Wednesday Confessional: If I Could Do It All Over Again

"Wednesday Confessional" is a new series on Katie Jane Says... where I, Katie Jane, will confess all my little secrets on Wednesdays. I'm going to be ridiculously honest, so brace yourselves. :) Enjoy.

Our wedding anniversary is coming up next month and I've spent a lot of the past [nearly] two years thinking about that day. As most weddings go, not everything ends up being perfect. Mine is/was no different. In the moment, I thought it was going to be the best time of my life. Instead, it was just a bunch of stress intermingled with pretty dresses and gorgeous flowers.

While I enjoyed our wedding and think we did do well with our budget, I can't help but look back and wish some things had been different. I blame part of my unhappiness with Pinterest. Because I wasn't on Pinterest when I got married and missed out on a lot of great ideas!!! But, anyway, I have since forgiven Pinterest for not coming to my rescue. But, even though I didn't have the site to help me plan, I did have a lot of great ideas of my own - many of which turned out beautifully. But, there are still a few things I wish I could do differently if I could do it all over again. I apologize for starting so many sentences with "but". I refuse to edit.

- I wish I would have had a sit-down meeting with our photographer to explain my "vision" for the photos. Even though we had a 10:00 a.m. wedding, we could have gotten a larger variety of photos. There are no pictures of me and my bridesmaids getting ready, no pictures of me mingling with guests at the reception, no pictures of the details - which I worked so hard on, not enough candid photos of us with our families and friends. I was under the impression we would have two photographers, but I was mistaken. I was really disappointed with our photos, but am learning to love what we got.

- I wish I would have had more fun events planned for our reception. Since it was brunch, I really wasn't sure what to do to entertain people aside from the traditional stuff (cut the cake, mingle, bouquet toss, garter toss, etc.). I spent more time worrying about the decor and not enough time on what exactly we were going to do when we got to the party!

- I wish I would have asked someone other than my aunts to direct the wedding and reception. Not because they didn't do a good job, but just because it was a lot of stress on them. Plus, since they're family, my other family members didn't quite follow their instructions. :)

- I wish we would have spent a lot less money! We kept a pretty tight budget, but we still spent more than we should have. This is, again, something I blame on Pinterest. If only I'd had some of the awesome money-saving tips, we might have saved a few thousand dollars! I would have rather had the money to go a little more crazy on our honeymoon (i.e. not eat cold sandwiches in our hotel room to save money on lunch...)!!!

- I wish our rehearsal would have been A LOT smoother and happier. There was a lot of anger at our rehearsal - it was pretty rough! There was a lot of talking, a lot of confusion, and lots of people giving their unwanted opinions about how I had planned the ceremony. Looking back, I should have only allowed actual wedding party members (bridesmaids, groomsmen, flower girls, ring bearers, and pastors) in for the majority of the rehearsal. Then allowed our parents, grandparents, and musicians. I was so upset about it that I couldn't enjoy our rehearsal dinner. Thankfully my awesome bridesmaids took me out for TCBY and let me vent and the actual wedding day itself was NOTHING like the rehearsal!!!

- I wish I'd asked someone to make sure no kids sat near the video camera. Although I can't help but laugh when I hear this baby giggling and "chatting" throughout our ceremony. :)

- I wish I had eloped. No, seriously. I mean, to those of you who came - I love you. Your presence meant so much to me. But I kinda wish we'd had a small, private ceremony with just family - and then just had a big backyard party to celebrate! No fuss, no stress - just fun! Okay, I really don't mean it. Our ceremony was beautiful and so many of you have told us so. But I do wish it hadn't been so stressful!

So, those are a few of the things I did "wrong." But, when I really think about our wedding, I think about all the things we did right:

Blake agreed to a morning wedding (YAY!). We had an amazing caterer who made my dreams of a wedding brunch come true. My dress and veil were absolutely everything I wanted (and at a reasonable price!). My friends Miranda and Amy made the most gorgeous flower arrangements. Our wedding party rocked. The ceremony was meaningful and moved a lot of people. We did get hundreds upon hundreds of gorgeous photos that I will treasure for a lifetime. Blake and I were married in the same church as my parents. The decor was very "us". We celebrated the lives of our family members who had passed away with a beautiful flower arrangement. My dad was also remembered through a beautiful sunflower my florists put in the back of my bouquet, which was adorned with my mom's wedding ring. Even my rings were special - seven diamonds from my great-grandmother and two from Blake's grandmother (plus one of my own!).

And most of all, my absolute favorite moment of the whole day was walking in the church and being The Bride and seeing my groom, in tears, as I walked down the aisle escorted by my mom and sister. That moment is forever sealed in my memory.

So, all in all, the good really does outweigh the bad. And, like everyone says, at the end of the day - you're married. That's what matters most. And I guess that's why I sometimes look back at our wedding and wish things had been a lot more simple. Because all I really wanted out of the day was to honor God, honor our relationship, and honor our family and friends. It doesn't take a lot of money and fancy things to be able to accomplish that. :)

Is there anything you wish you could do differently if you could do it all over again? Wedding or otherwise?