When all is said and done, your wedding day is going to be one of the best days of your life — you’ve got the man (or woman), you’ve got the dress, and you’ve got every little detail planned to perfection. And because you don’t want to look back on the big day with any regrets, we’re sharing the advice of real brides and grooms who took to Reddit to keep others from making the same mistakes.
“I regret being so stressed out during the planning process… at the end of the day the whole thing turned out perfect. I also regret never wanting a wedding in the first place. My husband was the one who wanted the ceremony and reception and I just wanted a city hall ceremony and dinner after. So glad we went when my husbands choice because I loved every minute of that day.” —baby_blue_bird
“I wish I had asked the officiant to tell people to put their cellphones away. We have so many lovely shots of the ceremony but in every one there are people in the background holding up cellphones so you can’t see their faces.” — alexgodden
“I think I would have rather taken our $1,000 that we put into it and gone on a mini vacation.” —RealHipsterGlasses
“I regret letting my stress show during the wedding. No one would… listen and I was really bad at hiding how frustrated I was. And I regret trying SO HARD to stay exactly on schedule and fix things myself that I missed time with guests.” —awfulatmakingnames
“Getting so worked up right before the ceremony. I hardly remember a thing about it because I was so close to fainting through half of it. Take a breath, take another. Don’t rush around trying to get everyone in the right place because something will mess up. It’s going to happen, and the sooner you accept that, the less of a big deal it seems.” —Majikone
“I regret not asking for help during the planning process. If people want to help, let them and trust them to get it done. I can be a bit controlling with this stuff so no one wanted to get in my way so I needed to let people in more instead of feeling alone and stressed.” —mickeyfartpants
“The stress, the fights, the silliness but also not standing up more for myself. But when it came down to it everything was perfect looked great and those stupid things didn’t matter, just caused issues for the future. But thankfully I married the right man and he stands by me.” —atibabykt
“Not a bride but a recent groom. I regret not having the priest not announcing ‘No photography’ at the beginning of the service. We have some awesome shots ruined by people sticking their heads out in the isle while she was walking down.” —incubus512
“I wish I would have broken in my shoes. They were flats, so I didn’t think they needed breaking in, but by 10pm (after wearing them for 7 hours) they started forming a blister on my heel.” —Use_the_Loofah
“Shit went to hell at my wedding… My regret? That I didn’t say fuck it and get super drunk like the rest of them and just enjoyed it. All I look back on is what went wrong, all the guests look back on is what a party it was. And my dress. Dang thing was too poofy.” —Kcolby