(Wedding) The Overlooked Details

In wedding planning, it's easy to get caught up with the big details, allotting most of our budget and planning time to them. Details such as the guests, the flower arrangements, the food, the photo shoots, the reception program and the outfits are the things that first come to mind when people think about weddings. Oftentimes, couples only realize the minor details a couple of weeks before, or during the wedding day itself.

Here are some of the minor details that surprised Love and myself before our big day. Some of these details were not considered in our initial budget, resulting in a "bahala na" situation as our nuptials drew near.

Pre-Wedding Pampering

This includes the bride's (and groom's) mani-pedi, nail art, facials, body scrubs and full body massages.  It's a must to relax a couple of days before the big day to relieve stress and tension.  

Crew Meals

These are the people who will make or break your wedding and it's best to keep their stomachs full. A good estimate would be around 20–25 people. Two to three for the HMUA team, at least five for the coordinators, around 10 for the photo and video crew, and about two to three persons for the audio-visual crew. Consider two meals as a wedding is a whole day event.

Good thing we prepared for more than 20 people, as some of our family members, together with the entourage, also ate a meal before the ceremony.

The Projector and Screen

This may be included in the photo and video package (mostly a 6' x 6' screen with a 2500 Lumens projector), but if you really want a hi-def display that has great image quality even in a lighted room, consider renting a 9' x 12' screen or a big-ass 10.5' x 14' screen together with a 5000 Lumens or higher projector. We saw a big projector screen in another wedding a week before ours, we didn't get it, but wished we did.

Grabbed from www.projection.com

Matches

I've heard of stories where the matches to light the nuptial candles were overlooked. We bought these cute matchboxes at The Wedding Library. Bring a lighter just in case.

Missalette Printing

The Missalette should be approved by the officiating priest first before printing. It takes about three to five days to print 30 copies, so don't wait a couple of days before the wedding to have it approved and printed.

Wedding Liturgy Key Persons

Assign the lector, readers (first and second reading, prayers of the faithful), and offertory procession beforehand. We've been to weddings in the past that had no specified offertory procession. The coordinators asked for volunteers from the guests minutes before the offertory.

For a more organized photo-op after the wedding ceremony, consider placing the photo order at the end of the Missalette.

Vows

Love, finished hers weeks before the wedding. As for me, I only composed mine the night before. I had to force my cousins to drink with me until I finished. The next day, I forgot to write it down (it was saved in my laptop) so minutes before the wedding, I asked a groomsman to write it for me (good thing he had fairly decent penmanship).  

Snacks for the Reception

We bought several trail mix bags from SNR for the snacks during the registration. We also advised our caterer to serve the soup and salad before the program starts. We had to hire five more waiters to accommodate this request though.

Nannies / Runners

I can't stress enough how important this one is. The bride should have one (Love's was provided by the coordinator team), and so should the groom (mine was my nephew). Once the shoot and preparations start, the nannies/runners will take over other tasks such as, answering the phone, giving directions, fetching food and water, carrying gear and passing messages.

Time

I'd say that our wedding day was the fastest day (also the best day) of our lives so far. Once the preparation and photo/video shoot starts, time will just fly by. There'll be no room to breath 'cause when the photo shoot ends, the ceremony begins. Then the reception begins, and then the event that we spent four months planning and organizing ended, just like that.

A bit of advice for couples organizing in strict time for their program. The church ceremony takes more time than you think, there will be a photo-op at the end together with a short post-nup pictorial. The ceremony and photo shoot will take about two-and-a-half to three hours total.

Relax
Love and I were really involved in our wedding preparations. It was stressful, caused a lot of arguments and for some of the details I mentioned above, we had to adjust 'cause like other couples, we overlooked them. I thought the stress would last until the wedding day itself, but two days before the event, we just let go of the planning, said our "bahala na" and just relaxed. 

It didn't work out exactly like we planned but it was still great, I'd say about 80% executed perfectly.  

I will post official pictures soon.