If you have to ask “Why am I doing this?”, don’t do it!

Ideas for weddings come from all over, whatever you do just make it yours. So often during my initial chats with my couples, I hear them say things like “My mother wants us to do…” or “I saw online that I should…”  if you have to ask “Why?”, feel free to just nix it.

You don’t have to toss a bouquet, or a garter. Your ceremony doesn’t have to be an hour long. There is no required photo or moment that you have to create. 

Live your wedding for you and live it candidly. Embrace the day because it goes by quickly. You’ll sometimes spend a year or more planning this day, do you really want to waste precious time on stuff you don’t care about?

 

When you find your vendor, book them!

Whatever you are most passionate about having at your wedding, book that vendor the moment you can. Places like venue, photographers, makeup artist and even dresses at the bridal shop, can all be snatched up by someone else before you know it. 

Do you due diligence of course when searching. But once you’re sure you love not only the product that vendor is producing but also the vibe of the vendor, 

 

Make it YOUR wedding!

If you have to ask “Why am I doing this?”, probably just skip that. Whether it’s a tradition or a trend, don’t do it unless you want to. Its unwanted stress and nobody has got time for that.

Let’s not forget details of your day! Include things that you two are passionate about and represent your relationship. It could be Disney, video games, nature, books, cannabis, hiking, traveling, rainbows, artisanal cheeses, whatever it is, make it you! 

 

 

The Wedding Day Timeline

Your wedding day shouldn’t feel like a scheduled show where a stage hand is yelling “5 minutes till showtime!” (Unless you want that). The timeline for your wedding day is more just the order of operations and doesn’t have to be down to the second. It’s your freaking day, live it, bask in the glory and party! 

When thinking about the timeline though, make sure you see how long things take, when it’s best to do them and ask your vendors for advice from their past experiences. Things like, when is the best time to get into the dress, have hair and makeup done, first look, etc. Take a few notes and then make the judgement call on what you want to do.

 

Badass Portraits 

Everyone loves amazing candid images and the moments within them. But epic art worthy images that you want to hang all over the walls of your home are my jammy jam. The great thing is, at least for me, this art work could be created at almost any time during the day. It’s inspired entirely by you two and your wedding day.

Be sure to make time for some portraits of just the two of you. It could be at Golden Hour, Sunset or after your first look. At some point in the day, try to find at least 30 minutes. Exactly when though will depend on what you have planned and how you want to go about it. If you want to visit several locations, you may need longer. 

Include the people you love and who are apart of your vibe tribe. While the day is of course about you two, you’ve invited these people for a reason. The people matter and so do those moments.

 

Do You Need a Second Photographer?

My goal is to make sure the couple has an amazing wedding day experience, period. But I do mostly follow you two around and the people close by you. Having a second photographer though, allows them to wander around and capture the moments that might be somewhere else entirely or secondary angles.

While I am capturing your portraits, the second photographer is snapping images of your parents looking at you and how happy they are for you. It gives you the chance to maximize the moments captured on your wedding day.

 

Let’s do this!

At the end of the day, I just want you to have a freaking AWESOME wedding that allows you to end the night with no regrets, a night full of memories and a gallery of images that captured those moments.