Tips for a Smooth Wedding Day
Venue & florals: The Marmalade Lily
After months of planning, even the best-planned wedding days encounter issues. Here are a few quick tips to help your wedding day run smoothly. Have another tip? Leave it in the comments below! And of course, if you are still looking for a wedding photographer, send me a quick message! I provide full planning services for the photography part of your day!
Make a family formals list before the big day. In general, making photo lists isn’t necessary at all. Engaging in the moment and trusting your photographer to find great light and photo locations for you is what makes beautiful images, and capturing real moments makes truly meaningful wedding photographs. All that being said, family formals are a totally different thing. You know what groups you should do and the whole thing is posed in a very traditional style. Having a list means your photographer can zoom through it and just get it done, so your guests can move on to enjoying the reception. The number one complaint I hear from couples about weddings they have attended in the past is that family formals took forever and were totally disorganized. I provide an easy to use online checklist for couples to use when doing this part of their wedding planning. It turns making this list into a 5-10 minute task.
Pro tip: When putting together your family formals list, have small children and/or grandparents go first. Your photos will look better and your family will appreciate you anticipating their needs. It’s also helpful to decide which side of the family has the largest groups. Getting those larger group photos out of the way first is best. More guests get to go enjoy the reception and it’s easier to organize groupings with a smaller crowd.
Hire a wedding coordinator. Doing this really frees you up for your actual wedding day so that you can enjoy it. You get this day to celebrate your love while surrounded by all your people just once in your life. It’s so important to be able to live those moments instead of worrying about the small stuff. And honestly, the more service you hire from a professional wedding coordinator, the less work you will have to do overall in planning your big day. They literally just know exactly what to do since they plan weddings all the time. A planner will take stress off of you and allow you to enjoy the process of putting together your wedding day. There are many different wedding coordinators who offer a range of services, from full planning to just day-of coordination. If your venue provides a coordinator, ask exactly what services that includes. It varies between different venues and isn’t quite the same as a traditional wedding coordinator.
Appoint someone else to be the primary wedding day contact. On your big day, the last thing you need to be is the point of contact for any impending disasters. In this case, ignorance is bliss. It honestly doesn’t matter if one of the floral vases broke or the caterers forgot one of your chosen hors d'oeuvres. If you hear about any of these smaller problems on your wedding day, it will stress you out. In this case, avoid the stress and give everyone a wedding day contact- bridesmaid, friend or family member that can help you put out fires or make last-minute decisions while you relax and enjoy the day.