Photo: Matt Andrews Photography

Our friends and family are full of good wedding planning advice that keeps us sane, helps us stay organized, and cut costs — but every once in a while, they it us with a doozy that's all bad. Here, five former brides reveal the advice they wish they'd never taken.

“A friend told me, ‘It's your wedding day and that means it's all about you,'” says one former bride. “While I can see where she's coming from, hearing that just rubbed me the wrong way. Our wedding day was a celebration, and I wanted to make sure my guests and family enjoyed themselves, too. It seemed selfish to only care about myself!”

“My mom convinced me I didn't need a wedding planner, despite the fact that I was planning a hometown wedding from my new city, which was a four-hour flight or 16-hour drive away,” says another former bride. “So, instead, I spent as much money in trips home — and who knows what incalculable costs to my sanity — getting home to do the things I could have employed a planner to do, when I could have spent that same chunk of change on a planner who could have done it for me.”

“I was told to send invitations to co-workers I didn't actually want at my wedding because, ‘you don't want to offend people you see every day,'” says one bride. ‘Which, yes, I get the sentiment. But I was also told those people likely wouldn't show up. They did. And then I was stuck with them at work and at my wedding!”

“When my sister heard my disappointment in not being able to afford our dream wedding, she encouraged us to take out a loan,” says one woman. “She reasoned we'd only have this one chance, so we should make it perfect, no matter the cost. I listened, and we're still paying that loan off. It's been two years.”

“‘Don't have an open bar.' That was my mom's advice to cut costs,” says another woman. “My friends are still griping about it! Yes, shame on them. But at the same time, I'd gladly give $800 more now to get them to shut up about how limited our alcohol selection was, and what they had to pay to enjoy themselves.”

This article was written by Jillian Kramer for Brides.com.