Reflections from Our Own Weddings: Jocelyn's Wedding Journey

As wedding planners, we dedicate ourselves to bringing couples' dream days to life, but it's easy to forget we've experienced the journey ourselves! Our weddings were filled with dreams, surprises, and important lessons that shape the advice we give. In this blog post, Jocelyn reflects on her wedding day...what went beautifully, the moments she'd tweak, and the choices that made her wedding truly amazing!

Photo: Caitlin Louisa Photography

Jocelyn's Reflection:

Even months after our wedding, and seeing A LOT of weddings myself, we could not have been

more happy with the way our wedding day went. I know, cliché, everyone says that. But after all

the décor, invitations, food tastings and everything in between, we got to spend an entire day

celebrating each other and our love for one another and have all the people we love there to do

it with us.

BUT there are always those things you maybe wish you did just a bit differently, just for the heck

of it.

Photos: Caitlin Louisa Photography

Regrets: What I Would Have Done Differently

Planning our wedding for a Friday was 100% on purpose; not because things MIGHT have been

cheaper, or because our original date was booked, but we wanted it for the sole purpose to

have an entire weekend left after the party (AKA to recover). We’ve been to Saturday weddings

where it takes up the whole day, and you wake up the next day and its Sunday and the dreaded

feeling of Monday right around the corner. So our Friday wedding was decided, but ultimately

we thought this was the better choice for our guests, because we had the week after our

wedding off anyway! After hearing that some guests were tired from the long work week, had to

leave work early (or couldn’t and missed our ceremony), or left early to get started on the rest of

their weekend plans, we realized that WE were one of the few who liked Friday weddings! Oh

well! Not a regret, but definitely a different perspective!

Photos were another huge part of our day that I wish we just had a few more of. Now the 1100

photos we had were gorgeous and we would pick our photographer again out of everyone in a

heart beat. If I’m being honest though, (and the wedding planner in me shivers hearing this for

timing sake), but I almost wish we did the viral trend of going around to everyone’s tables with

our photographer to take photos with them; OR plan more group photos during cocktail hour.

There were so many guests that I remember chatting with throughout the evening and wishing

we had a cute selfie or photograph with to remember how they looked, or how much fun we

were having with them. We did a mini self serve photobooth (with an instamax and photo op

location) and shout out to all our guests who grabbed the camera throughout the night and ran

around taking goofy selfies and photos. These are the best.

Photos: Caitlin Louisa Photography

What I’m Glad We Did

Now to compress an entire day of love and favourite moments into a few short paragraphs. My

“would do again in a heart beat” and “it was worth the money even though my fiancé (now

husband) really didn’t think it would be at the time” items!

Hiring a videographer! And yes including all that raw footage! Because it wasn’t even 2 weeks

after our wedding and I had no clue what my husband said in his vows. No, my memory is not

THAT bad, but there is SO much going on in that moment; of you standing at the aisle, getting

married to the love of your life, with all your favourite people, that is just sooo much to take in

and remember. Seeing our highlight video and full ceremony recording afterwards just brought

back all the memories of that day (and yes I’ve seen it 80 times and still cry. Every. Single.

Time.) We get to relive every dance, every speech, and every tear and I would 1000%

recommend it to anyone in a heartbeat.

Preserving my bouquet! From someone who loves flowers, being able to display and see my

wedding bouquet on a daily basis is something I will never regret. This takes so much time,

effort and patience (praise our preservation vendors) that I did NOT have after months/years of

wedding planning – so hiring someone to do this for me was a HUGE saving grace.

Letting my Bridesmaids pick their own dresses! This was especially helpful because I had 4

bridesmaids with completely different skin tones, body shapes and things they would be

comfortable being in ALL DAY. I picked the colour and asked one thing of them – that the length

was to their ankles. This not only benefited my girls different body types, but also their budgets!

Because we all know being in a wedding is NOT cheap and I really felt this gave them the

opportunity to pick something that would suit them in all aspects.

Hiring someone to set up and take down all our decor! Because surprise - we had a lot of

décor! And honestly I’m not sure how or who we would have asked to set up all those things if

we didn’t hire someone to do it all. Hiring someone to do this made our morning completely

worry free – no one calling us to see what goes where or the small details and decisions that

were made and could truly enjoy our mornings getting ready. The late night tear down was

100% the best decision. We had so many people willing and ready to help, but instead of

rushing to clean up by a certain time, we could dance and party all night long without having to

worry about any of that. All our family and bridal party could enjoy themselves and then leave

whenever they wanted and not feel guilty at all about all the things we still had to do or stay late

to help us clean.

Photos: Caitlin Louisa Photography

My advice I will forever be passing on to all my couples; do the photo, do the sunset photos

(especially). do the group/family photos. And just be so present in every aspect of your Wedding

Day, because it will truly go by in the blink of an eye. This day will be one of the few times in

your life that you will have everyone you love together, in one room, there just for you and to

support and love you. So enjoy it and take it all in!