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Tag Archives: wedding tip

Consider a Photo Dash

 Have you ever heard of a “Photo Dash”? I hadn’t until this year.

What is a “Photo Dash”?

Photo Dash

A Photo Dash is where you and your spouse run to each table at your reception and take a quick group photo before the song you have playing ends. Each table gets a couple of seconds of your time. Tables will decide what pose they want to do as you and your photographer are running around the reception. It’s a lot of fun.

Why should you do a “Photo Dash”? The why is really simple. Time.

Even though you’ve really only spend 10 seconds with each table, your guests feel like you have spend some quality time with them. Also, you get fun photos of you and your guests before the night runs away with you. It feels like after a couple does a Photo Dash, they get more time to quietly eat their dinner without all of their guests coming up talking and asking for a photo. Photo Dashes are also a lot of fun!

How do to a “Photo Dash”?Photo Dash

Talk with your DJ, wedding coordinator and your photographer. Make sure the song you choose it both fun and gives you enough time to get across your reception. Make a plan where you are starting and where you are ending. It’s best to start at one end of your reception and work your way to the other end, ending with the head table so you can easily sit for dinner right after.

What are your thoughts? Would you have a Photo Dash at your wedding?

Photo Dash

Running out of time at your wedding!

How to stay on time at your wedding.

One of the big things I notice at weddings is a lack of time. When you schedule photos and events at your wedding, an unrealistic timeline is created. So how can you alleviate this?

  1. Get started earlier than scheduled. If you intend on being at your venue at a certain time, make sure you’re actually there at least 30 minutes early.
  2. Make sure, if you’re having to bustle your dress after your ceremony, that someone knows how to do it. Go over the instructions with your person before the wedding starts. You can do this while you’re getting your makeup done and the dress is hanging up.Houston Wedding photo
  3. When taking family photos, make sure everyone you want photos of stays put and that you have someone (it could be you and your new spouse, or a family member or friend) to wrangle your family for photos.
  4. Make sure to give yourself more time than you think is needed for each element of your wedding. Give yourself some breathing room.
  5. Try to be ready about an hour before your ceremony. This gives your photographer time to get a few bridal portraits, groom portraits and portraits with your wedding party.
  6. By the night before your wedding have everything you need for your wedding packed in a bag or two. When I’m packing, I like to make a list that I keep by the door about a week before. As I think of things, I add it to the list. When I start packing, I can cross those items off my list, ensuring that I don’t forget anything.
  7. Delegate! Delegate, delegate! Put trustworthy friends & family in charge of certain things and give them a time to make sure it’s done by.
  8. The most important scheduled parts of your wedding to try your best to keep are:
    1. The ceremony
    2. Your grand entrance
    3. Your grand exit

Bridal Oaks Wedding Photography

How to hire a wedding professional

Do you have concerns about hiring a wedding vendor? I’m here to help guide you through the easy steps.

Step 1: Get a note pad and write down your vision. What do you want to accomplish?

Step 2: Develop a budget for your vision.

Step 3: Research vendors who align with your values and style. You can contact vendors who you’ve already booked to help you find like-minded vendors.

Step4: Reach out to the vendors who best fit the above.

Doughnut Wedding Cake

So let’s break this down into a scenario. You’re planning your wedding and you’ve decided you want to hire someone to decorate for you. DIY is fun, but you’ve already got A LOT on your plate and it’s worth it to delegate that to someone else.

What will you need to complete your vision? Linens? Stemware? Mini light saber centerpiece/lights?

How much money can you allocate to decorations? How much money were you planing on spending on decorations if you did them yourself? Take that number and multiply it. Now you have a base number for decorations. On average, decorations cost between $1,000 – $2,000.

Now that you have an idea of what you want and how much you’re willing to spend, reach out to some of your vendors you’ve already booked. Your wedding venue, wedding planner or wedding photographer are great places to start. They should already have an idea of your personality and vision. You can obviously look into sights like The Knot or WeddingWire, but also try looking into blogs that share your ascetic. Are you planning a unique wedding with hints of a Naboo themed wedding? Try looking into Offbeat Bride or Whimsical Wonderland Weddings. Type in your style to the search bar and add “blog” or your city to the end of the search and see what comes up.

Once you’ve made a list of several potential wedding decor artists, start contacting them to see if they are available for your wedding and if they will fit into your budget. Once you’ve found your perfect vendor, don’t let them slip through your fingers! Hire them!!

Now put a big red check next to that item on your “to-do” list then treat yourself!

The Orchard at Caney Creek wedding photography

One important bit of information. If you don’t take anything else away from this blog but this, then it’s a success.

The time frame with which you should hire a wedding vendor is 100% dependent on the amount of time they will have to spend at your wedding. This means that if a vendor spends the entire day at your wedding (like a wedding planner or photographer) then you need to hire them much earlier than anyone else. If the vendor doesn’t spend any time at your wedding and can do their job remote and you pick up whatever it is they made/did for you then you can hire them much later in the planning process.

Have a fun, stress-free wedding

Stress is to weddings as the sun is to heat… but it doesn’t have to be that way. If you follow these simple steps you can have a stress-free wedding.

  1. Stay organized. Keep a spreadsheet, a binder or a notebook with a calendar. you can color coordinate your to-do-list. Red for things that MUST be done, green to start thinking about certain things…
  2. Identify your priorities and your potential stressors. Do you have a perceptually late friend or a rowdy family member? Make a note and a plan. What are your top priorities? Make a list of the things that mean the most to you and your fiance at your wedding.
  3. Develop a game-plan for your stressors.
  4. Hire trusted wedding professionals. Check out the reviews of professionals before hiring someone. Ask if you can speak to one of their old clients.
  5. Set deadlines. Using your organization talked about in #1, set deadlines for yourself. Make sure to give yourself enough cushion for your deadlines.
  6. Schedule regular planning meetings. Whether you have a wedding planner or you’re doing it yourself, plan to meet with your wedding professionals to hash out some of your details, your desires and your fears.
  7. Establish a “No wedding Talk” time with your fiance where you do not spend an ounce of your time thinking, talking or planning your wedding.
  8. Delegate, delegate, delegate. you are the CEO of this event and you don’t have to shoulder the whole weight. Play off your friends and family’s strengths to help you with your wedding planning.
  9. Do not second guess yourself. Your first instinct is usually the right one. The more you second guess something, the more you worry and stress yourself.
  10. Maintain perspective. At the end of the day, you;re marring the love of your life and that’s the most important part.
  11. Be aware that Murphy is a regular, uninvited, wedding guest. It’s important to not sweat the small stuff. (Murphy’s Law: “things will go wrong in any given situation, if you give them a chance”)
  • Houston Waterwall Wedding Photos

 

A Southwest Houston wedding photographer
Richmond, TX
kelly@kellyurbanphotography.comKelly Urban Photography

A Southwest Houston wedding photographer
Richmond, TX

A Southwest Houston wedding photographer
Richmond, TX
kelly@kellyurbanphotography.comKelly Urban Photography

A Houston wedding photographer