As wedding photographers with a good deal of experience under our belt, we have learned quite a bit about how to have a smooth wedding from start to finish. Sometimes it’s all about avoiding certain mistakes. With that in mind, here are 5 mistakes brides make planning their big day that you should avoid.
1. Opting Out of Hiring a Wedding Planner
This is perhaps the biggest mistake I see brides make. The job of your wedding planner is to finalize everything from when vendors will arrive and where they’ll be located to the placement of your centerpieces and escort cards. Leaving this job to a friend or family member spells disaster. If you can’t afford to hire a wedding planner from the start, at the least you should hire a day of coordinator to make sure things run smoothly.
2. Failure to Plan Your Timeline
As a photographer, nothing is more important to capturing cherished memories than a spacious wedding timeline. Rushing pictures of you, your groom, family, and wedding party will reduce the quality of your photos. To get authentic photos, make your portraits a priority. Get your photos first so you can enjoy the rest of your day.
3. Choosing the Wrong Place to Get Ready
If you’re having a large wedding party, the last thing you want to do is get ready inside a tiny hotel room with little to no windows/natural lighting. You need a place to put items like makeup, hair supplies, and shoes to make sure your pictures are flawless. Also, avoid hotel rooms that have tack curtains and loud colored carpet—that will detract from your pictures.
4. Failure to Do a Beauty Trial
Your wedding day schedule is going to be tight. Do overs just aren’t feasible. That’s why I highly recommend doing a beauty team run-through during your engagement session. Make sure you love your makeup and hair during the trial to set yourself up for a stress-free wedding day.
5. You Decided Against an Engagement Photo Session
Consider your engagement session with me our first ‘date’. It’s where we get to know one another and where you and your groom get comfortable in front of the camera. Capturing raw, unfiltered emotion is my goal, but if you’re uptight and uncomfortable because we haven’t exchanged a similar experience, the pictures just won’t be what they could. Don’t make the mistake of not doing an engagement session.
We’re hopeful that these tips help you receive the wedding photos you crave.
