On Wednesdays, we will post a little piece of advice we have learned during our 30+ years of experience in the wedding industry.
We go to dozens of weddings every year, and, as much as we try to prepare our couples by providing them with advice, the smaller weddings are often the most chaotic.
We want to encourage you to consider doing at least these things:
CREATE A TIMELINE OF THE WEDDING DAY
We understand that not everything will go as planned. In fact, we are used to that! But to have a rough plan is better than having no plan. In the absence of a DJ or coordinator, your photographer is usually willing to help you with a timeline.
DIRECT YOUR GUESTS
If you do not have a DJ to ask your guests to be seated, the officiant should call your guests to order before the ceremony, and at the reception, you should have a friend, best man or someone else who can ask your guests to do what you need them to do. Keep in mind that your guests probably attend no more than one or two weddings a year, and they don’t really know what to do.
Your guests need directions, such as:
“Please be seated and silence your cell phones so we can begin the ceremony.”
“Please go over to the reception area and have some hors d’oeuvres while we take our formal photos.”
“Please be seated. The bride and groom will have their first dance.”
“Please get yourself a glass of champagne so we can have a toast to the new couple.”
SET ASIDE TIME FOR PHOTOGRAPHY
Your timeline should include a time for formal photography or your bridal party and close family, followed by a short amount of time for photos of just the bride and groom alone.
At this point, we have photographed hundreds of weddings, and we can tell you the wedding day almost never goes perfectly according to plan, but it is almost certainly not going to go off without a hitch if there is no plan!
