Photographers and videographers occupy a fairly unique position in a wedding, in that we tend to be the only people who see the entire wedding day other than the Bride and Groom themselves. And after years of observation there’s a few things we’ve noticed that can frequently cause problems on the day that you probably haven’t been warned about unless it happens to have been an issue at the wedding of a bride and groom you know. So today we’d like to share some of the problems we’ve most frequently encountered that you may not have been given a heads up about so that we can try to help you to avoid them and let them interrupt the happiest day of your lives. So let’s take a closer look at some of the issues we’ve noticed over the years:
Tying bow-ties, Cravats and Windsor knots – Unless you happen to work in a menswear shop or go to a lot of swanky events there’s a good chance that the groom doesn’t actually know how to tie the more formal ties correctly! Make sure you’ve had a practice before the big day arrives or that one of your groomsmen DEFINITELY knows how to tie one… seriously I don’t think either of us have ever seen one done correctly first time!- Bouttoniere’s – Tying the tie isn’t the only issue the groom’s face on the wedding morning though, there are typically two issues that arise with the buttonholes – firstly what is the correct way to pin them? (ask the florist and they’ll show you!!) and secondly make sure you both know who should be wearing them, whether there’s a particular colour for certain people, and how many should go to where the groomsmen are getting ready and how many should go to where the bride is (such as the father of the bride’s bouttoniere!)
- Handkerchiefs – Yes we’re not done with the groomsmen yet! Another common problem for the guys is not knowing how to correctly fold your pocket handkerchief. There are various ways to wear them and plenty of guides online as to what those ways are but make sure you’ve checked in advance and agreed with your groomsmen how you want them to look!
How do you lace up a wedding dress? – When you go to dress fittings you may get the chance to try on the dress, but it’s normally the shop assistant that helps you into and out of your dress. The end result is that quite often when it comes to the wedding day itself the people helping you don’t actually know how it fastens and it’s not always that simple or quick a task. If the back of the dress isn’t that straight forward then make sure that you take one of your bridesmaids with you to your final dress fitting to ensure that someone knows how to it fits on the day itself.- Wearing Heels – Now of course most brides want to wear heels and look glamorous on their wedding day but it’s a really good idea to also have a pair of flats with you. It makes it easier to get around for pictures on potentially uneven ground, great for walking any long distances so your main shoes don’t get scuffed and they’re also great to slip into when you hit the dance-floor and can’t take the heels any longer!
- “We’ve got loads of time, we don’t need to start getting ready yet!” – Getting ready always takes longer than you think it’s going to, particularly when there’s lots of people getting ready in the same place at the same time. Make sure you’re realistic about your timings, particularly if you’re planning on having some portraits photographed before setting off for the church!
No photography / filming allowed! Some churches and venues, and perhaps more specifically some officiants and registrars will not allow photography or filming during the ceremony. Make sure you speak to them about this and establish the ground rules before the big day, firstly so that it doesn’t come as a shock and secondly because most of the time you can come to some sort of agreement if it’s discussed beforehand whereas on the day it’s much harder when it’s just the photographer videographer trying to fight their corner on their own!- Transport and Parking – Transport often causes big delays at weddings and whilst this maybe is something you’ve thought about it’s often the forgotten details that cause the problems! If you’re all going to walk to the reception do you have umbrellas in case of rain? If you’ve hired a bus to transport everyone how close can the bus actually get to where they need to be? If everyone’s bringing cars then is anyone going to be able to drink all of that alcohol you’ve bought?
Over-scheduling – Having a basic schedule of your day is great – there are certain things that have to happen at particular times (such as the ceremony and the wedding breakfast) and you need to be organised to ensure those things happen when they’re supposed to. But all too often couples schedule their day so tightly that they forget to actually allow time to spend mingling with their guests and relaxing and enjoying the day. It also means that sometimes the moment something goes slightly wrong (as it always inevitably will) there’s a sense of panic and some things end up getting cancelled and it can put a real stress on your day. Do have a schedule but make sure you allow plenty of leeway between planned events to allow you the freedom to relax a little and enjoy yourselves!- Got no signal – These days we’re so used to just giving people our mobile numbers and assuming they’ll be able to get hold of us that it’s very easy to suddenly find that you can’t get hold of one another. If you need to meet up with a supplier or a member of the wedding party at a particular point before the wedding begins then make sure you arrange a time and place to meet them and also try to provide a landline number or contact number for someone who will be with you. Sometimes when you’re out a remote wedding venue you simply don’t have any signal and this can end up causing huge delays if you haven’t planned for this eventuality!
So those are just some of the things that we’ve seen go wrong over the years that you probably won’t be pre-warned about, but if you keep them in mind and try to cover all eventualities then you can relax on your big day knowing everything is well and truly taken care of.
