Former Dis Brides- What you would and wouldn't do again

[disbridemimi]

Please give us advice

In retrospect what would you and wouldnt you do again if given the chance?

 

[themagicofdisney]

oooooooooooooo great thread! can't wait to hear what you have to say!

 

[tiggerrifficheidi]

Here's a thread with things people would have done differently...

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2091390

I'll add to my "differently" that I WOULD do these things again:

1. Have a DFTW (duh! But seriously...made life SO easy and fun)
2. Stayed at GF for wedding (but not in Honeymoon Concierge)

And I added a couple to my "differently" list:

1. Voluntarily turned towards the camera more during Fireworks pics (you feel like you're posing, so we didn't...should have)
2. Had a professional photographer for the tea party. It was beautiful, but not well-documented. Don't count on guests. My own mother forgot her camera for the tea party. Not her fault, but it's just my point...

 

[hiwaygal]

I would have definitely done the MK bridal shoot...the pictures from those are always outstanding.

I would have had the photographer take more pictures. I'm not fond of having my picture taken and our photographer did a great job...I just got fidgety and nervous being in front of the camera and now I wish I had let him take more pictures.

I would have "smelled the roses" a little more on my wedding day. I think we get all caught up in the planning and we notice when something isn't exactly how we wanted it or we are so concerned with the schedule we plan for wedding day and making sure it all goes as planned that we don't really savor the moments on what is supposed to be the best day of our lives. (whew...that was a run-on sentence from hell!) My wedding day, while exactly as I planned it is a bit of a blur now (nearly 4 years later). Yes I have pictures but it's not the same. I should have stopped a couple of times to just let it all soak in.

I go back and forth on a wedding video...

And, on a personal note, I would have gotten a real wedding gown. DH wanted casual (and so did I) but now I regret not having a real wedding dress. I wore a casual white cotton dress that I don't really like now. Oh well, maybe for a vow renewal!

 

[OceanGdss]

The same...

1. Kept the guest list to close family and friends (even though this still added up to 70 people). We were so comfortable being around the same people we're around every day/week/etc. There were no 'strangers' at our wedding. None of those 'SHOULD' invites.

2. A lot of handmade/crafts. I made our invites, programs, seating cards, bouquets, goody bags, welcome bags, welcome folders, etc. I spent a lot of time and stress on them...but those are the things that guests still remember. And the items I'm most proud of. I was very involved in the planning of the wedding and it showed.

3. Have a wedding video!!! We battled back and forth over whether to spend the money on this. We are SO glad we did!!!!!!! Even now, just 6 months later, we have forgotten some of those special little things that happened that day. And you are SO wrapped up in a flurry of events on the day that you don't absorb everything. Having the video is so wonderful. We went with STVS and did the HD package so we have all of the raw footage also. I absolutely LOVE our finished video, but even the raw footage has some adorable moments I wasn't around for...I can't ever express how greatful I am we went with STVS & the decision to have a video. Worth every penny and more!

4. Had flip-flops for me & my guests at the reception! I put a flip flop basket by the dance floor and boy did we USE them!!! We boogied during the whole reception!

5. DANCE! Even though it was a 12noon reception, we just had an ipod setup, and it was just a handful of people....I DANCED my little booty off at my reception! And I had a great time! DH and I were only sitting when we ate our meal and for the toasts...other than that we were out partying!

'Different'.....

1. Stopped and paid attention to the little moments. Everything is a blur in my memory...another good reason we have the video

2. Not updated during my honeymoon on the DIS lol. Seriously. We both brought our laptops and we spent too much time on them during the honeymoon....wish we would have just focused on each other.

3. Eaten more at the reception!! I had about 3 bites of my food because I was so stressed out/in a tight dress. EAT!! I missed what was apparently an amazing meal! I only had one bite of my cake too.

4. Breath...calmed down while getting ready. I stressed about everything happening on time. I should have just breathed!!

 

[Pinkerbell1983]

I would do everything at the wedding the same, I absolutely loved my wedding day. I stopped and appreciated all the little things I spent so long stressing over, I didn't worry that it was pouring with rain and I tried everything at the buffet.
I would have tried not to stress so much before hand, but that's more easily said than done. And I would have spent the extra money and stayed at the GF instead of CS, I really did not enjoy leaving the luxury of the GF and having to bundle my dress into a taxi and go to moderate resort. Plus, we were coming back to the GF the next morning anyway for brunch. This is the thing I regret the most, but it's all gonna be okay because we're off back to Disney in October for our 'official' disneymoon, and DH says we can stay in a deluxe resort then.

 

[twiu]

The only thing I would have changed... is I would have gotten my own room. I decided to get a 1 bedroom with my parents (to save money). That was the worse thing I could've done. I was so tired and needed to rest before the wedding and my parents had people in the room every night!

On that same note, I wouldn't have planned so much before the wedding. I was exhausted and lost my voice before the wedding (and I was supposed to sing at the reception) and all because I crammed too many activities in my day. Oh well.

 

[linzwylie]

I would do everything at the wedding the same, I absolutely loved my wedding day. I stopped and appreciated all the little things I spent so long stressing over.

I totally agree.... I remember every minute of my day and took the time to take a step back and take it all in.

Things I would do the same.... Wedding pavilion, Randy Chapman, Simply Cinematic, Dessert party for fireworks, Living Seas, DONALD DUCK!!!

Things I would do different - If I had the choice I would NOT have food at the lower uk for the dessert party.
Luckily it had been raining so we had desserts at Living Seas and only came out for the fireworks.

The reason behind this is because there were cockroaches scuttling between peoples feet .
Luckily I did not see any as we were too busy posing for photos but afterwards my videographer told me to pick my dress up because he had seen one beside me . All the guests seen them too which was a bit embarassing .

Linz B xxx

 

[JandJ]

Differently:
- I would have had them box up pieces of the wedding cake for our guests to take back to their rooms after the cake cutting reception. They delivered the bottom to our room (the WL froze the top for us and stored it). It was so big that it didn't fit in our in-room fridge and it spoiled overnight. It was a delicious cake (and expensive since we upgraded) and it really went to waste.

- I would have remembered my "must have photos" list. I only missed out on 3 pictures that I wanted, so that's not bad, but I wish I'd remembered that list.

Other than that, nothing, our wedding day was perfect!

Keep the Same:
- My gown, shoes, hair, purse, flowers, etc. It was all beautiful!

- Mickey & Minnie chocolate favors. They were super cute and our guests loved them.

- Use DPS - we had Ty and he did an amazing job. We love all of our photos!

- Kept it small - doing an Escape was the best thing for us. We had just our very immediate family and my BFF, who introduced DH and me. It was so special to have just the people we love the most witness our wedding day.

- No MK photo shoot. We thought about it at the time - for all of 5 minutes - and knew it wasn't for us, especially the getting up early part!

- No video - we would never watch it and I like to remember my wedding day as perfect as it was and wouldn't want a video to spoil my memories.

- Good-bye Brunch - it was the best way to say thank you and good-bye to our guests. I'm so glad we did that!

 

[lurkyloo]

From my wedding trip report:

I have to confess, my memories are so fond that my “Glad I Did” list got kinda out of hand. I mean, of course I’m glad I chose the Roots, picked our three locations, took a boat to the reception, bought my dress for half price on eBay, etc. So I’ve tried to get it down to mostly things that some people might be on the fence about. Also, I sneaked in a list of Honeymoon pointers just because everything went so smoothly and DH kept remarking on how cost-effective yet fun-packed the trip was.


GLAD I DID (or DIDN’T DO)

Wedding

Shipped the dress: I can’t tell you how nice it was to travel with just a few suitcases and not worry about where my dress was going to be stored on the plane. FedEx-Kinko’s was reasonably priced, and Carolyn Allen did all the packing/unpacking and transportation.

No welcome bags: I wanted to, really I did! I liked the idea of the project. But I was SO glad not to have to buy all the items, stuff the bags, transport the bags, distribute the bags and then agonize over who didn’t get a bag from the hotel. Plus, I’ve heard that a lot of the stuff in them gets tossed out...

No bridesmaids = no dresses, no hair and makeup, no flowers, and no gifts to pay for. And no stress over who to ask, hurt feelings, slackers, hubbub in the room on the wedding day, etc.

No newsletters: OK, we sent one two-page letter at the last minute when we decided to have a meet ‘n’ greet and wanted to explain transportation. But I’ve heard so many brides say that no one reads these and just ends up asking you questions about all the same stuff in the lovingly designed newsletter you slaved over.

Use part of the reception menu for the pre-reception: This was actually suggested by my WP, and it saved money and saved wasting food. The reception menus have way too much food on them as it is!

Ice cream with the wedding cake: I guess a lot of times people don't eat the wedding cake, but ours disappeared quickly. It may be because the flavors were all variations on chocolate, but I think the ice cream made it.

Dessert Party: If you can swing it, do it! I’d recommend this over a rehearsal dinner, even. It is unique to a Disney wedding and the thing your guests will be talking about for years.


Honeymoon

No family on the honeymoon: We let people know that the honeymoon was just for us, and I’m pretty sure they understood. It was so nice not to be obligated to be anywhere or meet anyone, or to have to try to coordinate a big group with a bazillion different agendas. For almost two weeks we got to do whatever we wanted whenever we wanted to – bliss!

Rent Disney Vacation Club points: I can’t recommend this enough – we stayed in two different Deluxe resorts for less than our guests paid for a Moderate with the low-season wedding discount! Plus we had a kitchenette in both places, which was great for corralling leftover desserts.

Costco waters: We ordered cases of water bottles from Costco.com and shipped them to our resorts. Each case cost less than $8 – including shipping – and saved us paying $2/bottle all over the resort for two weeks.

Disney’s Honeymoon Registry/Sunshine Rewards/Disney Visa Rewards: We were so surprised by how many people used our Disney Honeymoon Registry, and it allowed us to do things we never would have been able to afford, like parasailing and the Lunch With an Imagineer program. I also did a LOT of surveys and offers on Sunshine Rewards in the months before our trip and cashed out for Disney gift cards. Along with our Disney Visa Rewards, these things paid for our entire honeymoon!


WISH I'D DONE

Only offer guests 2 of the 4 blocked hotels: I loved the idea of blocking 4 hotels so that a discount would be available to us at all of them for our honeymoon stay. But if I’d known about one-way buses and the time savings of transporting guests from fewer hotels, I would only have given mine 2 choices. As it is, most of them only stayed at 2 of the 4 – the Value and the Moderate.

Vintage Rolls: I hate limos; I just saw ours as Point A-to-Point B transportation, but I forgot it would be in all our pictures and our video – ugh! CarynDisneyDiva has made me feel a lot better about this by pointing out that I am too tall for the Rolls! However, I’ve always loved the idea of creative wedding transport, and if I’d been thinking about it, I would have found something as an alternative – maybe a Vespa?

More specificity about cake colors: I was SO specific with multiple pictures of everything else at my planning session, I’m not sure why it didn’t occur to me to include multiple samples of the cake colors. Oh yeah – because I thought they do what was in the picture I gave them! Still, I can’t complain too much – the designs were all spot on.

 

[Lindsay22]

I wish I had:
Rented points and gotten a one bedroom villa for our vacation. We stayed in the Grand for convience and prayed for an upgrade to a suite which we didn't get (which wasn't too surprising but would have been nice) It was CROWDED with 6 wedding people and 2 hair people in that room while we were getting ready. I would have liked the extra room.

Stayed longer- We were so rushed and so busy and we ran around so much that we didn't have time to go to parks at all.

Confirmed that we would have had Ana from Beaute Speciale- You all know that I had hair drama on wedding day and I think part of the reason why was because I was expecting Ana to be there. I wish I had asked.

Asked for half of the amount of Glass Slipper desserts: By the time they served them, nearly half of our guests had left already. At $20/pp I wonder if we could have saved that money.

Glad I did:
Had a choreographed first dance- We still get comments about this and it was a great thing that we did together

Had keepsakes on my bouquet stem- I had mom's lace, my grandfather's cameo, my great grandmother's wedding band, my grandmother's ring, and a picture of my cat. I loved that they were with me the whole day.

Had keepsake floral- I loved my flowers and didn't want to put them down and I'm glad I arranged for that beforehand.

Had Mickey-Roni and Cheese- A lot of people laughed at me for having this but it was sooo good and so different and so Disney. Everyone had some!

Decorated the WP- It was so pretty! I love looking at the pictures of it.

Used the centerpieces again- I don't think anyone noticed that the centerpieces were used during the ceremony.

 

[honey2741]

Things I would do different - If I had the choice I would NOT have food at the lower uk for the dessert party.

Luckily it had been raining so we had desserts at Living Seas and only came out for the fireworks.

The reason behind this is because there were cockroaches scuttling between peoples feet .
Luckily I did not see any as we were too busy posing for photos but afterwards my videographer told me to pick my dress up because he had seen one beside me . All the guests seen them too which was a bit embarassing .

Linz B xxx

Was it because of the food? Location? Water? Is that normal? Palm trees?

 

[DisneyBrideToni]

What I wish I would have done:

Got married in the Wedding Pavilion. While I thought SBP would have been nice for a ceremony, after looking at the WP while there I liked it more and I wouldn't have had a problem with the rain.

Invited more guests. I wish I wouldn't have had a small wedding. I really missed not having some people down there with us.

What I wish I didn't do:

The Magic Kingdom photos. While it was a fun experience I don't think it was worth the money.

I wish I would have relaxed more even on the honeymoon so that I could have enjoyed it more. We were so exhausted we didn't do much.

Glad I did:

Got Cinderella's Carriage. I thought it was a wonderful experience and worth the money!!

 

[dhay]

Glad we did:

Not go into debt for one day!

The obvious- Misty, did an Escape wedding, SBP, hosting a dinner at V&A after the wedding

Not have family on the HM- day after the wedding we told everyone we will be here, you are more than welcome to hang out wiht us this one day. The rest of our time is our HM. If you guys decide to stay in Disney, you are on your own every other day. Family is not a part of our HM. And we were not going to cooridnate with 18 people so it was a "this is where we will be. Hope you can make it but if not that's fine too" And still DH had family that tried to make us come to them and we said nope.


I never stresssed about the wedding. But I also never grew up dreaming about my weddding so I never obsessed over details. I never lost sight of why I was there and that the details did not matter- it was what the day meant.

Really glad I decided to add on a petal toss and pay for orange petals for everyone. The pics we got (one in particular) made up for it.

I am not crafty and I was kinda glad. I know that sounds weird but I did not want to lug a ton of stuff to the wedding. Yes we overpaid for a FG basket and RB pillow thru Disney but not having to worry about bringing anythign with us but the rings and the toasting glasses (they were a gift- we were just going to use Disney's)

All of the ways I incorporated my late mother into the wedding

Wish we did:
Dessert party, but we could not afford it and it would have gone against our "not going into debt for one day rule"

Stayed at Boardwalk instead of the GF. We could only justify staying at the GF on our HM, and to be honest it wasn't worth it. We are glad we expererienced it, but it would have been nice to stay there for the wedding and then go to BW.

I do wish I set the expectation with my planner to try and guide the troops more with the limo pick ups etc.

 

[Boardwalk_bride]

Glad we did:

Not go into debt for one day!

I never stresssed about the wedding. But I also never grew up dreaming about my weddding so I never obsessed over details. I never lost sight of why I was there and that the details did not matter- it was what the day meant.

I love that you wrote that. It really puts everything into perspective

 

[DisneyDmbNut]

Would Do:
Pick a bigger photo package
ordered Palo flowers from Disney Floral to make sure I had orchids for the cake

Wouldn't do
trust our photographer with all the shots around deck..I wish I had some friends follow us around

 

[OceanGdss]

Glad we did:
All of the ways I incorporated my late mother into the wedding

I agree. I put a lot of my late Nana into the wedding (her wedding pearls/engagement ring/rememberance flowers/brooch on my boquet) and I'm so glad we did that. I really felt like she was there.

 

[dhay]

I agree. I put a lot of my late Nana into the wedding (her wedding pearls/engagement ring/rememberance flowers/brooch on my boquet) and I'm so glad we did that. I really felt like she was there.

I did too! It was amazing that 3 years later I was able to feel that close to my mom on my wedding day. I highly reccomend anyone incorporating memories of people who were very close to you.

I love that you wrote that. It really puts everything into perspective

Thanks!! I had a friend tell me this weekend that our type of marriage is what she hopes to have. It made me feel good because I think people forget sometimes it the marriage that really matters- not the wedding. Don't get me wrong- I am glad we were able to have our day, but in the end it is one day and the marriage is forever

 

[JandJ]

All of the ways I incorporated my late mother into the wedding

ITA My mom passed 4 months before our wedding and I was still very numb. I was also dealing with my daddy's cancer. I was very happy with how we made mom "there" with us.

 

[linzwylie]

Was it because of the food? Location? Water? Is that normal? Palm trees?

Who knows? but let me tell you I was NOT impressed

Linz B xxx