Wish I did / Glad I didn't do

I feel it is my civic duty, as a "veteran" Disney Bride, to share with you my honest opinion on what I wish I did and what I was glad I didn't do. Sometimes we have this vision of what things should look like. We get it into our heads that without certain things the whole "look" will be thrown off or that it'll be missed. Adam and I were working on a strict budget and sometimes I would have "wedding envy". I would see pictures of centerpieces, or Cinderella 's coach, or Minnie and Mickey at a reception and I would be sad that I couldn't afford them. I started finding little ways to try and save extra money to include these "extras" into our wedding day.  In the end things needed to be cut and I had to decide what was most important to me.  Before I start with my list let me just say that I in no way regret the decisions I made. I loved me wedding day. This post is just to try and help future brides, whether Disney or not.

Wish I did :
- I wish I tried on more wedding gowns.
I say this because I bought my wedding gown online. (Ebay to be exact) Being on a strict budget I couldn't see spending thousands of dollars on a dress I'd be wearing once. I did love my dress but I stressed over my decision A LOT! I wish I'd tried on more to make sure I knew what type of dress looked best on me before I committed to the one I bought.

- I wish I'd started saving sooner.
Adam and I got engaged 1 year and 11 months before our wedding day. I didn't start saving until a year ahead of time. I should have started sooner not to spend more, but to make myself feel better. We really didn't have ANY wiggle room on our budget so it caused stress on us in the final months. My advice... start saving the day you get engaged!

- I wish I didn't sweat the small stuff and realized that "less is more"
I'm using this "I wish I..." to segway into my "Glad I didn't do" section. I really worried that because I didn't have a big budget that my Disney wedding wouldn't and couldn't compare with the big ones! I wish I had seen beyond all of the materialistic stuff and realized earlier that the simple weddings can be just as elegant.

Glad I didn't do :
- I'm glad I didn't spend the extra money on a custom wedding cake
With the Disney "escape" wedding package you get to pick one of 5 different cake designs. They were all pretty generic and I had it in my head that I wanted the Madd Hatter cake. It would be an extra 150$ to have a madd hatter cake. Adam decided it wasn't worth it and asked if we could cut it and I caved in. I told my wedding planner to just give us the "rose and drapes" cake and I could tell she knew i was bummed out. She told me that to make the cake alittle more unique I could customize the colors of the roses and drapes. I had the drapes changed to a navy blue to match the bridesmaid dresses and the roses were a bright pink to match our flowers. I LOVED our cake! I'm so glad we didn't waste the money to upgrade the cake.

- I'm glad I didn't splurge on decorations
Both of our locations were outdoors and both were filled with character. Originally I wanted big centerpieces on the reception table, and I wanted all kinds of crazy decorations at Sea Breeze pointe. I am so glad Adam talked me out of it!!! This is where the "Less is more" comes into play.  I look at our reception pictures and looking at the table and how we were seated I think a big centerpiece would have been distracting. All we had were some rose petals and a few tea candles. It was romantic and didn't take away from the location at all. The same goes for Sea Breeze Pointe. My personal opinion is to let the locations be the decorations.

- I'm glad I didn't spend money on a videographer
Adam and I couldn't afford a videographer and we talked ourselves into thinking that we'd be fine with just the professional pictures. A week before we left for Disney I started panicking and decided we needed video. I did some research and decided that we should get an IFlip. If you can't afford a videographer I fully recommend this! It cost us 150$ and we use it all the time. We asked Adams dad if he minded videoing the ceremony and he was excited to do it for us! It is great quality for a little video camera and we have awesome footage of the ceremony, reception, and the honeymoon. So glad we have it.

This is just my opinion. I hope it helps anyone second guessing their decisions about where to spend their money on their wedding day. One more piece of advice that I want to extend is this... It's not about how much money was spent, or how much decoration you had, or even how big your guest list is. Its about the couple and their commitment to each other.

<3