STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

sfclinevandy · Coach

Wedding Advice

Kelly · Hermes

I have no advice, but I just wanted to say, damn! You're efficient! When I'm engaged I'll probably wait around a couple years before I remember to do anything

littlebean · Kate Spade

ttara123 wrote:
I have no advice, but I just wanted to say, damn! You're efficient! When I'm engaged I'll probably wait around a couple years before I remember to do anything

Ditto -- no advice, but I am very impressed!!

Sibeski · Dooney & Bourke

The only thing I regret is hiring a wedding planner. I am such a control freak that she really didn't end up doing much - I beat her to everything. That being said I got married in the town I live in - so that is a big difference.

AllieGurl · Marc Jacobs

I regret -

Not hiring a videographer

having an open bar ( I wish I had only had open bar during cocktail hour, then switched to pay bar. It would have saved thosands)

my shoes ( I wish I had worn ballet shoes or something comfy to dance in all night)

I am so glad that I -

had a sit down dinner and not a buffet

had an amazing photographer couple who shot black and white and color photos

Had the dance floor in the center of the room (MAJOR! Made my wedding a fun Party!)

Hired a DJ who played a HUGE mix of music

Had a memories & wishes book ( a sign in recption book that let everyone remember us as a couple pre-marriage and offer marital advice. I still have that beautiful book!)

Keep my wedding party small (no drama!)

was married at sunset

took our pics the hour BEFORE we got married. (we looked fresh and clean and my makeup was still perfect) Our reception pics you can start to see how worn out we look.

Thats all I can think of right now ....

Shello · Kenneth Cole

littlebean wrote:
ttara123 wrote:
I have no advice, but I just wanted to say, damn! You're efficient! When I'm engaged I'll probably wait around a couple years before I remember to do anything

Ditto -- no advice, but I am very impressed!!

Me too! It would probably be a couple years before I even felt ready to make a decision about anything!

Eurodaisy · Dooney & Bourke

I skimped on the photographer. Big mistake. And I should have gotten engagement pictures and/or a bridal portrait. DH and I got married right before we started law school, so we were poor, but in hindsight, you only get one chance to capture these memories, and they are priceless!

Also, sample the wedding cake before you sign the deal on it. The wedding cake guy I ended up going with was cheaper, but as it turns out, there was a reason for that...

-- Edited by Eurodaisy at 16:43, 2007-01-26

bex · Chanel

congrats again on getting engaged!

i, too, am a planner- plus, with my wedding in september 2007 and all of my super busy time with work being may-august, i need to have everything done as quick as possible in order to keep my sanity.

i got engaged in september 2006 and by november 2006, i had locked in my reception site, photographer, church, string quartet for church and invite person (who is smash-btw!).

i just finished interviewing and deciding on a dj, cake person and florist. at this point, we are pretty much cruising along until summer comes and we have to make final decisions on things.

good luck with everything!

kittenheels · Coach

Congratulations! It sounds like you have everything well under control! I got married in July of 2005.

I had a very great and painless wedding planning experience. I got married in my hometown (Boston) while I live in LA. Since I was a first year associate at the time, my mother did a lot of the day to day planning. That worked very well because she had the time and taste to get all the details right.

I am a stationary dork - and I splurged on lovely engraved invitations and really cute save the dates - people really liked them, and I think they are a great way to help your guests figure out the tone of the day. A calligrapher is wonderful - it saved so much time. We used the same one for everything - and she did fantastic work.

We did our pictures before the ceremony - and it was a great idea. Boston is hot and humid in the summer, and our church was quite warm, so we would not have looked as nice.

We also did a party for our younger out of town guests the night after our wedding. Our families are large and had not really met before, so our rehearsal dinner needed to be a bit smaller than normal. To make it up to all the others who traveled so far, we had a party the next night. It was great for us to unwind and relax. Plus, there are so many things going on at the actual wedding, it was really nice to spend more time with our friends.

I wish I had been better about making people sign the guestbook - there are lots of people in the pictures who aren't in the book!

Really, looking back, I liked every minute. The best advice I can give is that lots of people will tell you how to do things - but it's your day and it will be wonderful no matter what!

tinklestar · Nine West

Congratulations on your engagement! and WOW, you really are on top of things! I just got married earlier this month and I agree with some of the above comments... My DH and I set aside most of our money to hire a great photographer and videographer and in the end, we were very glad that we made that decision. We absolutely love the work that they did and since the day was a complete blur to us, the pictures and video are the only things we can look at to jog our memory!

One thing that I absolutely regret was hiring our florist. She was the cheapest that we found and there was definitely a reason why. She nearly ruined the day for me (her flowers did look at she promised: she used cheap plastic columns draped with brown cloth rather than a wooden pedestal, and she forgot to bring the unity candle stand! which made us all frantic an hour before the wedding, with my brother having to run to hobby lobby to buy the holders...). Listen to your gut instinct.. because during the entire planning process, I could tell something wasn't right with her, but she was soo nice and sweet that I brushed it off... HUGE regret! She is also currently ignoring my phone calls to try and get a refund... it's just a continuing nightmare...