Weddingbee Blog

My boss often says, “At every successful event, there are at least three things that go wrong.” The Hippo wedding was no exception, although we lucked out in that the things that went “wrong” were more like little annoyances than major catastrophes… thank goodness! But if I could have a do-over, there are a couple of things that I would have done differently.

Guest book: We tried to make our guest book a unique keepsake by using our engagement photos in a photo book, leaving plenty of white space for guests to write us well wishes and heartfelt words that we could go back and read at any time. I guess our guests didn’t get it ’cause what we ended up with was this:

Yep. A list of names.

If we could have a do-over, I would have given the guest book to our wedding party first to let them write their messages so that when our guests got to it, they had some examples to go off of. But… I didn’t think of that. Fail.

Inviting more guests or having a B list: During the planning process, 120 guests was our sweet spot. Not too big, not too small. Big enough that we could invite our families and all of our closest friends, but small enough that it still had an intimate feel. And price-wise, 120 guests was a perfect number for our budget. Keeping in mind that about 20% of people usually can’t make an event (I’m not sure where I’ve heard this figure before, but I’ve been using that forever), we invited 140 guests. Since we were super selective with our lists—there were no random friends of our parents or obligatory invitations—I assumed that we would be right at or close to 120 guests. Ummm… not so much. Surprisingly, friends who I just assumed would make it had other commitments. Family members that I never in a million years thought would miss it, had to miss it. I don’t know if it was the timing or what, but there were folks that I had put in the yes column in my head that ended up being nos. And being a 30-something bride, I’ve been to many a wedding, and I know how bad it sucks to be invited without a guest. So we were generous with the plus ones. But not all guests took us up on the offer to bring a date. So, with all that being said, what was our final count? 97. That’s a 30% drop-off. Don’t get me wrong, it was totally and completely fine, and I was happy to save a few bucks on the reception food and drink costs, but our reception venue would have seemed more full with the extra 23 guests. Had I anticipated the bigger drop-off, I would have included more work folks on the invitation list or I would have had a B list to invite once the no RSVPs started coming in (although a lot of them were kind of returned late, which would have made it difficult to send out invitations without guests knowing they were B listers). Anyhoo… lesson learned.

Ceremony music feedback: I mentioned here, here and here (oh, and here too!) that we were using contemporary, recorded music for most of the ceremony. The art gallery has a really amazing, state-of-the- art sound system, so our DJ was able to play the music through the gallery simply by plugging into their system. What I didn’t know (until it was too late), was that switching between the different playlists (pre-ceremony to ring warming or ring warming to prelude) created a short burst of feedback. Not screeching, hold your ears feedback, but still… feedback. Feedback that I heard from the bridal waiting room. Feedback that I heard seconds before walking down the aisle. I have to admit, this one still makes me a wee bit upset/annoyed/disappointed when I think about it. I’m not sure if the DJ did a sound check during the set-up process and just couldn’t figure out how to make it not happen or if he just made sure the music was working but didn’t test switching between the playlists until it was actually time. I haven’t bothered to ask ’cause it really doesn’t matter at this point, but if I had to have a do-over, I would have scheduled a music run-through before the actual event where I could have been present.

Married bees… If you had a do-over, what would you have done differently?