Planning Tips for a Stress Free Wedding Day

Wedding planning is stressful enough as it is, the last thing you want is to get to this big amazing day you’ve planned and get overwhelmed with more stress on a day you’re supposed to be having the time of your life getting married to your love. After being in this industry for nearly 10 years, I’ve noticed some key elements to relaxed, stress free weddings. Here are a few of the things I’ve learned:

Hire a Wedding Planner or Day of Coordinator

This is without a doubt the biggest way you can guarantee a relaxed wedding day for you and your partner. Having a professional there to help execute your timeline, get all of the decor set up, and make sure your vendors have everything they need gives you all morning to relax and drink mimosas with your wedding party. 

While in the early planning stages, particularly if you’re a meticulous and thoughtful planner, you may think a wedding planner or coordinator is not necessary and these tasks can be delegated to a maid of honor or parent, but I really cannot stress enough how important it is to have someone who’s sole responsibility on the wedding day is smoothing the bumps in the road and keeping everyone on time.  Despite getting everything nailed down before the big day, there’s no way to predict the small stuff - and a coordinator is prepared for all of it! The amount of potential fires I have seen put out by a wedding coordinator is countless, and they are such a help for your photographer too! They keep the schedule running smoothly so we get you out for couples portraits at just the right time, and they make sure the guests sparklers are lit right in time for exits. Plus, this lets every one of your bridal party members focus on enjoying the wedding day and not stressed out.

A big question people ask is if they need a full wedding planner or just a day of coordinator, and that topic is big enough that’ll be saved for another blog post! Stay tuned for that one. 

Minimize Complicated Family Portraits

I know, every one of your family members will be pressuring you to get a formal portrait of you and your partner. But in the face of this you should remember, this day is about you, not them! One of the most stressful times I’ve seen for my couples are those moments where there’s a giant group of family all ready for a photo, but we’re missing one uncle who went to get a drink and have to wait for them to get back while everyone anxiously waits. 

The best way to avoid these stressful moments is to keep your shot list short, simple, and to your immediate family only. I always recommend this as our standard shot list:

-Couple + both sides parents (separately and together)

-Couple + both sides immediate family (separately and together)

-Couple + both sides siblings (separately and together)

-Couple + both sides grandparents (separately and together)

This keeps the group that has to hang back for portraits minimal, and it easy for us to make sure that the most important people are included. Of course, we can always add in any other special family members to this list, but the simpler the better in my experience! If you have a family member that is really pressuring you to take a photo with them, you can always assure them we can take photos with any family members not in formal portraits during the reception!

Keep your Timeline Relaxed

One of the biggest reasons I switched to my non-traditional photo package structure of one package that covers the entire day is for this reason. Many times I have seen couples jam pack their reception with every major event back to back to keep it all within the hours their photographer is booked for. This then leads you to feel like you are being shuttled from moment to moment, rather than getting to relax and bask in the feeling of “holy shit we’re married!!”

Having the events of the day spread out gives you time to mingle, dance, and have some alone time. Heck, even planning in some specific alone time with your partner is something I’ve had couples do before and it really makes such a difference for how much they enjoy the day. There’s also absolutely no reason you have to do all of the events of a traditional wedding reception, either! More and more often I’ve noticed couples omitting bouquet toss, garter toss, and even traditional family dances. After all, it’s your day, rock it out however you want to!

Don’t Stress the Small Stuff

Trust me, in 50 years when you look back on your wedding day you won’t remember a groomsman missing a tie, your aisle walk song starting a few seconds too late, or the cake having a smudge in the icing. The most important part of this day is you and your love, so always focus on that through any small mishaps. No matter what happens, the biggest and most important moment of the day will - getting to say your I do’s to the person you want to spend the rest of your life with.