Many dreamt of their wedding day ever since they were little, others have never even thought of it until the proposal came. Regardless of which category you belong to, there are wedding planning tips that can give you peace of mind and allow you to bring to life a wedding dream.
1. Work with an experienced wedding planner
There are so many aspects of a wedding that you need to take into account from the minute you begin planning. Whether you have already pinned several dozens of Pinterest photos and you have a clear idea of what you’re looking for, or whether you need full guidance the best thing you can do is hire an experienced wedding planner.
A wedding is the most unique event in your love-life journey and it is a day filled with beauty, elegant details, emotions, loved ones, timelines, etc.
A wedding planner can bring your vision and curate it to bring it up to be your best dream yet, sharing wedding day tips, design sketches, planning boards, connecting you with the best wedding vendors, and so so so much more.
All vendors work closely with your wedding planner and especially photographers because we ensure together that all the best memories of your special day are captured. I can’t stress enough how smoother and more efficient it is to photograph a wedding when working with a talented and skilled wedding planner. We can focus on creating life-lasting memories, curating artful captures while all the event logistics are taken care of in the background, taking that task off of your hands.
We have worked with many planners on two different continents, and if you wish referrals to the best of the best, just send us an email, and I will be happy to provide you with incredible names that can suit your needs.
2. Work with a Bridal Stylist
This may very well be my favorite amongst all wedding day tips for all brides and grooms looking to elevate their wedding day to a whole another level (practically all of my clients LOL).
I don’t make a mystery of it, I love fashion and I strongly believe that the wrong choice of attire can totally ruin even the most beautiful of wedding aesthetics. On the same token, the right look can elevate the whole wedding and create truly editorial and beautiful photographs. The expert eye of your photographer will capture and enhance your fashion choices and it is one of my top three priorities when capturing the most memorable photographs. But hiring a bridal stylist is the best way to guarantee an impeccable look, coordinated and on the theme, adding personal touches, purpose, and value to all of your looks.
3. Book a pre-wedding session
This is especially important for destination wedding couples. Most often than not, if our couples are having a destination wedding, we do not get the chance to meet them in person until the wedding weekend.
That is why I recommend booking an engagement session, or pre-wedding session, to get to experience each other before the big day and feel more at ease in front of the camera.
The other huge advantage of pre-wedding sessions is the opportunity to explore the location and take some more fun and epic images without a timeline or general wedding day limitations.
4. Work on your timeline from multiple angles.
Creating a realistic and accurate timeline is probably one of the best wedding tips you can read about. It is best practice to draft the first timeline with your wedding planner, as the experience in running complex events is necessary for you to understand the necessary logistic. As weddings are live events with multiple moving pieces, it is important, for example, to keep possible delays in account and factor those into the timeline. For example, even if it is best to schedule a trial before the wedding, I always suggest planning hair and makeup with a deadline of about half an hour earlier than when we’re supposed to begin capturing your portraits. This buffer time ensures that your hair and makeup teams will doll you up without rush, accounting for a potential extra touchup.
Your wedding day needs to be enjoyable and fun, so if we have time to pop a bottle and celebrate a little before walking down the aisle, we’d love to give you that extra time.
Moreover, keep in mind the phases of the sun during the day when scheduling your events. If you have always dreamt of a sunset ceremony, you may want to consider a first look and schedule portraits before. Otherwise, all of your romantic photos will take place after sunset in the dark, or you can consider setting your ceremony time a bit earlier instead.
Given these are just a few examples, you want to approach your timeline scheduling from multiple angles, talking with your professional teams.
5. Your wedding venue count but also where you get ready
This is truly one of the most underrated wedding day tips, but it is possible that between all the things to plan and choose, you overlook choosing accurately where you’re going to get ready for the most important day in your love life.
Your getting ready photos are going to be the literal aperture of your wedding day story, and while candidly it’s important to relax and enjoy being pampered if that happens in a beautiful environment, your photographs will look elevated and curated, also allowing for fewer maneuvers trying to make things look neat.
Whether you’re going to get ready in a hotel room, a bridal suite, at a private residence, etc. consider the fact there is where we’ll take most of the details of your wedding day and initial portrait. Look for a spacious location, with lots of natural light (windows) and with a look and feel that matches the decor and theme of the rest of your wedding day.
6. Detail Details
I feel most couples nowadays are better educated about weddings and they have a good idea of how to make theirs look personal and unique, but in case they don’t here is a gem: details make for the most beautiful and unique weddings.
In the big picture, what is going to make the difference is the attention to those often overlooked items. Personalization, curation, and design play a major part in the successful outcome of an event, and for your photographer to capture those details, I recommend scheduling ahead of time a set time prior to or post-wedding. If not possible and the styling needs to happen on the wedding day, it is key that you organize and prepare all the stationery pieces, welcome bags, wedding rings, shoes, dress, favors, etc. in one place for your photographer to find or be handed over by an assistant of your planner, at their arrival. A luxury wedding photographer, with the necessary experience, will explain how all that works and, in coordination with your wedding planner, they will make sure your wedding details are captured beautifully.
For more about wedding details and flat lays read this blog post about “wedding details”.
7. First look
I have a couple of opinions about first looks. I know most photographers share that is best to just choose to have one before walking down the aisle, and I know, with my decade of experience photographing weddings, that is because it definitely has lots of advantages (which we’ll see in a second), but if you have always dreamt of walking down the aisle and see your soon-to-be husband for the first time that day in that occasion, then you should have that moment and simply plan for a longer day of coverage from your vendors, leaving time for more photos after the ceremony for portraits, family formal and cocktail hour.
Overall, the first look is a great way to get rid of the nerves, prior to walking down the aisle, share a romantic and private moment with your fiancé, before tying the know in front of all of your guests, and most importantly, gain lots of more photo-time. Ultimately, if you wish to join your friends and family for cocktail hour, then the first look is a must, as it will release you from following your photographer away for portraits.
8. Cell phones-free or “unplugged” ceremonies
I think all photographers have one or 10 stories to tell of when this or that guest at this or that wedding, lifted their phones or compact cameras (even iPad I swear), and ruined the best shots.
You want to walk down the aisle free to smile at people looking at you in the eyes and not through a screen. Those little monitors are distracting, they make our photos messy, not in the moment, and prevent us from capturing the real emotion on everyone’s faces. Wouldn’t it be so much better if we had access to everyone’s eyes and smiles, not shielded by a screen, and wouldn’t it be better for all of your guests to actually experience, live, and feel your wedding day knowing that you have a professional photographer in charge of capturing the memories?!
So, as one of my best wedding day tips, consider asking your wedding planner to advise you on how to make a cell phone-free ceremony happen for the benefit of everyone.
9. Trust and have fun
Ah! The last on my wedding day tips for this post. This is a hard one, even for me. I am a type “A” personality to the core and the need to know that everything is perfect at all times makes me want to keep an eye on every aspect. Well, that’s good because now you can let go of that burden.
Your happiness and enjoyment on the wedding day are two of my absolute paramount priorities and for that to happen you must relax and trust your professional vendors to do the best job they can. You did your due diligence to choose the best of the best in the industry and now it’s our turn to show you that you made the best choice. If you let your professionals do what they know how to do best, chances are that the results will exceed your expectations and you’ll have much more fun and relaxed wedding experience.
Film Vs Digital Photography
Would you like to learn more about wedding photography? Check out the main differences between film and digital photography, why I choose one over the other, benefits and cons.
