Photo By Anne Mientka
No planner? No problem! It's okay to not hire a planner! A personal wedding planner or coordinator is not in everyone's budget, but that doesn't mean you can't take some tips from a professional to create a flawless wedding!
Taking the reins om your wedding doesn't mean you should skip out on a rehearsal. Rehearsing the basics of your ceremony is crucial to ensuring a flawless wedding day! Your ceremony will set the tone for the rest of your day, and it should be just as magical as you've dreamt it to be. These are my top tips for executing a flawless ceremony:
Start your rehearsal in the middle of ceremony by lining up your wedding party at the arbor or in their standing/sitting positions. This helps to ensure your wedding party knows exactly where to go before you practice walking down the aisle! Rehearse where parents will sit! Traditionally, parents will sit on the side of their child, however I recommend seating your parents or family in the opposite position. This way they can see your glowing faces, rather than the back of your head! Similarly, I suggest doing the same with your wedding party. Have your bridesmaids and groomsmen stand on opposite sides. In doing this, you can see the faces of the ones you love most which will help ease your nerves, rather than having them stand behind you! Do you have younger children in your wedding party such as a flower child or ring bearer? It's often easier to have them sit after walking down the aisle rather than trying to have young, restless children stand beside your bridesmaids or groomsmen.
Rehearse and clarify the little details. Do you want your wedding party standing at an angle or facing forward? Do you want groomsmen to stand with one hand over the other, hands in pockets, or hands behind the back? Sunglasses or no sunglasses? Are you and your partner holding hands during ceremony? Clarifying these little details on rehearsal day ensure you have a truly picture-perfect ceremony!
Have your Maid of Honor hold your bouquet once you are in standing position. Since your Maid of Honors' hands will be full with two bouquets, your next bridesmaid will be responsible for fluffing up your dress or repositioning your veil! PS. Don't forget to take your bouquet back from your Maid of Honor before walking back up the aisle! Have a ring bearer? Decide if the ring bearer will keep the rings until the time comes, or if it's better to pass the rings off to the best man/woman!
Remind your officiant to step out of the way before the kiss! No photobombers here! Don't worry if your officiant forgets to do this the day of, you can always reenact this with your photographer after ceremony!
As you walk back up the aisle, stop halfway, pause, and kiss! You can never have too many photo-ops!
Rehearse having your wedding party wait until you are fully up the aisle before they start walking behind you. This gives your photographer(s) ample time to capture photos of just the two of you! Once it's time for your wedding party to start walking back up the aisle, have each person or couple wait until those in front of them are halfway up the aisle!
Decide where you are going after ceremony! Are you staying at your ceremony site for photos? Are you heading somewhere for some hair and makeup touch-ups or are you heading directly to your cocktail hour? It's best decide this ahead of time so your wedding party is awkwardly standing around! No matter the plan, ask your officiant, musician, DJ, or planner/coordinator to direct your guests to cocktail hour.
Now it's time to practice the walk down the aisle. Everyone should be feeling confident and comfortable at this point with the expectations! Practice your pace! The pace down the aisle should be slightly slower than the average walking pace. If you don't have an on site coordinator or planner, ask your Maid Of Honor to fluff up your dress and reposition your veil before they walk down the aisle so you're looking picture perfect!
Hold your bouquet at your belly button! Especially if you have a detailed dress, you don't want your bouquet covering up those beautiful details!
Whether you're walking out in the open or entering your ceremony from doors, take a brief pause after that first step so your photographer can capture that special moment!
Feeling like a pro now? Ceremony details can be tedious, but I promise they are worth it! When you finally get your gallery back from your photographer and you see everyone in sync with no photobombing officiant, you'll be so happy you took the extra time to cover these details! Just like life, nothing is ever perfect. Don't stress over perfection, because let's be real, no one except you will know if a detail is forgotten! At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is that you are marrying the person you love most ❤️ Now, go get yourself married!
Xo,
Rachel Vitagliano
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