5 tips to a successful wedding day!

Let's face it, the common feeling about a wedding day is STRESS, stress and more stress. I see it all the time.

However, it really isn't as bad as people make it out to be. I have photographed hundreds of weddings and each one has always gone off without a hitch. Actually, they are fun! I'm not sure how many "calm down, it's all good" conversations I have had with my couples but, things just always work out!

Your whole goal should be to have fun, and leave the stress up to the professionals.

Listen, you're gonna get married, we will always end up with awesome photos to remember your day, and that is about it. Think of it like this, you have a rough timeline for your day, your make-up artist wants to start at 1pm, not much changing that. You ceremony is at 4pm right? Right, no changing that! Your supper starts at 7pm, so that is what is happening at that time and the party will kick off at 9pm, game on!

What you do in-between all of that can almost rely on you and your photographer. Let's face it, there are not many vendors that spend more time with the bride and groom on the day of the wedding, even the planners (as valuable as they are!) are not by your side 8-10 hours on the day.

Below is a quick list of 5 essential tips to help you have a stress free and smooth day. Sure, there are more tips...but these are my 5!
 

TIP 1 : Get to know your photographer.

After you have decided on a photographer whose style you love, meet them. In person, on the phone, on facetime, whatever. This should be a given, meet your photographer and chat about what THEY love about wedding days. Are they just a weekend warrior or are they in it because they LOVE wedding photography? Are they just as excited as you are about your day? Find out! You need to feel comfortable with your photographer and they need to feel comfortable with you. As I said above, you will be spending a lot of time with them on your wedding day.

TIP 2 : Figure out a timeline.

This is a great one. Having even a rough idea of what you want to do on your day is a big step in the right direction. For me personally, I can figure out the way your day should flow based on all of the timelines that you give me. 

For example, there are quite a few things that are super important for me to capture outside of the creative portrait sessions and obvious parts of the day. To name a few things that are never usually scheduled, bridal portraits, details and preparations, fun bridal party before ceremony shots, family and group photos, the location and creative portrait shots, evening photos at sunset, (these are MONEY!) and then just everything in between and capturing the day as it happens. 

So with just having a look at your timeline and when things are going down, we can plan out the entire day for photographs, we can discuss locations that you may have in mind and travel times, etc.

TIP 3 : Going with the flow!

Knowing ahead of time that things may not go as planned. Sometimes, things just won't work out. You can have a timeline planned out in 15 minute blocks and all it takes is for one of your bridesmaids to have to run home because they forgot their iPad that has your "getting ready tunes" on it and BAM, timeline is off.

Or, all of a sudden the sky opens up and we can't leave the venue for the shots we had planned at the lake. Ah well, we will just have to postpone that and see if we can sneak away later.

Go with the flow, the most important part of the day is the joining of two people to create a life together, and not much is changing that. Everything else should be fun and stress free!

TIP 4 : Lean on me.

I don't expect you to know everything, I don't expect you to be a model and be amazing in front of the camera. I have no expectations of you whatsoever. Leave that up to me, my job is to create amazing images for you, and that will happen because it is VERY important to me that we are both happy. Weddings are an opportunity for me to make images that you love and that I will love. 

You need to remember that almost all wedding photographers (most anyway) love what they do! Every wedding is exciting for us, all year round we educate ourselves, we buy new equipment, we practice new techniques, we hone our editing skills. We all want to be the best at what we do, we want to awe the audience. Most importantly we want to create images for you that you will love, images that you can look back on in 20 years and relive what could be the most exciting and important day of your lifetimes.

So chill, don't stress...we got this.

TIP 5 : Have fun.

This could be the most important one, really. Have FUN! Party, have a drink if that is what you are into, relax. Enjoy your day. If you end up with a few minutes in between the ceremony and supper, or at some point during the day, chill out with your family and friends, take in the atmosphere. 

Plan to just have a blast on your day and leave the stress up to the ones who do this job for a living, this isn't stressful to us. We love it.

Having fun is what we as photographers look forward to as well, there isn't many things more awesome for me than spending a day with two fantastic families who are up for anything and just want to have a good time. I have never walked into my studio after a wedding day and thought "Well that day sucked, but at least the photos are awesome"...nope, it's more like "Man, what a great f'ing day! Everyone was super fun and cool and we kicked ass with the images! WOOT!"

Message me if you want to chat about your wedding!

I am a wedding and portrait photographer in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Over the last 12 years I have photographed thousands of people, families and hundreds of weddings locally and abroad.
I now focus on wedding and high school senior photography. If you have a unique idea for some images, let me know!
Cape Breton Island Wedding Photographer • Scott McIntyre