Our 5 tips when planning a wedding
Updated: Jul 27, 2021
Being wedding videographers and photographers, we get to attend more weddings than most. And because we are there all the way from the planning to the actual day, we see all the little things that couples don't consider until its already too late and everything has been booked.
So here are our 5 things to remember and consider when you are planning your wedding for a videographer and photographers perspective.
Number 1: DONT be afraid to ask others for help.
No matter what type of wedding you are having, there is always a lot more to do than you think. The biggest mistake we see couples make is they plan all of the big things like the venue and the cake and their dresses for the brides made ect. But its not till last minute that they remember they remember about thing like the strings that have to go in the gifts for the guests, or who has the music for the first dance.
You have to remember your are only one person and most likely work a 9-5 job, so you only have limited time in your day. Delegating tasks to people and trusting them to make decisions on behalf of you will make the stressful process of planning a wedding just that much easier.
The more little things you don't have to worry about, the more you will be able to enjoy your day
Number 2: Try and plan your schedule with your vendors in mind.
As the people solely responsible for capturing your day, we always have preferences around what times are best to be able to take the couple aside and get those all important first photos together.
Communication is always key to making sure everyone can do their jobs as best as possible on the day. We as wedding videographers and photographers always try to have clear communication with our clients and that's something you should always look for when hiring wedding videographers and photographers.
Most videographers and photographers like to shoot during golden hour for example. Golden hour is the last hour of the day before the sun goes down and it give a nice golden glow, but also allows us to get those nice crisp sun flares that a lot of people like.
Also make sure you leave more than enough time for your wedding videographers and photographers. The last thing you want is to be running late on the ceremony and then have to take that time out from the people that are trying their best to capture your day, and then you are left with less than you ask for because they were rushed and weren't able to get the shots they needed.
We are here to capture your day as best as possible. But too many times other things get prioritised over us and then we get the question when we hand over our final products asking why we didn't get more shots.
We are the way you can relive your day after it's happened. No-one is going to remember if you were 15 minutes late to your reception, but you will always remember that you didn't get the shots you wanted because we didn't have the time to.
Number 3: Budget everything and more.
Its no secret that weddings cost a fortune. Even if you decide to have a small wedding on the beach, you still have permits for the beach, your celebrant, seating, an arch, the car to arrive in, food for everyone, the list is still endless.
The biggest tip and the first thing i would suggest doing when you start planning is, establish your budget, write all the things you will need, cost everything out, and always leave a little bit for all those cost that i can guarantee you won't remember.
I was lucky enough to have a super organised fiancée that set our budget early and stuck to it as best as possible. We still ended up spending a lot more than we were looking at at the start, but it was all on things that we decided we wanted to upgrade like my wife's wedding dress, and our wedding rings, and food for our guests.
But one thing we did account for was hidden costs.
We had a section in our budget that was for all of the little things you just don't plan for and come up last minute. But because of that we were able to be comfortable with our spending and we didn't worry about not having any money left over for the honeymoon.
Number 4: Let go of all control
One thing I always say to brides and grooms on their wedding day is just enjoy the day.
There is always going to be something to worry about on the day but don't forget to just stop and breath. Things might not be going exactly to plan but you can't let that get to you and ruin your day.
You are there to be a part of the celebrations, not running them.
Let other people handle any problems or issues instead of putting them on yourself.
Too many times I see, mainly brides, running around trying to fix things or still organising things, instead of actually enjoying their day. You are there to get married to the person you are going to spend the rest of your life with. You are not there to just entertain everyone else.
If something isn't going to plan, ask someone to handle it and let go of control.
Your wedding day is something you will remember forever. Do you want to remember it as a stressful day of you running around trying to fix anything that isn't perfect? Or do you want to remember it as the day you got to celebrate marrying the person that you are going to spend the rest of your life with?
Number 5: Spend big on your honeymoon and enjoy it!
Your honeymoon if the first trip away with your new husband/wife and you will never regret having an amazing honeymoon.
My wife and I got that advice before we got married, so we spent a lot on our honeymoon and we can't stop talking about it. For us, our honeymoon is just as memorable as our wedding, for the fact that we love it so much spending our first weekend away together as a married couple.
It defiantly cost us more than we were expecting but we knew that we could always get money back, but we couldn't have another honeymoon.
If you are looking for a videographer or photographer for your wedding day please contact us, we
would love to chat and see what we can do to help you out.