Wedding What you LOVE about wedding planning!

[oobiecoo]

So I''m no longer a bride but I wanted to help out. I''ve seen so many threads about wedding problems, stress, and what we hated about wedding planning and only a couple about what we LOVE!

So ladies, post your favorite part of getting married or planning your wedding! Maybe it''ll help ease some stress and lift your spirits!

(Just for the record, I''m certainly not discounting the stress or hassle of planning a wedding or the threads about it... we all know it can be rough! I just want to post for the positive side of wedding planning as well

)

 

[oobiecoo]

I''ll go first!

Some of my favorite things to decide on were the ring pillow and garters. I found a lady to custom make them and she had so many beautiful designs so it made it difficult to choose... but difficult in a FUN way!

I also really enjoyed going with DH to pick out his suit. Whenever he''d come out of the fitting room with a different one on, I just wanted to cry because he looked so handsome

 

[marchswallowbird]

I had a TON of fun dress shopping.

 

[Sabine]

I LOVED so much about wedding planning, but I think my favorite was how many cool pictures there are to look at to get inspiration! I LOVED looking at pictures of flowers, bm dresses, wedding gowns, favors, and all the little details, some even after I''ve made my choices!

 

[iwannaprettyone]

Taking photos of progress....I took this one of my confetti cones (and ofcourse did an artsy flair)!!!

 

[Italiahaircolor]

Um, I loved loved loved the parties!

It was so wonderful to have my friends and family in town to celebrate...my wedding year was like a year long party...and I loved it! We had fun.

 

[Gwyn]

I really liked searching venues. Probably because I adore looking at all things real estate related. Though we went with the first venue we saw in person I must have reviewed the websites and talked to atleast 50 different places minimum in the southern california region.

I would say I enjoyed the dress shopping but my dress was in the first batch of dresses i tried on, so I feel I didnt get to explore the whole dress trying on thing. I think I tried on 4 different dresses total. This experience was also brought down by the fact that I had to be naked in front of a total stranger (well I got to keep my panties on) but still, it was a lil akward for me.

Oooh and cake testing, I did love the cake testing

 

[Shoopy]

I love how special vendors make you feel. Granted that this is all a strategy to get you to book but the vendor appointments are *awesome (I said awful, maybe a slip LOL I crack myself up). They gush about your ring, tell you a million congratulations, some give you cookies or champagne, they tell you how special your day is, etc. It's just great.

I also love how empowering it has made me feel. We're paying for it all ourselves so I'm a completely differnet person with these vendors. I'm negotiating and throwing other prices in their face. I'm walking away and loving them pull me back with better offers. It's been great.

 

[FrekeChild]

I love shopping for shoes. But I love that with or without wedding planning.

I''m also enjoying looking for jewelry. I mean, c''mon, who doesn''t like sparklies?

 

[NewEnglandLady]

I loved creating the ceremony--it was really nice for D and I to create our vows based on the things that were most important to us in our relationship. We also loved working with our JOP to create a ceremony that was perfectly tailored to us and choosing readings that were on par with our views of marriage. We also enjoyed finding ways to involve our families in the ceremony. The ceremony was short and sweet (only 15 minutes), but it represented us perfectly and that was really importan to us.

D is the one who took the reception planning more seriously, but we ended up having a lot of fun doing it together. Definitely a team effort!

 

[newbie124]

- I love that there's a whole new magazine section that's become of interest to me I love browsing through them, and I always get excited when I see that new issues have come out.

- Dress shopping was pretty fun. It got a tiny bit discouraging toward the end, but when I found my dress and got a terrific bargain on it, that was AWESOME!

- I loved that we were able to make our own letterpress stationery. Some of the process was decidedly not fun and stressful (um, like my sister designing it from CA and having to figure out the instructions for the files...). But the creation process was fun, and of course the best part was when we were all done and seeing the finished product and how professional it looked and knowing it was 100% DIY!

- I love when after searching high and lo you finally find that perfect vendor--the one who actually knows how to run a good business, is organized, trustworthy, and you can tell that they really care about their clients and offering good customer service. That's such a great feeling...almost makes up for all the sucky vendors you had to dig through first.

- Free tastings. That's always fun

- Finally, I've really enjoyed the camaraderie of sharing wedding planning experiences w/ so many other bride-to-be's. FI always teases me for participating in these forums, but I seriously don't know how I would have been able to plan this thing w/o the help of all these supportive women, most of whom don't know me from Eve! And being able to help others in return is also a great feeling.

So yeah, I guess that's a good summary of some of my favorite things. Man, that was kind of therapeutic

ETA: Oh, and of course I CAN'T WAIT to see everything finally come together!!

 

[honey22]

Imagining the look on my DF face when I walk down and isle and knowing we will finally be married!

I am excited about the whole thing I guess, somethings are stressing me (the photography esp) but it will all fall into place.

Oh, and I just love bridal mags - I have become addicted to reading, then cutting and pasting. DF nearly died last night when I asked him to get me the latest copy of one, he wanted to know if they all cost $15 each - uhhh, no darling, this must be an expensive one

Note to the girls on this point - if you want to get away with buying a new bridal mag every week, no questions asked, make sure you pick him up a copy of a guys mag at the same time. I get some bizarre looks from our local newsagent when I go to the counter to pay, one copy of Mebourne Bride and one copy of Zoo Weekly (always got boobies in the front). He just raises his eyes and smiles at me. I tell him, one mag is to get away with buying the other

 

[mimzy]

i loved planning our ceremony, dress shopping and picking out stefan''s tux! i''m more excited about that than i am for my dress!!

. i also liked designing the stationary

 

[oobiecoo]

Date: 9/24/2008 4:18:52 PM
Author: NewEnglandLady
I loved creating the ceremony--it was really nice for D and I to create our vows based on the things that were most important to us in our relationship. We also loved working with our JOP to create a ceremony that was perfectly tailored to us and choosing readings that were on par with our views of marriage. We also enjoyed finding ways to involve our families in the ceremony. The ceremony was short and sweet (only 15 minutes), but it represented us perfectly and that was really importan to us.


D is the one who took the reception planning more seriously, but we ended up having a lot of fun doing it together. Definitely a team effort!

I loved creating our ceremony as well! He is Catholic so there are certain readings we had to choose from and we took alot of time picking the ones that felt really related to us and were important. I also loved that DH''s aunt and my uncle got to do readings.

My uncle''s life partner passed away from cancer recently and my wedding was the last family event he attended. He flew all the way from Arizona even though he wasn''t doing very well. I was so glad to have him there. I specifically chose the "love is patient..." reading for my uncle because I thought it spoke alot about their relationship.

 

[zoebartlett]

One of my favorite things was looking at venues, because like Gwyn, I love all things real estate. I loved meeting the various coordinators, travelling to different areas (the mountains, the ocean, etc.), and seeing what each place had to offer.

We didn''t get to do a tasting at our venue -- since it''s a restaurant, I guess they think that you''ll dine there if you want to check out the food. We also didn''t have a wedding cake -- we had a dessert buffet instead. I KNOW that if the venue did tastings though, that would be one of my favorite things about planning.

I enjoyed choosing the menu for our rehearsal dinner (at a different restaurant) and the reception.

I had fun getting everything for the welcome bags we gave out, especially the kids'' things.

I loved working with our printer who did our save the dates and invitations. She did a great job, and it was fun to see her designs come to life, so to speak.

This isn''t really part of the planning process, but one of our absolute favorite things was arriving at the hotel and hanging out with friends and family the 2 days before the wedding. That was so much fun, and it made us feel so happy that everyone could be there with us.

 

[allycat0303]

Well I haven''t done much that I love. I find it pretty stressful. I think my favorite thing will be the cake (and hopefully the cake tasting) I don''t know, I love cake, so it''s a pretty big treat for me. I also think wedding cakes are really beautiful, almost an art form, so I can''t wait for that.

 

[SarahLovesJS]

I loved picking out my dress (once I found some to try on). I also love buying things for the wedding (not spending the money..but getting the things together is exciting!). And of course it''s nice that everyone is so excited.

 

[doodle]

I''ve loved all of it, to the extent that I really want to get certified and become a bridal consultant. I LURVE all the details, being creative, and watching it all come together.

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Date: 9/24/2008 11:16:40 PM
Author: doodle
I''ve loved all of it, to the extent that I really want to get certified and become a bridal consultant. I LURVE all the details, being creative, and watching it all come together.

Doodle that is AWESOME! Are you going to start your own business?

 

[bee*]

I actually haven''t had any stress planning mine for the last year-I''ve pretty much loved all of it. It''s the excitement of the day that''s kept me going.

 

[doodle]

I'd like to, but I'm still too chicken to go for it, haha!

ETA That was in response to Sarah's question, but I'm goofy so forgot to mention that.

 

[luvthemstrawberries]

Just wanted to say that I think this is a great post!! There is so much stress that people often forget to focus on the positive things. I just got engaged last night

, and have been looking at ideas for a while but done no definite planning yet, so it''s awesome to see all the comments on here that were great things! We''re probably having a short engagement, but I look forward to all the fun things you all have loved throughout the process!

Hehe and my guy makes fun of me too for being on PS so much - every time he comes home and I''m on the computer typing away, he knows exactly what I''m doing... hehe but it''s so much fun and so great!!

 

[Meowtown2]

oobiecoo, thanks for starting this thread, what a great idea!

I love....CAKE TASTING, dress shopping, this forum, the excitement of seeing all our friends and family in one place, and (this one is dorky) getting to be really organized with planning books, business card holders, and a little filing cabinet with color-coded folders and tabs.

 

[Sparkalicious]

Everything!
I love being able to focus on what could be considered frivolous things and put all my energy into them. Also, not being a typically creative person, being able to channel some of my creativity in an effort to personalize elements of our day.

I''m loving building our wedding website.
I have loved doing site tours with fi while selecting our venue
I have loved interviewing & selecting our vendors with fi
I have loved assisting with the design of our invites and save the dates
I love how wonderful my friends/bridesmaids have been to me
I love doing all these special things to create a fantastic day but keeping them secret so that our guests will be surprised and really get into our day

So many things!!