Tips for a calm wedding morning! (hide)

 Tips for a calm wedding morning!

So, firstly, don’t worry about having your photos taken. Us being there during the morning preparations is all about us getting to know you guys and  meet the people who are important to you. We love watching your relationships and your interactions – makes for great build up to the rest of the day!

We’re not the sort of photographers who want to photograph all your dresses hanging on a wardrobe, nor do we really want to photograph every single item of jewellery that you’re going to wear. You’re going to get loads of photos throughout the day where you’re actually wearing the dresses, looking waaaaay better on you than on their hangers, so let’s keep it real. We’ll be there hanging out with your friends and family, blending in, becoming part of the wedding so everyone feels more relaxed around us later in the day when it really counts. So, don’t stress if you don’t get a photo of your hairpiece lying decoratively on a frilly cushion (please no!!!), or your dress hanging by a dodgy looking window.

Let us just hang out with you all, photograph your life at that very moment in time and let’s keep the story real.

So, here are a few tips!

1 – In advance

Choosing somewhere to get ready may not seem all that important, but it really is! As your photographer, pleeeeeease don’t choose a small, dark room. In an ideal world, you need one that is spacious (especially if you have a few bridesmaids), one with lots of natural light (big windows) and somewhere not too far from the venue or church.

You’ve spent probably thousands of pounds on your wedding, what’s another couple of hundred quid to get you and your girls a lovely big room?

It’s also important to consider what sort of person you are… If you are likely to get very stressed then invite calm, sensible people in the morning and preferably no children. If you’re more likely to be happy go lucky, then invite anyone and everyone!!

2 – The night before

It may be tempting, but don’t overindulge and get hammered the night before. The last thing you want is a hangover on the morning of your wedding!! It may be advisable to lay off the the spicy food too. Also try and drink plenty of water, your makeup artist will thank you for it.

Also, lay out everything you will need in one place; earings, necklace, shoes, garter, perfume, tissues – it saves a massive amount of stress the next day.

3 – Try and eat something for breakfast

You’ll be nervous and excited, but try and eat something. It’s a very long time until the wedding breakfast so try and get something down you! You don’t want your tummy to rumble during the vows!

4 – Employ good hair and makeup people

I know it may seem like an expense, but it’s a very worthwhile one! Make sure you have trials with them and don’t be afraid to say if there’s something you don’t like. Ask them to come to you on the morning of the wedding, there’s nothing worse than rushing around, getting stuck in traffic.

5 – If you see the light, walk towards it!

This is REALLY IMPORTANT!!!! Most decent makeup artists will already know this, but if there’s a door or window with natural daylight coming through, THAT’s where you should be having your makeup done. The reason is, you’re going to be spending most of your day in beautiful natural daylight, so you need to make sure that your makeup looks great in this light and the only way to do this is to actually do your makeup in that light. Some makeup artists will just put you by a mirror, where there’s ‘a handy plug socket’, because they’re lazy…. Insist that you move and head to the light. The photos of your bridal preps will look waaaaay better and you’ll totally thank me for it later! Also, go easy on the highlighter – It’s common knowledge that photographers don’t like too much highlighter. It looks great on a night out, but on camera, you can look a little bit like a glowing ghost if you’re not careful, so go easy! 🙂

6 – Wear the right top

Have a think about what you wear – What do you want to see in your photos after the wedding? If you don’t want all your friends to see you in your panda onsie, maybe don’t wear it 🙂 However, if you totally love your onsie and that is how you roll, that’s awesome – We love a good all-in-one , but there’s also nothing wrong with a beautiful, sexy dressing gown too! Before your hair and makeup starts, change into a top with a zip or buttons so it doesn’t have to go over your head and knock out your hair and remove your bra or wear a strapless one or your wedding underwear, so there’s no strap marks to ruin the effect of your lovely dress.

7 – Allow more time

Also allow more time than you think you’ll need, ask the hair & makeup people to come early especially if you have a lot of bridesmaids. Once you’re ready to get your dress on (come on, we know you’ve been dying to). They can be tricky to do up and the last thing you need is last minute stress so allow lots of time. However, that said, you don’t want to put it on too early otherwise all you’ll end up doing is standing around in it (because you won’t want to move and risk getting it dirty!!) getting nervous. So, strike a balance between being super organised and eager, but not being too eager. Plus we don’t want to rock up and find your hair and makeup already finished because you wanted it doing 3 hours before you leave – We wanna see the transformation and get shots of you looking all sexy in your rollers!!!

8 – Have fun – Atmosphere, Asmosphere, Atmosphere!!!

Get your bridesmaids to put together a playlist, pop some bucks fizz and laugh, dance and cry with your closest friends! There’s nothing worse than walking into a room of 5 girls, and no one is talking, if the atmosphere is a bit dead and it can create tension. Get the party started, or at least put some cool tunes on!

9 – Go get Dad

One of our favourite photos from the morning is Mum & Dad seeing you for the first time, all grown up and ready to get married. It can be a very emotional moment for parents so don’t let the moment slip by. Ask your parents to stay away while you’re getting ready and then you can do the big reveal when you’re all finished and looking a million dollars!

9 – Psssssst – don’t forget your bouquet

Lastly make sure you don’t leave the house without your bouquet, in the hustle and bustle, it’s all too easy to run out of the house without it – be sure to dry off the stems about 20 minutes before you leave – you don’t want a wet patch on your dresses.

10 – Get married

Before you know it’s time for the ceremony and that walk down the aisle!