Keep it simple sweetie! You are excited about your special day and want every aspect to be perfect. You find the coolest venue for the reception, hire the biggest limo and the hottest DJ out there and you want pictures, pictures, pictures!!!! You want pictures while you get ready. You want pictures while the guys get ready. BTW, most guys don’t care about that but they don’t matter, its your day and its what you want! You want pictures of you getting in the limo, getting out of the limo, and at the ceremony. You want pictures right after the ceremony with family. You want to go some place special for formal and fun pictures. You want pictures at the reception and after dinner when everyone is in party mode. This is great and it is what you hired a professional photographer to do.
You make a schedule:
- 11:00am – Hairdresser
- 12:00pm – Get dressed
- 2:00pm – Head to church
- 2:30pm – Arrive at church
- 3:00pm – Ceremony Starts
- 4:00pm – Ceremony ends (yes, it can take a while depending on the type of ceremony)
- 4:00pm-6:00pm – Formal pictures
- 6:00pm – Arrive at reception
- 6:00pm-7:00pm Cocktails
- 7:00pm – Dinner
- 8:00pm – Greet guests at dinner
- 8:30pm – First Dances
- 9:00pm – Cut cake
- 9:15pm – Dance
- 10:00pm – Garter/Bouquet toss
- 10:15pm – Drink and dance
GREAT! You’re all set! Or are you?
Schedules are great to have. If you have one, try to stick to as best as possible but don’t be ‘married’ to it (see what I did there?). Things happen, people get delayed or you are just having a great time talking to people you haven’t seen in years and lose track of the time. The biggest piece of advice I can give any newlywed couple is relax and enjoy the day. I had a bride that got married in December and there was a really bad snow storm that day. The first limo got stuck and they sent another. She was over 2 hours late to the ceremony. She was apologizing up and down and I told her, you aren’t late, everyone else is just early and this doesn’t start until you get here anyways. In the end everything worked out. They had a wonderful ceremony and a great reception. We worked in formals at the church and the reception to make up time and in the end she loved her pictures and everyone had a great time.
One thing that we stress the most with couples is make sure they leave enough time to get everything done and don’t forget to factor in travel time and any wait time you may experience at the selected spot for your formal and fun pictures. We have had couples that have wanted to go to several places for formals and we need to remind them of the drive times between the spots. This also includes time to get people in and out of the limo, get the bridal party organized (put the beers down and tuck your shirts back in guys) and depending on the spot, you may need to wait to get that little area you are so fond of as just like you, there are many others that may have that spot in mind too.