If you are reading this right now, particularly if you’re engaged- can you imagine your life in 5 years? What you two will look like, where you’ll live, how you’ll feel about each other?
I certainly couldn’t have dreamed up where Justin and I would be in our 5th year of marriage. I love him so much more than I did on our wedding day (people kept saying that was a thing- it didn’t really make sense to me until now) we WORK together full time(!), we’ve purchased our first home, and it seems like life just keeps getting better.
As we’ve reflected back on our wedding planning, we wanted to share three pieces of advice. Our hope is that these will change how you think about wedding planning, and get you excited and ready for the adventure of marriage ahead.
1) Do the first look
I did NOT want to do a first look, y’all! Since I was younger, I always loved that quintessential “aisle moment”, and couldn’t imagine anything else. While planning, Justin told me he was particularly passionate about the first look and asked if I’d reconsider. (Especially when I said I wanted a lot of time with him and to enjoy cocktail hour with our guests) Marriage is about compromise, so I went on with it. Looking back- I can’t imagine how little we would have seen each other that day if we didn’t do that first look! Our first look allowed us to spend the day together starting at 1:30 pm as opposed to 5:00. 3 extra hours of quality time with my husband on our wedding day is something I wouldn’t trade for anything.
To read more about why I loved my 180 on this choice, see my blog “5 reasons to consider a first look” here.
2) Plan out a ceremony that is meaningful
Don’t believe the lie that you have to “get through the ceremony” to get to the fun part of the day (the reception). Nothing breaks my heart more than when I hear this sentiment!
Our wedding ceremony was sacred, and we look back on it still in awe at the sense of emotion that came along with the commitments we made that day. I love that we took the time to incorporate readings, a song our friend sang, communion, a ring warming ceremony, and writing our own vows. We had a friend officiate for us, and meticulously thought about each detail of this special time. It’s worth so much more to us than flowers, food, music, etc. It’s the reason we were all there that day and we wanted it to feel that way! Would highly recommend everyone take the time to create a ceremony that is meaningful.
3) Hire the amazing photographer (and videographer)
Honestly, I’m not saying this because I’m a photographer. This isn’t a sales pitch. This is just me, a former bride, understanding ONLY post-wedding just how much our wedding photos and video mean to me. Many people assume Justin and I hired a friend, or got a discount on photography because he was a photographer too. NOPE! Justin and I hired our amazing wedding photographer Brett Heidebrecht (@brettheidbrecht) simply because we loved the quality of his work and felt connected to him after talking. In full transparency, he was more expensive than Justin’s wedding collections at the time. We happily paid every penny, and now looking back, my only regret is not paying for MORE time and another photographer on the team to have even more of his amazing images! Truly some of the best money we’ve spent in our life together has been on quality photography- we look at our images all the time and can’t wait to share these heirlooms with our kids someday.
There you have it: our three best pieces of wedding planning advice as we look back on our day 5 years later. We hope these tips will be useful to you as you’re walking your own wedding planning journey. Congratulations- the best is yet to come!
If you want even more wedding planning advice, check out this blog on organizing your family photos!
XO
Ashley
