I met up with one of my April couples last week and one thing the bride Sara asked was “do you have any tips for making things flow more smoothly on the wedding day?” No one’s ever asked me that before so I had to think about it for a bit. Our wedding day was pretty low-key because our budget didn’t allow for much more than that, but I remember feeling distinctly flustered and panicky in the bridal suite a couple of hours before the wedding. Things were running behind and I was stressing that we weren’t going to leave on time to make it over to the church. So here’s my advice for ways to cut the chaos and pave the way for a relaxed wedding day!

1) Hire a planner. Yep, a wedding planner. These wedding gurus are the secret key to a calm, relaxed bride, groom, bridal party and family! A good planner will anticipate problems well in advance of the wedding day, making sure to iron any wrinkles with timing, delivery of your cake, etc. Having a friend coordinate your wedding just isn’t the same, unless that friend also happens to be a wedding coordinator. There are things a seasoned professional will know to look for that a “friend who’s super organized and loves weddings” doesn’t have any experience with (no offense, organized friends!). Something as simple as a sparkler send-off can become overly-complicated if you don’t have someone who knows what they’re doing organizing the whole thing. Here are a few planners in the Virginia/DC area that I LOVE:

• Pam of ATrendy Wedding
• Ashlee of Ashlee Virginia Events
• Tyler of Voila! Event Studio

2) Have your hair & make-up artist come to your bridal suite. Having everything happen in your bridal suite means you don’t have to factor in time for travel from the hotel to the salon to the make-up place and then back to your bridal suite. I typically start wedding days off by shooting the bride’s details (shoes, dress, etc), and then spend time photographing my bride and her girls getting ready/giggling/enjoying mimosas. Keeping everything central means better, more continuous photography coverage. Need recommendations for hair and make-up artist? Of course you do!

• Julie of Jewel Hair Design (hair)
• Ryan of Blend Couture (primarily wedding-day make-up)
• Sarah of Premiere Make-Up & Hair (both!)

3) Do a first look! We chatted about how awesomely cool first looks are back here, but I’ll mention them again because they really do make for a smoother schedule. Doing your bride + groom and bridal party portraits before the ceremony means that after the ceremony, you have family formals and then 5 minutes of couples portraits (you know, now that you’re actually married) and then you’re free to go off and enjoy your cocktail hour. Without doing a first look, I need 90 minutes, not including travel, for all portraits after the ceremony. If you’ve scheduled in enough time for that, it’s not generally a huge problem, but if you’re doing both the ceremony and reception in the same spot, you’re looking at at LEAST an hour and a half-long cocktail hour.

4) If you haven’t already chosen your ceremony + reception venues, consider doing them at the same place! That cuts out the need to budget for travel time and getting-lost-while-travelling time, and instead you can use that time for portraits or more reception coverage. My basic package includes nine hours of coverage, so if your ceremony site is 45 minutes from your reception venue, that’s precious time we’ll be spending on the road instead of shooting. Just something to think about!

5) Hand off your cell phone after the rehearsal dinner to your maid of honor or best man. My dad gave me that advice before our wedding and I’m so glad I followed it! You don’t need your phone on your wedding day- everyone who’s important is probably staying at the same hotel. Giving your cell to your maid of honor ensures there will be someone there to answer it if anyone does call, but give your MOH instructions NOT to hand the phone to you unless it’s something only you can answer. People will call on your wedding morning with random questions about the church address, where it was you wanted the cake placed in the room, etc. etc., and most of those questions can be answered by someone else. Give yourself permission to unplug on your wedding day- don’t check Facebook, don’t preoccupy yourself with trolling Instagram. Just unplug and enjoy the moment.

6) In relation the handing off your phone, think about going unplugged! Asking your guests to leave their cameras at home, or at least to turn them off for the “ceremonial” parts of the day, means you won’t get backed up during family formals by dozens of cameras vying for your attention. Assure your family members that you’re happy to share the images (if your photographer allows for that in the terms of your contract [I do, AGP brides and grooms!]), and give them permission to put their cameras down and simply revel in the moment of your bliss.

Anyone else have tips for a smooth wedding day? I’d love to hear them in the comments section! Happy Thursday!