When I had originally started this blog, I thought wow, how great, I will have a diary of what the wedding planning process was like.  Little did I know you guys would end up helping me plan my wedding!  And I am so thankful for that!  I got so many great tips from you guys!  So I decided I want to help pay it forward.  A week after my wedding my sister asked me if I could go back and change anything about the day would I?  I said yes, but only to two things.

One I would have changed the time of my hair appointment.  I did something that one of my bridesmaids did at her wedding.  Instead of having all of my girls go out to a salon, I brought the salon to us.  Thankfully the girl who does my hair has become a very good friend of mine and agreed to do this.  She brought a friend with her and they knocked on my door at 8:30 am ready to get us all prettied up.  She had originally suggested 8 am.  I said no, one of the reasons I wanted to do it the way we did it was so no one would have to get up super early.  So that people could just come in in their pajamas, grab a mimosa, listen to my Justin Bieber wedding day mix and chat.  Well- that 30 extra minutes would have been a huge help.  It would have prevented the hotel room calling us every 15 minutes starting at 11 asking when we were going to be out of the room.  It would have accounted for the 15 minutes we spent convinving my 3 year old niece that my friend Erin also does all of the Disney princesses hair so she shouldn't be scared of a curling iron.  I would not have had to stress out every time it was someone elses turn to get their hair done and a bridesmaid was missing.  Essentially it was the only thing on the day of the wedding that stressed me out.  It was also the only time I let it show. 

The other thing I would have changed was the time of the wedding.  We had a 3 oclock wedding.  The reason we did a late wedding is because we had a Friday wedding and we wanted to give people the opportunity to come to the ceremony, and we thought hey if they only have to leave work an hour or two early it would be more likely they would come.  Well- the church was packed!  It made me realize you know what this church is jammed with people who love us.  These people would still be here if the ceremony was at 2 or 3...and if we would have had that extra hour I wouldn't have rushed the pictures.  I was so worried about having my wedding party sitting around bored that I was like ok lets get these pictures done...because of this it made the whole afternoon seem rushed. 

Other than that I don't see myself changing much.  And if those are my only two things- WOW.  I am lucky!  And again a lot of it is thanks to you..I also wanted to pass on some more advice.  I received an email from a friend this morning about wedding photographers.  She wanted to know if what I paid was comprable to what she was getting quoted.  Here was my advice to her...

Wedding photographer was one of the hardest things I had to figure out.  I knew who I wanted and what I wanted, I just didn't want to pay that amount.  When you only plan a wedding once, it is hard to compare prices.  I could talk to my friends and sisters, but unless they were married in the last year- the prices are soo different...and trust me when you see that price it is going to shock you.  I kept going back and forth because I knew the photographer I was picking was giving me a heck of a deal, but in hindsight I was thinking, ok how many pictures are we actually going to put up on the wall- 2, 3 tops?  And once we have kids, will those pictures get taken down to be replaced by them?  My sister in law did give me a piece of advice, if she could do her wedding all over again, that is the one thing she would have spent more money on.  Her photographer.  So I weighed the pros and cons, and booked who I wanted.  Let me tell you- I am so glad I did.  Our pictures turned out phenomonal...and I haven't even seen all of them yet.  My suggestion to her was do your research.  When you start looking up prices and checking out the websites you will be able to pinpoint why some photographers are so cheap and some are so expensive.  You will also see that some are ridiculously expensive and the price you have been quoted is actually quite reasonable.  I think my favorite part about our photographer is she is someone I am hoping to photograph us throughout our entire journey.  She did our engagement pictures, she did our wedding pictures, and I want her to do our family pictures when we accomplish that next step.  To think that the same person will be documenting such important parts in your life, and you want them to be a part of that, is a major compliment. 

So now I open it to you guys...do you have any other questions about the wedding planning process?  FYI- I was a cheapo bride.  So bring it :)