Singaporebrides | Weddings 101

June 2024

10 Smart Tips on How You Can Avoid Wedding Regrets

By Audrie Soh

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Here are 10 tips to help you steer clear of any wedding regrets for your once-in-a-lifetime.

It is a fact that wedding regrets are extremely common. Even the most well-prepared and meticulous couple is bound to end up with one or two small regrets of their wedding day. With so many things to consider and decisions to make when it comes to planning a wedding, it is not a surprise that some decisions may be a clear-cut one while others might require a lot more consideration, especially if you have to make a choice based on practicality or pressure rather than what you truly want, making room for regrets to form.

With that being said, it is not entirely impossible to eliminate the possibility of having wedding regrets for your big day. By educating yourself on the common regrets wedded couples have experienced and reading up on our tips on how you can avoid them, you are in a better position to dodge them altogether for a truly perfect wedding you can look back fondly on.

1. Be vague about your wedding plans to deter unsolicited opinions

As every happily-wedded couple will tell you, once you announce your engagement, a barrage of opinions will be coming your way, regardless of whether you asked for it or not, and whether it is actually helpful for you. You might even be swayed by some of these opinions, affecting your resolute in certain areas of your decision making, creating additional stress in your planning journey that you don’t need.

While there really isn’t a foolproof or polite way or stopping the opinions from pouring in, you can prepare yourself for it and take steps to manage them before they plant any seeds of doubt or confusion in your decision making. First, know that some of your friends and family, and even strangers you meet at a cafe or at the gym, cannot help but offer you unsolicited advice and opinions about your wedding.

In order to stop them from offering more unsolicited opinions, try not to reveal too much details about your wedding and planning. Without any additional information, they are unlikely to offer more opinions on the matter. Now, if they ask questions about the wedding, you can answer with a vague response such as, “You’ll just have to wait and see, we might already be doing that, you never know!”, to satisfy their need to know without divulging too much.

At the end of the day, while their opinions may be unsolicited, they are given out of goodwill. As long as you have a clear vision of what you want for your wedding, their opinions should not affect your wedding planning journey in a negative way.

2. Be certain about the type of wedding you want before you pick a venue

Your wedding venue plays a huge part in completing your wedding vision, so it is important that the location you pick to say “I do” is the right one. To avoid choosing a venue you’ll end up regretting, think about the wedding you have in mind. Is it an intimate celebration with close family and friends, or a grand celebration with your extended family and friends? Is a hotel ballroom your dream venue or something more cosy and elegant like a restaurant, or is your idea of a perfect wedding a casual beach celebration?

Once you have determined where you’ve envisioned your wedding to be, how big it is going to be and what style you’d like to be in, you can begin shortlisting venues that meet these criteria. If your dream wedding venue is not that fits the norm or one that most of your guests are used to, so be it. Don’t try to fit into what the rest of society deems as normal or good, or you might end up regretting the venue you’ve chosen for your big day. Your wedding is a celebration of your love, your journey as a couple and your individualities, so don’t be afraid to be different and own your difference.

3. Always go with a professional photographer or videographer for the best keepsakes of your wedding day

One all-too-common wedding regret couples have is not engaging a professional wedding photographer for their big day, thinking that photos taken by family and friends on their smartphones are sufficient momentos for a day as important as their wedding day.

Don’t make the same mistake as these couples. While the candid photos from your family and friends are certainly endearing, you’ll want professionally captured and emotive photos of your wedding day that takes you back to that very moment and emotion in time when you look at it. The same goes for your wedding video. Some moments are better relived in action and when you are able to watch the events of the best day of your life play out in front of you after the wedding is over, you’d be glad you decided to engage a professional wedding videographer.

Hiring an experienced and professional wedding photographer and videographer will allow you to relax and enjoy your day freely without worrying about the kind of photos or videos you’ll get at the end of the day. With their years of experience in documenting weddings, they’ll know just the details and moments they need to capture to produce emotive and keepsake photos and videos of your special day, all without additional direction from you.

4. Be sure to communicate what you want or expect to your photographer

Even if you have engaged a professional wedding photographer with many years of experience, you should have a meeting with him or her to communicate what you envision your wedding photos to include and look like to avoid any misunderstanding and regrets.

Let your chosen photographer know ahead of time if you’d like to have a private photography session alone with your fiancé, bridal party and family members away from the rest of the party so he or she can plan pockets of time to do so. You should also inform him or her if you’d like to have more photos of a certain detail or part of the wedding, so they are aware of your needs.

5. Remember to set aside sufficient time to connect with your guests

Weddings are often packed to the brim with activities that start right in the morning and end late at night, leaving the happy couple with regrets that they had little to no time to interact and mingle with their guests, especially if their family and friends are from abroad.

To avoid ending up with the regret of not spending sufficient time with your guests, do plan to set aside some time to mingle with every single one of them. With the flurry of activities going on on your wedding day, it is easy to lose track of time, so do designate one member of your bridal party to remind you to connect with your guests during the celebration. Alternatively, to ensure that you have enough time with each and every one of your guest, you can choose to host a small and intimate celebration to make it easier for you to go around and mingle with all your guests.

6. Take time for a private moment with your partner every now and then

While it is important to set aside some time to spend and connect with your guests at your wedding, it is also equally important to do the same for you and your soon-to-be spouse. It is undoubtedly one of the most special days of your life, and with every one of your guests trying to meet and congratulate you in person amidst the flurry of activities, your wedding day can get overwhelming.

Instead of spending every moment of your big day flitting around welcoming guests and ticking tasks off your to-do list, grab your fiancé and run away to a quiet room or spot for a private moment between the two of you. It is your special day after all, a day that celebrates your love and a new beginning together. It is only right for both of you to spend some time alone, where you can pause and reflect on the celebration, soak in the joy in the air and reaffirm your love and commitment to one another, creating a cherished memory that’ll stay with you for a lifetime.

7. Prioritise your spending wisely

Weddings comprise of small and big expenditures, some more necessary than others, such as venue decorations or wedding stationery, and these seemingly minor details can quickly add up, chipping away a big chunk of your wedding budget before you know it.

Instead of spending too much on smaller details such as paper wedding invitations that your guests are unlikely to keep after the wedding, focus your expenditure on more meaningful investments such as hiring a professional photographer or a wedding planner and stylist to help decorate the venue and manage the event.

To help you determine if a spending is worth the investment or not, ask yourself if your wedding would be just as beautiful and memorable without it, and if the answer is ‘Yes’, then you should strike it off and redirect the funds to an area worth investing more in to avoid any regrets.

8. Don’t forget to feed and hydrate yourself throughout the day

Whether you got too busy to stop for food and drinks, or are simply avoiding eating or drinking too much to look good in your gown, not keeping yourself hydrated and fed is going to end up to be one of your biggest wedding regrets, especially if you end up crashing halfway because of it.

No matter how busy your day gets, always remember to set aside some time to eat and drink. You don’t have to take big meals if you want to make sure your gown fits nicely throughout the day – you can always prepare small but nutritious snacks that you can munch on in the wedding car, as you’re getting your hair and makeup done, or as you’re waiting for your guests to take their seats. Similarly, always have a bottle of water around you so you can hydrate yourself throughout the day wherever you are.

9. Choose to wear a dress and shoes that makes you feel pretty and comfortable

You might have found your dream wedding dress in the form of a figure-hugging strapless dress that not only requires you to wear a strapless bra but refrain from eating too much to prevent your tummy from bulging out of the dress, but if you’re feeling insecure and uncomfortable in that dress for even a moment, you’re not going to enjoy being in it for hours.

The last thing you want is to feel and look miserable on one of the most important days of your life, so as much as you looked like a dream in that dress, choose the wiser path and pick another dress that makes you feel as much like a princess as it is comfortable to wear. The same advice goes for your wedding shoes. If you’re not usually one to wear heels or stilettos, don’t start on your wedding day. You’re going to be on your feet for most of the day, so go with a pair that makes you feel comfortable, even if it is a pair of sneakers – no one is going to notice what you have on your feet, especially if you are wearing a floor-length gown.

10. Enjoy your wedding day instead of stressing over small details

One of the biggest regrets many couples have of their wedding day is stressing over the day instead of enjoying it. It’s easy to get fixated over the idea of a perfect wedding and obsess over every little detail to make sure things go according to plan on the day, but when you do that, you’ll end up missing out on the joy and magic of your special day.

Stressing and obsessing over every little detail doesn’t guarantee that mishaps won’t happen, and even if they do, your wedding will still be perfect, because all that matters at the end of the day is that you married the love of your life and your family and friends are gathered around you to celebrate your love and union, and create lifelong, lasting memories of this special day.

Credits: Feature image from Eunice and Daniel’s Intimate Pre-Wedding Shoot in the Romantic and Magical Wilderness by Hey Stranger

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