I thought I would write a bit about the things we skipped that we didn't miss on our wedding day. This isn't what we skipped that is normally in a WIC wedding, though there are lots of those too. This is about the things we seriously considered doing/getting, but then decided not to. Here goes:
Hair Stylist
I considered having my hair done, but then realized it would be pretty pointless. I have naturally curly hair, and have yet to meet a stylist who is able to make the curls behave better than I can. I also have relatively short hair, so a complex up-do wasn't going to happen. In the end, I did my curls the way I normally do (though with a bit more patience and care); and then my cousin pinned back one side and put flowers in. I think it turned out really well.
Car Service
We knew our photographer could drive us to do our photos, and then to the reception, but we weren't sure how to get from the reception to the hotel. Limos are really NOT our style. We were asked a number of times (by our mothers) how we were planning to get to the hotel, and one of them suggested getting a car service (like a limo service, but just a nice sedan instead). We found out that it would be at least $75 and have to be booked in advance. We weren't sure when we would want to leave the reception, so that complicated things a bit. We didn't want to have to pay for the driver to wait around for us and we also didn't want to have to wait for them, if we decided we wanted to leave earlier. In the end, we decided to take public transit to the hotel. It was easy and cheap. We also ran into a very nice transit officer, who was really excited that we just got married. We took some pics with him, and when we got on the train, he leaned in and told everyone on the train we'd just gotten married. Everyone clapped and smiled, and it was way more fun than a car service! (Side note: We've run into the transit officer since then, and he remembers us and gives us hugs!)
Mad Libs
We thought it would be fun to make some Mad Libs to put at each table, but when it came down to it, we were too tired for that kind of extra project. It would have been fun to read them, but I'm glad we skipped it because the extra stress would not have been worth it. Also, having seen the flow of the reception, I'm not sure that people would've filled them out… everyone was too busy chowing down!
Wedding Cake
Originally, we were going to ask my cousin-in-law to do our cake, as she's a pastry chef. However, we really are pie people so we decided to skip the cake, even though we knew she would do a super yummy and beautiful job. Instead, we decided to ask a few family members to make pies, and we also made four pies. I also find baking calming, so this was a good activity to be doing the night before, and morning of the wedding. Everything turned out fabulous, and our desserts were SO good. The dessert buffet was very “us.”
Favors
We considered having chocolates (made by my aunt) or jellies (made by my cousin-in-law) as favors…but then we decided to have those at the dessert table instead, and make a donation to World Wildlife Federation in lieu of favors. Obviously we didn't take this route to save money (since we had chocolates and jellies anyways). We decided on the donation instead because it's important to us.
Offbeat Advice #3 from arielmeadow on Vimeo. I would like to add to my advice in the video: if you work it right, having a... Read more
Veil
With my dress, a birdcage veil would've been really nice. But there was no way in hell I was going to pay $100 for one. I really didn't want to spend more than about $30. I bought some veiling and tried to make one, but it just wasn't happening. The prospect of trying to make a veil that looked good, and didn't feel ridiculous was looming over my head and really stressing me out. One day I just decided that I didn't need to have one, and I abandoned the project. I know my mom was disappointed, but I wasn't willing to stress about it anymore. It was absolutely worth it to ditch the project. A big stress was immediately relieved, and I think I was more comfortable without it.
Tents
When we decided to have our ceremony in our backyard, we realized we would need an in-case-of-rain plan. So, we decided it would be BYOU (Bring Your Own Umbrella). We posted that on our wedsite, and spread the word. As our wedding date got closer, we had some pretty crappy weather and we started to be less sure of our plan. There was a 30% chance of rain forecast for our date. We panicked and we looked into renting tents. Then we freaked out again when we realized how much they cost, and that we would only need them for about an hour. Plus, we really did not want to get married under a tent. We went back and forth for a few days, before deciding to stick with umbrellas. As it turns out, the weather was great and we didn't even need the umbrellas.
I think that's it….at least, that's all I can think of right now. When we were deciding what to ditch it was really a matter of deciding “is it worth this amount of money?” or, “is it worth the amount of stress that it's causing?” If the answer was NO then it was gone!
