Getting Ready For Your Special Day

Tips and more from a wedding photographer.

Your wedding day is once in a lifetime, and a show stopping experience. A day that yourself and your loved ones will remember forever. It’s meant to be stress free, but will of course come with its challenges in preparing and planning. It’s a day to celebrate your love, and after all – it takes time and effort to make your wedding day just the way you want. The day itself should be a breeze and a cherished moment – for the bride and groom to bask in their love and celebrate with those who mean the most. The preparing and planning beforehand is where some of the most important time is spent so your special day can actually be a celebration. You might be thinking you can leave out certain items because they will just sort themselves out – not always the case!

It’s important to understand there is a reason why all-the-things are considered when planning a wedding. Helpful hint: purchase a wedding planning book!! A wedding planning book will have already curated checklists so you can consider everything! Now, that’s not to say you have to do exactly what a wedding planning book suggests, but at least you would have considered all your options. You might be wondering – ‘isn’t that what a wedding planner is for?’ Yes! But technically this is YOUR day, and although a wedding planner will know all-the-things too, they may not have considered everything you personally desire for your wedding day.

Now, I’m talking the things you haven’t even imagined yet!! The things that are stored in your heart and still need to come to fruition. Items like a wedding planner book (and Pinterest, of course) will help bring those imaginations and desires to life. I encourage you to dig deep and find inspiration with a hint of magic to ensure your special day is exactly what you and your future husband or wife desire.

In my experience as a wedding photographer in Western Canada (locations including all over Alberta and British Columbia), I see a lot of unique weddings whether it be venue, theme or overall traditions. My favourite part of photographing your special day is seeing how you have brought bits and pieces of your love story and personalities into your special day. The magic truly exists in those special moments that mean so much to the bride and groom. The moments they want to remember forever, and lucky me – I get to capture it to live on forever.

Do you have the warm fuzzy butterfly feelings yet? I do! At the beginning of a wedding day that I’m photographing, I almost always just feel the energy and magic. The rest of the world feels like it’s at a stand still whereas; the wedding chaos is beginning. I do mean chaos in a magical kind of way of course. The bride and groom are getting ready at their separate venues, and again – lucky me! I get to see both parties at this point. Capturing the excitement before they walk down the aisle.

The Ceremony

The ceremony is an emotional one for me, but in a good way. If approved by the bride and groom, I love getting pictures of the parents and grandparents in the front row. Capturing the reactions to their loved one walking down the aisle and/or at the altar create the best photos. As you can imagine, the bride and groom are the stars of the show of course. Getting their expression that just speaks for itself is key! However, I do love this time to the be an opportunity to capture details of the brides beautiful dress and whatever unique detailing she has chosen. Once the ceremony commences, the must-have shot of 2022 is definitely a posed kiss and dip at the end of the aisle – a trend I imagine will continue into 2023.

Group Photos

Group photos with the wedding party and/or family take place either before and after the ceremony. A ‘first look’ photo is often taken if the group photos happen before the ceremony. A moment where the bride and groom see each other for the first time. To say it’s magic is not doing it enough justice! It is beyond.

Reception

Not every bride and groom wants photos of their reception, but it’s something I definitely recommend. Capturing the fun and celebration can be challenging with lots of moving parts, but it makes for some amazing photos. The bride and groom can’t be everywhere at all times, but they can put all their wedding photos into a giant photo book or online catalogue to have forever and maybe even reach moments that weren’t present for.

When the day is done, I take all the memories captured and edit your photos in a way where they never take away from the true experience. Ensuring you can see and feel the expressions on everyone’s face, the smiles, the tears and more.

Doesn’t that all sound magical?! Now to bring you back down to wedding planning – you can understand how all that can only happen if you’re special day is planned accordingly, and almost everything has been considered at some point. It can seem overwhelming, I get it! This is why I’ve broken things down into 5 simple tips. They’re easy tips to get the ball rolling and bringing your special day to life! Having worked as a wedding photography for a long time now, they are the top 5 things absolutely necessary for every bride and/or groom to consider in their wedding planning process. Check them out below!

Rose Warren Photography Wedding Planning Tips:

1. Set Your Budget & Stick With It!

Your wedding budget is a driving factor for many of your wedding related decisions, so this is one of the first decisions you should make. Use it as your grounding force and ensure your stick with it!

2. Construct a List of Wedding Priorities

Sit down with your future husband or wife, and determine what the three most important aspects of your wedding will be.

3. Determine Your Wedding Style

Find a few resources of bridal inspiration that you feel most pulled toward – Pinterest is a great one! Cruise Instagram and even check out a couple different bridal magazines for more inspiration.

4. Get Organized

You can use checklists, spreadsheets, google docs, a journal and more to gather your thoughts, inspiration and dreams about your wedding day.

5. Buy a Wedding Planning Book

Regardless if you have a wedding planner or not, an already curated wedding planning book will help bring the items organized in #4 to life and ensure they’re planned properly.

Within each of these 5 tips, you will probably consider your wedding photography A LOT. Another item to add to the overwhelming list, but I’m here for you! I can make it easy and seamless. Rose Warren Photography offerings 3 different wedding packages to suit your needs. However, I do offer personalized packages and even travel packages for your special day. Even if you think it’s a crazy ask – I always encourage big dreams on your special day.

I cannot wait to capture the magic on your special day.