Wedding Tips You Probably Haven’t Heard
Many couples don’t realize just how quickly their wedding day goes by. Ask anyone whos already had their wedding day and they’ll tell you!
We’ve come up with some tips to help you enjoy what will be the best day of your life!
1. Go to bed early
Don’t stay out too late drinking with friends and family the night before the wedding. No one wants to walk down the aisle with a hangover (-;
Have the bachelor/bachelorette parties a week before the wedding or earlier.
2. Eat a carb & protein filled breakfast the day of the wedding
Dinner is a long, long way off and between getting ready, photos, the ceremony, etc, there’s really no time to eat besides breakfast. Having a carb and protein-filled breakfast, along with a scoop of protein powder, will ensure that you stay fuller for longer (and gives you the energy to get through the day!).
But worry not! As your photographer we carry extra snacks in our bags if you start to feel faint at any time! We dig into our snack pouch at almost every wedding, it’s no joke. And drink lots of water too!!
3. Plan enough time to get ready
I could go on and on and on about buffer time & planning downtime on your wedding day, so I will TRY to keep this part as short as possible.
You don’t want to cram every single minute of your wedding day with something to do. You both absolutely need time to take a minute to breath, be away from EVERYONE, and soak it in. Plan to step away from the day for 5 minutes and to be alone with each other at some point.
You also don’t want to schedule things too close together. If you’re getting hair & makeup done, its a bad idea to ask your stylist to be done at 1:30, which is when you have to get dressed. If you need to get dressed at 1:30, all of your hair & makeup should honestly be scheduled to be finished by 12:00 or 12:30 at the very latest. You NEED cushion time just in case something needs to be re-done. If you have to apply additional skin care products like eczema skincare to treat your skin conditions, be sure to take that into consideration when planning your wedding day.
On the other hand, if you’re getting ready at a hotel and its 40 minutes away from your venue, you don’t leave 40 minutes before you need to be there. You leave 90 minutes before you’re supposed to be there. What if you couldn’t get your bowtie tied correctly and it ended up taking 15 minutes? And you couldn’t find your pants and realized you left them at home in another State so you have to run to the nearest suit store to find pair similar enough to get away with it?
Oh, you think those situations won’t happen to you? Tell that to the mulitple couples of ours its happened to. And the pants being left in another STATE is not a one time thing. Not even a two time thing. We’ve seen it happen more than 10 times.
As your photographer, who’s shot over 500 weddings in the last 12 years, I’m pretty damn great at building wedding timelines that ensure there is plenty of time to still get you all the photos you want in a RELAXED way…even when something major goes wrong. So don’t you worry, because I’ll build your timeline with lots of cushion time so you won’t ever feel stressed!
4. Wear a cute robe or a loose fitting button down shirt
Ok so unpopular opinion time: I don’t think you need to give your wedding party matching pj’s/robes.
With that said, I know a lot of brides specifically love to wear something cute when they’re getting ready, and I’m ALL for cute outfits!! So at the very least, for yourself ladies, wear a cute rob or pj set, or a pretty button down shirt…and no bra.
Bras can constrict the skin and when it’s time to get into your dress, if your dress is strapless or shows off your back, there will be bra indents in your skin and that’s not something that’s easily removed in post.
And take off your hair tie from your wrist!!! Don’t worry…I’ll remind you. My camera bag is full of confiscated hair ties from wedding days.
5. Break in your wedding shoes before the wedding
Y’all, your wedding day is NOT the day to break in your new set of shoes. I’m talking to all genders here. Blisters don’t care what you identify as.
So put on some socks & walk around the house with them for a few days, or just prop your feet up on the coffee table.
Why socks? Well, the socks will prevent foot gunk & dirt from getting on the inside of the shoes! Please save your photographer the hours of editing that would take to get rid of foot indents & foot gunk and wear the socks lol
A trick used in the fashion industry for ya: use blue painters tape and tape up the soles of the shoes so you dont get them scuffed up before the wedding day as you break them in.
6. Hire a wedding planner
If you want to be stress free on your wedding day, and follow no other tips on this list, please at least follow this one.
We eloped. We had 5 guests. I hired a wedding planning team before I had a venue, date or photographer. And no, I didn’t hire a day of co-ordinator. I hired a WEDDING PLANNER.
They keep you on track with your budget, bring you back down to Earth when you’re dreaming a little too big (aka “Katie, your budget won’t allow for that…how about this option instead which is somewhat similar and you never would have thought about it without our awesome expertise?”
Not to mention, they set up your dream wedding for you and all you have to do is walk into the room and be BLOWN AWAY by them bringing your vision to life.
They also put out any fires the day and you’ll probably never hear about it. Doesn’t that sound nice?
7. Pack a survival kit
Give it to your bestie to keep for you but it should include: breath mints, stain remover, extra bobby pins, bottle of water, small sewing kit, lipstick, fashion tape, safety pins, a snack, etc. Never know when you’ll need something!
Then again, we have most of that stuff on us at all times too, and if we don’t your planner DEFINITELY will!
8. Have all must have photographed items in one spot
This makes life easier not only for your photographer when they arrive but for your hair & makeup artist as well.
For the ladies, make sure all of this is in one place: the full invitation suite, bouquet, all of the wedding bands & your engagement ring, shoes, perfume, jewelry you plan to wear, hair pieces you plan to wear, family heirlooms you’re including, vow books, and anything else sentimental or important you want photographed
For the guys make sure all of this is in one place: the full invitation suite, flowers (if any), all the wedding bands, shoes, socks, tie/bow tie or other neck ware, cologne, cufflinks, special jewelry like watches or family heirlooms, vow books, anything else sentimental or important you want photographed
9. Remind all wedding party & family members to refrain from posting any photos on social media
Until after the ceremony at least! It’s happened before, an excited parent or wedding party member takes a photo of the bride after she gets dressed, posts it to Facebook, and her partner sees it before the first look.
10. Dont drink too much at the reception
Or the night before…or while getting ready for the wedding. It shows up in your photos, and don’t you want to remember the day? We’ve heard countless stories about how the couple blacked out and didn’t really remember their reception.
Sure, they have the photos to show them the wild time, but wouldn’t it be nice to actually be able to reminiscence about it?
11. If you’re wearing heels bring a pair of flats
If you plan on wearing heels to your wedding, please please remember bring a flatter set of shoes like Birdies or cute sandals to the reception so you don’t have to dance in heels all night – your feet will start hurting before the ceremony even starts!
12. Take it all in
The day flies by so quickly so just remember every moment, don’t let things get to you. Maybe talk to your officiant about giving you two a chance to look out into the crowd during the ceremony to really soak in the moment and remember it before you have your first kiss!
