The joy of being in love and looking forward to your big day is a feeling that is completely indiscribable. The stress of planning a wedding is completely indiscribable in a whole othe way. Trust me, as a recent newlywed I know!

My husband and I were engaged for a little over a year and for me that was too long! If I could choose to do it all over again, I'd get it all done and over with in four or five months and let me tell you why! In the beginning, I was filled with excitement and had grandios ideas and wanted everyone that I had ever met in my entire life to be there. I right away started asking for addresses and even sooner than that, even picked out my wedding party. There is nothing wrong with being excited and overjoyed about planning to marry the love of my life, but I'll just flat out say it- I went overboard. Our invitation list consisted of nearly 650 people because we were bound and determined to share our day with EVERYBODY! And you may think that our guest list was outrageous.....you may want to sit down if you aren't already. Our wedding party consisted of twenty-six people! Yes, you read correctly. It consisted of nine bridesmaids, a maid-of-honor, two junior bridesmaids, three flower girls, nine groomsmen, one best man, and one ring bearer. You may be wondering why we asked so many people to stand up there with us on our big day. To this day, we're asking ourselves the same thing. We both agree that there were only about four people that we truly wanted in our wedding party and it meant a lot to us. As for the rest of them, it meant a lot to them to be in our wedding. So we found ourselves giving in to avoid hurt feelings because so-and-so just might feel left out. Big mistake!

So here is the aftermath. We ordered invitations for our guest list of nearly 650 people which costed almost $1,000 and grumbled about each regret we got in return. Only about half of the people we invited attended the wedding- which is pretty typical. Keeping track of our huge wedding party and communicating with all twenty-six people was nearly impossible! Just imagine trying to have all of your bridesmaids and flowergirls get into be measured for their dresses in a timely manner. It's hard enough with a wedding party of four!

By the time my wedding finally came along, I didn't care who showed up. I didn't care about how my bridesmaids looked. I didn't even care about how my bouquet looked. I just wanted to get the show on the road! Had I only four or five months to plan, I wouldn't have had the time or the money to pull this huge ridiculous thing off- which might have been better.

So the moral of the story is: truly think about what you want! Invite the people who mean the most to you, and less of the ones you feel you "should" invite. Same goes for the wedding party. Choose those closest to you and if you cannot choose, then don't. Keep in mind that this day is for you and your spouse-to-be, not for anyone else!

Learn more about this author, Sabrina Schleiger.
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