Complete the sentence: "The thing that surprised me most about planning a wedding was ____"

I think the thing that surprised me the most was

1) all of the opinions from EVERYONE

2) how happy and excited and stressed I could feel at the same time for so long lol

All the little things you would have never thought of until mentioned to you..

How easy it is once you figure out what you want.

The cost! How are flowers over $1000? How can alterations be half the cost of the dress? Why do venues charge so much more for pop (never mind alcohol!) for a wedding than they do another event? Why do they make you rent decor they have on site when it's meant for you to use?

How much there is to do and ALL THE DRAMA from family.

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RIGHT?! Things no one tells brides lol

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YES! To the wedding dress weight. I tried on a couple that would have been exhausting to wear. I also never understood why brides needed so many people to pee either - I get it now.

I purposely chose dress that is somewhat lighter (ie. minimal layers) that I can pee by myself in.

Some of the things that surprised me are already mentioned:

- How everyone has an opinion

- How some people will try to make our wedding about themselves (i.e. assuming they are invited/in the wedding party)

- How fast venues and vendors can book up, so glad I have a year and a half left!

- How heavy wedding dresses are (They look way lighter on pinterest lol)

The amount of people that come out of the wood works to get invited 😂 im ready to give them a $30 fee 😂😂😂 joking. They understand we have a budget we need to stick too

The most surprising thing for me was definitely the cost. We're at $20k and we're having a pretty laid back wedding.... I'm just glad we had enough time to save up for the surprising cost difference

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Right?! My cousin did a wedding for about $12K, but she had 3 flowers in a vase per table (cheap ones), and rented a community hall (it's one of those stand alone halls that doubles as a performance space, gym, weekend church, and community space)... So she cut sooo many corners.... I just couldn't do it.

I haven't even gotten into my nitty gritty yet... It's going to be so hard to keep the costs down.

I can see that other brides have mentioned it already, but I'm surprised at how opinionated people get when you throw the word 'wedding' around. Some of the things I've heard from friends and family - I have a feeling these phrases will feel familiar to some of you too:

You just have to have an open bar, if not it won't be enjoyable;

You don't have a wedding party, you'll just look sad at the front;

I have a friend who does 'x,y,z' you just have to use their services, they offered to help;

So-and-so must be invited, it's okay, you'll meet them on your wedding day;

At this point, I just smile and nod. There's no point letting them know my opinion because to them it's a 'bridezilla' moment lol.

Overall, I've been the most surprised about how EVERYONE seems to think they get an opinion or dictate how our wedding should be. From the date we've picked (how July is awful cause it'll be too hot), to the bridesmaids we have (My FSIL wasn't asked which apparently is just not done), to not having a cake, to the cigar bar we're planning... everyone has an opinion.

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I know! Let's do the lotto ticket.

I figured I'd be special and be able to do like a 10K wedding.. well surprise I'm hovering just under 30K And we really aren't going nuts..

The thing that surprised me the most about the wedding unfortunately is how true colours come out of people. Those who you thought would be there for you turn out to be the hardest to get a hold of and who are full of excuses when it comes to helping you out, even though they've agreed to be in the party. It's like jealousy rages on and they just can't seem to find it in themselves to be happy for you.

My biggest surprise was the guest list. I always dreamed of a small wedding, but since both parents contributed to the wedding, they felt like they all of a sudden had an opinion on who was going to be invited. Luckily, we had a lot of people say no, so it was relatively small, but I was not expecting that from them.

The cost and how far in advance some things/vendors book up!
Also like Bianca mentioned all the details!
I also thought I’d have a lot more involvement from my bridesmaids especially my MOH but she rarely checks in or asks questions about the wedding. Maybe I talk about the wedding enough she doesn’t have to? Lol

The thing that surprised me most about planning a wedding was how organized and take charge I have been.

Honestly I am rarely organized and a general people pleaser but with this wedding I have been carefully planning from the first day and making a lot of the decisions. Our first venue appointment I went with 15 pages of details (wedding party, colours, flowers needed, ideal schedule, vision for the day) and inspiration photos. We had been engaged a week lol. I spent the day before our meeting prepping all of this and my co-ordinator said she's never seen a bride so organized for a first meeting. Definitely not typical Bree. Even my bridesmaids are shocked that I have an answer for every question they throw at me.

I'm pretty proud actually...

My biggest surprise was how much other people would have an opinion....especially people who I don’t even know all that well.

All the decisions! I honestly didn't expect it to require so much detail.

My biggest surprise is the sticker shock of everything. I took a wedding planning course in school a few years ago, so I knew the average Vancouver wedding was about $30000, but I convinced myself it was people who blew a fortune that caused the imbalance.... now I'm realizing that even trying to be minimalist and very DIY, it will be unlikely to come in under $20K.
I feel like everything is overpriced because the word wedding is associated with it. I'm even considering doing my cupcake order saying it's an anniversary party. We are even doing it off season, no flowers, and cash bar (welcome drink and wine paid for by groom's parents).
Anyone wanna go halvsies on a lotto ticket?

How expensive it is. I knew it was going to be pricey, but it's about 4 times, maybe even more, as much as I expected.
I think this might also be partly due to how much my FH is into it, haha

How much people change or make it all about them! I have a maid of horror. I chose the dress without her and it's been negative ever since. Everything is about her and how it makes her feel. Not once thinking about how her brutally honest texts make me feel.

For me the biggest surprise was people's reaction, i lived with my FH for some time and we knew we were meant to be, but all of a sudden people are validating us because we are going to say i do, very bizzare.