You've spent months and months planning for this day and now it's finally here! You're excited, nervous, and going over every detail in your head making sure you didn't forget anything but is there a way that you can avoid all of that stress and nervousness? If there is any part of the wedding that is going to run late it's going to be the getting ready or setup. I'm going to share some helpful tips that will hopefully make your wedding day stress free and stay on time!
- Hire a wedding planner or day-of coordinator
I know you're already spending a lot of money on this day and you have to be smart where you spend your money, but when there are a million decisions to be made and last minute details to set up why not have a professional there to handle all of that for you? Your wedding day is also an experience that you don't want your friends and family to miss! If your mom is helping to set up the ceremony site she might be late to help you get dressed in your gown and that could mean less time for beautiful portraits later. Please don't let anything get in the way of you relaxing with a mimosa while your hair and makeup gets done :)
- Plan extra time for hair and make-up for you and your ladies
What can throw off your entire schedule? Hair and make-up! Ladies, we all know how long it takes to get ready for a night out, lets be realistic and assume that a wedding day will take just a bit longer. I like to pad the getting ready schedule with a little extra time but I also like to tell the girls that they need to be ready by 1:00 when really I need them ready by 1:15 and somehow we always need that little time buffer. This works great for the family portraits part of the day as well!
- Have all of your details ready for when your photographer arrives
One super easy thing you can do is to set out all of your details for your photographer before they arrive! I always start the day by photographing your dress, shoes, jewelry, flowers, etc and if I can grab everything at once and not have to interrupt while your make-up artist is applying mascara or your planner is helping to find the groomsmen lost pants (yes, this does happen) the getting ready will just flow seamlessly and on time. Haha if you haven't noticed, I'm a fan of keeping the day on schedule :)
- Schedule time to eat lunch
Lets be real, everybody gets hangry now and then, and when you're nervous and stressed that can get even worse! I know your stomach is full of butterflies, but please take a minute to eat a sandwich and drink a bottle of water before you get in your dress! You might not feel hungry, but when you accidentally don't eat your dinner because you're having so much fun catching up with your guests, you'll be thankful that you've at least had lunch!
- Keep your getting ready space clean of clutter
It sounds trivial and like that's not really capturing the "real" wedding day and what happened, but do you really want to be looking back on these pictures with your kids and them seeing your hot pink panties and bottle of wine in the corner as your getting in your wedding dress? That is one of the parts of the day that it's okay to pretend that everything was "picture perfect" and people don't need to see the pile of curling irons and make-up bags on the other side of the room.
- Write a special note to your future spouse
Getting ready to day "I do" is a whirlwind of events! How awesome would it be to take a few minutes to yourself to relax, take a few deep breaths, and read a little note from the person you're going to marry in a few hours?! Maybe you tell each other how much you love them, maybe you tell them a funny joke to relax, or maybe you tell them what you're looking forward to on the honeymoon (don't worry, I don't read it or judge) but I've found that little time always calms and grounds my couples when nerves and stress starts to rise.
I've learned a lot of things after photographing 125+ weddings, and I know that things don't always go as planned, and problems may happen, but with a little planning and preparation you can minimize your stress and focus on the only important thing which is getting married!
