How to plan an awesome wedding

AND GET KILLER WEDDING PHOTOS

I’m lucky enough to have been to lots of weddings and I’ve seen a bunch of awesome things that I really liked.

If you’re overwhelmed with wedding advice that doesn’t really feel like you, think of this as an alternative guide to planning your wedding.

The main thing is to do whatever you want. It’s your day and you don’t have to let everyone tell you what to do.

You might also want to check out our Elopement Planning Guide for some more tips that you might also find useful too.

Plan a party, not a wedding.

A wedding is a party. Probably the biggest party you’ve thrown, and everyone is dressed extra nice.

Everyone wants to celebrate with you. Think about the things you like when you go out, great events you’ve been to and combine the best elements and build them into your day.

Don’t get too hung up on all the “wedding” details. What you want to remember from your wedding is all your friends going nuts and being over the moon for you. Create that vibe. Pump great tunes. Spend heaps of time with your guests. Get loony at your own party.

There’s also a lot of wedding traditions that might make no sense to you – feel free to scrap them and do your own thing. Just think about how fun your day should be and go from there.

Get a dress you can walk in

Obviously, this one’s for the brides. Choose a wedding dress that you’ll be comfortable in, and one that you can move freely in. Because you’re going to want to dance, hug your friends, sit down, move around and enjoy your party.

Plus you want to actually be able to get close to your husband or wife and be able to hold and hug them. Which ain’t easy if you can’t move without a gaggle of people holding up your skirt behind you.

Bonus points if you’re happy walk through the bush and hop on some rocks so we can nail some killer photos.

Have an unplugged ceremony

Just do it. It is really quite nice when everyone just stops looking at their screens for 20 minutes and enjoys being in the moment.

When you walk down the aisle, you’ll be able to see each other and not be blocked by your aunt sticking an iPad in front of you. Your guests can pay attention to whats actually going on, and when you look out at them you’ll be able to see their faces and not their phones. Your photos will be better because I can capture your guests faces too.

Right up to the start of the ceremony, and as soon as it has finished, go nuts with phones. Snap away! But just give yourself this awesome, wonderful unplugged window.

Write your own vows

Make your ceremony funny, touching, and heartfelt. Tears (happy or sad) are good. Laughs are even better.

Choose an awesome celebrant and they’ll help you with all of this.

Ceremonies don’t have to be serious and all the same. Make it your own and have some fun.

Confetti

Because everyone likes throwing things at you. It’s awesome fun as you walk back up the aisle. Your photos look epic. It’s a win-win.

I really like rice paper confetti. Or get a box of flower petals from your florist, or some other bio-degradable confetti (ask your venue what you’re allowed to use).

While you’re signing your marriage certificate, ask a couple of guests to make sure that everyone in the aisles has a handful of stuff to throw when you walk back up the aisle. Trust me. It’s great.

Spend time with your guests after your ceremony

Hugs and congrats are important. Stick around and celebrate with your guests - that’s the whole point of inviting them. Everyone always looks at this part of the timeline and thinks they can cut it out, or chop it in half…

But it’s the best bit. Everyone’s psyched for you. There’s so much joy in the air and I get to capture moments with everyone crazy stoked.

It kills the energy when you bail for photos straight after your ceremony. People have made a big effort to be there for you, and they wanna give you a mad hug and say hi. So hang, soak up your congratulations, have a couple of drinks and enjoy your party!

Once the dust has settled and some time has passed from your wedding, you are going to treasure these photos of your guests.

And open your bar straightaway too

You need drinks straight after your ceremony. When everyone is giving you hugs and congrats, your bar needs to be open too.

If you’re doing your own thing at the beach or a forest, make sure there’s drinks. If your venue says they won’t open the bar for another 45min because of weird timings, find a way to make it happen. It’s not about getting boozed, it’s just one of those elements people want at a party.

Give your guests drinks and everyone will be laughing, relaxing and having a blast. Everyone will love you for it.

Don’t give them drinks and everyone just kind of stands around making small talk and waiting for the bar to open.

Skip the big group photo

If it’s really super important to you, then sure, we can do it. But if you’re on the fence about it, then give it a miss.

I reckon you’re better off spending more time hanging out with everyone and enjoying the party. And you’ll get great natural photos of your friends and family enjoying themselves.

I think this is better than spending 10 minutes assembling everyone into place for a photo where you can’t see faces that well anyway.

The music sounds better with you

Good tunes get everything cranking. It sounds so obvious, but quite often music gets forgotten. Pump it when you get ready. Choose your fave song as you walk down + back up the aisle (it can be anything, it does’t have to be something off a “wedding” playlist). And tunes straight after your ceremony too, even if it is just through a Bluetooth speaker or the venue’s system

Have an acoustic performer, get a great band or DJ… music keeps things flowing and everyone happy.

Oh yeah, phone reception can be patchy down south – so if you’re running a Spotify playlist, save those songs to your phone and don’t rely on having internet - there’s weird mobile blackspots everywhere.

And you'll want some photos of just the two of you

And all the stuff we’ve mentioned above – hanging with your guests, having some drinks, pumping great music – it all helps to get you relaxed and buzzing. So when it’s time for some portraits you’re feeling real good.

We’ll go for a short walk and chase the good light around. Have fun and I’ll guide you if you need some help.

You’ll laugh your head off when you see how excited I get when that spark just happens and we’re nailing magic photos.

If you’ve got a wedding party we’ll want about 20 minutes for photos with them, and about 45 minutes for photos of the two of you. And after the big build up to your wedding, it’s pretty nice to hang out somewhere beautiful and quiet and have a mini-break from everyone.

Get your dance floor cranking

Straight after your first dance, get your DJ to drop some mad tunes. Loose dance floors where everyone’s going nuts are so awesome.

I’ll get some killer photos for half an hour or so, cos you want to remember how much of a party your wedding was.

You know your crowd and the songs that you all love… your DJ has to save some favourites for later, but get things started right.

Should you get a videographer?

Great wedding videos are amazing – so if you’re dead keen on it, look for someone with a similar style to your photographer. You can even ask your photographer for some recommendations.

Have a proper think about it and make sure it is something you both really want. Just be aware that having an extra person or two people filming you can sometimes make your day feel like more of a production, and often couples don’t realise this until it’s actually happening.

If it’s an afterthought or just something that your friend said you should do, my personal opinion is to give it a miss. And yep, I’m friends with some great videographers and I hope they don’t hate me for saying this.

Print your photos

Because actual prints – liked a framed photo or a wedding album – are the best way to enjoy your wedding photos for years to come.

Maybe it’s the photographer in me talking, but paper is better than pixels any day of the week. Photos aren’t meant to live on your computer, and you will never regret spending money on your memories.

We truly believe that albums are the best way to remember your wedding. And when your kids and grandkids are old enough, they can look through your album and freak out about how hot you looked on your wedding day.

Trust your photographer. Ask them stuff

A big thing I like to help couples with is a timeline that lets your day flow really well. So you can hang with your guests and also get amazing photos at the right time of day. I can also suggest other wedding vendors you can trust.

I want to help make your day be as kick-ass as possible, because that means your photos are going to be extra good.

Ask me questions about anything – there’s some things that you might spend hours researching, and I could just give you some recommendations in a couple of minutes. If I can help, I will!

Ready to take the next step?

Awesome!

I’m keen to hear more about your wedding plans and everything you’re excited about – let’s chat about your big day.