Advice From the Married Side – Real Couples Advice From Their Wedding Day

Today we are back with our regular feature ‘Advice from the Married Side,‘ real life wedding planning advice from all the lovely brides and grooms I have featured on the blog.

I get to feature so many amazing real weddings here on the blog and with each wedding I ask the couple to share with us their wedding planning knowledge and experiences. This post is a super useful collection of wedding wisdom from those who have just got married, to help you on your own wedding planning journey. I hope there will be something amongst these experiences that help you. Happy Planning!

photo by Helene Havard – full wedding here

General Advice 

• For a budget-saving tip think beyond traditional bridal attire, I opted for a pageant gown which was a fraction of the cost of a wedding dress.
• “DO NOT skimp on the photographer. Their talent really determines how well your day is captured.”
• Utilize planning/coordination services! It helps a ton!
• Sicily is extremely good value to have a wedding! This wedding would have cost us close to $100,000 in each of our respective home countries. So if you are on a budget don’t be discouraged, it’s absolutely possible to have the wedding of your dreams!
• Enjoy yourselves! This day is about the 2 of you and celebrating your love for each other!
• Don’t feel guilty when it comes to the invite list! Say no to the plus ones you have never met if
  that means you can use that cost elsewhere.

photo by Andi Artigue – full wedding here

Planning

• My biggest advice would be to not sweat the small things – both during planning, as well as over the actual celebrations. The little details that don’t go according to plan are not at all noticeable by guests.
• 100000% hire a wedding planner. They made everything so easy and stress free for us. They were real professionals and I couldn’t imagine planning a wedding without them!
• Hopefully you’re only going to do this once so you want to enjoy it as much as possible, think more about fun than the little touches that no one will remember!
• Don’t take things too seriously. Plan the wedding for you and don’t feel bad if you skip the silly traditions that aren’t your vibe. Think of it as a party celebrating your love, not as a wedding, and it will be a blast.
• Enjoy the planning process, it will all come together on the day!
• Stay true to what is meaningful/valuable to you as a couple instead of trying to replicate what you think a wedding is supposed to be. If you have trouble pinpointing what those features might be, go back through weddings you’ve been to together and recap the most memorable parts of your favorites to get a sense of what stands out. Divide and conquer!
• Don’t feel pressure to conform to ‘normal’ wedding traditions if that’s not you!

photo by Knotting Bells Photography – full wedding here 

Make the day your own

• The people are what make the day. Having all of your favourite people in one spot celebrating you and showing up for you is the most beautiful feeling. Enjoy it!
• Anyone can have a wedding, make this one yours.
• Do what makes you happy, people will all have a different opinions and we at times let that pressure us but once you decide to just go with the flow it becomes more enjoyable to plan
• Do what you want to do. We chose our initial theme because we thought that is what everyone else wanted and was a safe option. But nothing about the planning felt right. I remember the phone call I made to my mom when I let it all out and made the decision to change it.
• There is no right or wrong to a wedding. At the end of day, it is about how you feel.
• It is your day, do it your way.
• The most important thing when planning your wedding is that it’s yours! In every sense of the
  word. No two weddings should be the same and your wedding should reflect you and your
  partner in theme, personality, body, guest list, menu and everything else.

photo by  Esme Whiteside Photography – full wedding here

Getting organised

• Don’t worry about the details, focus on your priorities and the rest will come together.
• Don’t be afraid to ask your family and friends to help you, they loved playing a part in planning our wedding and we couldn’t have done it without them.
• Less is more.
• The guest list is the worst part but after it’s magical
•  “Booking your wedding further out, i.e., 2 years instead of within 1 year of getting engaged, allows more time to set aside money so you don’t have to cut back on anything. You only get married once so you want to give yourself enough time to pay for the wedding you want to have.”
• To organise our wedding guests’ photos we used PicturesQR, which meant we could collate all of their pictures into one place, it was so simple.

photo by  Adri Mendez Photography – full wedding here

On the day

• Don’t stress – you will be amazed at how smoothly everything runs on the day – and if anything does go wrong, you will either not notice it, or you wont care because you will be having too good a time!
• It goes by so fast, take a moment for the two of you just after the ceremony.
• On the day: savour every moment and stick together
• We stayed together the night before and it allowed us to keep each other calm and really get the most time together
• Enjoy every minute of the day and just relax!
• Take 5/10 minutes just the two of you to soak everything up.
• Enjoy every second and be present, because the day itself goes way too quickly! Feel every
  moment deeply, take it all in.
• Find a moment for just the two of you to appreciate where you are and where you have come
  from. There are so many people on the day for you to give time to, but don’t forget the most
  important ones, each other!

photo by Peter Hugo Photography – full wedding here

I hope you found these pieces of advice helpful. If you are already married is there anything you would like to add ? Was there anything in these words of wisdom that has resonated with you?

Is there something you would particularly like to ask me  for advice? any questions just email me [email protected]

BIG BOHO LOVE

KELLY XX