I just love my brides. My girls are so awesome. I love the relationships I build with them over the time it takes to plan their weddings. I love getting to spend their wedding day with them, capturing the behind-the-scenes pictures of the day, capturing those sweet moments of a First Look, and just celebrating with them!
The day can be hectic and filled with a slight level of stress, so here are a few tips for my brides to remember for and on their wedding day:
1) When and where to deliver your flowers
You need to have your flowers delivered to the location you. If you’re getting ready at the venue/church, then this is fine; but if your pictures are elsewhere before the ceremony, they just sit there. I can’t take pictures of them for you! If you’re doing a First Look, like most of my girls do, you need to make sure your flowers are delivered before you have your First Look. You want me to take pictures of your flowers and you want them for your couple pictures of the two of you! On this same note, have all of the “detail” items where you are getting ready so that I can take pictures of them while you’re getting ready. I always suggest having them in a box or bag so that they are all together. I’ll be posting later what items are great for detail shots.
2) We will most likely run “late”
In the nearly eight years of shooting weddings, I have had only a small handful where we were ready for pictures right when the timeline stated. When we sit down for our pre-wedding consults, we work out the timeline of the day leading up to the ceremony and during the reception. I plan extra time in the day; so when I say we need 30 minutes for the wedding party pictures or an hour for First Look and couple pictures, I can pull some time from there if we are behind in getting pictures started. I do NOT want you to stress out on your day about the timeline. I will take care of it and get your perfect pictures for you. So don’t worry when we are running “late” for pictures. I got you covered.
3) Practice getting into your dress
Wedding dresses are big and cumbersome. They also aren’t in your closet rotating through your rotation of clothing. These things are hard to get into with all of the tulle and layers! Plus, if you have a dress that needs to be laced up in the back or buttoned with those 100 hook-and-eye buttons, you need to have someone who will be there on the wedding day (i.e. a bridesmaid or your Mom) practice a couple of times in getting you into your dress. Your hair is going to be all done up- will you step into the dress or have it brought over your head? These are all things to remember for the big day.
4) Wear your shoes before your wedding day
Most of you wear heels that I couldn’t dream of putting my feet into. At 5’9″, I already don’t wear many heels as to prevent myself from looking giant in 3-4 inch heels. Plus, I just plain suck in wearing them. But anyways… you need to practice wearing these around the house, in the grass, on the concrete, pretty much any surface you plan on walking on on your wedding day, try it out. Make sure they are worn in and won’t give you blisters. You can even purchase those heel stoppers if you want. A lot of my brides bring shoes to wear for the reception that are less invasive than the high heels worn for pictures and the ceremony.
5) Soak it all in
The day flies by, let me tell you; so soak in the moments, take deep breaths, and just look around and enjoy the day. Don’t stress over the little things like the small spot on your dress that NO ONE will notice nor my camera pick it up. Laugh and smile and enjoy the day. If you stress yourself out or get angry, it will show in your pictures and the last thing you want is frowny faces on your most special day of your life! So just soak it and enjoy your day!
