12 Biggest Reception REGRETS | 2024 Edition 

People don’t watch movie older than 3 years…. Me just finished her video about seating charts from 4 years ago 😂 oops. I love her videos!! It’s helping me plan my own wedding now!!

To make sure they saw everyone at their wedding, one couple I know actually handed out the dinner plates at the start of the buffet line. The groom is always the guy at parties who's cooking and making sure everyone is fed, so it was especially fitting and a really special (and efficient) way for them to see and thank all of their guests and keep the line moving towards food!

Can I say- The receiving line was KEYYYY!!!! We got married on Saturday!!! We saw every single guest (140) as they exited the church and got to talk to them all, but they had to keep it pushing because of everyone else behind them! Then at dinner we got to relax and got to see everyone on the dance floor!!!

“Awww aunt Susie!” *blows kisses* made me GIGGLE 😂

The photographer we hired for our future wedding is such an MVP. He said he will not charge us extra to stay for the whole night so he can do sunset pictures and last dance pictures. 😁

As excited as I am for my wedding, I’ll be sad when it’s over for the sole reason that I won’t have a reason to watch Jamie’s wedding RU-vid channel anymore

For the table pictures, I've also heard going around to each table during a song run around, quickly say hi and get a picture and keep moving.

Could you create a video for fellow coordinators on how to determine if a bride is a good fit to be a client?

Can you discuss a cocktail style reception? Tips to make them work and flow well? Suggested schedule to still fit in dances, speeches etc.

I like the idea of a receiving line, but it's to take the photo with the bridge groom - that way you get to say hello and thank the guest for coming, and you get a nice photo too - I've seen it done a few times, and it's sweet. We also want to do an afternoon wedding (our guests are older, or have little kids), amd that way if anyone gets tired, we get to still spend some time together :) (also, love the idea of a quiet moment, I know I'll need it, and my introverted beau will too ❤)

Jamie my beloved !!! I’m Getting married to my best friend in like 7 months !!!!!!!!!! I can’t wait eeeeeee!!!!!

After talking with my haidresser for my wedding, we décide that i would go the day before for a hair wash so she can prep my hair for my big day. The curls stay untill the day after my wedding and I Danced a LOT! For reference, my haïr are super straight and usually dont hold curls

Crying @ “stop and look at your husband and say holy smokes we’re married” 😭😭 Getting married in nov of this year (2024) thank you for all your videos/ help jaime!

Hi all, current wife and past bride. Jamie's videos and The Master Plan were essential to keeping me on budget, on track, and with my goals for the day in mind. 18 months I married my husband in our backyard. (no, its not some amazing property, it's a 1/4 acre in a blue collar neighborhood). we had 56 people, 2 dogs, BBQ catering, a DJ, rented tables chairs etc. dress, flowers, rings, etc all for under $4,000. Here is what my biggest takeaways from Jamie helped me to create: I only invited the most important people in my life, the one who my heart would break without inviting them (yep, i left out extended family that i'm not close with in order to invite friends who are like family) The food had to be good, but not the worlds best food (mission BBQ catered our wedding, good food, great price) It was super important to make sure my guests were comfortable and having fun (I built an amenities station with shawls, fans, heart sunglasses, blankets, flipflops, sunscreen, hand sanitizer, moist towelettes, mints, candies, etc so that any obstacle was handled. i also had lawn games and arts and crafts ((i know my demographic)) so that everyone could enjoy themselves. this also gave us a lot of ways to interact with our guests. my husband and i walked into our home after the ceremony and closed the door behind us. no one was with us, and had time to soak in the experience and be married for those first moments. most importantly, i worked so hard to plan such a great day on such a small budget. I STILL HAD A DAY-OF COORDINATOR! I had someone who could ensure that my hardwork went off without a hitch, more over I didnt feel stressed worrying about it all coming together. someone else kept the timeline, me, and my sanity in check! DO IT!

I was checking your channel a year ago when I was doing my venue selection process. Now back again because my big day is less than 2 months!! Grateful for your channel 🙏🏽

I’m getting married in a couple of months and your channel has been very helpful! My good friend shared it with me and I’m so glad she did!

Our 2 yr anniversary is tomorrow and I’m still watching you lol BIGGEST REGRET was Not having someone coordinate our day!!! I had someone in mind, but they couldn't attend. I thought because it was a Super casual, at our home wedding, that things would just naturally flow. But Plan A blew up and the time we allotted for first look photos was taken by major technical issues for streaming. The only one who could fix it was of course, the Hubs. So because we lost that photo time, we had to squeeze it in between ceremony and dinner, which was a wood fire pizza horse trailer. Sounds funny but its Napa and it was Awesome. We didn't have cocktail hr since most folks didn't drink. So no one was there to tell them to start nibbling on things already out. It took a long while for someone to actually turn the music on for them and MIL hopped in to tell everyone to start eating. Without us. That still wasn't the biggest issue.....we got to say hi to everyone, got to show a slide show at dinner, but then were taken for pictures of us signing the actual marriage certificate. While we were doing that, SOMEONE STARTED TO CLEAR TABLES. Not just dishes. They were clearing Everything and stacking chairs!!!! I came out and half of it was done, people were leaving and we didn't get to do our dance or play our silly wedding game. The dance was a big deal to me. We didn't have a DJ. Too small and casual. But because the unforseen happened, it bumped the entire schedule back and left no one to take control of the guests who were waiting. We'd been together 11 yrs. I waited THAT long for our special day, and someone literally cut it short. Long story long, Assign a Day of Coordinator if nothing else!!!! I had it planned so we didn't need one, but my plan didn't happen. Obviously looking back, the day was WONDERFUL and better then I imagined it to be. I just wish it was longer after alllllll that went into it.❤

Thank you for mentioning the "pause to take it all in" regret! We're planning a quick chapel wedding in Vegas with 10 of our nearest and dearest, but I don't want it to just fly by so quickly that I don't stop and notice how happy we are to be there. Do you think I could still get value out of the master plan if we're doing such a small event?

Jamie!! Most of them are very important to me as a bride but most importantly.... RSVP!! and follow the dress code! Do not bring an uninvited guest (the most annoying). 🤗 Last several years people are just down playing dress codes for weddings 😤, if you enough dress up for a wedding - when will you dress up? Ok, don't show up. No one wants their wedding photos to look like the family bbq last weekend, just saying ppl.

We had to push our wedding back but it is coming up in less than three weeks now. Thank you for the pep talk at the end there. I have a couple things to do still but have delegated a fair amount of it at this point because it is just A LOT. I am going to make sure to get the rest of the payments taken care of beforehand that will definitely help.

I would say that a video walking through specifically finding a good coordinator is so important! We had 2 multiple hour meetings with ours, which was thorough. However, our coordinator then sent me dozens of forms and requests for paragraphs of information to fill out the week of the wedding with a ton of info, which caused me stress and much more work having to fill them in! The coordinator told us they would take over Monday before our Saturday wedding, which ultimately ended in food issues since we told the coordinator about last minute meal changes, but they didn’t tell the caterer. Ultimately, the coordinator also did not fit our vibe and was stressful! I wish we had either had a planner through the process, so we didn’t have to catch them up on everything the week before the wedding, or I wish the coordinator had a way to simplify their process. If there was a specific process that I knew to expect, I would have been much less stressed.

You are so funny! I know some couples plan a wedding re-do for a major anniversary (like 25?). I hope you and your hubby will have another celebration someday!

I have to say this. Ending a wedding at 10/11 is definitely a U.S. thing (and other countries who's wedding cultures I am not aware of). I live in Canada, and the only weddings I've been to that end at 10/11 were all U.S. weddings. The first time it happened was a destination wedding in Hawaii... I thought it had something to do with the noise ordinances of the specific venue the couple chose. Nope, the next two U.S. weddings ended at 10/11. In Canada, the understanding is usually, not always, bar hours. Weddings usually last until 2:00 AM and even longer if you're celebrating in the countryside.

I just got done watching a video of yours from 6 years ago and another from 5 years ago. Some of us watch those older videos!😂

I regret having flowers at the reception. I threw that money away.

I want to add something to point number one, not to be a Debbie Downer, but just to speak to my experience because it happened to me. I would recommend paying for everything for your wedding two weeks before or the week of your wedding. I wanted to pay for everything super far in advance so I’d not worry about it later, so I paid for things like photography in full four months before my wedding, even though the money wasn’t due until much later. Unfortunately, I ended up having to cancel my wedding a little more than a month prior. I had a contract with my photographer, but it didn’t say anything about payments made in advance since that wasn’t expected. There was no place in the contract that explicitly said she had to give me my money back since this scenario wasn’t discussed in the contract (had I paid when it was due, which was 10 days prior, it wouldn’t have been refunded at that point for a cancellation, and that’s the only place payments in full were mentioned). I was devastated, and bridges were definitely burned-I won’t be using that photographer if I get married in the future! Influencer Michel Janse had a similar problem by paying for her makeup in full and then changing her makeup artist after she didn’t like the trial; she didn’t get any of her money back because she’d paid up front. Obviously I wouldn’t wish a cancellation on anyone, but just in case, I would agree to pay in advance but don’t pay TOO far in advance. For my next wedding, I’ll be waiting until closer to my actual wedding date after this experience!

I love you Jaime I've learned so much I from you, so happy to have you as a resource!

Coming from an introvert who absolutely hates weddings, one thing I liked about the last wedding I had to attend was the couple doing table visits. The bride was a longtime friend but I had never met the groom before that day, and 7 years later I've only met him since on Zoom since they live so far away. So at least I have met him in person once. Table visits make your guests feel seen by the couple, every wedding I went to before that did not do table visits. Whenever I met the couple after the wedding it felt like I hadn't even been at their wedding since I had only seen them at a long distance the entire day. Oh, and church weddings are awful. Maybe it's just because I'm agnostic, but it's a horrible start to the day to be stuck in a church for an hour...

Getting married in 6 months so I truly appreciate all your insightful videos Jamie! I'm a bit of an overthinker and have extreme details planned out already, I'm confident I will have no/few or very small regrets. Taking notes on everything you just said. We're both introverts so we'll definitely be taking your advice on planning alone time!

I watch all your videos! I don’t care how old they are. I take a mental note, but nothing more!

I have watched videos older than that! If it’s you im watching it lol Thanks for all your great ideas and advice ❤

I agree a video about finding the right coordinator/what to look for would be great! I’m also not sure how much money a coordinator costs. I would love to have a wedding planner the whole way through but it seems to be very expensive from what I’ve seen 🤔

Would you recommend a Day of coordinator if the wedding is more DIY style? Only vendors will be photo, officiant and mariachi?

Hi Jamie! Love your videos. I can't find your perfect timeline, where can I find it?

I laughed about the whole...I'm ready to be done, I don't want to party until midnight. I have had that happen with SO many of my couples. We talk about strategies ahead of time on how we can navigate an earlier exit for them if needed. Then it's a gentler wrap-up at the end of their venue reservation with no rushing around. Also, it's nice when the couple can actually leave and not have to pack up their stuff at the end of the night.

Gen Z def knows what a checkbook is😭😂

Should we wait about a month or 2 out from our wedding to use your perfect timeline?

Hi Jamie, I just purchased the Master Plan And I am not able to access it. I reached out to support but have not gotten any help on logging in. Please help!! 😩😩

I am an officiant and most of my contract states the balance is due two weeks before the ceremony if not paid no ceremony oh and the retainer is non refundable.

If I am having a destination wedding, should I still join the Master Plan?

My vendors all required the payments to be paid in full 2 weeks before my wedding

What can I do to not feel/be awkward at my own wedding. I’m so worried that nobody’s gonna talk to me because I don’t know like half the guests and have never met them and family functions. I always just sit there and nobody ever talks to me. I’m afraid that’s gonna happen at my wedding and it’s gonna be, shitty

Question! Is it too weird to not have a seating chart?? I want the night to feel family style with long tables just filled with people wherever they want to sit

As someone from Scotland (where weddings start at 1pm and finish at 1am) is seems completely mad to me that you wouldn't spend time greeting your guests. Maybe not alot of time but it would be considered extremely bad manners for a couple to not at least say hello and chat to every guest for a few minutes. These people have come along way and sometimes spent alot of money to be there for you, you need to recognise that. Maybe it's just a cultural difference.