While making plans for one of the biggest days of your life is super exciting, it can also be quite overwhelming. There are so many details to plan and you’re the one making all the decisions! Yikes!!!

After completely planning and falling in love with my own wedding, I wrote down a few tips and ideas that were extremely helpful in the process. Hopefully a few of these will prove beneficial to you as well!

*Location: Masonbourough Park (Mt. Pleasant, SC)*

Tip #1

Gather any items you want detail photos of. These are things like your rings, shoes, jewelry, hairpieces, invitations, cuff links, etc. Put them all in a bag or box to hand to your photographer as soon as they arrive on the day of the wedding.

This way they can get those detail photos done right away and everything is neatly together and not scattered around. It’s chaos if you try to find all these separate things the day of. Also, once the photographer is done with them, everyone will know where to find their important items after the box/bag has been handed back and before the ceremony begins.

I always ask my brides to do this for me so that we can get those gorgeous details shots without chaos or losing anything important!

Tip #2

Determine ahead of time which vendors are most important to you. These are the parts of your wedding day that you may already have planned out in your head or have dreamed of including. Maybe a specific food or your dream venue.

For example, my top vendors were my dress, the venue, photographer, and caterer. These were things that were super important to me and were already a part of my vision for the day. (Our officiant was high up there but it was a family friend and not something I was worried about booking right away since he was going to be at the wedding anyway.)

Since these top vendors are most important to you, and you may have a predetermined idea of who they are in your head, you’ll want to book them first.

This is so that you can be sure these vendors are available and secured on the day of your choice.The rest of the vendors will come as they may and, since they’re not as important to you, there's not a big rush to book a specific company.

For me, I knew I wanted music at the reception, but it really didn’t matter to me who did it, so that wasn’t a high priority as I knew I could find someone in our area on my wedding date. There were a few other vendors like this that I didn’t worry about right away because it didn’t matter to me quite so much who did them.

Everyone’s priorities and visions are different for their wedding day and I love that! It makes each and every wedding so beautifully unique.

Tip #3

This tip is especially helpful if your venue is small or capacity is limited.

When creating your guest list, split them into multiple tiers. For example “guest list A”, “guest list B”, “guest list C”.

Assign a level of importance to each list.

I know it feels weird to rank your friends & family but there really are some people who should witness your marriage more than others. And the whole goal of this tip anyways is to be able to invite as many of your people as possible!

Send out your invites one wave at time, each wave being one of those guest list tiers.

Set the RSVP deadline for each wave to be right before you need to send out the next wave of invites.

This way, when you go to send out the next wave, you already know how many yes’s and no’s you have from the previous wave. And you’ll know exactly how many spots you have left to fill.

By doing this, you’ll be more accurate with your numbers and will be able to fill every single seat at those tables!

Tip #4

Write a detailed timeline. And I mean… DETAILED! You can even write two timelines (like me)!

My first was a general timeline we gave vendors with only the info they needed to know where to be at what time. This way you’re not overwhelming them with information they really don’t need to do their job.

The second timeline was super detailed listing what was happening, what/who needed to be where, and who was responsible for getting it done. (Example: 11:20am - food picked up from grocery and delivered to house for wedding party while getting ready - Sarah Jones) This is what I gave my day-of coordinator, wedding party, and friends and family members who were helping run various parts of the wedding.

I then color-coded each part of that detailed timeline and assigned a color to each team or group of people. For example, anything pertaining to the groomsmen was in blue, decoration team in red, etc.

This will help curb day-of confusion and questions!!! Plan it ahead of time so you’re doing less the day-of! It’s so worth it!

Tip #5

Get a coordinator!

Whether this is a someone helping in the planning process from day one, someone you hire for just the wedding day, or a friend who is there to coordinate the day’s events, you need help.

It’s essential to have someone there on the day of the wedding to ensure things are running smoothly.

My mom, my mother in law, and I are super organized and so we did everything ourselves throughout the wedding planning process beforehand.

We wrote all the timelines, organized the decor, arranged the teams helping us throughout, and so much more!

But, on the wedding day, we handed the reigns off to a friend so that we didn’t have to oversee every detail that day. Our day-of coordinator ensured everything was on schedule and according to our plans throughout the day.

We wanted to enjoy ourselves & all the plans we had worked so hard on! Because we had someone overseeing the day, we were able to do that and it was wonderful!

Having a plan & sticking to it is also so much more enjoyable for your guests. It’s not as fun to attend a wedding that is unorganized causing guests to wonder at what they’re supposed to be doing or what’s next.

Tip #6

This one’s for the bride…

Wear a strapless bra on the morning of your wedding & put on a button up shirt.

There’s a simple reason for the bra tip: to avoid strap marks on your shoulders once you put your wedding dress on!

And for the button up shirt: so that you can take off your shirt after your hair and makeup are done without messing it up!

Tip #7

Once you are pronounced husband and wife and take that joyous walk down the aisle, stop halfway back down the aisle to kiss (you can even dip for a bonus).

You’ll get a photograph of you kissing as fresh newlyweds with all your friends and family cheering you on and celebrating in the background.

Tip #8

You’ve been planning for this day. Everything has been decorated. Hair and makeup are done. Your dad is waiting with his arm ready for you lean on. But, wait!

What do you do with your engagement ring during the ceremony? Do you keep it on? Take it off?Switch hands?!

Don’t sweat it! Here’s what you do…

Traditionally, after the wedding, you will wear your wedding band closer to your body with your engagement ring on the outside. So keep your engagement ring on during the ceremony and let your wedding band be placed on the outside. It’ll be like this, out of order, for such a short period of time that no one will notice!

Once the ceremony is over, take a second to switch the order on your finger. Do this before pictures and no one will ever know.

Tip #9

Listen to your photographer. And I’m not just saying that because I’m a photographer.

The photographer for my wedding was amazing and suggested that we move the location for family portraits from the original location to a beautifully located new location last minute.

And wow did it make all the difference! Beautiful light and logistically it was easier anyways. Win, win!

Your photographer will often have a perspective on the day that you, as the bride, overlook as you are trying to plan so many aspects of the day.

One little suggestion and change could be the game changer for how beautifully your photos turn out!

Tip #10

Purposefully set aside time to revel in your wedding day.

Between the excitement, fast paced events, and all your friends and family surrounding you, the wedding day can get overwhelming!

Pausing to cherish the joy and sacred beauty of the day is priceless and something you will never regret doing. But cherishing the moment won’t happen unless you carve out time to do it.

Organize a time where you can do a first touch or first look to read letters, pray, and talk for a minute together before the ceremony.

Set aside 10 minutes right after the ceremony for you and your new spouse to sneak away to a quiet room and revel in the fact that you’re actually MARRIED!!!

Take a minute during the reception to step back from the middle of the crowd and watch all the people gathered there to celebrate YOU!

These were arguably THE sweetest moments from my wedding day. I will treasure those minutes forever.

Tip #11

Plan your bride & groom portraits for golden hour. (Golden Hour is any time within the hour before sunset.)

These are the photos of the two of you after the ceremony & if you plan the day so that these portraits fall during golden hour, they will hold that extra layer of STUNNING!

Having that perfect, golden light for your photos makes all the difference. AND your photographer will LOVE YOU for doing this!!!

Tip #12

Take your cards with you on your honeymoon.

Having a designated box or basket for cards at your reception, makes it easy for a friend or family member to put all the cards in your car at the end of the night before you leave.

That way you can read through all the sweet notes people wrote you while on your honeymoon together.

And a little BONUS TIP: Sometimes people gift money/checks in their card instead of items. Having the cards with you means you’ll have the money with you on your honeymoon & can use it as a little bonus to enjoy while you’re away.

Tip #13

Have a plan for your gifts to be delivered to your home or stored somewhere for safe keeping until you come back from the honeymoon.

Designate someone (your coordinator, a friend, or family member) to gather all the gifts after your wedding day. Then be sure they take them to a safe place so that you don’t have to worry about it on your wedding night.

That way you can come home from your honeymoon, open your gifts, and enjoy!

Tip #14

HAVE FUN!!! Enjoy your day!!! And don’t get caught up in the details of planning your wedding only to not enjoy what you worked so hard to plan!!!!!!!

Take time to treasure all the beautiful moments you carved out to enjoy throughout your wedding day.

What happens, happens.

And, at the end of the day, you’re married! That’s the whole purpose of all this anyways, right?!

14 Tips for Planning and Enjoying Your Wedding

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Tip #14

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14 Tips for Planning and Enjoying Your Wedding

Tip #1

Tip #2

Tip #3

Tip #4

Tip #5

Tip #6

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Tip #10

Tip #11

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Tip #14

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