There are tons of tips, tricks, and advice for brides to be out there, but rarely to happily married ladies share the mistakes they made on their wedding day.  Learning from others is the best way to make sure your big bridal day goes off perfectly!   So in an effort to spread the love and learning, here some of the mistakes I made during my wedding planning process.

Not involving everyone – Weddings are a happy time and everyone you know wants to be involved.  Take a moment and view it from their eyes.  Your parents are thrilled and want to know every detail, siblings want to be involved, and even your friends.  So take your mother in law dress shopping with you, ask your brother to stand up on your side, and share ideas openly and freely.  A wedding blog is a great way to do this.  Create a free blog at blogger.com and share all your musings, inspirations, and decisions.  That way even friends and family that are far away can feel involved.

Skimping on Accessories – I waited until the month of my wedding to seriously think about shopping for wedding jewelry and was in budget overload.  Make sure accessorizing your bridal look is part of your wedding budget and plan accordingly.

Not Shopping Around – I purchased my wedding gown at the second shop I visited on the first day of shopping.  It was mere weeks after my engagement as well.  I wish I had taken more time to research local wedding gown designers and pulled more photographs.  You only try on gowns once, so go ahead and go to the fancy bridal salon!

Rushing the Photos – While we had enough time for our photos in between the ceremony and the reception, I felt totally rushed and kept voicing my concern.  It’s okay if you are a few minutes late to dinner.  The guests were at the cocktail hour having a blast, so there was no need to rush through the photos.  We could have stopped to explore a little more and had a little more fun without being so stressed out about sticking to the schedule.

Getting Ice Cream with the Cake – While ice cream is yummy, the groom and I were not in our seats when the cake was served, so when the ice cream melted, it left a soggy mess.  By the time we made it back to our seats for a bite of the wedding cake, it wasn’t quite so appealing.

Skipping the Video – We opted not to hire a videographer to capture the evening as photography was more important to us, but I wish we had handed a friend or two a flip camera to record the ceremony.  Year later, I would love to be able to watch our vows.  With all the fancy cameras that record video, it would be so easy to ask someone to record it.

Did you make any of these mistakes?  Are there any wedding day worries you are trying to avoid?