When I work with brides as their Wedding Coordinator or DJ, I am very honest. Our company’s purpose is hassle-free weddings on a budget so I always advise not to add any extra stress or money. What’s the point in that? Your wedding is a celebration for you and your husband-to-be; it’s not an opportunity to impress your guests with a huge circus. Here are a few examples of what NOT to do…
Don’t bring pets to your wedding! I know we all love our pets and consider them one of the family, but in reality, they are just going to add extra stress to your big day. That’s just one more thing you have to worry about. Your pet won’t be insulted and none of your guests will be disappointed if you leave him home with a pet sitter. You have the rest of your life to spend with your pet. Let this be the one day that you don’t have to worry about him. While we are on this topic, also try to limit the amount of little kids who are at your wedding. You don’t need all your nieces and nephews. Yes, they are cute, but a wedding isn’t a children’s party. They will get bored and start running around, which will make things more difficult for the wedding staff and in turn, you. Babies and cute children sometimes upstage the bride and groom too. This is your day. You paid for it, and you should be the star of the show. Also, we know you probably don’t have children yet and don’t realize that parents sometimes need an adults-only night.
Don’t add unnecessary novelties even if you love them. Already, most people try to go overboard with their weddings and put more than enough money and effort into a wedding in order to impress their guests. But remember, the guests really only remember the wedding as a whole, i.e. whether or not they had a good time (good music; food; and a nice atmosphere). And don’t think, “Well Michael and I love ice cream so we should spend extra money to have an ice cream truck pull up during the reception.” First off, you probably won’t even get to participate in the ice cream consumption. Secondly, every detail of this reception doesn’t have to be some sort of symbolic statement of your lives as a couple. A reception is a celebration. Express yourself during the ceremony but not with pets, kids or ice cream trucks.
Don’t have an outside reception!!!! I cannot stress this one enough. I am pretty sure that if you are planning to have your entire wedding take place outside, you have never actually been to an outside reception or you have and got lucky because that day just happened to be the right temperature with low humidity and precipitation. Your vision is romanticized if this is your desire. There are very few perfect days. Why take the chance that there will be rain or extremely hot or cold weather? The guests are usually very uncomfortable because there’s grass sticking out from in between the dance floor; they’re too cold or too hot; and wind or rain may be coming in from all sides of that tent. It’s also a DJ’s nightmare because if they have good quality equipment, it won’t be water proof, which means any drop of rain will cause him/her to pack up quickly. That equipment is expensive, and you aren’t going to want to fork over a few thousand dollars to replace it. Also, the sun makes it very difficult for us to see our computers. So don’t have your reception outside. The ceremony is one thing but only if there’s an appropriate back-up plan.
So now you know the truth. I will not sell something I think is unnecessary or will cause any type of hardship on my couples. Keep it simple, and I promise you will have one of the happiest days of your life.