There are so many things that I loved about our wedding day, so I want to share with you the things that I would absolutely do again!
My number one recommendation for the actual wedding day would be to do a first look! If you asked me this a year ago, I would have said that I was NOT doing a first look and no one could tell me differently. Luckily, people talked me into it and I am so thankful that they did. I never wanted to do a first look because I thought that I would lose that “moment” of him seeing me for the first time walking down the aisle. But in all honestly, I think doing a first look made that moment even more special. We chose to read each other our personal vows at our first look and it was so special and so intimate. The words spoken started the day off with so much love and appreciated towards each other. It calmed nerves and brought pure excitement for the rest of the day. We laughed and cried and I will never forget that time that we got to spend together on our wedding day, just him and I….and two photographers and a videographer 😉 Our other point to wanting to do a first look after all was because our wedding started at 6:30 on a Friday night. We would have spent so much less time together on our wedding day if we chose to do that and our guest would have had to wait until it was pretty late to eat. Now, take this with a grain of salt. If you are not wanting to do a first look- there is nothing wrong with that! Definitely do what makes you the happiest!
Professional photography by Abigail Edmons Photography
Another thing that I absolutely loved from our wedding day that I would recommend was our photo guest book! It was from Artifacts Uprising and it was worth every penny! It is now a coffee table book in our home and it is so special to us! Check out their website, it will not disappoint. These books are such amazing quality and will honestly last a lifetime!! I also ordered our thank you cards from them after the wedding and they are just wonderful!
This may sound silly but it is something I will never forget- on the night of your rehearsal dinner, go on one last date before you are husband and wife 🙂 Blake and I went to Zesto. We sat outside, ate ice cream, and talked about all of our favorite dating memories. It was so special to me and I know it is something that I will remember forever. Blake and I had dated for 3.5 years when we got married, so it was so crazy to be moving on from that stage in life and we wanted one more date to soak it all in.
I had the absolute most professional and organized wedding coordinators and let me tell you- that makes all the difference! I had a coordinator for the ceremony and a different coordinator for the morning of and reception. It was so nice to not have to worry about all of the little things during the day because I knew that they were taken care of. I would highly recommend getting a day of coordinator for at least the morning of the wedding. She made sure that every little thing was in place, on schedule, and just how I wanted it.
My bridesmaids wore different dresses and I honestly really recommend that. Not only did they all feel comfortable and confident in their dresses, it was at their price point, and the dimension in photos turned out so beautifully! I wanted my bridesmaids to wear what they felt their absolute best in. As long as it was long and navy, I did not care about anything else. They did their hair how they wanted, wore whatever shoes they wanted, and had any nail color they could have dreamed of. I wanted our wedding to be fun and a celebration and these little details were not something I chose to worry about. And again, if you are particular on these things- that is completely fine! The OCD in me probably would have been fine with everything the same!! My point in this is to do what makes you happy and what is best for your day- that is all that matters.
One of the most important things that I would recommend would be to trust your vendors. Although I work here, One Fine Day blew it out of the water. My alterations were absolutely perfect. Although I could have spent my alteration appointments picking myself and things apart, I went into it knowing that this was an hour that I got to spend in my wedding dresses!! That hour became so special to me each time. Trust your photographer and videographer! Trust your caterer and your venues. Now, don’t be afraid to check in on things, but enjoy the time you get to spend planning things and bringing your vision together!
One of my most favorite parts about our wedding day was the music that we had at our ceremony. Oh my goodness, I could cry just thinking about it! We had a pianist, violinist, and harpist play live music for our ceremony. The violinist that we had actually was the violinist who played at my parents wedding. It was so special to me! Music is very important to Blake and I, so having live music at the ceremony was something that we definitely wanted. If you are debating doing live music or not, trust me on this one- do it!!! I promise you will not regret it.
Something that I had really gone back and forth on was having a videographer and let me tell you- best decision ever made. I have watched our video so many times because it just brings me back to the day and the love and joy that was there! Like I had said in a previous blog post, I did not look at Blake as I walked down the aisle- I got so distracted seeing all of the guest that I just forgot to look at him. Luckily, I have that special moment on video to watch forever. I am so thankful that we chose to work with Midwest Visual for our wedding day! He captured even the smallest moments so so beautifully!
These were just some of the many things that I loved about our wedding day. I could go on forever! I hope you can use these things to help make your wedding day everything you dreamed of and more!