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Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Wedding Recap

First off, I'll just say it...weddings are STRESSFUL and EXHAUSTING! The best part about  my day was marrying my best friend. It's so weird for people to call me by my new last name. I find myself looking over my shoulder for my mother-in-law...because it's "her" name. Ha! I guess it will take some getting used to.

When it comes to work and planning things, I am totally TYPE A. I focus on the smallest details and notice everything. For me, it was really hard at my wedding. Things were not right. They were not exactly done how I had planned.

For example, my florist left arrangements out of the window that we paid for. I emailed her asking for refund and she said "she" was there and they were put out. She has no control over who moved them and the containers were returned so they were there. I saw some arrangements in the windows of the buffet room, but they were NOT how they were explained on the invoice and shouldn't have been in there anyways. She basically blamed in on my caterer. There is absolutely no reason the caterer would have moved the arrangements because they wouldn't have even been in the way. Complete BS. Needless to say, I will not be recommending Holliday's Flowers to anyone.  Not to mention, we had discussed some fall leaves in the bouquets. I did not want them all added at the bottom looking like a homemade craft project. My bridesmaids and I had to pull them out. I shouldn't have to do that on my wedding day. Also, they put my brooch on the wrong bouquet. Partly my fault, she added it to the wrong section on the invoice. I should have caught that but come on...you should know better. Not to mention, we talked about using one of the flowers that was in my bouquet for LC's boutonniere. I'm not an expert on flowers. She should have explained to me that it would be really BIG. I mean this orchid was huge and white. Literally, HUMONGOUS! LC's brother joked he was wearing a satellite on his lapel. So, we had to exchange his satellite dish with a more demure usher boutonniere. He should have had something special. Grrrrrrr!!!!!! Then, I was ADAMANT about having gold vessels/containers for my flowers. I am paying you for a service. I'm not paying you for your artistic expression. The lower arrangements were in these brown boxes. I did not okay that and wished I had been informed of this executive decision if they were unable to provide this.  Also, I wasted money on candle holders for the windows to set around the window arrangements. Needless to say, I am not pleased. I've had tons of compliments on the flowers and yes, they were pretty, but it wasn't exactly what I feel I expected them to be.

My caterer, Draper's Catering, was AMAZING!!! It's a family owned business, and I do not have enough words in my vocabulary to praise them enough:) The son probably thinks I'm crazytown. I freaked out after the whole craft project bouquet flowers and could not get ahold of the event planner or florist. So, I called him. He went and took a picture of the arrangement to show me no fall leaves. They are so awesome. Everything was delicious! We are still getting complements on the food! And the son also found the signature drink recipe. People are still talking about my drink and are asking for the recipe! My cake was beautiful, and I can't thank them enough. A personal handwritten thank you is coming their way.

I hired an event planner to set up all the decor at the reception. And, I must say that Southern Event Planners did an amazing job. They arranged the decor in such a beautiful way, and I am very pleased. I would recommend them highly! They put out everything where it was supposed to be and made it so beautiful.

The band was a friend of my in-laws, and they didn't have our list. They played whatever they felt like the whole night. I had made a huge list of songs that I knew all of our friends and us would dance to. Needless to say, I didn't dance much. But people seemed to have a good time...so all in all, that was okay. 

I forgot my invitation suite and wasn't able to get a picture of it. I forgot my veil, to retouch up  my makeup after the wedding, and my special hanger with my new name on it for my dress picture.

I felt really rushed when I was leaving my hotel room and forgot all of those things. Luckily, I ended up with all sans invitation.

If I could give any future brides one piece of advice, make to-do lists and check off lists. I work two jobs, am in Junior League, and I have to find time to grade papers. I was really overwhelmed and didn't do this. Definitely make a day of checklist. That way you can ensure that you have all the things you need to take with you to the church and/or ceremony site.  Also, keep a copy of the band list or list of songs for DJ. Just in case, it's "lost". You have one to hand over to them.

My only regret is that I am so type-A when it comes to that kind of stuff that it was hard for me to really sit back and enjoy my own wedding. I'm hoping when I get to see the pics of how it all finally came together that I will enjoy it more. It feels like such a blur. I can't even remember how 3 hours went by so fast.

We aren't going on a honeymoon til the summer. life of a teacher! We don't get vacation time. hey, i'm not complaining though. We get lots of breaks:) We're thinking about Key West...












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12 comments:

Melissa said...

I'm so glad everything worked out in the end - your picture that you posted was beautiful! I will definitely take your advice and make multiple checklists for my big day!

Jenny @ Practically Perfect... said...

I'm so sorry about the florist - what a nightmare :-( And I know what you mean about not being able to sit back and enjoy your own wedding. That's one thing that I wish that I had done - been able to just take a deep breath and enjoy it! Oh well, the end result is what counts :-)

And Key West is so fun! We did a 2 week holiday there a few years back and I had SUCH a great time. Definitely consider it, and if you do go, you should do an ocean kayak tour. The one that we did was nice because it also included a full-day sailing cruise and snorkeling, food + drinks... now you've got me wanting to go back there! The one downside about Key West is that it's not a great place for just laying out on the beach, if that's your thing. Most of the shoreline is pretty rocky, but there's plenty of pool space. And now I've just realized that for all I know, you've been to KW and probably know all this anyway!

Congrats again :-)

Design Apprentice said...

So sorry to hear about the florist debacle and lack of music you'd selected. I'm sure these were all oblivious to your guests, but it's still frustrating on your day. Hope you're enjoying marrying life, I can't wait for that!

allison said...

congratulations! as time goes on, you will not remember your wedding day as the things that went wrong, but as the day you married your best friend!! as a bride to be planning my own wedding, i appreciate the check list advice :)

Classy Fab Sarah said...

I'm sorry things didn't work out perfectly... and also that you're probably the only one that noticed! I can't wait to see the pictures, I know they're going to be STUNNING!

katie lake said...

I had the same feelings as you that I was mad about people not listening to my instructions and doing what I wanted etc. I was super mad that our caterer put chocolate covered strawberries on the table with the grooms cake after I specifically told her not to do it and told my MIL as well.

As for Key West. We went to the Keys for our honeymoon and it was fun... but seriously we got so dang bored! There was not enough to keep us busy for the five days we were there. We had planned on fishing but it was roughly $500-700/person for a half day of fishing unless you went on a party boat. We tried to go snorkeling but it became windy which means dangerous so all the places closed! We couldn't kayak, snorkel, fish or anything else. The whole Keys shut down. We couldn't even lay out on the beach because there is no beach. If you can afford to stay at one of the resort places then they have spa services etc. Of course if you are wanting to go for the partying etc then you will have fun. The day we drove down to Key West everything (shops etc) closed at 5 PM because that is when all the bars start opening up.

Mrs Nautical Belle said...

I'm sure your day was just beautiful! I can't wait to see pictures. And even though some things weren't just right to you I am sure no one else noticed :)

xoxo.

Unknown said...

I'm sorry things didn't go exactly as you had planned. I had a very similar situation with my florist-it's not fun to be let down on your big day. If I had it to do over, I would and would have hired a more expensive wedding planner/day of. I wanted everyone around me to be relaxed at low key, but if you want everything executed correctly, you have to have at least one crazy type A+ person around-ha!

Jenn said...

Glad to hear you enjoyed your day but sorry to hear about the bad things..
This will be exactly me on my wedding day, I will look around and notice all the little things. I'm hoping to have the time and organization to take pics of how I want everything so who ever sets up all my stuff does not have any problems.
I'm sure everything will turn out wonderful in the pics and you will be so glad you did everything the way you did!!!
You are so right, at the end of the day all that matters if you married your best friend!!!

As far as teaching, did you take off Fri and Mon? Or what days..

Katie said...

The best thing about a wedding day is that it's just a day.

I loved loved LOVED planning my wedding and went into each detail so thoroughly I thought nothing could go wrong. But like you, had stuff go wrong and had to dive into worrying about things that I shouldn't have. But luckily with all the pre-planning the mistakes weren't noticed by anyone but me.

Key West is so so fun! I stayed at a GREAT boutique hotel (but still well priced!) when we went for our first anniversary and can recommend a few things if you start planning a trip there!

angsamp said...

Weddings really sound stressful... at the end of the day though, you are married to the man you love, so 50 years from now, the little details won't matter near as much. I know it is probably so frustrating when you do all of this planning and it isn't perfect though.. However, I'm sure it was all beautiful and everyone had a wonderful time! xoxo

Diary of a Southern Belle said...

I've dealt with Draper's for my cousin's wedding & YES they are AMAZING!!!!

Latecomer but Congrats on your nuptials!!!
www.fiercesouthernbelle.blogspot.com

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