Wedding - Part 2
Guests/Seating/Bridesmaids
Both of our parents are from a small town in Durango, Mexico, and it's customary to invite everyone. Never leaving anyone out. It was hard for me to take on because I did not want so many people but then it's 2 huge families coming together. Just so you all know, this was only immediate family! Yes, my big fat Mexican wedding style. Also, FYI my quinceanera had 400 guests, so you can imagine my wedding. Our guests included uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends from both sides. At the end of the day, we couldn't invite many people, which many people got upset over. It is tough to invite everyone, but the most immediate family members and friends were ultimately invited. Overall, it's up to you for guests and who you would want there by your side, priorities, and budget.
SEATING CHART/RSVP:
I had help here from my amazing and patient cousin, Erika. We had some practice runs with my and my cousin's quinceanera. It was a lot of work and very long nights, but I felt that this was important. I needed to have seating arrangements. I was having 500 people, and I could only imagine all 500 trying to find seats or people saving seats while others looking around for a few minutes. I didn't want others to feel how I felt at a wedding where there were no seats for all of us in the family. We had to sit separately, and it was not fun.
I started off with an excel sheet of all the families invited to the wedding, addresses, number of guests invited, final RSVP count, invitation number, and table number. I numbered on the back of the invitations and RSVP cards. This is helpful if you have a couple of families with the same last name. Whenever an RSVP came in, I would insert the information on my excel sheet. I gave my guests and an adequate amount of time to return RSVPs. The due date provided was a day 3 weeks before I needed to provide numbers to the venue. This will give you an adequate amount of time because some people might forget to return the RSVP, and you have to hunt them down to get the final numbers. Once I had the final number for each family, the seating arrangement started. My venue gave me the best seating arrangement map for 500 guests. Once finalized by the venue, I numbered each table and organized tables for friends, uncles, cousins, and the wedding party. It's easier said than done, and I changed my mind a few times. I decided to mix up both sides of the family because I felt that we were becoming one. Remember, this is just for the reception because we know that everyone is all over the place at the end of the night.
BRIDESMAID & GROOMSMEN
A big wedding comes with a huge wedding party. In our family, having many Bridesmaids and groomsmen is a tradition. Back in the day, in our parent's hometown, they would have up to 30+. Sounds pretty ridiculous, but that was customary. I had 15 bridesmaids and groomsmen. Mainly I had cousins from both families and my close friends. It sounds a bit ludicrous, but it's not impossible to coordinate in the time of iPhones and group chat. Believe it or not, it was pretty easy to manage. My husband was in charge of communicating with his groomsmen and me, of course, of the bridesmaids.
When coordinating dates, I would simply inform the girls via group text and not email. I would also provide them a due date for Bachelorette, Dress fitting with dates a week in advance. Also, I had to be stern and let them know that if unable to make the dress appointment on time, then, unfortunately, they would not be a bridesmaid.
Communication is key when it comes to the wedding party. Ensure that if any of them are having issues for them to communicate with you and vice versa. I had to be as communicative and go with the flow. My bridesmaids were awesome and were there to assist if needed. I chose great ladies on my team.
Understanding that not everyone would be able to participate in an event such as a bachelorette. My bachelorette was a cruise to Ensenada, Mexico, and I had to inform my bridesmaids ahead of time for budget purposes. I was open with them and explained that I would not get upset if they could not make it.
The cumulation up to my wedding was overwhelming. I did pull a bridezilla moment, maybe a few times, but it's natural, or so many brides say. We want everything to go perfect, and most of the time, it won't. Just remember that you will only be the only one to know how things are supposed to come out. No one else will realize that they messed up on the cake, except you but just remember that it will be eaten anyway.
Next part, I will talk about my WEDDING DAY, the hottest day of 2018! Literally, it was 110 degrees in DTLA. Our wedding video will be shown as well!
