I have absolutely loved sharing some of the beautiful weddings I’ve photographed this year with you guys and I’m looking forward to sharing some more soon. Today though, I wanted to share a few wedding tips that might be helpful to any of my couples or anyone else currently planning a wedding. Before every wedding I love to send out a few tips to my Brides & Grooms to help them have the best day possible. Here are some of the tips I like to share.

 

 

Allow more time than you think you need in the morning. There is “normal time” and then there is “wedding day time” and the two will never be the same. I hear at almost every wedding how quickly the time has gone. It’s a mystery I’ll never understand but if you’re prepared for it you’ll be onto a winner. If you can be ready half an hour before you actually need to be, you’re more likely to get the upper hand on this wedding timing mystery. By having that extra half hour of padding you are less likely to be late for your ceremony.  Remember if the ceremony runs late it could throw the rest of your timings off for the day giving you less time for photos and relaxing with your guests. By giving yourself more time than you think you need, it could be the difference between a rushed wedding day and a day where you get to relax and get through all the photos you want and still get the chance to see your guests before your meal. If you do happen to be ready before you need to leave you have time to take a breather, get some pre ceremony photos or just take it all in, you’re getting married 😀

 

 

The night before the wedding go though all the suits, dresses and shoes and remove all labels. You’d be surprised how stressful it can be trying to find a pair of scissors when you know you need to leave at a certain time. If you’ve done all of this at least the night before, it will be one less thing to worry about.

 

 

Ask you florist if they can label up your buttonholes as to who’s is who’s. Obviously if all the buttonholes are the same you can skip pass this. If however your parents have different buttonholes to the groomsmen and then the Grooms is totally unique as well, it can help to have them labeled. It might be tricky to remember back to when you were with your florist and picking out all the different arrangements for the day. If they are all labeled everyone knows which buttonhole is for who and it will just be one more thing that runs nice and smoothly on the wedding day.

 

 

If you’d like to have a confetti moment at your wedding, and I’m always keen for this, don’t assume your guests will bring confetti. Either provide it for your guests or ask if they can bring some along. The more confetti the better in my opinion. I’m a big confetti fan, incase you couldn’t tell 😉

 

 

Have an idea of the bridal details you would like photos of. This could be shoes, perfume, jewellery or anything you’d like to remember of the finer details of the day. Set these bits aside in the room you’ll be getting ready in so when your photographer arrives they know the bits that are important for you to have photos of.

 

 

When it comes to your formal group photos, I always think organisation is key. You could print out a list of the guests who will be in the group photos and put it in your order of service along with the time you plan to have them and where they might happen. This way your guests will be aware of whether they’re needed for photos so they are less likely to wonder off at the time the photos are happening . Remember to run through your group photos with your photographer before you do this as they may be able to help you with any extra tips to help this part of your day run nice and smoothly. If you don’t want it to be in your order of service, in the lead up to the wedding you could mention it in passing to any guests that may be needed for group photos so they are aware beforehand. Maybe even send out a group message on Facebook with the list of group photos. If people are aware that they have been chosen to be in the group photos they are more likely to be waiting and ready to go rather than needing to hunt them down. This can really help this part of the day flow nicely giving you more time to relax with guests.

 

Anyway, these are just a handful of wedding day tips. I hope you’ve found it helpful. Feel free to leave a comment below if you’d like more blog posts like this and let me know if you also have any tips you think are worth sharing, I’d love to hear them. Stay tuned on Friday for another blog post, I’ll be sharing the super sweet Emma & James’s wedding. Until then, enjoy your week, Charlotte xx