Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda Part I

Flowers. The Dress.  Save the Dates. Cake. Reception Hall. Wedding Location.  The list goes on and on.  Until you sit down to plan a wedding, you never realize the full extent of all the details that need to be decided on and paid for.  From the outside it appears as if you only need a dress, a cake, and a spot.  You almost feel blind sided.  Is this all necessary?

As someone who has already been down the aisle, I thought I would share a few thoughts on the topic.  (Side note: What I say is purely my opinion after the fact and is not meant to sway you to do something you might regret later!) If I had it to do all over again, what would I change about my wedding day?  What could I have done without?

The first things that come to mind are:

• The headpiece that I wore.  It looks like I am trying to be a princess or something.  Totally retarded looking!  Who knows what I (aka: my parents) probably spent to have it.

• I would have done a first look.  My guests had to wait around an hour after the ceremony for us to finish taking our formals and couple shots.  They were waiting to start dinner.  Hungry and annoyed guests don't mix!

• I wouldn't say that I would totally forget about having a nice wedding cake, but if I had had more people, I may have gone with something smaller and then had sheet cakes on the side to serve guests.  Why spends hundreds of dollars on a huge wedding cake to feed guests, when sheet cakes from HyVee taste just as good and are way cheaper?  The main cake is there for you to cut once for pictures and then for you to keep the top layer for your first anniversary.

• The dress. I swear trains were in when I got married eight years ago.  Mine was HUGE!  A definite change needed.  I would go with a strapless dress for starters.  Now for the big question.  Was it absolutely necessary to spend so much on a wedding dress that you only wear one day and then put in a box for the rest of your life?  Short answer.  Probably not.  But try telling that to a Bride and it will be a lost cause.  This is only something the Bride can see after she gets married (that's what happened with me!).

• I would have had a dance.  Dances are so much fun.  Don't skimp on a DJ though.  They are what gives life to the after party!  I have seen so many crappy DJ's, who play horrific music.  We need some classics and something that everyone can dance to!  For your viewing pleasure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWwCqRJL9q4&feature=related

For the sake of this blog not getting incredibly lengthy, I will cut it off here.  I am not done with this topic yet though, so tune in next Monday for Part II!!

I LOVE these rings!