First of all...some pictures!I need to thank all of you amazing Redditors for this wonderful subreddit! I learned so much about wedding planning through this site, and I fully credit you guys for making the whole process so much easier and less stressful. I found recaps really helpful (and also fun to read) as I was planning, so I thought I'd write up one for my own wedding.My husband and I got married on Saturday 4/29/17 in Northern New Jersey. Thanks to a ton of pre-planning and organization the day went fairly smoothly with only a few minor hiccups.What Went RightI got married to a kickass dude and my best friend!Most of our vendors did an amazing job. I was so happy that we hired the vendors that we did, and have been recommending them to anyone who will listen.The weather! Late April in New Jersey can be dicey but it was a randomly beautiful, warm day - 80 degrees and sunny. Our venue had a big outdoor patio with a fire pit and I was so happy our guests could enjoy it.The ceremony was incredible - we wrote our own vows, the readings were perfect, and everyone laughed AND cried. It was exactly what we wanted.I put in a ton of work leading up to the wedding organizing everything - seriously, Google docs on Google docs. My husband and parents thought I was being overly anal retentive, but after the wedding, everyone admitted that the day wouldn't have gone as smoothly without all of that forethought.HIRING A DAY OF COORDINATOR. Do this. Seriously. I did so much pre-planning, but on the day of I handed off everything to our coordinator and let her drive the schedule. It made everything so much easier and took so much stress off of our shoulders.What Went Wrong (thankfully, not much)I ordered a special cupcake for my sister - it was her birthday that same day, and I organized the band to play Happy Birthday and ordered a cupcake with our wedding cake to give to her. The cupcake never arrived - the DOC found a random cupcake from a wedding the week before that we could present to her, but she couldn't actually eat it.We had tried to organize a private space for the afterparty at the hotel, but some group had reserved the conference room. I was really stressed out about a bunch of alcohol and snacks just being out in the open for any guest of the hotel to enjoy (and we had some...interesting party crashers), but it ended up working out. Our group was so big that I think we intimidated any other wedding party that was staying at the hotel.I did not love my hair for the day. I wanted something a little different than my trial and the stylist really wasn't understanding how I wanted to change it. It ended up looking fine but I wasn't 100% in love with the final look.The venue lost our place cards - my MIL worked SO HARD on them and on the day of the wedding, our venue coordinator was calling me asking me where they were...they ended up just making up some generic ones and I felt really bad that my MIL put in so much work.VendorsVenue - The Barn at Perona Farms in Andover, NJ. AMAZING. We loved this place. They were a barn venue, but without the barn "work" - we didn't have to bring any furniture in, catering was in-house, etc. We got married outside the barn and they really did a beautiful job with the setup. They offered a ton of upgrades, and in the end we didn't opt into really any of them and didn't feel like we were missing anything (except the raw bar at cocktail hour - always get the raw bar). The food was fantastic, the service was great...overall, really happy with the venue. (Also, we had a s'mores pit. So happy about the s'mores.)Celebrant - Celia Milton was our officiant and she was amazing. We wanted a non-secular wedding that was sentimental, funny, and personal, and she really nailed it. We took a couple passes at the ceremony before the day and even during the ceremony I felt emotional hearing her words. She was a little disorganized leading up to the wedding but totally knocked it out of the park.Photographer - Hiring Lily Szabo for our photography was our best vendor decision. She was so professional, efficient, and made every shot look beautiful. My husband and I are normally pretty camera-shy but we felt so confident in her hands. All of our guests can't stop raving about her work! We also went through her for the photo booth and our guests had a great time (her photo booth offers unlimited print outs and GIFs, plus we could customize the template).Flowers - I got the idea from this sub to check out a local flower farm, and Little Big Farm ended up being the perfect vendor. She immediately understood the look I was going for - I didn't care so much about the specific flowers used in the design, but I really wanted the organic, rustic, wild look. When I saw the flowers on the day of the wedding I almost cried - they looked exactly how I pictured in my head. She also provided an arch for the ceremony and set it up with a beautiful garland that we eventually reused in the reception space.Band - We hired the Silver Arrow Band for our reception and ceremony music. They were so easy to work with and I liked that we could customize the size of our band. They were really accommodating with all of our requests and played a great variety of music - our guests were dancing all night.Day of Coordinator - We hired April from Details Made Simple and like I said above, DO THIS. HIRE SOMEONE. IT'S WORTH IT. April took care of all of the vendor coordination on the day of, provided recommendations for us, and made sure we were where we needed to be at all times. Literally could not have done it without a DOC. It was important to me that none of my friends or family needed to "work" on the day of the wedding, and without April it never would have happened. WORTH IT.Dress/Bridesmaid dresses - Got my dress at Lovely Bride on the recommendation of this sub and I was very happy. It was a WToo gown, and I felt so happy and beautiful. My sisters got their Joanna August dresses at The Wedding Library - honestly, they probably could have been cheaper elsewhere, but this way it was pretty painless.Suit - My husband got his suit at [Suit Supply] and had a bad experience - they screwed up the tailoring and on the week of the wedding, he was scrambling to fix it (grooms - try on your suit before the wedding, okay?). Eventually it got somewhat resolved (and no one really noticed) but he was still not 100% pleased with the result.Invites/STDs/Paper goods - I ordered so much stuff through Minted and overall had a pretty good experience - we did our STDs, invitations, programs, and menus through them. We used a lot of coupon codes to help bring the price down.Hotel - We organized a room block at the Residence Inn in Mt. Olive. They came recommended by the venue and by Kleinfeld Hotel Blocks, but in the end we had a few logistical issues. It was fine, but I wish we had picked a place that was closer and had a bar in the hotel. Make sure you talk to Dina - up until about a month before the wedding, our contact was another guest relations associate who was super unhelpful and not communicative. Once we talked with Dina, we were able to plan a lot more smoothly.Hair/Make Up - We used Pin It Up for our hair and makeup . Like I said above, I wasn't 100% happy with my hair, but I did love my makeup. They were reasonably priced and were able to all the hair and makeup for me, my two bridesmaids, my mother and MIL, and SIL with just two people.Rings - We got my engagement ring and wedding ring at Doyle & Doyle in NYC. They specialize in vintage jewelry which was exactly the look I was going for. Great customer service and a beautiful selection. We got my husband's wedding band from Blue Nile after hearing about it from this sub - I waited for a coupon code before ordering which helped significantly.Looking back... My wedding day was truly one of the most fantastic days of my life. My husband and I felt so loved and special, and the gravity of the event only really hit me a day or two before - we were getting up in front of all of our friends, family, and loved ones and promising our lives to each other. It felt so significant to have both sides coming together to celebrate us and our relationship. Also, we had so much FUN. We danced, ate incredible food, got to see so many people we don't normally get to spend as much time with, and laughed a LOT. If I could impart any wisdom onto any future brides or grooms, it's just to relax when the day finally comes - in the end, you're getting MARRIED, and that's the most important part.And if you read this entire post...here's a GIF of a corgi stampede for your troubles. via /r/weddingplanning http://ift.tt/2uekWKs
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