Performing at Weddings is something I do to make a living, therefore, I have great knowledge and experience of how these events go and some great advice to share.
I also married my wife in 2017 and can talk from my own experiences about having a stress free day!
Check out my top tips below:
- If possible, stay at your wedding venue the night before your special day. You can start organising things beforehand and you can wake up feeling refreshed and relaxed. My wife said this was really beneficial for her – I stayed at home and drove to the venue in the morning.
- Have your group photo taken first – After you have finished your ceremony, confetti shot and grabbed your glass of prosecco, I personally believe this is now a great time to take your big group photo whilst you still have all your guests in one place. Otherwise, people will spread out, go to the bar or be reluctant to get in your photo – You know what families are like.
- Do your speeches first – We all get nervous when it comes to public speaking. Which is why I feel it is best to get these done as quickly as possible to release any tension. There is nothing worse than your stomach churning throughout your meal because you are nervous about the speech. Keep them short and sweet too, as your guests will be looking forward to having some food after the 1-2 hour photo reception. Canapes can be a good idea to combat this, if your budget allows.
- Have a nanny or babysitting service for the cry babies – I have performed at so many weddings where a baby has cried uncontrollably during the ceremony, or a child keeps talking throughout the speeches. They are understandably bored as weddings can be a long day. Having someone to look after the little ones is a great idea to make your day a little more blissful.
- Don’t over-do it – Less is more – I have been to a few weddings in the past where the bride and groom have been overwhelmed with the amount of suppliers they have booked. The speeches had run over, the day was behind schedule and they still needed to see several people before they had to leave. They had simply over booked and didn’t allow themselves enough time, which inevitably stressed them out.
- Have one interesting surprise at each part of your day – After your ceremony, your wedding can be divided into 4 different parts: Photo Reception, Wedding Breakfast, Room Turnaround and Evening Reception. In my opinion it is nice to keep your guests guessing what will happen next. So a cool surprise at each part would be very fun… Make it personal to you.
- At my wedding in 2017, we had a celebrant and did the official marriage the day before – This allowed us to have a really personal ceremony where I did a rap song that I wrote in the early days of our relationship. We had a magician during our photo reception (naturally), a pianist during the wedding breakfast, garden games during the room turnaround and in the evening we had a photobooth and confetti cannon. We also did a fun idea for our first dance where we did a mash up! So for the first 30 seconds was a romantic song that we both liked, followed by “mas que nada” (Brazilian football song) my wife is brazilian, so she did a samba dance and I had a mate throw in a football where I did kick ups, (badly… I had a few beers) and then we finished the mash up with “call me maybe” which was a song that meant a lot to us, but was also upbeat enough to get everyone up and dancing. A celebrant worked really well at our wedding!
- There are no set rules – The most important thing that you must do when planning your wedding, is that you do it your way! Don’t feel pressured to have certain things because family and friends say you should. Everybody is different and there is definitely no set way to have a wedding. Some people get married abroad, some just have an intimate meal with close family and friends. Always do what feels best for you.
- Relax – The best thing to do is to build trust with your wedding suppliers and feel confident that they will turn up on time and do a good job. On the day, try and go with the flow, there is only so much planning you can do.
I hope you enjoyed reading my tips, and if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at any time.
Happy Wedding planning!