What I would have changed...

This post was inspired by my good friend Emily. Her wedding date of Dec 17th is quickly approaching and in that she gave a critical eye to her wedding day and thought of what she would do differently in the planning. Now little did she know that all the things she posted would not have made one bit of difference to us who attended... it was still a beautiful day and ran very smoothly! So reading her blog made me think of my recent nuptuals and what I would have done differently or what recommendations I would offer brides...by the way, my day went pretty much perfect, there is little I felt needed to change but via things I heard and a tough eye, Ill break it down for ya! lol Here we go....

1. Different bridesmaids dresses. I would have gone strapless. Generally bridesmaids dresses are a direct reflection of the bride and if ANYONE had to pick something that screamed "Kimi" i doubt it would have been that. Long story short, I would have gone with a strapless dress or a vneck one. While the dress did fit well with the wedding, that remains my top "thing I would have changed"

2. I would have had a shorter ceremony. I think ours was about 30 -40 mins, which wasn't bad considering we had 2 song performances but my cousin just got married and it was like BANG 15 mins and it was over, but still very pretty.

3. I would have started projects earlier. towards the wedding date I wanted to keep adding little bits to the day but I just did not have time to complete them (ie individual table questions with info about alfie and i; table numbers;ceremony decor)

4. I wouldn't have ordered a dress up a size. I fully intended to lose weight, it was a goal, but stupid me ordered a size up instead of the size that fit snuggly in order to accommadate my boobs. dumb move. the dress ended up being 3 sizes too big and still about a size too big when they took it in. (but i would still pick that dress, it was so pretty)

5. I should have tried to make the individual wedding cakes work within our budget. I wanted instead of cupcakes, small personal cakes (like 3 bites would have finished it). it would have been so cute, but at first glance was too pricey, i didn't try to make it work and I should have.

6. Gotten a food tasting. We thought our beef was going to be like steak but it was more like a pot roast. still tasty but not as expected.

7. Loretta. enough said. (for those who don't know she was the Bethel assigned wedding host and did a TERRIBLE job at the rehearsal. I wanted things to flow a certain way and she was not about that. oye.)

Now to gush about what I LOVED:

1. My photographers. They were more than I expected to get. I will never forget sitting at Rachels house looking through the pics to pick the ones to go in our coffee table book and being amazed that those were MY wedding pictures. Her and Bethany made it veryyyy easy and fun to be in front of the camera. Especially for someone who doesn't enjoy being in pictures.

2. The Marriott. They were super! They were willing to help me get everything I wanted. I never thought I would ever be able to afford chair covers but they let me use that cost to meet the minimum $ amount for a Sat reception even though it was supposed to be used on food. They were attentive and quick and our steak and scallops were delicious.

3. My aisle runner. I am quite impressed I was able to make something that looked purchased (until you got up reallllll close to it.lol)

4. The groom :)

5. Everything else! lol I can't go ahead and list everything I loved but the whole day was like a dream except I remember it all! It went so smoothly (with the exception of the crazy BANG noise during the ceremony).