The Best Wedding Planning Secrets

If you are planning your wedding there are plenty of things you need to know, already know, and want to know before you walk down the aisle. Seasoned professionals in the wedding industry – I’m talking brides, not industry professionals – have a few secrets for those of you who are falling in our married footsteps, because there will be things you are not happy with at your wedding if you don’t know to speak up now (your only other option is to forever hold your peace).

Provide Photographers with Specific Instructions

Your wedding photos will be the most memorable part of your big day. If you want specific pictures you need to start printing examples off the internet (pinterest.com is a great starting point) and cutting them out of magazines to give to your photographer. If you don’t tell the photographer what you want, you’re going to end up disappointed with your wedding photos.

Give Your DJ a Song List

Everyone in my family thought I was out of my mind when I provided my DJ with a minute by minute list of songs I wanted played at my wedding. Okay, it wasn’t a list of songs, but it was a minute by minute list of what I wanted. For example, I had that the reception would start promptly at 6 pm and I wanted soft, romantic music (think Norah Jones, Frank Sinatra, and Etta James) playing from then until dinner. I had my arrival with my husband and our wedding party into the reception written down to the minute and what song I wanted played as we walked in. From there I had the exact time of each important family dance written down along with the song I wanted played as well as the bouquet and garter moments. Every part of our wedding had a specific time and a specific song. For the dance portion of the reception (basically after dinner was over until the night ended) I told my DJ what kind of music we like, what we thought people would want to hear, and what would make me go all bridezilla on his DJ-ing behind if he dared to play at my wedding (think the chicken dance). They thought I was crazy, but my DJ thought I was a genius, thanked me profusely for making his job easier and for ensuring that I would have a great time at my own wedding.

Think Long and Hard Before You Pick Your Wedding Party

My husband and I were engaged for two years exactly before we married. We were both finishing college, working full time and building our first house and we wanted plenty of time to get things in order before we said our vows. However, we asked our wedding party to be in the wedding about one minute after we got engaged. We had a beautiful wedding and a beautiful bridal party, but in hindsight we wish we would have waited a little longer to choose the people in our party, because only a few of them would have actually been in the wedding; the rest would have been replaced with better friends we made along the way.