Our Wedding & Wedding Planning Tips!

We are celebrating our one year wedding anniversary this weekend! I seriously cannot believe how fast this past year flew by. In this post I wanted to a few wedding planning tips, our wedding video, and some of my favorite wedding photos!

1. Start planning early!

We were engaged for over 2 years and I felt like I had all of the time in the world to plan but ended up doing everything last minute. Granted, I wasn’t sure if our wedding was going to happen for 2 months before our wedding (covid) so I pretty much spent that entire time crying instead of planning, lol. I don’t think I got any sleep the week leading up to our wedding because I had to pull all nighters getting everything ready for the big day. Here are a few wedding planning details that you might not think about until the last minute:

songs before/ during ceremony and during special events at the reception (bridal party entrance, cake cutting, bouquet/ garter toss, last dance, etc.)
reception seating chart and place cards
food and drinks for bridesmaids/ groomsmen while getting ready
a vase to put your bouquet in during the reception
travel plans to and from the venue
clean up after the reception

2. Make an itinerary of events!

I learned this tip from my sisters! I never would have though to do this but I’m so glad I did! You basically need to time block the entire day. Make a detailed timeline of what should be happening during every minute of the day and highlight important tasks that need to be done at certain times (ex: 1:00 – dad pick up grooms cake, 3:00 – groomsmen arrive at venue, 10:00pm – mom put gifts in car). Give this list to everyone who is helping you with the day. That way everyone knows what’s going on and you can relax and have fun without the pressure of needing to make sure everything is going according to schedule. PS. I did not hire a wedding planner and this method worked for us but our family and friends were super willing to help!

3. Think about what you want your pictures to look like and communicate this to your photographer

Our wedding photographer had us send her a list of all of the photos we wanted. Ex: family photo dynamics, detail photos of decorations, group photo with college friends, etc. I would recommend also having a few poses and photo locations in mind as well. Example: If you know you want a specific looking photo for your thank you cards, communicate what you want this to look like to your photographer! Make a list of all of the family members you want in your pictures and tell them exactly when and where they are going to be taken so you’re not running around searching for your second cousin.

4. Ask for a Shutterfly photo gift card on your registry

Good wedding photographers can be expensive (for a good reason!). But after that investment, many people never even print their photos. Social media is great and all but if Facebook or Instagram ever shut down, all of your photos are gone. I put all of our photos into Shutterfly photo books and they’re seriously my favorite thing ever! I actually look at them pretty often since I have them sitting out on a shelf and people like to look at them when they come over too. Ask for a Shutterfly gift card on your wedding registry because they can get a bit pricey depending on how many pictures you have!

5. Make sure you’re able to enjoy the day with your significant other

Everyone says this, but it’s true – the day goes by SO fast! It’s so fun catching up with all of your friends and family the day of, but make sure you’re also able to spend time enjoying the day with the person you’re marrying. We had a sweetheart table with just the two of us so we could talk to each other during dinner. We also took photos together at sunset which was one of my favorite parts of the day!