Discuss anything on your mind with your fellow wedditors. This is an especially great place to ask short (1-2 lines) questions or commonly asked questions instead of making an individual post.

All discounts and deals should be posted here.

Don't forget to check out the latest Monthly Check In thread! The Monthly Check In is great for finding date twins, as well as seeing where others are at in their "To Do" timelines.

We had the most beautiful wedding on Saturday. I know misery loves company and it's probably boring to read a post about a day that went perfectly but honestly it did. I mean... there were things that went "wrong" but nothing even worth spending energy to remember. Anything less than perfect was instantly forgotten in the love and joy and happiness of the day.

My dress and veil were stunning. HMUAs KILLED IT with me and the bridesmaids. I'll never forget the look on my husband's face during our first look.

We said personal vows and both cried WAY more than expected. Sniffles in the crowd. My favorite artists on the playlists.

We practiced our dip so many times LOL and nailed it on the first dance. Food and dessert was so delicious. All of our vendors absolutely crushed it.

It rained but somehow there were perfectly timed breaks in the rain to do things outdoors. Rainy umbrella photos after dark felt magical.

We kept everything pretty simple but snuck in just enough unique or personal details to make it "us." Everyone complimented the event day of and I've only heard good things since.

Im just overwhelmed and happy. We dated a long time and are both in our 30s. I can't imagine having gotten married any sooner or any younger. Now was the time. At this stage we had the maturity and autonomy to not fall victim to so much of the wedding drama and bullshit. And this was just the right chapter of our life for us.

I think my biggest takeaway was that you truly can make the wedding planning process what you want. You can stress as much or as little as you want about it. You can choose to put your energy into the parts that matter to you and choose to relieve yourself from worrying about things that don't interest you. There's literally no wrong way to have your wedding, you do you.

I wondered if I'd regret not having a videographer and i don't at all. I know myself and I know I'd spend any rewatch looking for flaws or criticizing myself. Instead all I have are the memories of my lived experience that night, where I felt like everything was absolutely perfect.

This is all very stream of conscious. I just wanted to get this down.

Im feeling the post wedding blues a little. What do you mean I spent a year planning a day that fundamentally changed my life and now... everything and everyone is just back to normal? Itll be alright but I definitely feel it.

Sitting with the memories and soaking in the last of the magic before it fades to a time past. ❤️

We are planning on having a pretzel bar that will be open all night at the reception it will have soft pretzels hard one and chocolate covered all the good ones. Do you think if we do that we have to have a midnight snack on top of that?

I just realized that I made a terrible mistake

I have a little under 150 guests so I ordered 150 save the dates. I just printed out my address stickers and panicked because I only printed out 60 of them

COMPLETELY went over my head that all of the invitations are families and plus ones. Made perfect sense to me in the moment!!

It should seem so obvious, but that didn't even register

To anyone who is in this part of wedding planning, just remember that you don't have to order the exact number of items as your guest list!!!

I used to work for a company that organizes weddings. We had a client who wanted to have a free gmail account, which I made for her since she is older and don't have a good eye sight. The email was LETTERPRESSED on each invitation.

Few days later, gmail completely blocked our access saying, "The Google Account ... is now disabled. It looks like it was associated with multiple other accounts, or created by a program, and used to violate Google’s policies."

We sent an explanation as to how the email is going to be used. Everybody is panicking because her guests are also older people who are comfortable just shooting up an email instead of going to a wedding website.

Gmail still denied us access.

Now I am getting married soon and I am anxious to use a free gmail account. Should I buy a domain? I am trying to justify buying a domain for this anxiety.

My fiance and I are planning on having a micro wedding with just our parents, grandparents, and siblings along with their spouses and kids. We live on the east coast, and don’t want to travel too far since our grandparents will hopefully be coming. Does anyone have any locations they would suggest, and what does the pricing look like for them?

One of my friends is getting married next year. Destination weddinf which I will be attending. I also have about 3-4 more destinations weddings on top of my brothers next year which is up in the air. My friend wants to start planning her bachelorette but I genuinely don’t know if I can commit right now because my brother is planning on having his wedding this summer and I’m just so stretched thin. Is me going to her wedding enough? How do I get out of this. I care for her but I just can’t add that to my plate rn

I am planning a wedding for next summer and recently found out that my parents are wanting to help cover some of the financial burden. My parents were married in the late 80s and my dad’s parents paid for their groomsmen’s tuxedos and they paid for the bridesmaids dresses. In wedding I’ve attended, the girls purchased their dresses themselves. Since they are helping pay for our wedding, I want to respect their suggestion to pay but I feel they are underestimating the cost of these things. I am guessing it will cost us about $2,100 for this.

Does anyone know where I can rent and have lucid candles shipped? I can’t find anyone who rents them in St Louis.

Hi all,

Looking to plan a wedding hopefully 2025 in Italy, not fussed where

we plan on having 40-60 guests and hopefully no more than 100k budget.

Our vibe is glam, fun, dinner party

Open to unusual locations/restaurants/hotels/abbeys/courtyards Etc.

I'm getting married this December and am looking for recommendations for a personal shopper/stylist to help me curate/style some outfits for events leading up to my wedding (welcome party, rehearsal dinner, etc.) and for help accessorizing my wedding dress. I'm a plus-size bride located in Virginia and am open to options either in person or virtually. Thanks!

Hello everyone, I’m new to this subreddit and I wanted to know if anyone knew any starters for where and how to look for wedding bands? My fiancé and I are both looking into solid, yellow gold bands. Nothing too extravagant. However, we just don’t know where to start on looking for bands. Is there a store with an website where you would recommend us? Are the big box stores like Zales, Jared, etc good or no?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Hey weddit,

I think I need some advice or maybe a talking-down, because I am a tad (okay, royally) p-o’d. My fiancé and I found a beautiful venue for our 2026 wedding; we visited in June and finalized the date/put the deposit down in early October. For context, we are in Canada.

I never got a follow up confirming they got the deposit (only an automatic email) so I finally followed up today and asked if a) they got it and b) what to expect for a communication timeline since our wedding is a bit further out. They got back to me within the hour (after two weeks of radio silence) and informed me that not only had they fired the caterer who was our primary contact, but they had subsequently “updated [their] prices” and our rental fee is now $3000 more. Mind you, we had already signed a contract and given them a $2000 deposit. The new lady said she “didn’t have any information on previous quotes” but one paragraph later said as compensation for the “surprise change” she could honour the previous price we were given for a cocktail hour- so she DOES know what we were originally quoted. Not to mention that she replied to the SAME email thread the old venue contact and I had exchanged…so all you have to do is scroll up to see what the other quotes were.

They never reached out to let us know anything about the caterer being fired, or if our contract that we signed is now void, or anything. If I had not emailed them to follow up I am not sure when, or if, they would have told me. I haven’t replied yet because I know I’m too upset to really communicate with them calmly; my fiancé and I are discussing this with our parents to see what the best way to move forward is. Do we demand they honour the original contract? Or do we consider this a major red flag and just take our deposit back and cut our losses? I’m stuck because I don’t know if they’ll budge for one, and it is a venue that I love (physically at least. lol). What would you guys do? Thanks for letting me vent a bit too 🥲😅

Hi! Just wanted to get other’s opinion on this as I’m not sure what is the norm. I’m an out of state bride and most of the bridal party is traveling for the wedding as well. The wedding is Saturday and I have a hotel room booked Wednesday through Friday right now. Some of the girls in the bridal party are planning on staying there Thursday and Friday night, but I’m not requiring this. I was wondering if I should be paying for the total cost of the room myself or if the total should be split amongst all of us?

Hey Everyone - my fiancé and I are getting married next year and are trying to select our photographer. The issue is that there are just way too many great photographers in NJ that its making it hard for us to decide. Anyone have advice on how we could select the one we want to go with?

We are also nervous that once we select a photographer what if we see another great photographer in a few months?

Also FWIW budget is not a concern for us, but all of the 4 photographers below are within our range so we aren't looking at cost while deciding.

We (somewhat) narrowed it down to 4 photographers which we think would take great pics. But honestly its so hard for us to choose because we like them all.

• Suess Moments
• Edward Dye
• Tessa Marie Images
• VJ Burgos Photography

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

EDIT 3: putting this one at the top bc I feel like it’s the most important. Some of you are saying I’m in the wrong for wanting to get married two weeks before her. I knew it was risky, which is why I asked, if she had just said no we would’ve moved it. It’s that we have 3 dates we could choose from and she blacklisted all of them for being “too close”, even the one after, bc it’s “too close” to the second wedding she’s having a month after the first

EDIT 4: for those of you under the impression that we like rage/jealousy started planning our wedding after her engagement, that’s not correct. We were looking for a house, we didn’t want to pay for a house and a wedding at the same time. We had everything planned, venue picked, dress picked, guest list etc, just no concrete date. It just ended up that we were in a position to confirm it around the same time she was, it wasn’t meant to be malicious

EDIT: for those asking about travel, most of his family is local, but one couple will be flying in from out of state. Her wedding is 3 hours away, despite living locally, while ours is not. Again, not intentionally, I thought it would maybe be convenient for the out of state family to travel and stay for both, rather than travel twice

EDIT 2: we’ve decided to do a month before hers instead, and we agreed that if she makes a huge fuss about that too, we’ll move it back to July. Those of you that emphasised that it’s her special day, not month or year, I needed to hear that. Thank you

I need opinions from others planning a wedding

Throwaway cause I’m a baby, also posted on AITA

My (27f) fiance (26m) and I have been engaged for almost two years, we were waiting for more things in life to line up before we committed to planning a wedding, but at this point we just decided screw it, there may never be a right time.

In the midst of this his sister got engaged and set a date for the beginning of August 2025.

My fiance and I started dating and got engaged on the 20th, so we decided to keep the theme going and get married on a 20 as well. Between 2025 and 2026 we have 9 days that could work (excluding weekdays). That led us to choosing July of 2025, which also happens to be our 8 year dating anniversary. We haven’t booked anything, and I reached out to my SIL to double check with her about the date, specifically because I didn’t want to be rude!! I explained that we had very few days to choose from and part of the reason we chose July was because it was our anniversary. She responded, said it was fine, but with the caveat of “you probably won’t get that date, we didn’t get the day we wanted” Well, we did. Again, we didn’t book it because we had a feeling, but she said it was fine!! And then turned around to her mother and was upset that we were being rude for getting married two weeks before her. This led to my future MIL coming to us and kinda saying that we were TA. She’s having a second wedding the beginning of October, meaning the end of September for us is also out. If we pushed it forward, the earliest date before July would be June, but according to her that’s “still too close”. For reference June 20 and August 9 are too close, July 20 and August 9 are too close (fair) and August 9, September 20, and October 11 (her second wedding) are too close together. Idk what the problem is if we’re getting married after her?

I don’t want to start a fight, she’s already booked and put a down payment on their venue, but she’s got us pinned in a lose-lose situation. She’s not the only one that wants to get married, but she’s dictating what we’re allowed to do. We’re trying to schedule for June 20th instead, with the mindset that it’s over a month away and she can deal. The other part of me (that my fiance strongly disagrees with) feels like if she’s not adult enough to tell us the date is too close that we should just do the date we chose.

Family is really important to my fiance. We wanted to get married with as little issue as possible, but we knew as soon as they got engaged that this was going to be an issue.

What do we do?

We know trying to do 2 weeks before was probably shitty, but does that give her the right to say we can’t do a month before OR after?

Hi! I’m in the Southern California region and have gotten so many quotes for DJ, MC, Photo Booth, and day of coordination. Each company has a range of prices. I’m just curious, is 5k a good number for all 4 services? Edit: this includes set up and breakdown of equipment and additional fees.

For context, I am a woman marrying a man. I’ve always felt pretty certain that if I ever had a wedding, I would not have a bridal party. This is NO shade to people who have bridesmaids, it just makes me feel anxious and that’s not how I want to feel when I think about getting married, obviously. However, my partner has let me know that he really wants to have a grooms party. For reference, we don’t plan on throwing bachelor/ette parties, so we’re really just talking about having people that would be with us at the “altar” (in quotes because we’re having a pretty relaxed backyard wedding). I am really hoping to think up a way to approach the whole wedding party thing in a way that makes me more excited about it so we both can feel happy about this aspect of the wedding.

Of note, the biggest reason I didn’t want a bridal is because I’m really uncomfortable and anxious feeling like I’m ranking my friends—but I think I need to just get over that aspect.

The other reason I’d prefer not to have a bridal party is because I don’t feel very connected to having a line of my friends stand behind me while we get married, which clearly puts me in a pickle because that is basically the whole function of a wedding party as far I know. I don’t love the gendered aspect—men on one side, women on the other—and I don’t really understand why they’d be standing up there and not, say, my parents or other people who are just as important to me. In my heart of hearts, I feel like it should just be me and my partner up there, with our families seated in the front row.

So far the ideas I’ve come up with are:

• Not having people walk in a formal professional. My partner and I are talking about not having a real “aisle” and just arriving to the ceremony together from the side. In this scenario, the wedding party would also walk more casually up to the front as a group/clump, not in pairs.

• Having our collective wedding party stand in two mixed-gender clumps behind each of us, so it feels less formal and less gendered.

I know these ideas might seem silly and like trivial changes to some, but im just trying to engage in a ceremony that feels true to me. Anyone else seen other ways to honor close friends and have them participate in the ceremony besides having men and women stand in a line?

Hey guys,

My situation is a bit different. My fiance and I were having a discussion tonight about some things and I started crying realizing that I don't know how to do all this and it's not going to look like what I'd want in my head.

This will be my second marriage. I got married when I was 18 after I'd had my first baby. My exes family helped us out so the cake, venue, my dress, food, etc was either all free or we scrimped and saved. We were very blessed and I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but I had to design it based on what was donated so I couldn't pick a style i liked. I also had a 3 month old that I had to stop and care for during most of the wedding. I also had a small Bachelorette party at my apartment with some friends, but didn't really get to have fun cause there was no one to watch her and none of my friends had kids. We just ate phallus-shaped cookies and laughed in the apartment.

My fiance has never been married, nor has kids. I have a 10 and 13 year old, both girls. I also don't have any friends of my own. I work remotely as well so my work relationships are people that live far away and I'm not close enough with for a wedding. None of them even know that I've been divorced for a few years either. I'm also estranged from my mom for about a decade now due to her behavior. She was toxic, a narcissist and hurt me and my kids a lot. My brother has refused to talk to me this entire time, has never cared to meet his nieces.

I have my dad's side which includes my dad and stepmom and my step siblings. That's all I have to come. Despite me trying, my dad and I are not really close either.

My fiance has a lot of people on his mom and dad's side. He also has a good bit of friends who I've become decently friends with but they are originally his friends. None have kids so they have a hard time understanding I can't always go to this party or that party and get super wasted. None of them allowed kids at their weddings but of course I am because I want my own kids there

I was going to plan on asking my oldest daughter to be my maid of honor and my kids to walk me down the asile as the first time I walked alone and this feels sentimental like them giving me to him.

I know typically what I've seen in my personal life is that the second marriage is a lot more muted than the first, but given how much we had to save and sacrifice for the first one, I'd like to spend a little more and make it what I want in my head this time. Not go crazy, but have a theme and maybe get a nice dress that fits this time.

Also, do you still do a Bachelorette party? Im 33 and ny fiance is 32 so since hes never done any of this, Id like him to have all the experiences. I'm assuming my fiancé's female friends would want to do a small thing, but I'm not into strip clubs as I feel like they are dishonoring your future person and I'm also the only one with kids. I'd try to arrange them to be at their dad's house that weekend.

Also, I don't really need a bridal shower, never had one before, as I have everything for my house that i need.

How do you navigate these roles when things look a little different? Has anyone ever had their teen be their maid of honor?

He hugged me and said he was so sorry but he knew this topic was going to come up and he knew how it affected me.

We are doing banquet-style tables if that's relevant.

Context: I'm DIYing our table numbers using stone tile, and I was hoping to hide the back of them with the centrepieces because the backs are ugly, lol. Now I'm wondering if it will be annoying for guests to find their table if the numbers are only visible from one side of the table.

Hi there,

I'm just starting my wedding planning business, and i was curious if anyone had recommendations for good wedding planner software to invest in. I've heard of the aisle planner, but was curious if anyone has other recommendations that have a client facing portal and can also do 3D visual renderings for event spaces.

Thank you in advance!

Hi, I'm looking for inspiration for my wedding favours. The traditional sugared almonds are a no due to allergies, we have a sweet shop set up so chocolates are pointless. Both the groom and I don't drink so it seems weird to give whisky or gin (I'm in Scotland). Oh and it can't be big because it'll be at each person's place setting and then have to fit in their bag or something as the tables are getting cleared and reset for the reception after the wedding breakfast.

Basically hoping some of you fab folks can offer ideas. I am a bit crafty so don't mind making something as long as there's a tutorial 😂

I am looking for HMUA for myself+3 ladies. 5 months out and feeling a little crunched but still finding some decent options. I found a stylist whose portfolio appealed to me. I understand a stylist that does both hair and makeup may not be the best ever at both but that's ok with me. I am looking for a relatively natural look and am pretty low key (will be doing a trial beforehand though). She gave a timeline and I realized she will be doing hair and makeup (with an assistant) and would start at 9am in order to work through us individually to be ready in time. Alternatively, I found a company that would send separate artists for hair and makeup and will be done in half the time for twice the cost (would be exceeding my budget a bit but I could swing it if necessary and cut something else). I can also keep researching options but feel like I'm running out of time...any advice for me?

My wedding is coming up in just a few days and the forecast shows that all the days around my wedding should be sunny, warm, and rain-free... But the wedding day, and the wedding day alone, is supposed to have rain in the afternoon, evening, and night. I know it's just weather, but it feels like "fuck you in particular" from the atmosphere -- my area is known for being dry and prone to drought.

The two things that I was looking forward to the most were cocktail hour outside on our venue's nice lawn, and sunset photos, but neither of these will happen with rain (at least the way I really wanted them to happen).

Anyone have encouraging stories of a bad forecast that turned out to not come true? Or bad weather where the day still turned out great? I'm feeling defeated and sad even though it's just rain. The ceremony and reception are inside so unaffected, but the outdoor cocktail hour is super important to me and a huge reason for choosing the venue (along with the grounds for couples' portraits).

Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone! I’m a bride-to-be planning my Indian wedding for 2026. My fiancée’s family is covering the reception, but I’ll be responsible for covering the costs of my pre-wedding ceremonies up to the wedding day itself. Since my parents are unable to support financially, I’m planning to save and budget carefully over the next 1.5 years. I’d love advice on managing these costs, setting realistic expectations, and any hidden expenses I may not have thought of. Here’s a breakdown of the events I’m planning:

1. Pre-Wedding – Outfit, jewelry, hair/makeup for an engagement shoot, and ~100 invitations for my side of the family.
2. Bachelorette Party – I’m undecided on this; do you think it’s worth having? Any budget-friendly suggestions?
3. Bridal Shower – Although I know I’ll receive gifts, how much should I budget for hosting about 20 people at an external venue with food and decor?
4. Jago/Sangeet – Hosted at my aunt’s house for ~50 guests. I’ll need to budget for my outfit, jewelry, decor, catering, and any other essentials.
5. Maiyaan – Hosted at home with ~30 guests. I’ll need an outfit, decor, and catering.
6. Mehndi – Hosted at home with ~30 guests. I’ll cover the mehndi artist, decor, outfit, catering, and some photography costs.
7. Choora Ceremony – Hosted at home. I’ll need to budget for my outfit and the choora itself.
8. Wedding Day – My parents are covering the ceremony venue and related expenses, but I’ll need to budget for my outfit, jewelry, hair, makeup, and venue decor, as well as attire for my three sisters.

Are there any additional costs specific to Indian weddings that I should be prepared for? Would you recommend DIY-ing decor for home-based events, or would hiring a vendor be more practical? I estimate I can save around $20,000-$25,000 CAD, but I’m hoping not to dip too deeply into my savings.

Any budget-friendly tips or suggestions would be much appreciated. Thank you!

I got engaged on September 14th. I have 2 friends who also recently got engaged (in August and September) and they already have their venue and date picked out. My fiance’s grandpop just passed away and he is starting a new job and awaiting his schedule so we had to put a pause on looking at venues. I feel behind and I’m not sure why.

In about 2 weeks I am going dress shopping🥰

I have my undies and my shoes, but I don't know what would be a good idea to wear for an outfit that isn't going to be a pain to get on and off. I have 3 different appts that day, and I am trying to think of something easy to take on and off. I also have dinner with my bridal team later that night, so I don't think loungewear is the way to go. I probably won't have time to change outfits. Any advice on what to wear when you go trying on dresses?

We are having a symbolic Ceremony in Italy, but it's not legally binding. Therefore need to have a legal ceremony in our home country first (UK) and I've booked that today! Yay!

I've booked it for a few days before we fly out to Italy.

We do not want the legal ceremony to take anything away from the main Italy wedding, which everybody is flying out for, so I think it will only be our parents in attendance and then we will go for a meal afterwards. Minimal fuss, no decor (it's a registry office) but may get myself a bouquet for some pictures.

If anybody else has done something similar, let me know & any tips/advice welcome 💗

Cake, Desserts, cocktail hour

https://preview.redd.it/hghumk7obrxd1.jpg?width=3600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=450518a05eef1c3d212de86428a470c0f771fc35

First Look

Tablescaping

Florals

Hello! It's been a month since my wedding and I wanted to give a recap and a HUGE thank you to all of you for keeping me sane the last 15 months while I planned it. I genuinely had NO idea what I was doing at the beginning of this and it ended up SO incredible. We had an amazing party and even had staff coming up to us the next day telling us how amazing our wedding was. Apparently even the shuttle driver from our hotel was telling guests how beautiful the wedding was! This is a super long post but I've been meaning to type it for a while now. I will do a separate long form budget breakdown as well.

Budget: 38k for the entire weekend. 35k for the wedding day itself. 85 guests.

We had a destination wedding that was about a 6 hour drive away or a 2 hour flight + 1 hour drive. It was at a beautiful hotel in the Ozarks and their staff was INCREDIBLE. I hired a day of coordinator (who was also my florist and decorator), photographer, and DJ, but all the food/alcohol/catering staff for the wedding was supplied by the hotel.

Friday:

Hospitality Suite: First, we made a point to rent a cottage on our hotel's property that had a kitchen. It had two bedroom and a living room so we locked the bedrooms and turned the living room into a hospitality suite. At 1pm, we opened it to our guests and had bagels, lox, chips, queso, and some charcuterie. For drinks we filled the fridge with seltzers (both non alcoholic topo chico and white claws) and light beers, and had liquor and mixers. I also made a point to buy powdered electrolyte and a ton of coconut waters. I was off getting my nails done but my guests all got to mingle and eat while waiting for their rooms to be ready at hotel. The room was $200/night and we spent about $300 on food and booze but the majority of the liquor came back home with us. We left the suite available to our guests all weekend and people used it to pregame, visit with us throughout the weekend, and we had a very laid back after party there as well. My parents spent a lot of time there with our guests drinking wine and hanging out so it was totally worth the cost to us.

Rehearsal and Welcome Party: That evening, we rented out a local restaurant in town. My hotel had a free shuttle that took guests to and from the hotel but many people chose to walk or drove and parked in the free parking across the street. We hosted a 25 person "rehearsal" dinner with our close family (Parents, siblings, uncles, aunts, first cousins). We did speeches at that dinner so that we wouldn't have to do them at the wedding. There only three - my dad and my sisters each gave short ones that had been screened by my uncle. After that dinner, all the tables were cleared away and we started a bar tab for ALL of the guests. 80 of them showed up. The restaurant was so helpful and excited and our total tab ended up being only 3k. -- after an announcement at 10p that we hadn't hit our minimum, the restaurant stayed open an extra hour while by friends went to WORK to get us up to 3k. I'm so glad we did this though because I really got to spend time walking around and talking to my guests. Our guest list had mostly older people (maybe 25 people aged 30-35 and the rest all 60+) and the older people tended to stick to wine instead of liquor so our bill ended up much lower than we thought it would. Highly recommend doing a welcome party if your budget at schedule allow for it!!

Wedding Day:

IVs: I thought this idea was so stupid (just drink water???) but my husband and I called on a whim the Thursday before and they could fit us in the morning of the wedding. We rolled up at 9am and did an hour hydration injection. She was chatting with us and admitted she had a ton of vitamins about to expire and she ended up tossing them in for free into our IVs. Yall I highly recommend this. We felt AMAZING for about 6 days. I do think it made it a little harder to get drunk but we didn't get hungover all weekend and into our honeymoon.

HAMU: Things went a little sideways here but it all worked out. I had reserved hair and makeup appointments in the hotel spa for my sisters, mom, and SIL. I had also reserved the bridal suite there for all my girlfriends to get ready with me. I have emails confirming the suite from 12-7pm but they have the suite to a different wedding on the property from 10-2... My friends were all amazing and just showed up at 2 carrying their dresses and with their hair and makeup half done but I was pretty annoyed with the whole situation. That being said, everyones hair and makeup was incredible and it was "only" $800 for 5 women to get hair, makeup, manis and pedis (just polish), + $400 for the bridal suite rental.

Some of y'all will remember my post about my dress being too large. We thought we had it fixed but when I was slipping it on all the stuff we had stitched in ripped out... There was a very stressful moment (now funny) of me wrapped in a blanket while my photographer stood awkwardly and my sisters and friend were all sewing my dress together as my guests were already taking their seats... It stayed up though! I did end up having to hitch it up once during the ceremony and more and more throughout the evening as it dragging on the ground or being stepped on would make it fall. There are some VERY funny photos during my first dance where I put my arms around my husbands neck and the dress immediately started falling as I slimmed out. I whispered to him and in every photo he is GRIPPING that dress against me so it wont fall. It was frustrating because of how much I paid to have it altered but it's such a funny memory that I'm not mad about it. There are a few photos from the side where you can see the chest gaping and one where I am leaning over to speak to a guest and my nipple is trying her damnedest to make an escape but oh well. My husband also lost weight and his belt didn't have enough loops. He just kept his jacket on all night and wore one that didn't match but still fit lol. Try on everything 3 weeks before!!

We did a first look and both sobbed the whole time. My dad had gifted us a very expensive bottle of champagne and we realized we only had like 20 minutes to finish it. We only got about halfway through but were a little tipsy during the ceremony as a result. The second I got up there I went "oh okay well now what" and spent the whole time making faces at my husband and playing handgames. I was just sooo relieved to have gotten through everything and be GETTING MARRIED. There was a cocktail hour that we missed while getting photos done and we ate our dinner privately away from everyone. We then rejoined them all as the tables were being cleared and did a champagne toast and cut the cake. While the cake was being cut we did our first dances and then the dance floor was opened.

Highlights:

- During our First Dance, everyone sang along. I have never been to a wedding where that happened and was just laughing hysterically from joy the whole time. The photos are crazy lol.

- There was a huge rainbow that came out during our rehearsal dinner and our guests were all over town and all saw it and started texting pictures of it to me with "good luck" messages. It was such a cool moment seeing my phone blow up at dinner with this rainbow from 10 different angles all over town. I felt so loved.

- The decor: Our decorator was incredible. I paid $5,000 for florals and another $2,400 for rentals and told her "think autumn fae court but not halloween" and she made it happen.

- The cake was INCREDIBLE. It all got eaten and people were raving about it. We paid $400 for a three layer cake (about 85 servings) and paid another $70 for delivery (from a bakery an hour away).

- Our bartenders were being REAL ONES and pouring sooo heavy but only charging us for one drink. In photos you can see wine glasses filled to the brim and I tried a friends rum and coke and it was all rum w/ a splash of diet. We only ended up paying for 121 cocktails, a keg, 7 bottles of wine, and a 14 bottles of champagne (we did a toast) for a total of $2k but people were having a GREAT time. Average $23/guest. I think was due in part to people pre-gaming with the already bought liquor in the suite and having indulged already at the welcome party.

- Our DJ was a big ol sweetie and did a great job with our music. I had given him a playlist and said "but this is just vibes" and a list of do not plays and he nailed the vibe perfectly.

- My mom has very mild Alzheimers but spent the entire night dancing and had such an amazing time. I'm so grateful that I have photos and videos of her dancing and all my girlfriends and my husband's friends made a point to make sure she was never dancing alone.

- A HUGE highlight was seeing all our groups merge. It turns out one my cousins's husbands runs in the same friend group as one my husband's cousins (lol) and the realized that during a conversation at our welcome party. They were inseperable all weekend and are evidently thick as thieves now. My sister ended up forming a D&D group with two my little cousins who we hadn't seen in ten years and they have had two sessions now.

- We felt bad about the distance but everyone raved about the hotel, the little town, the weather, etc. We got huge compliments all weekend.

Lowlights:

- The bow fell of our cake before the guests were brought in and the day-of coordinator saved the day by covering the damage with flowers but it wasn't what I envisioned. Super low level concern but annoying.

- We didnt get to try any of our appetizers, which were evidently all incredible. I don't think the hotel had enough staff to cover both weddings at the same time and the plate that was supposed to be set aside for us never was.

- The meat entree was mediocre at best.

- We also had another 100 petit fours and 125 cookies ($360) that were supposed to get put out during cocktail hour but ended up inside next to the cake. Only a few got eaten so we ended up taking about 70% of those back home and giving them to our coworkers. It ended up fine but I wish they would have been set out.

- Unfortunately one person got drunk too early (may have also had some medication interacting) during cocktail hour and had to be taken home. The bartender insisted they only poured two drinks... and she probably did, but those pours were closer to 2.5-3 unit pours instead of one. I was not mad AT ALL I just felt bad that this guest came all the our wedding and then didn't get to enjoy the reception.

- My sisters didn't get to really explore the town because they were stuck doing things with me (not stuck, but you know).

- I forgot to bring a glass to smash, so texted a (gentile) friend who was flying in that day to please bring some lightbulbs (they smash louder than a glass and are easier to break). She landed and replied "what wattage and size" lmao. I just told her to grab whatever she found for cheap at WalMart on her way to town and she grabbed plastic break-proof ones hahaha. It smashed but wasn't loud and was... plastic. Not even a lowlight really, but remember to bring a glass if you are doing that ritual

All in all though it was amazing and I wouldn't change a thing. I felt so loved and happy all weekend and it was so rewarding seeing every one having fun.