Perfect Wedding Days--What Does It Take to Have Them

Sunshine streamed through my window that morning awakening me. It was 6:30 am on our wedding day, a day that we had been planning now for over two years. We picked July for two reasons, because July happened to be the month we first met, as well as because in NY it seemed to be the nicest month with the least chance of rain or nasty weather.

Yes, I admit growing up the one thing I dreamed of for my wedding day (young girls usually do picture this day quite often) was sunshine and warmth--two things that seem to be in abundance during the month of July here. However, I was ever so fearful that I would not be this lucky that for months in advance I prayed to whoever would listen to me in the heavens above to bless us with a beautiful, sunny day. For two weeks leading up, I checked the weather online and indeed was told that it would be sunny and in the 80’s that day. But I truly would not believe it until the day was upon us, so when I did indeed awake as I previously stated to sunshine I was truly amazed and very thankful.

The weather that day was spectacular and one could not have asked for better if they tried. Many have gotten married before us and many will get married after, but so much planning does go into that one day. What makes a wedding day the perfect day? Sit back and read on if you are indeed planning your own special day to find out the main components to indeed make the day a memorable one.

I have spoke about this in length already, but will say this that the weather can indeed make or break this day. My parents got married in the month of October and had pouring rain the whole day. My mom always lamented that she never was able to take pictures outside or even have a picture taken of them getting out of the limo, because she pretty much had to be carried from the limo inside the church and then the hall too, because it was impossible for her to walk in huge puddles in her wedding gown and train. Granted my parents will be happily married for 40 years in a few short weeks, but still as much of a happy marriage as the two have had, my mom still wishes she would have had better weather on their special day. Honestly, you can’t really control the weather, but try if possible to pick a time of the year that in your neck of the woods has the best chance in resulting in pleasant weather if possible.

When my now husband and I went to look at places to have the reception at, we were less than satisfied at some. The one place we would have loved would not do anything, but outdoor cocktail hours come rain or shine in the summer time weather. Even though they would have tented the area, we still were left a bit leery. They also wanted to have the dinner portion in a room where it had steep steps to get in and out of this room, which would leave our poor elderly grandmothers to fend for themselves with their walkers and canes too. Our grandmothers were too special and important to us both to have them miss a moment of our day, because they couldn’t access the room that the party was being held in. When we finally settled upon the reception hall, we found a place that would hold the cocktail and dinner party on the first floor, where stairs would not be an issue for the grandmas, plus they truly gave us a very nice price for all that we were getting for the evening. So a win-win in our books.

This day is indeed so special, so it would stand to reason that you would want to have pictures and video too to commemorate this day. My husband’s grandparents got married and had one picture from the whole day. Apparently the rest of the photos got over-exposed and that was the end of having more than that one lone photo from such a special and wonderful day for them. We searched long and hard for the perfect photographer and videographer too. We may have paid a bit more, but let me tell you we totally got what we paid for and our photos (plural) and video (too) from our day were absolutely amazing and worth every penny. I have always said that this would be the one thing we would have left after that day to remember it by. Well, this is so true and thankfully we have a ton of wonderful pictures to look back on the special day. I would imagine that most would only wish for the same as far as both are concerned.

This is another thing that one does not want to skimp on cost-wise. Unfortunately, we did slightly and have to be honest if I could change one thing about our day, it would have been our DJ and entertainment. He was a nightmare from start to finish. Apparently, we were not paying him enough already and he felt he could crash the cocktail hour where he ate and drank his weight in worth. Let me tell you by the time the party was in high gear, he was feeling no pain. The list of music we had given him to play, he threw out the window and just pretty much played what he wanted. He didn’t even bother to check his CDs to make sure that the crucial father/daughter dance song was Ok (because he was too busy during the cocktail hour as stated earlier), that when he went to play it the CD was broken and wouldn’t play. Thankfully, two of our guests went to one of the other rooms with another wedding happening that night and was able to get another functioning copy of the CD, but if not for them that dance would have been completely ruined. Take if from me, you get what you pay for here completely.

The food is another thing that one wants to make sure is just right (even if you are too busy to enjoy it yourself, like me). I have to admit that I was indeed too busy being the hostess that day to even sit for very long to eat much. Our waitress actually was quoted as telling my husband, “Isn’t your wife going to eat tonight?” We were given everything on the menu to taste and sample. I think I tasted about 1/4 of what I actually could have eaten and our menu was actually quite extensive. Also, the evening went so quickly that when the Venetian Hour (Extended Dessert and Espresso Hour) actually happened, I again was to busy saying goodbye to guests who had to leave a bit early to enjoy all the many dessert foods we decided upon. I even forgot some of them and was actually looking through the proofs of our pictures when we got them with my maid of honor, who proceeded to tell me that, “There was the chocolate fountain!” To which I responded, “We had a chocolate fountain!” Seriously, I just completely missed that one even though as I said previously we planned the meal extensively. Lesson learned here take a few minutes to smell the roses or at least eat all the wonderful, delicious food you planned for the night, especially if you did indeed pick out some wonderful and delicious food.

Everyone likes different flowers and no two weddings will most likely have the same types of flowers, but remember this--try to pick the flowers that you do like and feel will work the best for you that day. My cousin got married a year before us and his bride-to-be loved orchids, so most of the flowers including the men’s boutonnieres had some form of orchid involved in it. The reception tables even had these huge over-sized vases with orchids in them, which were very pretty, but not practical at all for guests who were sitting across from each other and trying to hold a conversation, because you could barely see each other through the jungle of flowers. That said when we went to pick out our flowers for our wedding, we both remembered this and made sure that we had nice small bowls that had beautiful roses floating in them, so that conversations could indeed be had at our reception. Also we both are fans of roses, so that ended up being our flower choice. Our flowers we felt were simple, but elegant and very simply put worked for who were were and what we wanted and here you can not ask for more than that.

Every Perfect Wedding Day must come to an end eventually. I mean there are only 24 hours in a day. So what does one do when it is without a doubt over? They go on the perfect honeymoon. That however is a different article all together, but if you are indeed planning a wedding and reading this, I hope you too have a perfect day and definitely take some time that day to quite simply enjoy it!!

Janine is a freelance writer and mom of two. She is known for being a stay at home mom to two beautiful little girls right now. Life can totally get hectic and has learned to perfect and improvise all day and night too, because of this. You can checkout her profile and more of her family related articles here.

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© 2012 Janine Huldie