I needed to do rather than standing up for myself

Im bad at making decisions, so I have lost the opportunnity to hire a specific vendor that I liked because it took me forever to decide...

Make sure you get written contracts and receipts for everything. I worked with a small business baker and she over charged us and didn't give me a final receipt or invoice...but she was so nice when we met with her. Stupid me.

I also impulsively sent out the save the dates because I was so excited and wanted everyone there. However, a year flies by and we were realizing how much cash we dropping to have people we haven't seen in two years come.

My other mistake; not taking enough time off of work. We were married on a Sunday. I originally only planned for a "long weekend" taking of Friday. Luckily I was able to change it last minute and take off Wednesday and Thursday. Even with those extra two days it was difficult. I spent my wedding week rushing and stressing out.