Wedding Day Tips For Brides

The wedding day is coming up, you’ve got the dress, venue, photographer, food and music booked, wedding day checklist complete- the whole plan is set and you’re ready to go. After what might have been a hectic time, a bride feels like she deserves a moment to relax… So, I’m not here to stress you out more, I’m writing these top tips for brides in the hopes of helping any of you feel more at ease and prepared for your wedding day. After all, as a wedding photographer I have been to hundreds of weddings and over time have come up with some advice on what is best to remember and best to avoid.

Bride and groom wedding day tips

If you haven’t spent much time before, or any for that matter, contemplating what your good side is and how you look best in photos, this could be something to consider. No bride wants to look back on her wedding photos and hate them all because the way her hair is styled on one side wasn’t as good as on the other. There is already such a small window for photos at a wedding and worrying about how you’ll look when you should be having fun won’t create a natural photo. Looking back on the photos later you will want to remember how you felt in the moment, let it be relaxed and at ease.

Bride tips for glowing skin

Quite a few times I’ve had brides request for me to change how I photograph them because of a new imperfection that popped up on their face the day before, and the makeup artist couldn’t fix it. Most times things like this are hard to avoid so photoshop has to come into play. To keep your skin clear and glowing on the wedding night, I recommend this as probably the top tip of all tips and tricks in this Wedding guide: Make sure to book the appointment for your facial for at least a week before the wedding day. I get that after preparing for so long, you want to wind down with some pampering before the night, I’d just advise leaving a gap of some sort between the wedding and any treatments that could irritate your skin. This is a little trick that will have any bride-to-be feeling much more comfortable in the days coming up to the wedding, and even more so on the wedding day.

Special wedding day moments

Most photographers know what important moments a couple want to be captured for their wedding photos. After my fair share of weddings, I’ve found that each wedding has the same important moments; the first look, the first kiss, the first dance, all the firsts are the most precious. But I’ve also found that every couple and wedding is unique, and often I get requests to capture moments all over the place because it holds special meaning to the couple. It is your day and I want to capture it in the best way possible that caters to you specifically, so please tell me the important moments and I’ll be ready!

Most important wedding guests

Like the previous Top Tip, Brides- I know that there are probably a select few people who I’d be throttled for not including in any awesome photos. It’s a great help if you could give me some names and photos so that I never forget who these people are. Of course, I won’t focus all my energy on them but they might get 1 or 2 more photos than the others. You’ll have a much better selection of wedding photos to choose for your wedding album. I’m sure that there are some people you would rather see more than others when you open that photo album again 10 years later.

Bride and groom family affairs

Of course, I don’t want to get in the middle of any awkward family matters, I’m supposed to blend into the background and just observe with my camera lens, it’s what I do best. It might be useful for the bride and groom to fill me in on any important family relations so that the day can go as smoothly as possible and I don’t get in the way.

Have someone keep the venue rooms clean and tidy

I know that the hustle and bustle of getting ready with your bridesmaids can be a lot. I’ve come to photograph this part of the day before and found an untidy room! But it’s very understandable, there are bigger things to care about in that time! However, photoshopping water bottles and food packets out of photos is not always so easy. My 6th tip is to have someone on top of the background appearance, while you and your professionals are focused on the beauty, hair and makeup- the main appearance of the wedding night!

Bring a nice hanger for your wedding dress

Now a free hanger from the supermarket does not have the right to ruin a photo of your gorgeous white dress. Nothing does, really. But if it can be helped, make sure that your dress lies on a hanger worthy of its weight. It’s such a small thing but it will make all the difference as it will blend in perfectly in your wedding photos.

Don’t let the bridal party join the dance floor too early

Going back to those important moments, this is one where we have some distinct potential for those amazing bride and groom photographs. Make sure that the couple can savour a few minutes alone on the dance floor so that I can work my magic as a photographer. I can promise you some really great wedding photos if I can just have those few minutes without uncle Jerry getting his toupee in the shot.

Don’t worry about your wedding dress getting dirty

If you’ve requested some photos in a scenic place, it probably won’t be a smooth ride to the destination, it will be more like a trek up a hill. It will all be worth it for those beautiful photos in the end, so just keep that in mind and let go of the tiny details. With all the food and drink around you at the wedding venue, there’s a chance of something being spilled anyway, so don’t let worries about your wedding dress cloud your mind and enjoy every moment instead. You only get to live your wedding day once.

Allow things to go wrong

Wedding dress stress aside; even prepared with your foolproof plan for the wedding day, something will inevitably still go wrong. At the end of the day, none of that should matter more than the meaning of the day itself. Don’t take these wedding day tips for brides TOO seriously… They’re here just in case, they dont need to be followed to the dot.

You’re about to marry someone who you’ll spend the rest of your life with, now that beats any trouble that might come your way. Soak in every moment, don’t let yourself regret it!