And I'm going to officially start our recaps with the Thursday night before the wedding, since that's when pretty much all the projects and prep ended and the fun pre-wedding events began.
But before we dive right in, I wanted to give you all my #1 tip now that my wedding day is over: add more time!
I really, really wish we’d added an extra hour or two to our reception length. Our 5pm ceremony, 5:20-6:20 cocktail hour (which, as you’ll find out, we didn’t get to enjoy at all), and 6:20-10pm (well, really 9:30pm, because that’s when Mr. Cola and I left) reception was SO not long enough!
It’s completely true what everyone says, your wedding day will go by in a flash.
What I didn’t hear about was why it goes by so quickly, and for me it was because all our guests wanted to talk to me. Seriously, I felt like everyone wanted a piece of me, and I was constantly pulled in a million different directions all night long. We tried to go from table to table as people were finishing their dinner, and we got through all the family tables (except my cousins), to get the chatting out of the way early, but family still continued to monopolize our time throughout the reception. Which I understand--everyone wants to congratulate the bride and groom at their wedding. Or spend 15 minutes discussing cupcake flavors. Or stop me as I try to just go to the restroom and talk about who-knows-what for a half hour, as I shift from foot to foot ‘cause I gotta go. I get it. And I don't hold it against anyone.
But the fact still remains that I felt like I never really got to enjoy some aspects of our reception for more than a minute here or there.
I spent maybe 4 total minutes in our fauxtobooth. And other than our first dance, Mr. Cola and I never got to dance again the whole night. I was stretched so thin that I never really had a chance to notice some of the DIY aspects that I worked so hard on, like our choose your favor table (thank goodness for photos, right?).
In retrospect, the not dancing thing bums me out the most, even though we’re not at all big dancing people, and neither are a lot of our friends. But because we never had a chance to go back out on the dance floor, meant that not too many other people danced either, since we weren’t there to take the lead and set the mood. I’m so glad we decided to have an after party in our hotel suite, for a chance to finally talk to and hang out with our friends, because we hardly got to see them at the reception. The after party was a blast, and the next best thing to having more time at our reception! :)
So that’s my biggest, most important tip. Add an extra hour to your reception if you can. Even if you initially think it will be enough time, trust me, it won’t be. And if you can’t add more time for whatever reason, an after party is a great way to extend your night, and party with people you didn’t get to spend time with earlier in the evening.
Now, about these recaps.
I can't wait to share everything, because our wedding was freakin' awesome (which is obviously why I wish it had lasted longer)! I’m thinking I’ll go into the pre-wedding events first, then get the nitty-gritty “what went wrong” post out of the way, and by then I'll have our pro pics and be able to move on with the day-of details. I’m a fan of chronological recaps, so I hope you all don’t mind if I do it that way. And I’ll try my best to link back to all of my tutorials and DIY posts as I show the final results, in case anyone has any questions.
Sound good?
And since I don't quite know how to end this post, I'll leave you with two of my favorite non-pro detail photos, one taken by a bridesmaid of the beading on my dress, and the second taken by a guest, featuring my DIY wedding shoes!
Miss any wedding week details? Catch up here:
- I packed an emergency bag that saved my dress
- We had a crazy 4 days prepping for house guests and stuffing favors
- Shopping for a ton of wedding flowers to arrange ourselves
- Mr. Cola drinks a 40 and I have a night out on the town for our low-key bach parties
- A day of DIY'ing flower arrangements
Posts
Loooove that shoe shot! Yay!!! Can't wait to read your recaps and experience the day through your eyes :)
ReplyDeleteLove the pics!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing / hearing all about it. I agree that recaps in order are the best!
I would totally agree with your comment to make your wedding as long as possible. I knew I wanted the longest day possible, and since our ceremony and reception venues were around 40mins apart, we had our ceremony at 1pm and the guests didnt leave until 1am, 12 hours later, and I still felt it flew by and that I didnt get to speak to everyone nearly long enough!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI’m so glad you’re starting your recaps, and I love these pictures. Your gown and shoes are just lovely. I’m sorry to hear that you were stretched so thin throughout the night, though. Our reception was 5.5 hours long, which I think was the perfect amount of time. And because we had just 75 guests, we were able to talk with most people during dinner and then occasionally throughout the night without it cutting into our dance time. I'm so sorry you missed it. :(
ReplyDeleteHoly cow! The shoes! LOVE THEM! I agree, there is just never enough time at a reception for the bride and groom. And ours was a good amount of time, but not enough. Unfortunately, most of our guests were done by 11 pm for sure but I would have kept going. I also barely got to jump in the photobooth...once with my small group of girlfriends, once with my daughter and once with my hubby...but I would have loved to have focused on it more. And our chocolate fountain...I tried to scarf down as much as I could when I remembered it was there. Oh well. But I think you have the right thoughts on how it all goes down for sure. Too fast :(
ReplyDeleteYay - can't wait for your recaps! Unfortunately, we can't afford to extend our reception (I'm not even sure if it's possible at our venue...) but I'm sure I'll feel it went by too fast as well. Luckily our guest list isn't SO huge so we should be able to chat with everyone. I definitely plan to spend most of the reception on the dance floor and encourage our guests to join us!
ReplyDelete