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You’ve spent months, maybe years, planning your wedding. Now the big day is finally here! So, what should you actually do, and perhaps more importantly, what should you avoid?
After photographing more than 100 weddings, I’ve seen plenty of things that make a wedding day smoother, more comfortable, and more fun. I’ve also seen things that make couples want to pull their hair out.
So, based on what I’ve witnessed firsthand, here are my biggest wedding day dos and don’ts.
Please, please, please take the time to do your hair and makeup trial! Your wedding day is not the time to discover that the hairstyle you loved in a Pinterest photo doesn't look quite right on you.
Your trial gives you and your glam squad a chance to work out the details, test products, and make adjustments before you're sitting in the chair on the morning of your wedding.
This is also a great time to make sure your hair and makeup work with your dress, accessories, and overall wedding-day look.
I know. You're excited. You're busy. There are approximately 4,729 things happening. But please eat something!
Think how terrible it would be to be gliding down the aisle and suddenly realize you've only had coffee and one strawberry all day. Feeling nauseous or lightheaded is definitely not what you want to remember when you look back on your big day.
Keep water nearby throughout the day, and consider bringing Gatorade or another electrolyte drink, especially if you're getting married outside or it's a hot day.
Have someone you trust make sure you actually eat and drink. Your wedding day will be much more enjoyable when you aren't running on fumes.
As a professional wedding photographer, I’m always thinking about light, so believe me when I say that the way your wedding day is scheduled can make a huge difference in your photos.
These details matter. Gorgeous light can turn an ordinary moment into something really special, which is why your photographer may make recommendations about timing or locations. Trust us on this one. We’re chasing that good light for a reason!
Everything seems to take longer on a wedding day.
Getting dressed takes longer. Getting your makeup just right takes longer. Finding Uncle Bob for help with parking takes longer. Moving a whole wedding party from Point A to Point B takes longer, and someone will inevitably need to run back for something.
Give yourself some breathing room. A little extra time in your timeline can keep one small delay from turning into a full-blown wedding-day domino effect. When things inevitably run a few minutes behind, you won't have to spend your day staring at the clock stressing out.
If you never wear heels, your wedding day is not the perfect time to become a four-inch-stiletto girl.
Your feet are going to be doing WORK. You'll be standing, walking, taking photos, greeting people, dancing, and probably doing a whole lot more moving in general than you realize.
Wear shoes you know you can handle. Bring a backup pair if you want to switch later. The same goes for anything else you're wearing.
You should feel amazing, but you should also be able to move, breathe, hug people, and dance without constantly adjusting something or secretly being in pain.
Your feet will thank you.
Pinterest and The Knot have plenty of ideas. So do TikTok, Instagram, your cousin, your mom's best friend, and that random woman at the grocery store.
You do not have to do everything everyone says you “must” do.
Think about what reflects your relationship. Maybe that's a huge party. Maybe it's an intimate backyard wedding. Maybe you want your dog there. Maybe you want to skip half the traditional wedding activities and spend more time with your people.
Your wedding should tell your story. Make choices because they mean something to you, not because a wedding checklist told you they're mandatory.
This might be my biggest piece of advice.
Once the wedding day arrives, let yourself experience it. Trust your vendors. Delegate the little problems. Let someone else worry about whether the centerpieces are perfectly straight.
Your photographer is there to document the moments as they happen. You don't need to spend the whole day thinking about where you need to be next or whether you're doing everything “right.”
Laugh. Cry. Dance. Hug your people. Kiss your spouse. Soak it all in.
Maybe that new skincare product promises glowing, flawless, poreless, celebrity-level skin, and it might deliver. But then again, it might dry out your skin or leave it red and blotchy. Save it for later.
Your wedding week is a terrible time to experiment with your skincare routine. A new product can cause irritation, dryness, breakouts, or a reaction you definitely didn’t envision when dreaming about your wedding.
Stick with the routine your skin already knows. If you want to make changes, give yourself plenty of time to test them first.
If you want a tan before your wedding, be strategic about it!
If you're tanning outside, try to avoid creating obvious strap tan lines, and remember those little things you wear every day. Apple Watches, Oura rings, and other accessories can leave surprisingly noticeable tan lines.
Planning to spray tan? Test it well before the wedding. Make sure you like the color, and test it with your glam squad's makeup products to make sure everything works together.
The last thing you want is to discover on your wedding morning that your “natural glow” has turned a little...orange.
Just get the dress altered. Seriously.
Fabric tape can pull your skin in weird ways, and once you start sweating, there's a good chance it won't stay in place anyway. You don't want to spend your entire wedding day wondering whether your dress is about to shift.
If your dress doesn't fit properly, have it altered. Then you can stop worrying about it and focus on enjoying your day.
Want your dog at your wedding? YES. Absolutely. I’m totally on board for this one.
But please hire an animal handler.
Don't make your maid of honor, mom, cousin, or best friend responsible for your fur baby all day. They came to celebrate with you!
An animal handler can focus on keeping your dog comfortable, getting them where they need to be, handling bathroom breaks, and making sure they're ready when it's time for photos.
Your dog gets VIP treatment, your guests get to enjoy the wedding, and everyone wins.
You know what? You don't have to.
If you love wearing a garter, wear the garter! If you want to do a garter toss, toss away. If you want to do the bouquet toss, go for it. But if any of those things make you think, “Do we really have to do this?” the answer is no, you don’t.
The same goes for receiving lines, flower girls and ring bearers, traditional wedding cakes, standard vows, reception seating assignments, cake cutting, first dances, grand entrances, and all the other traditions that have become part of the wedding formula.
Some couples love these things. Others don't. Neither is wrong.
Keep the traditions that feel meaningful to you and leave the rest behind. If you want a garter photo but don't want to wear that thing all day, we can stage the photo later. You don't need to spend six hours being annoyed by a piece of elastic.
Family photos can get chaotic very quickly.
Before the wedding, make a list of the family combinations you want photographed and give it to your photographer. Keep it realistic, and make sure the important people know where they need to be and when.
This saves everyone time and keeps us from standing around yelling, “Where's Uncle Steve?” while Uncle Steve is at the bar talking to someone he hasn't seen since high school.
A good family photo list helps us get through those formal photos efficiently so we can get back to the fun stuff.
Your wedding photos should reflect the real you. That means movement, laughter, happy tears, weird faces, big hugs, stolen kisses, and all the little moments you didn't even realize were happening.
You don't need to spend the entire day trying to create a perfect Instagram moment. In fact, some of my favorite photos happen when couples forget I'm even there.
Trust your photographer. Let yourself react naturally. If something funny happens, laugh. If you get emotional, let yourself cry. If your spouse makes you laugh so hard that your face scrunches up, don't worry about it.
Those are the moments you'll want to remember.
There are plenty of things you can do to make your wedding day easier, but there’s no universal formula for the perfect wedding.
Eat, hydrate, give yourself some breathing room, trust your vendors, and choose the traditions and details that actually mean something to you. Then take a deep breath and enjoy the day you've spent so much time planning.
After all, the best wedding memories usually come from the moments when you stop worrying about getting everything right and simply focus on being present.
