Customer advice, help and tips, wedding entertainment ideas

10 Wedding Day Regrets and Planning Tips from Real Newlyweds

newlyweds tips

Imagine if you knew exactly how your wedding day was going to pan out, before it even happened…

Like Tom Cruise in Minority Report, you could spot potential mishaps and pitfalls ahead of time and know exactly how to avoid them. No wedding day regrets at all! If you aren’t blessed with your own group of psychic ‘precogs’, or the intuition to see into the future, getting advice from couples who have been there before is the next best thing.

We spoke to our past newly-weds to find out if there was anything that they would’ve done differently on their wedding day. They have blessed us with some useful wedding advice they have for anyone else in the midst of planning their wedding!

Here are 10 things that our real brides & grooms would have done differently on their wedding day, some wedding regrets plus their best bits of advice just for you. Thank you, real brides & grooms, for this insight in sharing what you’ve learned! You are wonderful human beings.

1. Apparently, weddings do not abide the normal laws of time and physics

Ever heard the phrase ‘time flies’? According to our couples, it seems that weddings exist in some kind of time warp. ‘Wedding Time’ is a construct of its own.

There are a lot of things that our couples have in common with each other. If there’s one thing they are all agreed on, it is how quickly your wedding day will go. Literally, every single couple has brought this up so it must ring true!

Priya & Dave’s wedding with covers band Renegades Of Rock was no different.

“Most importantly, enjoy it – everyone says it, but it honestly does go so quickly!” – Priya & Dave

So much is packed in to one day. Taking a step back and remembering to enjoy it all is so important.

Unless you can bend time, there isn’t much you can do to slow things down. Find moments throughout your day to take stock of what you’ve created and enjoy it.

2. Pinterest is to be both studied and worshipped during the wedding planning stages

For all those little touches, DIY details and visual flairs to enhance your day – Pinterest is a dream for any wedding planner.

Wedding ideas and inspiration are at the heart of Pinterest. You can even find some of your key wedding suppliers here if you know what to look for. Elle & Chris’ Wedding with modern soul band Soulfire was brought to life by some incredible photography. They just so happened to have found their dream photographers on Pinterest.

“Pinterest!!! It gave me so many amazing ideas, I pinned everything for my wedding!  I found my amazing photographers ‘The Springle’s’ through Pinterest, their style is very documentary which worked so well for us as they blended into the background and got so many natural shots.” – Elle & Chris

Refine your style with Pinterest. Worship the Pinterest. Become the Pinterest. It’s almost a rite of passage for any bride-to-be to sink a hell of a lot of time into gathering ideas this way, and according to our previous brides, it’s absolutely worth your attention to streamline your visionary wedding on Pinterest.

If you want some ‘Pinspiration’ for your wedding entertainment or wedding music, make sure you follow us on Pinterest for some great ideas!

3. Getting really, really, really drunk can be a bad idea

One thing we found absolutely hilarious was the amount of couples who admitted to having drank a little too much on their wedding day.

Charley & Nicholas certainly enjoyed their celebrations with Gentlemen Of The Road, but there were some wedding regrets about how much alcohol was consumed!

“I would have limited my drinking early on in the day, my poor husband had to escort his drunken wife home when there was still an hour to go!” – Charley

If anything, we salute these heroes for their no holds barred party mentality. If you can’t celebrate like this on your big day, when can you?! We’re proud of you, drunk brides and grooms. It wouldn’t be a party without you.

But yes, if we’re putting our sensible hats on for just a moment: Be careful with how much party poison you consume, and when! We’re sure there are some parts of your wedding day that you will want to remember…

4. Create a wedding only email address so your personal inbox doesn’t implode

A clutter free inbox is something that you will learn to love once you realise the importance of having a separate email address for your wedding planning tasks.

Ben & Kirsty’s wedding with rock covers band RIOT! was pieced together beautifully. Also, their organisational skills were on point. Ben & Kirsty were smart, learn from them!

“Set up a wedding email account, as you will receive so many emails from different suppliers and contacts. It also allows you to have your guests reply to a direct account rather then filling up personal accounts.” – Ben & Kirsty

Keeping everything in one place is vital once you start corresponding with various wedding suppliers and vendors. Wedmin is serious business!

One great tip is to set up your wedding email signature to include the basic details of your wedding such as your date and venue. This will help your suppliers and it means you won’t have to keep answering the same questions over and over again.

Stay organised and become a legendary wedding planner. We believe in you.

5. It’s awesome to hear your wedding band performing your first dance song live

Have you chosen your first dance song yet? It can be such a special moment of your day if planned correctly.

If you have booked a live wedding band for your evening party, you should absolutely use this opportunity to have your song performed live.

“We did have a first dance song. It’s an Alicia Keys song called Not Even The King and it means a lot to us. The band did an amazing job of performing it. Dare I say it, I think it was better than the original!” – Zara & Jason

The One Step were asked by Zara & Jason to perform their chosen first dance song live. Most professional wedding bands will offer to learn and perform your first dance track as part of their package, so definitely ask the question! It can be such an amazing way to kick things off for your evening wedding party.

If you are yet to book your live wedding music, check out our ultimate guide to wedding entertainment. It’s full of useful tips for the start of your search.

6. The best wedding suppliers get booked up fast and years in advance

You snooze, you lose. Whilst planning your wedding, you will no doubt come across certain suppliers that you completely fall in love with. This could be your photographer, your wedding entertainment, your wedding venue and more.

One of the biggest wedding regrets we see every day is from couples who miss out on their first choice of wedding suppliers, and for us that would be their wedding music and entertainment. Some of the most popular vendors are booked up years in advance, especially on key dates!

“It is never too early to start planning and booking in suppliers. It is surprising how much there is to do and how quickly suppliers get booked up.” – Laura & Guy 

Thankfully, Laura & Guy came across their ideal wedding band Radio Kings and snatched them up straight away.

At any given time, you have no idea how many other couples are looking at the same suppliers as you – maybe even for the same date. Don’t let someone else nick your first choice!

7. Wedding dresses can get both warmer and more uncomfortable throughout the day

If there was ever a way to justify purchasing multiple wedding outfits, this is a great excuse.

Depending on your style of wedding attire, you might find that the party atmosphere later in the night can be quite stifling after wearing your dress all day! Susannah enjoyed her wedding day with The Kickstarts, but certainly wishes she could go back and change into something different for dancing in.

“A wedding dress is a very warm piece of clothing to dance the night away in – perhaps a lighter dress to change into for the evening do would have been a good idea!” – Susannah

Changing for your evening party is a great idea and it gives you a chance to refresh for the last part of the day. If you’ve booked killer wedding music to fill your dance floor, you’ll certainly want to be taking part.

Don’t let your wedding dress hinder you from throwing some mad shapes on the dance floor!

8. Avoid let-downs and scams by using reliable suppliers only

We’ve seen the horror stories ourselves. Some couples may get taken advantage of during their wedding planning by dodgy suppliers or inexperienced businesses, promising something they cannot deliver.

The majority of wedding suppliers are extremely hard working and treat each wedding as if it were their own. We certainly do!

Bring The Noise! performed at Sarah & Shaun’s wedding in Cardiff. Whilst they were blessed with some amazing suppliers for their own day, they had also heard similar stories of others being let down:

“The biggest bit of advice I would give for other couples planning their wedding is: research your suppliers before booking with them and make sure that they are reputable companies. Our suppliers went above and beyond for our day but we keep hearing about couples that are getting stung by ‘fake’ companies out there.” – Sarah & Shaun

Please do your research! If it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Don’t be caught out by prices that are too cheap. Yes, it’s a good idea to look for value, but it may cost you more than you bargained for in the long run.

Here’s what you should check before you book a wedding supplier:

  • Does your supplier have their own website?
  • Are they on social media and are they active?
  • Do they have reviews online and what are they like?
  • Do you know anyone who has used them before?
  • Does the supplier use contracts?

Following this checklist should ensure that you are only working with the best of the best in weddings.

9. Getting all ‘Bridezilla’ on your suppliers doesn’t help

Tantrums, meltdowns and micro-management. The holy trinity of the dreaded ‘Bridezilla’.

We all have our moments. There will no doubt be times during the planning of your wedding where you may turn a little bit crazy to say the least. Suzy & James, however, managed to keep a level head when planning their wedding at Clock Barn in Hampshire:

“My advice would be let the suppliers do their job and don’t micro-manage them, I was very relaxed with all the suppliers and let them take their own spin on everything and I wouldn’t change anything.” – Suzy & James

Having this amount of faith in your suppliers may seem scary, but it’s absolutely necessary if you want your day to run smoothly.

You’ve picked your wedding suppliers for a reason, so let them do what they do best! After all, they have done this many, many times before. Listen to their advice, follow their lead and train your inner Bridezilla to chill out.

Our most common experience of this is with couples wanting to choose a wedding band’s entire setlist from beginning to end. The songs, the order… everything!

We always advise that you should trust your wedding entertainment’s judgement on the majority of the song list. They will know what songs work best to get the party started. Pick your favourites from their repertoire and let them loose.

10. Embrace the imperfections of your wedding day

Don’t sweat the small stuff. A lot of nerves and anxiety about certain parts of your wedding day can present themselves as things don’t quite go to plan.

Perfection is subjective. What would make your wedding day perfect? Is it stunning weather? Or perhaps just being able to celebrate with your closest friends and family?

Work with the things that are within your control, and disregard the things that you can’t control. If you’re like newly-weds Niki & Anthony, you might find that some of these unplanned moments will become your highlights. 

“It’s said repeatedly but don’t worry about everything being perfect. I turned up to the wedding half an hour early in an Uber, so my wedding party had to run into the pubs to drag out the guests before I could pull up in front of the church. My uncle walked me down the aisle on crutches and the best man dropped the rings into the bowl of holy water, so they were wet. Oh, and I only had 5 minutes to put my wedding dress on. But I love that we have these little funny stories from the day. I laughed a lot!” – Niki

There are memories that you think you will have from your day, and then the ones that stick with you for years to come. These small stories and funny moments where things aren’t quite what you expected are to be savoured, not feared!

See more real weddings from Warble Entertainment’s Brides & Grooms:

We hope you’ve learnt a lot from our newly-weds. They are full of awesome wedding day knowledge. Make sure you check out all of our other happy couples and see how they decided to celebrate with our wedding bands on our real wedding blogs page!

Discover more inspiration at Warble Entertainment and get in touch for advice on planning your wedding entertainment.

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