They say to put yourself in the shoes of your brides to understand how to better your business, and see things from their point of view. Although I’m not a bride, my best friend surprised me with the news that I was going to be her maid of honor!
With Christina having helped me on several weddings, she’s seen how things can go on a wedding day, but she hasn’t worked with brides before the way I have, so she asked me to attend the meeting with both her and her fiance, her parents, and his parents. I came fully prepared like I would for a bridal consult, and took notes down like a mad woman. Thing is, I got to see and hear a lot about what parents are talking to their engaged kids about, and they did have some great points.
1) Have a backup plan, maybe even a backup backup plan. This is an obvious one, but it’s something I’ve seen brides stress out over if they haven’t fully prepared for a weather mishap on their day.
2) People come to your wedding with expectations, so regardless of how out-of-the-box you may want to get, it also may be a good idea to respect some of those expectations. As her parents reminded her, there will be people there that want certain aspects of a wedding appreciated and done.
3) Plan for things to go wrong. This might seem pessimistic, but it will relieve stress on the big day if anything DOES go wrong because you’ll know you have extra time saved away. If everything runs smoothly, you get down time to relax and breathe!
4) Your ceremony time is the start of your whole day when planning. Another thing to keep in mind is to ensure you have enough time either before or after for photos of the bridal party AND family formals. If you are wanting the sun to be setting the moment you walk down the aisle, most likely you aren’t going to have natural light family formals or couples photos after the ceremony, which is the way I prefer and like to shoot.
5) Consider bathroom availability! If you have 150 guests and only 1 or 2 bathrooms, you may run into an issue with your guests spending the majority of their time waiting for a free moment instead of enjoying your wedding.
6) Before hiring anyone, it’s important to lock in your date with your venue. In fact, the majority of professional vendors will not book a wedding if there isn’t a date and location set in stone.
7) Decide on your regulations for your guests, such as appropriate dress attire, or if you do or don’t want kids attending. Make sure to politely voice these in your invitations.
8) Vendors! Budgets! Booking! Oh my! First things first. Is there a vendor you just can NOT live without for your wedding day? Mark it down, and budget for it! There are literally hundreds of different vendors, so don’t sweat the small stuff. If you don’t care too much about one thing for the wedding, figure out how to do it, but just in a cheaper fashion. This is just one example though. I’ve had brides do a boudoir session and state that they don’t care much for the photography part of their wedding as long as they can get their Jimmy Choo’s to wear. By hiring a less experienced photographer, they are still having their day captured, but they are able to take that money they would have spent on a professional, and they spend it on the things they prefer. There’s nothing wrong with having your own priorities, but it’s something to consider if you are trying to keep the budget tight (though I obviously do suggest always hiring a professional photographer because you want someone that knows what they are doing, can capture everything that needs to be captured, and you won’t have to worry that certain things may be missed).
9) Understand your expectations. If you want a variety of beautiful shots in different places, don’t choose a venue that only has one decent spot for photos, such as a field with nothing else around. Photographers aren’t magical beings that can make a cityscape appear out of thin air, or a luscious forest with sunbeams shining through jump out of the ground. If you do choose a venue like that, understand that your photographer will do what they can with the space provided for them.
10) Colors. I don’t know how many times I tell my brides, but don’t worry about what colors you choose just because of the season your wedding is in. If you want pastels in the winter or deep tones in the spring, do it! This is YOUR day, and you can create beautiful details regardless. I will suggest that if you want a late fall/winter wedding, perhaps a long dress for bridesmaids would be a good option, just as a late spring/summer wedding may be best with shorter dresses. Nobody wants to worry about goosebumps popping up or sweat stains leaking through! But your colors? They can always work.
I hope this helps for the beginning stages of planning your day! If you have other tips you’ve learned along the way, feel free to post them below!
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