One of the big things I notice at weddings is a lack of time. When you schedule photos and events at your wedding, an unrealistic timeline is created. So how can you alleviate this?
Get started earlier than scheduled. If you intend on being at your venue at a certain time, make sure you’re actually there at least 30 minutes early.
Make sure, if you’re having to bustle your dress after your ceremony, that someone knows how to do it. Go over the instructions with your person before the wedding starts. You can do this while you’re getting your makeup done and the dress is hanging up.
When taking family photos, make sure everyone you want photos of stays put and that you have someone (it could be you and your new spouse, or a family member or friend) to wrangle your family for photos.
Make sure to give yourself more time than you think is needed for each element of your wedding. Give yourself some breathing room.
Try to be ready about an hour before your ceremony. This gives your photographer time to get a few bridal portraits, groom portraits and portraits with your wedding party.
By the night before your wedding have everything you need for your wedding packed in a bag or two. When I’m packing, I like to make a list that I keep by the door about a week before. As I think of things, I add it to the list. When I start packing, I can cross those items off my list, ensuring that I don’t forget anything.
Delegate! Delegate, delegate! Put trustworthy friends & family in charge of certain things and give them a time to make sure it’s done by.
The most important scheduled parts of your wedding to try your best to keep are:
The step-by-step guide (and worksheet) to your first few steps in your wedding planning process.
By now, you’ve hopefully completed the first eight steps from my previous post. If you haven’t, go check it out first. Here’s the link — So you’re engaged, what’s next (part 1). The next steps should be done between 12-10 months before your wedding.
For the next few steps you will be working on hiring wedding vendors. It’s important to be conscious of two things, #1 is the importance of the particular type of vendor at your wedding and #2 is the amount of time the vendor will need to be there.
The rule of thumb is the more time the vendor needs to be at your wedding, the more likely you will need to hire that person earlier than others. If the person can’t work multiple weddings on the same day (ie wedding planners, photographers, entertainment…) they are a higher booking priority.
#9 Research! Now’s the time (if you haven’t already) to start your spreadsheet full of potential wedding planners or coordinators, wedding photographers & videographers. You can use one tab for each vendor to keep them in one place.
Ask important questions like: Are you available, what’s your average cost, what do you provide, how long have you been in the wedding business?
It’s important to note, while the average cost is important, it shouldn’t be a deciding factor. Yes, you should try to stay within budget, but if your heart is telling you to pick someone outside your budget, maybe there’s a reason for that. See if there is anything they can do to work with you before you count them out.
#10 Whittle down your list to the top 2-4 from each category. Schedule meetings with them. Make sure you either talk on the phone, meet in person or over a zoom-like chat.
This is important because it’s much easier to get a feel for a company/person to see if they’ll be compatible with you and your wants and needs in person or over the phone. You don’t want to just hire someone because they are cheap or because they were the vendor for your cousin’s wedding. What works for others may not work for you.
#11 Hire your wedding planner/coordinator. You can provide your whittled down list of photographers and videographers and see if they have any insight on them. There are so many wedding vendors in the Houston area, thought, that there’s a high chance that the planner hasn’t worked with them (yet). Don’t count vendors out just because they haven’t worked with your planner.
#12 Hire your wedding photographer and videograper. Not everyone hires a videographer, but if you are wanting one, now’s the time to hire.
#13 Since you have a location, date and most likely time for your weddings. It’s time to work on your save-the-dates and your invitations. There are loads of options for both. You can make magnets, interesting trinkets with the dates inscribed. There are large online companies that do invitations and small individuals. You can get invitations designed and printed from an online shop or go into a store and pick some out. You can even make them yourselves. Below are some ideas of where to start your invitation hunt.
Vistaprint.com
Etsy
Google “wedding invitations”
Check Instagram #WeddingInvitationDesign
#14 Now that you’ve got some of the bigger vendors out of the way, it’s time to think about food. What kind of food do you want to have at your wedding? What kind of food do you want at your rehearsal? Make sure to talk with your parents & in-laws to be if they will be helping you throw either your wedding or rehearsal. Once you’ve come up. Research your catering options and whittle the list down to a couple. If you want, this is a part you can delegate to someone else.
#15 Pat yourself on the back! You deserve a big break or a special date night. Go out & have some fun. Don’t think about wedding planning at all.
If you liked this information and want even more amazing wedding planning and posing tips and tricks, sign up for my email series and get all of my 10-years of wedding knowledge free to your email! Fill out the below form to start getting emails today. Please note, I do NOT sell your information or spam call you. I just want you to have the best, least stressful time planning your wedding.
The step-by-step guide (and worksheet) to your first few steps in your wedding planning process.
Wedding planning can be one of the most stressful events you will ever have to plan. Luckily, there are vendors to help and helpful guides to show you the way. This particular guide will help you with the first chunk of planning. I like to break planning up into chunks to make it easier to handle.
You’ve been engaged for 0-6 months now. What are your first steps?
#1 Pick your wedding aesthetic. Are you a free-flowing hippy, or a city-slicker? When you think about that moment you say “I Do” what do you see?
#2 Pick your ideal wedding city. Maybe you want to get married in your hometown, maybe you want to have a destination wedding. Either way, figure out the location that would best suit you and your fiance.
#3 What season are you wanting to get married? Be conscious of the weather, temperature and seasonal natural disasters of the city you chose.
#4 Research venues that will help define your wedding style. There are, of course sites like The Knot and Wedding Wire to help you do your research. However, one of my favorite sites to research wedding venues is Here Comes the Guide. If you are a spreadsheet kind of person (I know I am) make sure to include the average cost of the venues. Then, when you’re done researching venues, you can calculate the average cost of a venue based on your research. Make sure to read the reviews of the venues on those sites and sites like Facebook (and not their website).
#5 After you’ve researched venues and the average cost, you now have an idea of where to start with your wedding budget. A wedding venue should be about 40% of your total budget. Take your average cost and divide it by 0.4 to get your total budget starting point. Please note, this is a guide and nothing is set in stone. If you have family property that you will be getting married on and you’re not paying for it, then you can’t base your budget off of that…
#6 Reach out to your top 5-10 venues. Take tours of the facilities (because photos don’t always do them justice).
#7 Book THE VENUE!! Don’t second guess yourself. Your first decision is almost always the right one.
#8 Take a break. Give yourself a pat on the back or go out to eat for a celebratory dinner & drinks! You’ve done a great deal of work for your wedding and you deserve it.
If you liked this information and want even more amazing wedding planning and posing tips and tricks, sign up for my email series and get all of my 10-years of wedding knowledge free to your email! Fill out the below form to start getting emails today. Please note, I do NOT sell your information or spam call you. I just want you to have the best, least stressful time planning your wedding.
Wedding dress code can be a touchy subject to try to get across to your guests. Some are more than happy to be told what to wear while others may need a little more encouragement, or even visual cues.
Weather you’re trying to encourage guests to dress appropriately for the condition of your wedding (ie: a forest wedding with no concrete, or an outdoor winter wedding) or you want to encourage your guests to dress in a theme, I’ve got some helpful tips for you.
Step 1:
Polity indicate on your invitations what the dress code is. Don’t get creative, just be straight forward with your instructions, but make sure to word it as a suggestion and not a demand. for example, if you’re getting married on the beach in the summer, you could indicate on the bottom “PS the wedding will be on the beach. We suggest wearing appropriate footwear for sand.” Use words like Suggest, Encourage, Consider.
Step 2:
Reinforce your dress code on your wedding website. Here is where you can be creative with your suggestions and instructions. You have the space and time to indicate on your wedding website why you are suggesting a certain dress code or what the look you’re going for is. Again, be polite and never force any of your guests into a dress code.
Some things you can do/say on your wedding website:
Inform your guests of what the look is you’re going for. If you want to have a “Red wedding” you can tell your guests that you are suggesting they wear red because the theme of the wedding is “Red Wedding” and you want the photos from your wedding to look amazing!
you can use imagery on your wedding website to help show guests what they should consider wearing to your wedding. Have a bunch of inspiration photos from Pinterest or the internet and show some examples of what you’re looking for.
If you’re having a costume party wedding, you could also inform the guests that you’re having a costume contest at your reception and the winners get a prize. Make it fun for them and give them incentives to have fun with the dress code. This technique could also work for a black-tie wedding or an “out-do-the-bride” dress code. You could have a runway show with your guests and crown the winner afterwords.
Most importantly, be polite. No one wants find out their wedding website wound up on an “Am I the Asshole” site.
What are your thoughts? Do you have any suggestions you would add?
Do you have concerns about hiring a wedding vendor? I’m here to help guide you through the easy steps.
Step 1: Get a note pad and write down your vision. What do you want to accomplish?
Step 2: Develop a budget for your vision.
Step 3: Research vendors who align with your values and style. You can contact vendors who you’ve already booked to help you find like-minded vendors.
Step4: Reach out to the vendors who best fit the above.
So let’s break this down into a scenario. You’re planning your wedding and you’ve decided you want to hire someone to decorate for you. DIY is fun, but you’ve already got A LOT on your plate and it’s worth it to delegate that to someone else.
What will you need to complete your vision? Linens? Stemware? Mini light saber centerpiece/lights?
How much money can you allocate to decorations? How much money were you planing on spending on decorations if you did them yourself? Take that number and multiply it. Now you have a base number for decorations. On average, decorations cost between $1,000 – $2,000.
Now that you have an idea of what you want and how much you’re willing to spend, reach out to some of your vendors you’ve already booked. Your wedding venue, wedding planner or wedding photographer are great places to start. They should already have an idea of your personality and vision. You can obviously look into sights like The Knot or WeddingWire, but also try looking into blogs that share your ascetic. Are you planning a unique wedding with hints of a Naboo themed wedding? Try looking into Offbeat Bride or Whimsical Wonderland Weddings. Type in your style to the search bar and add “blog” or your city to the end of the search and see what comes up.
Once you’ve made a list of several potential wedding decor artists, start contacting them to see if they are available for your wedding and if they will fit into your budget. Once you’ve found your perfect vendor, don’t let them slip through your fingers! Hire them!!
Now put a big red check next to that item on your “to-do” list then treat yourself!
One important bit of information. If you don’t take anything else away from this blog but this, then it’s a success.
The time frame with which you should hire a wedding vendor is 100% dependent on the amount of time they will have to spend at your wedding. This means that if a vendor spends the entire day at your wedding (like a wedding planner or photographer) then you need to hire them much earlier than anyone else. If the vendor doesn’t spend any time at your wedding and can do their job remote and you pick up whatever it is they made/did for you then you can hire them much later in the planning process.
So, Ive seen several things that talk about how to make your rehearsal dinner memorable, but all of those things talk about the decorations, invitations and location of your rehearsal dinner. While those are great ways to make your rehearsal dinner memorable, I think there are even better (and less stressful) ways to spice up your rehearsal dinner.
First off, let’s talk about the mood of the group. Most of the people who are attending your rehearsal dinner are family members and your wedding party… so the people who are the closest to you. You probably know what they can or are willing to do. Don’t do something crazy like a triathlon (unless you know your families are the fit, triathlon types).
Your wedding rehearsal should start the mood of your wedding weekend. Make sure it’s a fun one!
Easy & inexpensive ways to get the rehearsal party hopping!
Have your guests collaborate on a piece of art (could be a canvas that they all get to make a paint stroke on or paper they all draw on)
Ask the matriarch/patriarch’s of your families to tell embarrassing stories about their children/grandchildren…
Have a bonfire
Sing karaoke
Pit your guests against each other in a friendly competition
As a wedding photographer, I’ve seen trends come and go. One of the latest trends making its rounds in the wedding circuit is the private last dance.
It’s exactly what you would think it is. At the end of your wedding reception, as guests are instructed to head outside to set up for your grand exit, you and your spouse are in the venue having one last dance. It’s just you two, the DJ or band and your photographer left.
Obviously it’s not completely private. Because the only other people left are wedding vendors it feels private.
There are many things I love about the private last dance. Getting to see the last bits of quiet intimacy between the happy couple before they join the bustling real world. I love that these precious moments spent between the couple also give the wedding party time to set up. It feels like a well oiled machine. Everything is timed so nicely for the couple. After their dance they walk right out to their getaway car to end their magical night.
What are your thoughts? Would you have a private last dance at your wedding?
Today is the day of my good friend & mentor’s funeral service, the man who helped mold me into the photographer I am today. Every time I lay on the ground to take a photo or climb into a tree or something to get a different perspective, I’m reminded of him.
I wanted to talk about having a place for the dead at your wedding. I know it sounds a bit morbid, but I think it’s one of the sweetest gestures. We must remember our past to know where we’re going.
The easiest way to remember loved ones at your wedding is to dedicate a table or alter to photos of them. Let’s think about some other, more unique ways to remember them.
Offer their favorite food or drink. You could offer it as one of the options at your bar. If your loved one had a favorite food or flavor, you could offer this as an option at your wedding.
You could wear something of theirs. Maybe it’s a bobble in your bouquet, or something like a watch or cuff link. Tie something to the inside of your dress or wear their hat.
Save them a seat at your wedding ceremony and/or reception. You could put up a reserved sign at their seat with their picture. You could even go as far as setting a plate at their seat and leaving a glass of their favorite drink there.
Release butterfliesat your wedding. It’s been believed for a long time that butterflies are often signs from deceased loved ones. Since your loved one is now freed from their physical restrictions, they are able to manifest a part of their energy into insects and small animals. Just make sure to do research before buying live animals to release. If your wedding is during a time where it could be harmful for them, maybe consider doing something different.
Play their song. Did they have a favorite song, or a wedding song that was special to them? Make sure to tell your DJ to play the song. You could even have a special dance in remembrance.
What are some other unique ways to remember your loved ones?
Monday I had the pleasure of sitting down with Rochelle from R & J Events to talk about her job as a wedding planner.
As a wedding photographer, I find myself wearing the wedding coordination hat often, so when I hear that a couple has hired a wedding planner, I’m giddy! That means I can relax a little and let someone else run the schedule & field the questions and I can focus 100% on taking photos.
I learned so much from talking with Rochelle about wedding planning. The most interesting thing I learned is that the first vendors that she works on hiring after the Venue are the vendors who physically have to be at your wedding. It makes sense, and I’ve never thought of it like that. They can’t be in multiple places at once so it’s important to lock them in for your wedding date.
Today, I wanted to talk to you about when to take wedding portraits of your family and wedding party.
This has come up a few times and I wanted to share with you the easiest and most efficient way we do this.
I prefer to take most of your group portraits immediately after your wedding. After you walk down the aisle hand in hand, we ask that all of the family and wedding party stay behind.
From here, we like to whittle the group down. We start with the entire group, then move to the entire family on one side then the other. I will always work with your elderly family members first to make sure they are not out in the heat or uncomfortable for too long. As we photograph your family, we release them to the reception or cocktail hour. We continue to do this until it’s just you and your spouse.
There are a few reasons as to why we prefer to take pictures in this order. One is because once the ceremony is over, it’s like a weight has been lifted from everyone’s shoulder. People feel more free and relaxed because the “hard part” is over. The sooner we take photos, the more likely everyone will be sober, present, and or still put together, and less likely we will have to hunt a family member down for the photo.
Sometimes, if we have the time before the wedding, we try to get a couple shots of the brides with their bridesmaids and the grooms with their groomsmen. This doesn’t always happen, and sometimes it’s just easier to do this after the stress of the ceremony.
Of course, you don’t have to follow this guideline. I will always do what works best for my couples.
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