Post-wedding advice

It really bums me out that I didn't get to see it.. Because the decorations were my "babies." I had the vision in my head, and sometimes not everyone got it. But I found a way to show my florist what I wanted, and although I know I liked it, I never really got to see them and appreciate them. We also had a huge dessert bar with a chocolate fountain, cookies, fudge, etc.. I never got to see it, OR eat any of it

-EAT! We didn't eat our dinner at all. We were starving. We wanted to eat, but everyone kept coming up to us to talk, and it felt awkward to shove our faces when we were talking. Thankfully my Mom made us a little care package to take with us, with a little of everything we had on the buffet.

-Smile. I wasn't smiling in any of our ceremony pictures, mainly because I was trying not to cry and super nervous.. But I look horrible in all the pictures. You can see in the pictures that I looked miserable, and SO serious lol I wish I would've smiled

And last but not least.. Don't hire someone because you feel bad or because they're a family member. We all know how most of us feel about hiring amateur photographers for your wedding.. But it applies to most vendors. My grandma made my sisters wedding cake, and a few other family members. For the most part she's good at what she does.. But she's getting older. And my cake sucked. I mainly asked her to do it because 1) It was free 2) I felt bad and didn't want to hurt her feelings. But I wish I would've just hired a professional. I mean, I didn't expect my cake to be professional quality or anything, but I expected it to at least look and taste decent.. I told her I wanted crisp white, with raffia tied around each base. And the florist took care of the flowers. If it weren't for how pretty the flowers were it would've looked even more terrible.

Great tips... I for one have been a little anxious about being the complete center of attention... I mean I like a little attention every now and then but All day!! So thank you for the tip about down time.. Also the tip about eating and taking everything in.. I would hate not to see all my hard work.. or taste all the great and expensive food..

And You still look gorgeous at the ceremony... And the cake is not too bad... and it's a great memory.. makes a great story for your children.. At least you are bless enough to have your grandma to be there and share in your special day..

Yeah, I think the cake is pretty good for a family member! Did it at least taste good?

Thanks for the tips!!! I know my FH is nervous about everything being perfect - I've nicknamed him my groomzilla. He's going to have pics before I will before the ceremony so he'll probably have a good 45+ minutes of free time... I'll have to make sure his best man has something to occupy his time.

Note to self- bring sequence to play with FH while we are bored ahead of time.

Those are great tips, i've gone with people only because they're friends with my parents, or somethign along those lines, and my wedding is 10 months away and already I'm not happy with them!

Aw, sorry you were upset with your cake, KK I think it looks pretty good for an "amateur" decorator! Great advice about using someone because you feel obligated to - we're in a similar situation with a childhood friend of FH who has been in the photograph business for a while and takes nice photos, but we aren't 100% into her style

Thanks for this post KK! A family friend has offered to do our cake. She makes delicious cakes, but the decorations are hit or miss. She did a great job mkaing her own wedding cake, but there was an issue with her cake the night before her wedding and I don't want something like that happening to me.

Great tips...my big day is 4 days away!

Thanks a lot for this, I'm a potential victim of wanting to use friends and family members just because but thank GOD Fh is always there to get me back to my senses, he doesn't like to rely of friends and family, he'd rather go broke than depend on anyone (which is bad sometimes but I'm glad we're both saving up and sacrificing to hire profession for everything).

The cake looks pretty good for "an amateur" and the tip about the smiling thing, I have to remember that 'cause I have that issue whenever I know we're taking pics, I have to remember that.

Thanks for the advice! You do look beautiful!

Thanks KK! I will definitely remember the smiling and the eating parts!