Top ten tips for Wedding Preparation

Bridal prep planning ideas in Sussex

The day has arrived, your wedding day is finally here. It’s the morning, you and your bridesmaids are all full of excitement for the day ahead. Before the photographer arrives, you must create an environment where you can get the best out of your wedding prep photos. Here are my ten top tips.

Keep the House Tidy

Not always an easy task, with your living room filled with all of your best friends, bringing with them an array of makeup, hair styling equipment, lotions and poisons, and everything but the kitchen sink. Then mixed into that your flower girls, running about hyped up on the thrill of being dressed like princesses, but try to manage this. Ask all your friends, to keep their stuff in a separate room. Keep the room you’re getting ready in, with just the bare essentials of what people need. Try not to have surfaces covered in clutter. This will make out for some very busy images.

Ask the Photographer to Arrive Early.

You’d be surprised how long it takes to capture everything you’ve envisaged. Photos of all of the bridesmaids getting ready, pictures of the dress, the rings, the shoes, the boutique. The list is endless and half an hour before the carriages arrive is not long enough. Plan and discuss with your photographer, what images you want to be captured at each point of the day. The more you communicate with your photographer before the day, the better the wedding album will be.

Hang the Dress.

This one may seem obvious to many, however, you’d be surprised how many brides forget to hang their dress the evening before. Think about it, this dream dress has maybe taken months in the making, to then be taken out of the box the morning of the wedding, with a large crease across the middle of the gown. Set a reminder on your phone for the night before, perhaps buy a lovely velvet or silk hanger especially for it. Make an event of it, you will be thankful for it on the day.

Hydrate the Bouquet.

Similar to my previous point, this bouquet has had many hours of thought put into it. Don’t let the petals drop by being left to sit. Make sure you’ve got a vase/vases to put the bouquet/bouquets into.

Eat and drink water.

You’re nervous, excited, and apprehensive. Your stomach is doing cartwheels and you’ve enough butterflies to open a sanctuary. You’ve still got to eat something. It’s a long day ahead and the wedding breakfast won’t come soon enough. With socialising with your guests at the reception and posing for those essential newlywed photos. Grabbing a passing by hors d’oeuvres is going to become a rare occurrence. Even if it’s just a dry piece of toast or breakfast biscuit, force it down to combat those stomach jitters. Drink water and keep hydrated, the last thing you want on your wedding day is a headache or dry cough.

Create a Getting Ready Playlist.

Whether you’ve known your bridesmaids since you were in primary school, or they’ve always been that number one work friend. You’ll have some classic songs, which sum up your friendship. Create a playlist before, there is nothing more energising than music. It’ll help you to bond and get into the right spirits, so when you set off for the ceremony you’ll feel physically and emotionally ready for the day.

Get a Good Night’s Sleep.

I know it is easier said than done, but there are things you can do to relax your mind and body for a good night’s sleep. It’s natural that the evening before your big day, you’ll be running things through your mind double checking that this is ordered and that vendor knows when to arrive and you didn’t forget to do this really important thing. At around 3pm the day before, go over your checklist again. Tick things off, so you can visually see that all of those things have been done. Then if at 3pm you’ve suddenly realised that you didn’t double-check something you’ve got time to do this. So you’re not calling up a vendor or family at 11pm in a panic. Have a relaxing evening, don’t drink too much, aim to get to sleep at a good time, perhaps meditate or listen to some audio to drown out those anxious thoughts. That way you’ll wake up feeling refreshed and ready for the day ahead.

Keep Everything Close Together.

Something old, something new, something blue. Make sure all of these somethings are together, with your wedding shoes, veil, and dress. So on the day of the wedding, you’re not pulling the house apart trying to find that something….

Have something planned that you’re going to wear on the morning of your wedding.

Matching PJs or personalised floral dressing gowns, whatever you’ve decided to wear, have a plan in place. So that you’re not suddenly feeling insecure having your photos taken while wearing a pair of Christmas-themed bottoms and your fiance’s old T-shirt. It’s important that at each point of the day you feel your best.

Turn off your phones and the TV!

This is an important moment for you and your best friends, make an event out of it. Talk, laugh, play funny word games, discuss the future and dreams. Don’t let people sit there on the phones, scrolling through Tik Tok. So there it is my ten top tips for creating the most smooth-running and stress- free environment for that perfect morning of the wedding for you and your best friends.

I hope these quick tips on bridal preparation photography have been useful. If they’ve made sense to you, or if you have further advice to offer, I would love it if you left a comment below!

Also, don’t forget to check out my other articles packed full of great wedding photography tips! Thank you!