Thomas and I got married almost five months ago and while it really was a truly amazing day because I married my best friend, there are a lot of things I would have done differently thinking back. Today I’m going to share four of the top things I would do
differently if I planned our wedding again!

Coming in at number 0ne…ELOPING.

Eloping was actually T’s idea from the very beginning. He didn’t want to wait a full year for me to plan a wedding to get married. He hates attention and completely remodeling a house at the same time as paying for a wedding really isn’t ideal in the finances department. I always had the thought of eloping way back in my mind but I really wanted to have my dad walk me down the aisle, a big party afterwards, and to not have regrets of “not having a real wedding”. Truth is, you can still have all of these things even if you elope!! If we had eloped, I would have either a) gone to the court house and had really cool photos done the morning or evening of. Then that weekend I would’ve had a fun cookout with our closest family and friends! Option b) renting out a beautiful air bnb or smaller venue to have an intimate/small ceremony with only the closest family/friends and having a gorgeous photo shoot afterwards followed by a beautifully designed plated dinner with those invited close family/friends. The last option c) fly out with just us and our photographer to a really cool destination and eloping privately with a bomb a*s photoshoot. When we returned home, I would have had a cookout/party then!

 

Going into number two…GETTING READY PHOTOS.

This is something I wish I had prioritized and while I did have a plan to get these, it all fell apart when I had to run around and do errands the morning of my wedding. I had originally planned on having my Matron of Honor take these for me but we didn’t get a chance to do this. I really wish I had told our photographer that this was something I wanted instead of trying to do it myself. Don’t be afraid to prioritize YOU on your wedding day (it’s the one day where it should be ALL ABOUT YOU + your husband). I am VERY glad that we have a ton of getting ready photos of T!

Going into number three…RELAX & GET A COORDINATOR

There’s multiple ways I would have handled situations differently such as the morning of our wedding day. I had to be the one (yes me, the bride) to run around and pick up rentals that were not ready the day before, pick up makeup that a bridesmaid didn’t have, and more in the cold freezing rain. My parents were at the venue finishing decorating so they already had their hands full. This is when I should have had an appointed person/friend that took the stress off of me as a bride and helped with these things. Originally we had planned to have a day of coordinator but when I realized we weren’t having as big of a wedding party as planned, I told our coordinator that we no longer would need them since I didn’t think there was much for them to do. Boy was I wrong. Having a coordinator would’ve been so helpful to have someone handle all of the little stresses so that I didn’t have too. Talk to a friend about helping out or hire the help you think you may need if you have any doubts about it! Even if you don’t get a coordinator or have a friend help out, the main thing you need to focus on is relaxing. This is your wedding day and you’ll never redo this exact day again so enjoy it! Relax, soak it all up, and have fun!! I wish I did! P.S. a HUGE thank you to Katie Ferrao who went the extra mile to help and handled so so so much for me when she saw me stressing out at the reception!

Lastly number four…VETTED VENDORS.

I didn’t have many vendors for our wedding since I chose to do a lot of our wedding details myself. Things we did ourselves included our food (had a gigantic charcuterie board, food trays, and pizza delivered), our florals, decoration set up, and table settings. The one vendor that I really wish I had paid more attention too and trusted my gut on was our DJ. We had an acquaintance be our DJ and while there was proof of doing weddings/proms/parties in the past, our experience was completely different than what we were shown videos of. I wish I had hired one of the many DJ’s that I worked with and already trusted! Work with people that you trust and know on your wedding day!! I had reservations about hiring our DJ but didn’t trust my gut and I was very let down when I didn’t have the party vibe or any of the announcements and special music moments I really wanted to have at our wedding.

So now you know the four things that I would have done differently. Eloping will always be my number one thing I would have changed. We would have saved money and it would have been a lot more relaxing! I also would have had my expectations met since there isn’t as many things that can go wrong when you keep it super simple. Getting ready photos are one of my favorite things to grab as a photographer and I should have known to make sure that I got these on my big day! Having a coordinator/friend help out would have taken so much stress off of me the day of. The DJ was definitely a learning lesson and I really hope that other brides will take this as a sign to just hire the vendor you want!

I want to thank every one that really stepped up and helped out on our big day, especially one of my friends and past brides, Katie Ferrao, you truly helped me relax and fixed a lot of things going wrong! Forever thankful for you!

Thank you to my parents for all of your hard work and finishing the decorations on our wedding day morning. I know y’all were way more stressed out than I was!

Thank you to Thomas’ parents for your support in our marriage and the rehearsal dinner.

Thank you to Madalina Price for the amazing photos and taking them in the rain!!

Thank you to Taylor Haffa for making me feel more beautiful than I have felt in the past 5 years.

Enjoy these photos from our big day!!

Our Vendors:

Venue: King’s Grant Clubhouse

Hair/Makeup: Taylor Haffa

Dress: David’s Bridal

Suit: Belk

Florals: Hobby Lobby & Michaels

Rentals: Simply Elegant Rentals

Photography: Madalina Price Photography