Top Wedding Day Tips from an Expert Cotswolds Wedding Photographer

As a Cotswolds wedding photographer I’ve photographed over 150 weddings now and being such a core part of this many wedding days gives you a unique insight into all the small things that can make real difference not only to how the day runs but also to the outcome of your wedding photos. I wanted to share these with all the couples who are starting out planning their wedding, whether or not they are booked with me in the hope it will help create a dream wedding day for you

4 things you should prioritise when planning your wedding

Although social media can give us a wealth of ideas on how to create out dream wedding day it can also be completely overwhelming and focusing on the wrong things. In my experience there are 3 core ingredients to creating an amazing wedding day:

1. The guest list - I cannot emphasize enough how important this is. Invite everyone you love, everyone who parties like you, everyone you want to hug as soon as you see them. Don’t invite those who will dampen your day in any way

2. Music – on a wedding day music is the key to atmosphere – be it an elegant, classic drinks reception, a pumping dance floor, an electric cocktail hour. Think long and hard about the music you want, who will provide it and what sort of atmosphere it will create

3. Food and drink – free flowing booze is always a good idea, especially if it is carefully thought out with some signature cocktails and lower alcoholic options earlier in the day. Food again can create an atmosphere on the day – big sharing platters of food under a canopy of fairy lights has a very different feel to an exquisite 3 course meal with a string quartet playing in the background. Food is also one of the main things that people remember about a wedding day – don’t let people go hungry and make sure it is good.

4. The Photographer - I know that I'm probably biased here, but if you've put all this time and effort into creating an incredible wedding weekend and you don't put effort into finding a photographer who can capture it all perfectly for you, what a waste. In 30 years time you want to make sure you can flick through your wedding album and relive all those incredible moments you've worked so hard to create.

Take a look at this wedding which had all these magic ingredients to create the best Cotswolds wedding

Top Tips for your wedding morning

If you have spent time and money getting a beautiful stationery suits designed keep a copy for me and I’ll get a couple of flat lay images for you to help you remember it. If it is double sided make sure you have 2 for me. Often you’ve put a lot of time and effort into choosing or creating a suit that will really tie in with the rest of your wedding design so it’s lovely to have a couple of photos to remember it by and they look beautiful in the album

Unclutter the room. If necessary just move all the bright orange Sainsburys bags, suitcases and dirty clothes into a corner out of shot, but ideally get people to keep most of their belongings in their own rooms.

Get all your pretty details that you’ve put time and effort into sourcing in a pile or box ready for me the next day. This can be things such as your perfume, jewellery, anything meaningful gifted to you – a hanky from granny, some pearls from your mum – anything that has significance or has been chosen especially for your wedding morning.

Plan to be ready at least 20 minutes before you leave. Make sure you know how long it takes to get into your dress – is it just one zip or a corset with lots of buttons? One will take seconds the other can take 20-30 minutes! If you plan to be ready early then it gives a bit of wriggle room if there are any delays and ideally it gives us a bit of time to get some beautiful portraits of you and your bridesmaids / mum. You’d be amazed how long the last minute details of bridesmaids getting together their bags, finding lipsticks, putting on shoes etc takes so give plenty of time for last minute faff!

You can see some beautiful wedding morning details here in this Lapstone Barn wedding

Tips for getting the best wedding photos

Flowers

Keep them low! If you hold them too high they cover your beautiful dress and neckline and you look uncomfortable

Confetti

Make sure it is biodegradable and bigger is better! Buy more than you think you need, it is amazing how much confetti is needed to make an impact on camera. You want your guests to be able to take big handfuls. If you buy large discs rather than small petals it is also much easier to remove from your hair / cleavage / eyelashes! Trust me, confetti can get everywhere!

Golden Hour

Don’t miss it! It’s tricky because this has so many variables – whether it is overcast or sunny, elevation of the venue, direction is sets. But trust me, as your wedding photographer I will have worked all of these out and will have worked out when and where will be best. If I come and grab you for 10 minutes between courses or after speeches, I promise it will be worth it for those dreamy softly lit, golden photos.

Lighting

Think about the lighting throughout the day but especially for dinner. This is a part of the day when I take a lot of photos, especially during the speeches. Don’t sit yourselves in the darkest corner or underneath any down lighting which is unflattering for everyone! In an idea world some soft window light coming in from the side or the front. Backlit can be tricky too, so try to avoid sitting in front of a huge window

Most importantly, relax and enjoy yourself! You have chosen a team of suppliers who are all experts in their field, trust that they know how to make the day run as smoothly as possible for you and just sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labour and all the work you have put into the day leading up to it.

Take a look at this Euridge Manor Wedding which had all these ingredients and more to create a perfect wedding day