Wedding day regrets? Study finds 76 percent of newlyweds wish they’d changed things

Ah, weddings. It’s supposed to be one the happiest days of a person’s life — but is it actually?

There’s a ton of stress involved in planning the big day, not to mention the expenses and, of course, second guessing all the decisions you’ve made leading up to the ceremony.

“Is this the right dress? Do we have enough food? Did we spend too much money? Will anyone be offended by the seating chart?” The list goes on … and on … and on.

Everyone knows there is no such thing as a perfect wedding, but if you second guessed some of the decisions you made, it might help to know you’re not alone. And I mean you’re really, really not alone.

Out of 2,000 newlyweds, married in or after 2010, surveyed by Dana Rebecca Designs, a whopping 76 percent said there were things they would do differently and 43 percent said they actually have regrets about some aspects of the wedding.

See, told you you’re not alone.

What Would They Change?

Most couples that took part in the survey were in agreement that they should have spent more money on their honeymoon, rings and photographer, and less on the dress and invitations. Nearly half of the couples surveyed also said they should have enjoyed it more, while 28 percent said they regret how much they spent, 20 percent regret the guest list (ouch!) and 19 percent said they should have just eloped.

Another interesting note from the survey is that 70 percent of those asked spent less than $25,000 on the big day, while 17 percent spent $25,000-$50,000 and only 1 percent spent more than $100,000.

And when it comes to planning and paying for it all, women were three times more likely to say they made the most decisions, while 41 percent of couples said they split the wedding costs evenly. Only 16 percent said their families paid for the wedding, but 80 percent of that was the family of the bride.

But it wasn’t all bad news from the Dana Rebecca Designs survey. In the end, although 58 percent of couples said they were stressed on the day of the wedding, 90 percent said, despite it all, the good outweighed the bad. Nearly 60 percent said they were able to enjoy their wedding day and 72 percent say it was one of the best days of their life.

The couples who were surveyed also offered some words of wisdom for future couples, saying not to worry about spending too much on a wedding planner, the rehearsal dinner, bridal party gifts and a videoographer. Because honestly, how often are you really likely to rewatch your wedding video?

Take a look at Dana Rebecca Design’s full findings below for more answers about wedding day regrets:

If you could change anything about your wedding day, what would it be?