Happy Friday, friends!
In honor of National Wedding Planning day, I thought it would be fun to share 4 tips for your wedding plans. I have learned these both during my own wedding planning process, as well as working with my wedding photography clients over the years.
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Hire a day-of coordinator!
Hear me out – I know it’s hard to add things to your wedding budget – but a day-of coordinator is worth her weight in GOLD! For example – have you thought about who will clean and load up all of your decor at the end of the night? Most people don’t until last minute – and then your tipsy bridal party or exhausted parents end up dealing with it. Believe me, you want your best people to be able to celebrate with you all night on the dance floor, stress-free and able to head back to their hotel when they’re ready. A day-of coordinator handles all of that work for you – and they are the expert in the room should something go awry with your caterer, or a groomsmen forgets to bring his pants (yep, that’s definitely happened). You can also direct people’s questions to your coordinator instead of having to field them yourself on the wedding day. Consider hiring a day-of coordinator an investment in your own stress management!
2. If you can splurge on flowers, DO IT – if not, focus on your bouquet.
Fresh flowers can’t be beat at a wedding – they add color, texture and scent to your wedding day. They can also be an easier option for centerpieces, versus creating (and buying) your own. For our wedding, I had our florist (shout out to Fersk Floral Artistry, my fave) do all of our centerpieces, and I rented the vases from her as well. This saved me a ton of time and money, because I didn’t have to find, buy, pack, deliver and assemble all 30 of my centerpieces (or sell them afterwards!). But I digress – if you don’t have a big budget for flowers, focus on splurging on YOUR bouquet – that is going to be the most photographed of the day and will be in a lot of your couple portraits. It’s really not noticeable if your bridesmaids bouquets are smaller and simpler, or if there aren’t flowers on every table. We invested a lot in flowers, but I opted to skip the boutonnieres and save a little money there by getting pocket squares instead. That was just my personal preference – I knew Jay and his friends didn’t care, and I wanted to put that money elsewhere. We also had three different centerpieces – one of them being candles and greenery – these made the room look better with variety, and saved us some money on flowers, too. Your florist can recommend what will look best with your budget! There are also services that will preserve your bouquet – we have some of the flowers from my bouquet dried and pressed in a frame with a photo from our wedding, and it’s something I treasure!
3. When getting ready, natural window light is QUEEN!
Many brides don’t think about this, but from a photography standpoint, having lots of natural light where you are getting ready is KEY. This will allow for even, natural skin tones and natural light is overall more flattering than fluorescent or overhead lighting. Keep this in mind as you plan your day – find out if your venue has a nice bridal suite, or plan to rent an airbnb for the morning to get ready. I promise, you will love the photos so much more!
4. Don’t forget about video!
Like day-of coordinators, wedding videography is still often viewed as a luxury add-on or last minute decision. No judgement here, but let me make the case for investing in it. Obviously, as a photographer I highly value photography – but photography can never replace video footage of your day. The emotion, movement, sounds and candid moments that a good videographer captures are priceless. Being able to rewatch your ceremony and speeches months and years later is so special. I know it’s cliche to say, but your wedding really does fly by. There’s SO much happening and all of the attention is on you, so it’s literally impossible to see and be apart of every moment. But video allows you to relive those things or see candid moments you didn’t even know about.
I hope those 4 tips were helpful! I always love to give vendor recommendations, so please reach out if you have questions!
What wedding tips do you wish you had known? Comment below!
Marriage makes us more responsible and disciplined. Because marriage is a commitment, where each one has a role to play for the happiness of both, this same commitment makes them assume life with greater maturity. While a single person does not have much to think about when changing work, city or country, the married person has to take it with great care and responsibility, since he thinks, not only of him, but of his whole family.
I was just thinking me and my bridesmaids can do that on our own, drinking prosecco! But seriously, you may have a point with this day-after thing. Everything else I have planned with my planning-guide I loved since the page 1: https://www.net-boss.org/shop/how-to-prepare-a-perfect-wedding-by-george-holmes. It’s step-by-step and regularly reminding not to panic too much 😉