Hello lovelies! Today I’m going to be sharing a few tips that will help make your wedding day way less stressful. We’ve shot A LOT of weddings over the years, and no matter how well they think they hide it we can always tell, our couples are nervous. Whether it’s because you’re hair and make up is taking waaay longer than it did during your test run, or you’re caterer just straight up forgot to deliver your food (that totally happened at one of our weddings before…true story) something is bound to go wrong and cause some stress at your wedding. Here’s our top 5 tips for ways to make your wedding day a little less stressful and a lot more fun.
1. Allow more time than you think you’ll need. We’ve had so many couples try and cram 8 hours of a wedding into half that time and let me tell you, it never works. Not only do random things you can’t control happen all the time, but if you’re rushing to get to the next part of the day you will definitely be stressing. “But do pictures really take that long?” Yes! Sure we can do bridal party, family, and couple portraits in just an hour but that doesn’t mean we should. What’s the worst that can happen if you plan for more time and don’t actually need it? You get to relax and enjoy yourselves on your wedding day? That sounds pretty darn good to me!
2. Do a first look. Not everyone is fan of this tip, but it is so important to at least consider for a stress free wedding. A first look is when the couple meet before the wedding and they share a special, intimate moment seeing each other all dolled up for the first time. The first look is usually captured by a photographer and there are lots of happy tears! A lot of people just can’t get past breaking the tradition of seeing each other before the ceremony, but it is so worth it! You’ll get all the bridal party portraits done while everyone’s hair and make up is still fabulous and you’ll get all your couples and family portraits done before the ceremony so you can head straight into the party afterwards! Who doesn’t love that?!
3. Choose a photographer that you trust. Too often we’ve seen couples only choose a photographer based on price. But it is so important to choose someone that you really connect with. When you think about it, you’ll be spending more time on your wedding day with your photographer than with your significant other. It sounds a little crazy but it’s true! Also being in front of the camera can be a little daunting and just down right weird if you’re not used to it. So it’s important to make sure that your photographer makes you feel comfortable and happy.
4. Make sure your photographer has a shot list. Before your wedding day, we always ask our couples for their most important shots that they know they want. This includes groupings for family portraits. Most photographers already know their standard groupings (i.e the couple with each set of parents, the couple with grandparents, etc.) but if there are groupings that are really important to you, it’s essential to let us know before the big day. This kind of ties into the last point because if you trust your photographer and you’ve given them a shot list, you won’t have to worry on your wedding day about getting a certain “must have” shot.
5. And finally….just relax and have fun! Okay so you’ve probably heard this little tip a million times over, but it really is the most important one! I’m going to give you some real talk here…something will go wrong on your wedding day. Whether you forget to put on deodorant or mother nature decides to throw a fit and there’s a huge storm, something will happen. It happens at every single wedding. Every. Single. One. That’s why it’s so important to just relax and roll with the punches and not take everything so seriously. You’re getting married!!! It’s supposed to be fun and happy and no one wants to end up a bridezilla. If you’ve hired good professionals and people you trust, you may not even know that something has gone wrong on your wedding day.
Just remember to smile and have fun! Your wedding is supposed to be one the happiest days your life and even if something does go wrong, one day you’ll be able to laugh it off as just another funny story.
