I’ve been thinking of doing this type of post for some time now. Since getting married earlier this year I’ve had friends and followers ask for wedding tips and what I’d recommend to others. So it did get me thinking about what my tips would be to others who are currently in the process of wedding planning.
I started thinking of a few and before I knew it I had around 10 that I thought may be useful to share. Of course, there are some obvious ones. More I could mention but for me, these are the most important ones that I can think of.
This is my own personal view so don’t quote me on anything. Everyone is different and everyone has their own opinions and things they may see more as a priority. And that’s fine! End of the day it’s your wedding day and it’s unique to you as a couple! So I do hope these may help in any way and do let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Make every minute count
Let’s get the obvious one out of the way! I can’t even count the amount of times people had said to me before our wedding day – to make the most of it. If you are engaged and planning your wedding day – congrats! You will have probably heard ‘it goes so fast’, ‘make the most of it’, ‘stay together’, and so on. Everyone is right. The morning of the wedding flies by and the day itself does too. So it’s really important to let it all sink in and take a moment to reflect on the day. We never left each other’s side really and we were very grateful for that. We even had a moment when we were taking photos seeing all our guests drinking and having a good time and it’s so good to see.
Evening Entertainment
Everyone will have different ideas and thoughts on this. We had a saxophonist at our evening reception and it was brilliant! You’ll find your day guests start to get tired later on so having a surprise on the night is a good way to get them on the dance floor. Our guests had no idea! You may decide to have yours in the afternoon, everyone’s different but for us, we thought the later the better as people start to get tired.
Capturing memories with guests
As the majority of your professional photos are just of you two. It’s important to think about how you can capture and create memories of everyone you had at your wedding. We decided on a guestbook so everyone could write a personal message. Which was lovely to read after the wedding and in years to come. The photo booth we had was a great success too. Our guests had photo props to pose with. They get a copy and so do you in a photo album so we have that look back on and laugh too.
First Dance
Your first dance at your wedding. Some may just do a slow shuffle side to side but we did a full routine. You might think that’s a bit extra but we’re glad we did it. We practiced over a few weeks and did a routine that we surprised everyone with on the night. I was more nervous doing this than the ceremony! I personally would recommend it if you want to do it. The lead-up was nice in itself spending time together learning a routine.
Wedding favors
This is one aspect of planning that I kept changing my mind on quite a lot. In the end, we decided not to bother with wedding favors. And that’s ok if you do or don’t! We decided to put that money into things our family and friends would rather have such as entertainment. Wedding favours can be something edible or drinkable. Or even a token gift to take home. But we thought let’s let our guests just enjoy the day so we put that budget into things they did such as the photobooth and the saxophonist. I think it just depends on your budget whether you feel it’s essential or not.
Be ready at least an hour before your ceremony
This is something I have seen so much online when I was just searching for wedding tips and recommendations. And every bride said to make sure you aren’t rushing. The morning getting ready goes SO quick so you need to be comfortable and ready in good time. I felt ok on the day, we got there early. But it soon went quickly when I was getting my makeup and hair done last. I wouldn’t recommend going last, go more in the middle. But once I was all ready I still had time for individual photos and group shots with my bridesmaids and family. Just make sure you are ready an hour before as that hour includes you slowly walking to your venue for photos.
Preserve your bouquet
If you can I would highly recommend preserving your bouquet. We tried to with mine and it turned out ok. We put it into resin and also dried out the flowers. I think it’s nice to keep them if you decide to go for fresh flowers like I did.
Wedding Playlist
One part of the wedding planning I enjoyed was creating our own wedding playlist. We had this play throughout the day before our evening DJ arrived. We had a mixture of love songs as well as just songs we liked and knew our guests would too. And the best part is I still use that playlist now in the car and even at the gym. It’s nice hearing those songs and thinking oh I remember that playing doing our wedding breakfast.
Assign your own wedding videographers
This was a very last-minute idea from me! So we decided not to have a videographer. Again some people see this as very important but we just had a photographer. Nearer to the wedding I realized that there were key moments I would like to record. Such as speeches, the confetti shot, and first dances. Best thing to do? As your friends. I assigned a few friends to record on their phones just key moments of the day. And I ended up compiling it all together and made our own little wedding video. I’ve seen now that you can actually hire content creators but honestly just use your friends! Just ask them to do little snippets throughout the day. By the evening they’ve probably drunk too much to use their phone!
Book your honeymoon later
Finally my last tip! When it comes to the honeymoon people either do it straight after the wedding or wait later. We went a month after our wedding and we preferred it. Our reason was we would get back to normality with work but then have something else to look forward to. Almost like you could go back into that wedding bubble. I thought this worked out really well but again everyone is different! Some may prefer to do it straight away while their on a high.
There you have it! That’s my top 10 wedding tips/ recommendations. I do hope this may help and I haven’t rambled on too much. Everyone is different so I’m sure everyone will have their own different versions of wedding tips. Please let me know what you think though in the comments!