Wedding Wednesday- 10 things I would do again

With the wedding behind us and life starting, I was thinking about our wedding day and there are a few things in a heartbeat I would tell people to do.

These are the things that REALLY worked for us. Everyone is different.


1. Receiving Line.  We had 143 guests. The line took a little under 20 minutes. In 20 minutes we said hello to everyone and truly got to just party at our reception. We were standing at the doors to the ballroom right before the cocktail hour ended. They opened the ballroom doors, and started to lead people towards us from the cocktail hour area. It was perfect- everyone got to say hello to us and our parents. We got to thank everyone for coming, and it was over with in 20 minutes. We got to hug everyone. It was more of a "hugging" line than a receiving line and it was perfect. For us. The rest of the night I didn't feel obligated to go by each table- I just met people out on the dance floor. I also got to sit next to my husband during our dinner, instead of walking around.

2.  I am 30 and my husband (eek I still love calling him that!) is 31. We skipped the bouquet and the garter. I am glad we did.

3. Once everyone was through the receiving line - they closed the ballroom doors. Everyone took their seats. Then they reopened the doors and announced us. It was still special and we went straight into our first dance.

4. Our wedding was the day before mother's day. We made sure to have our flowers go to good use- to moms that lived in the Houston area, my dad went to their hotel rooms and gave them flowers- our florist did a great job in making the centerpieces really easy to give away in little bouquets. Hearing one of the people tell my mother in law that I am the most thoughtful person - that was obviously really nice - and the rest of the flowers went to a nursing home. We felt that flowers were a big part of our budget (I LOVE FLOWERS) and we wanted them to be enjoyed as much as possible.

5. Getting cake to those in our family that couldn't attend. The hotel was great at putting some slices of cake into to-go containers in their refrigerator after the wedding. (We requested this.) B's great grandmother and her sister could not attend, so his Aunt dropped off some cake to them on Sunday. It was wonderful to hear how much they enjoyed it!

6. Having a few minutes before the ceremony with just my immediate family. I love my friends, I love my bridesmaids. I loved that everyone wanted to have time with me. I also love that I could say- I want only my immediate family in the room. Right before the procession started- it was my dad, my mom and my brother and me. Our last moments as a family of 4.  I'm so glad I got that.

7. Not doing a first look. I know this is controversial- but I didn't want it. Plus - we wouldn't have had time anyway!

8.  Writing a card to each other. We didn't do wedding gifts- we wrote each other wedding cards to read right before walking down the aisle. I love my card. I keep it next to my bed.

9. Having a "game plan" with B- before the wedding. We knew what we both wanted from the wedding. He knew I wanted to dance and party, I knew he wanted to have some time on the porch (our reception room had an outdoor part of it) to smoke a cigar with his buddies and he wanted a few minutes with just me - as well as time to party. We both got what we wanted. He also knew I didn't want cake smashed into my face!

10. Since our reception was in a hotel, we were downstairs around 10AM. A lot of people (at least 60% of the people) came from out of town. We wanted to be downstairs in the lobby to thank them one more time for coming. I'm glad we did. Then we had our game plan- we wanted to have brunch as a married couple - by ourselves - with our puppy. So we headed to get our dog and then we headed to have brunch as a new family. It was perfect.

I truly believe a wedding day is just one day. It is a very important day, but it is one day. Our wedding day was perfect for us - but being married and starting our lives together, those are the moments I love. I love being on "this side" of married. :)