A few months back, I created a blog post shouting out all my amazing wedding vendors and eluded to creating another blog post all about how my wedding went, so here it is! We’re going to go through the nitty gritty – everything that went amazingly well, everything that went wrong, and how we handled it all!
Overall, our wedding was the best day of my life and I easily became one of those people who says I would relive it in a heartbeat if I could. But as we discuss with our brides, little things will go wrong. It’s just the way it is. The best thing you can do is roll with it and continue on with your day. I promise, it’ll be equally as amazing as if those things didn’t happen.
Let’s start at the beginning of the day. I woke up at 5am to get ready for my bridal party and the moms to arrive between 5:45-6am to start hair and makeup shortly after. Hair and makeup went smoothly, no surprise there. We were in the hands of true professionals who finished on time and made us look amazing. Make sure to drink lots of water during the getting ready process so you don’t get dehydrated when you’re running through the rest of the day!
My videographer arrived around 9:30-10am to get some getting ready shots towards the end of hair and makeup. He also captured some adorable stories from my friends and family for the full length video! Our van to transport us from my home to the venue (about a 45 minute drive) arrived a little earlier than the scheduled time of 11am, which was helpful to make sure we were all packed and ready to go! The driver helped us put our things in the van, as well as helped unload when we arrived at the venue after a safe, smooth ride with no traffic issues.
We were allowed to have the venue up to two hours prior to the wedding starting, so we took full advantage! We arrived slightly before 12, with the ceremony starting at 2. During this time, we did all the bridal-party-in-robes photos, the gift/letter exchange, a first look with my dad, and a first touch with my now husband. My husband, the groomsmen, and dads arrived slightly after us, roughly 12:15pm. This way we didn’t see each other and they still had plenty of time for pictures and getting ready, too. Our venue was amazing; although they typically allow two weddings to run at the same time, because we got married during the off season, we had the whole place to ourselves! This really benefitted us because the guys were able to use the whole other side of the venue to spread out, take pictures, and enjoy while we used the bridal suite on our side where the wedding would take place.
Those two hours flew by! I anticipated that once we arrived at the venue, it would be very organized and we would have to keep things moving to fit everything in and it happened just like that! We had a few moments to breathe and talk amongst ourselves in the bridal suite as detail pictures and such were being taken, but after that it was bing-bang-boom! Onto the gift opening, onto getting dressed, onto doing the first look with my dad (highly recommend if you’re a fellow daddy’s girl!), onto the first touch with my husband, then back to the bridal suite as everyone filed in to the ceremony area!
You’re probably wondering, what went wrong?! It all sounds so smooth. Well, the first thing that happened was I completely forgot the custom hanger I ordered from Etsy to hang my gown on for pictures. I called my pet sitter right away because she was due to pick our dog up to bring to the venue. She saved the day and got the hanger to us just in time for some last minute detail photos before I had to get dressed! So it kind of went wrong, because I still have dress pictures and video without the hanger in it, but it also kind of worked out. Also, it truly wasn’t that big of a deal – again, little details are important, but this one didn’t bother me that much.
Fast forward to the ceremony beginning. My dad and I waited in the bridal suite until our coordinator told us to come out, which was a really sweet moment as the nerves built up. As we headed out, I saw the beginning of our procession taking place and my stomach is getting butterflies as I type and relive this moment. I was so nervous as I walked to line up, as most brides are. Then it came my time to walk down the aisle and I was confused. The wrong song was playing! We gave our DJ two options – the first option was my favorite but we had to make sure at the rehearsal that it would work out timing wise. This could partly be my bad, because I didn’t confirm the night before with the DJ to for sure play that song. So he went with the second choice. In the moment and to this day, this is kind of a bummer to me. I had been anticipating that moment walking with my dad to a specific song for months and it didn’t happen. Ultimately, the people attending the wedding thought it was still an adorable choice and at the end of the day, once I saw my husband and started walking down to him, nothing else mattered.
The ceremony was perfect. Our justice of the peace was phenomenal, we incorporated a rope tying piece which now lives on my dresser in our bedroom, and I honestly wish the ceremony piece was longer. Something about it being your own wedding made it feel like it was over in two seconds, compared to when you’re watching someone else’s wedding. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The silly thing that happened was I flubbed my words during the ring ceremony. This is definitely not something I’m mad at because it made everyone laugh, including myself, which became one of my favorite photos.
After the ceremony it was time for family, bride and groom, and bridal party pictures, since we didn’t do a first look beforehand. These went super smoothly because of the prep I did with the photographers ahead of time and how experienced they are! Looking back, I remembered there was one photo I completely forgot to have them capture, but again, out of the grand scheme of things, no big deal!
After photos we got ready for our entrance into the reception. As we were walking back, the DJ stopped us to double check he had the correct songs for everyone to walk in to. We said he did. We had choreographed a dance to do together as we were announced into the reception and when meeting with our DJ ahead of time, he said he would make sure to add extra time to the intro part of the song as I needed more time to walk to where I needed to be to start the dance. So I double checked that he still had that ready and he assured me it was ready to go. Fast forward to us starting to be announced and I hear the original song being played, not the song with the extra intro. It happened so fast that my husband didn’t even notice. So we had to scrap the first part of our choreography and I RAN to where I had to be to start dancing. Thankfully I didn’t have super high heels and didn’t trip on the way there. But out of all things that happened, that was a super bummer. We literally confirmed right before it was supposed to play and it was still wrong. We had prepped for months for that entrance. Ultimately, it was still amazing, we nailed the choreography, and loved watching it back on video! (This is a perfect example how something that seems like a big deal in the moment also somehow works out perfectly and lives on as a fun memory!)
The reception went well. We had our first dance, the various bridal party speeches, father-daughter dance, mother-son dance, bouquet toss, cake cutting and the shoe game (which is super fun and customizable!). We snuck outside during the reception to take a couple extra photos in the dark by the building and gazebo and these became some of our favorite photos! I also highly recommend sneaking away for a couple minutes to have a moment with just the two of you. The day goes by so fast and you’re constantly being pulled in every direction for everyone else, that it was nice just to reflect on what was happening and be excited to be officially married together. We happened to have this moment in the bridal suite after he helped me go to the bathroom with my poofy dress, so it’s totally doable!
The last thing we noticed was potentially because we got married on a Sunday. The ceremony was at 2pm and cocktail hour and reception directly followed, with a scheduled end of 8pm. We noticed by about half way through, a good amount of people had left. I’m unsure if this is truly because of it being a Sunday though, with such an early end time. But this is something to consider when planning a wedding the day before the traditional work week. We got to end by sharing our special last dance song together surrounded by everyone who stayed until the end, which was a cool experience! We didn’t do an exit with flowers, rice, or sparklers, so it was a nice way to end the night for us.
Remember to really soak in the day. As much as birthdays and other holidays can be fun, your wedding day is truly unlike any other. The amount of love I felt in that room was unparalleled. It’s something truly special to think about how the people there showed up because you’re that important to them. It’s such an emotional day and everyone is just oozing with love and joy. I would give anything to have that feeling in my life constantly.
Lastly, remember this is a big day you have planned for your significant other and yourself. Ultimately, things will go wrong, sometimes big, sometimes small. Don’t let these things completely dampen the fact that you are still living a very real fairytale for a day with the person who means the most. I’m one of those people that felt weird at my bridal shower because everyone was staring at me. But by the time my wedding day came, it was unbelievably fun to be celebrating as the focus with my husband. There’s not many times in life you get to be fully present and fully celebrated like that, so enjoy it while it lasts because they truly aren’t kidding when they say it goes by in what feels like 5 seconds.
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