Spring wedding season is upon us and I am loving it! Each season brings new couples into my life, forms new family units and brings a little more love and joy into the world. When I tell people I am a wedding photographer I so often get a look of shock and an instant question about ‘bridezillas’. The truth is, I have been a wedding photographer for 16 years and I don’t know if there is such a thing?!?! I honestly can’t remember anyone that I had trouble working with. I think if you do the work to build a relationship with a couple before the day of, they know your talents and have faith in you to do your job and are happy to let go and let you do your job. 
Here are a few tips to creating a stress free wedding day:
- Having an engagement session with your wedding photographer. I have so many couples tell me they have a friend who offered to do the engagement photos, or they are going to opt out because they don’t need more photos of themselves in addition to the photos they will get on the wedding day. Although those ARE reasons to not have engagement photos taken, I would say they are not good enough and here is why… the time we spend together does so many things to help us both prep for wedding day. 1. You get comfortable in front of the camera. I have SO MANY couples show up for engagement photos and say ‘we aren’t photogenic’ or ‘we are so awkward’. Having portraits taken by your wedding photographer helps build a confidence in YOURSELF and your photographer so when they wedding day arrives you know of the images are going to turn out and you let go of that stress and worry. 2. We work out the kinks. Some people have a really hard time in bright light, some people are chronic blinkers, some have a self proclaimed ‘good side’. These are all things your photographer wants to know about and work through with you BEFORE the day of your wedding.
- Work with your vendors to create a day of timeline. I always provide my couples with a detailed timeline of how the photo portion of the day will go. I have photographed over 400 weddings and therefore have a very strong knowledge of how long it will take for certain portions of the day. I provide it to my clients but remain completely flexible so we can tweak it to fit your desired flow of the day.
- In addition to working with your photographer the DJ will also have a timeline for the reception portion. If you have a day of coordinator they will want timelines from both the photographer and DJ and will combine everything. Make sure to share the timelines with wedding party and family members will help ensure everything moves smoothly.
- Delegate. Let others make decisions and do things for you. Plan ahead who will be in charge of answering questions from the baker, florist, etc on the day of. Let go so you have the time and space to be present on your day and enjoy every minute of it.
- Be organized. Having all your details gathered and ready for photos before the photographer shows up (and someone else in charge of knowing where things are) saves time. Jewelry, shoes, garter, rings, hankie, wedding invites anything of this nature will be photographed and having it all together and ready to go is great!
And lastly be willing to go with the flow of the day. Things will be forgotten at home, someone might show up late, it may be windy or rain.
Life happens. But having a willingness to embrace it and the love the day exactly as it is unfolding is a beautiful thing. When so much time, energy and money have been put into planning sometimes we get hung up on how it was ‘supposed to be’ that we forget to see the uniqueness of how it actually was. 
I truly believe those little hiccups can be the most beautiful part of a day. They turn into the story your family and friends tell over and over again. The ones that make you laugh and reminicse and smile at your spouse because that was YOUR DAY. One like no other.
And don’t forget to DO IT YOUR WAY! Do you want to have cocktail hour with your guests before the ceremony? Do it. If you desire to walk down the aisle together to your ceremony? Do it. Would you like 30 minutes alone to just enjoy each other and reflect on the day day. Do it. Everyone will adjust. Do you! You will never be sorry you did.
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