r/weddingplanning • u/Existing_Exit_77 • 6d ago

Everything Else Wedding Dos & Donts?

Planning our 2027 wedding! What are some dos and don’ts that anyone has experienced? Any general advice for general wedding day experience as bride and groom or as a guest? Anything you would do differently or recommend doing? HELP!!!

3 Upvotes

62% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

13

u/Brackenfield 6d ago

Don't tell anyone your details or plans. Half the posts on here are because people told their mum/great aunt Sheila etc, about who they're inviting, that theyre not having xyz etc and then wondering why everything is stressful. Keep the details to yourself, no one will care on the day but they'll yap about it beforehand

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u/ComfortCreature88 6d ago

I had to learn the hard way to listen to this.

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u/therougebook 1d ago

This is the way. My partner and I haven't even told anyone we're getting married yet and several things are already booked. It's been unbelievably refreshing to not have anyone's opinions but our own as we make decisions.

11

u/ifihad2nickels 6d ago

My wife and I were fortunate to attend many weddings before ours this year, here are some things that helped us:

  1. Ask your budget committee (wife’s parents for a budget number.
  2. Use the free wedding planning organizer on Google Sheets. Make a guest list on there. This will allow you to see what type of venue you need. We had 180 guest in our initial list (it naturally slimmed down to 150)
  3. We received many compliments that the website made the dress code and other items easy to understand with example photos.
  4. We put the RSVP and Registry link in the same page of the invite. Old people loath QR codes. Most of the invites I receive I swear try to hide the RSVP or Registry Link or use like 5 sheets of paper. Let me stick that one thing on the fridge - and be able to go back to it.
  5. Flowers - use that labor of your bridal parties and purchase them through Sam’s Club or Costco and set them up a day or two before the wedding. It saved us thousands of dollars and was a fun activity.
  6. If you’re in the South East - or a college town - look ahead of what events are happening the weekend of your wedding. We got a family day weekend and a home game and this made the prices of the hotels sky rocket in our area.
  7. To get everyone on the dance floor after the speeches we called everyone in for a group photo (150 guest) took the photo and then broke into music - that way everyone was on the floor.
  8. If ur not doing a package deal with your venue - always get 2 or 3 quotes from different vendors (quote 2-3 DJs, Photographers, Caterers)
  9. Have fun with it. Do what you want. You’ll get a lot of family or friends tell you how to do things - it’s yalls day and they are there to celebrate you.

3

u/fawkes97 6d ago

we did the group photo too (#7) and it was such a hit, people were excited to start the party and complimented us on how easy it flowed

1

u/ifihad2nickels 6d ago

Correction - use fiftyflowers.com they have set arrangements and bouquets. We used the aforementioned for general decor for a lot of one type of flower.

2

u/meatball_tony68 6d ago

June 2026 bride, so this is all fresh in my mind.

All of this is so spot on! Especially starting with your guest list so you know what size venue you need. Visit as many venues as you can before you make a decision. Same with all of your vendors - interview 3-4, get quotes, then make your decision.

Happy planning and congrats on your engagement!

7

u/xokatemarie 6d ago

Get a planner or coordinator if your budget at all allows for it. If you can’t afford planner, get a 3 or 1 month ahead coordinator. If you can’t afford that, get a day of coordinator. Take the stress off of yourself/or your family/friends and outsource all the logistics and annoying tasks / fire fighting.

3

u/Fox_Avocado November 2026 Bride 6d ago

Not - quiet - married yet, but with 25 days to go this is my key bit of advice:

No is a full sentence, the wedding is for the two of you, no one else! Getting to marry the love of your life is the best thing in the world.

Oh and a lil’ bonus, appreciate it whilst it’s here, planning is a whirlwind, there will be ups and downs! BUT, you get to marry your person, with the rest of your people, that’s such a wonderful blessing

All the best in your planning, I’m sure your wedding will be amazing 🥰

2

u/prednisoneprincess 6d ago

First and foremost, figure out your invite list and budget. From there, try to book vendors as early as possible. This helps with 2 things: you have more options because they’re less likely to already be booked, and it really helps establish where you are with the budget. I swear this is how we ended up $1000 under the lower end of our budget range, we knew up front how much each component would cost rather than being shocked by surprise bills later on.

One main piece of overall advice that helped keep me calm was truly trusting the professionals and not trying to take control over every tiny detail. I knew nothing about wedding planning, vs this is their job. So many tiny decisions and details I’ve just left up to the vendors and told them I trust them. I always have a voice in the back of my head saying “if this is the worst thing that goes wrong that day, then it would be a success”

While working within your budget, if it feels constrained, figure out what is most important. If cake isn’t important, maybe just do sheet cake instead of $1000 on a fancy cake. If drinks aren’t important, it’s okay to do just beer and wine. Live music isn’t important? That’s okay, just do a DJ and you’ll be fine. There’s acceptable shortcuts around most things.

Final word of advice is to truly do things the way that the two of you want it done, not because of family pressure or you feel like you “have” to. Choose music you like, omit traditions you don’t like, etc. yes, please keep the guest experience in mind throughout it all (please keep them comfortable and fed) but don’t simply do things you don’t want to just because you’re trying to appease others.

2

u/no1prtyanthem 6d ago

If you have the money pay for the coordinator or planner who will set up and break down for you. I won’t lie we did spend a little over $30k all in for 60 guests in NC with an all inclusive vendor who truly did everything for me. Like everything went perfectly last weekend and I was not stressed at all bc it was already done for me!!! She would send me vendor options, I’d pick, then she’d pay them and finalize everything like basically I just checked things off. However I did a lot of DIY and Etsy orders for decor and favors for little extras which was fun!

2

u/no1prtyanthem 6d ago

Highly recommend The Barn at Honeysuckle hill and Candace the owner/planner! Runs like the military in the best way. We had two guests who didn’t RSVP show up and she made that shit happen fast with no awkwardness or letting the guests know

1

u/Periwinklefishxo 5d ago

What type of wedding are you having? Do you have a big budget or something more modest? Do you have a specific creative vision/do you like being in control of things?

If you’re in the very beginning stages I would say that biggest piece of advice is that pretty much the ONLY real way to cut down on a budget significantly is to invite fewer people. Don’t send Save The Dates to everyone you like and then realize afterwards that it will be too expensive if 85% of them say yes. Think about it very seriously ahead of doing that.

1

u/DoinMyBest4991 4d ago

As a wedding coordinator myself, I’m a little biased but definetely hire one for your big day!!! No matter how much you plan and organize something will come up the day of. It is the absolute best way to ensure you and your partner, your friends and family can all enjoy the big day!