I know I am absolutely terrible at keeping up with my blog, in my defence the second half of last year and the first half of this year has been crazy busy! I am absolutely loving all these weddings, but it doesn’t leave me very little time to try and write something… With that in mind, I wanted to put together a short little piece which I hope will offer some help and advice for the morning of your wedding. Bridal preps often very easily turn a wee bit chaotic as you try to get everyone around you organised while also having your hair and make up being done and trying to ignore those nervous little butterflies!

First things first, don’t skip breakfast! Yes I know it may be tempting, especially if you feel too nervous to eat, but after the ceremony things will happen so quickly you might not get a chance to have a bite or two until the wedding breakfast. It will also help that morning champagne go down a little bit better!

Speaking of champagne…. I always love getting a nice fun shot of the bride opening up a bottle of bubbly and all the girls (and guys!) clinking glasses with a great big cheers! It’s just a little bit of fun, I have also been known to try and get a bride to shake up the bottle first if we are outside for that extra flair which looks great on film – lots of laughing and smiles! So always try and keep one bottle back for when your videographer and photographer have arrived, even if it’s just a cheap bottle while you drink the good stuff!

Try to organise yourself the night before, take just a little bit of time to ensure all your accessories such as jewellery, shoes and perfume etc are all in one place. These make for lovely details shots in your film, so it’s really helpful to have them all in one place so your videographer and photographer can quickly grab them and then move onto the real fun parts!

Bridal party gifts, the same as with any gifts its always lovely to be able to catch this on film. It’s a sweet moment between you and your closest friends. Again this is one of those moments I like to ask brides to try and wait until we get there to hand out, sometimes this could just be a gift of jewellery after you have already given them their robes and other personalised bits. Many brides like to hand out the goodie bags with robes and hangers etc the night before which is great, but think about keeping something small back.

This leads me into whether or not its worth going down the route of personalised gifts, particularly robes. In all honestly if you can afford it, then go for it! Not only does it mean you will all look fabulous and well-coordinated, there’s a good reason for all the robes and button-down shirts seen on Pinterest. The answer to that is because of your gorgeous hair and make-up of course! It may seem obvious, but wearing a shirt that you have to pull over your head after having your hair done is a disaster waiting to happen!

If you want to try and keep gifts to a minimum, I highly recommend at the very least source some nice thick wooden hangers for all the dresses, they don’t have to be personalised if you don’t want, and they can either be painted white or plain wooden. As long as they all look consistent. It’s always such a lovely shot to have your wedding dress hanging up with all your bridesmaids dresses, and the devil really is in the details here, it does make a very big difference if they are all on matching hangers! Plain wooden ones won’t cost as much as personalised ones, you can buy them quite easily and they can be used for hanging up nice dresses after the wedding so it’s not going to be wasted money.

Exchanging gifts with your fiancé, one of the moments that looks and sounds so lovely in your wedding film is opening up and reading a card from your loved one on the morning with those last few words before you tie the knot. It’s often a very emotional moment, try to keep this in mind and either find a quiet corner or make sure any music if turned off. Music during the bridal preps is great to get everyone in a celebratory mood, but not so great over the top of such a beautiful moment in your film!

Lastly, and yes I know this was meant to be short but here we are! Lastly try to tidy up as you go, this is really important for that incredibly special moment when your dad/family or bridesmaids see you in your wedding dress for the first time just before you walk down the aisle. Trust me when I say no one wants to have their knickers in the background of this! I often find myself whipping around the room to throw bits and pieces under the bed or in a cupboard to make the room look tidy, however this does mean it can be a bit hard to find things afterwards!

There are so many other small bits and pieces of advice I could go on and on about for the morning of your wedding, I might cover them in a future blog post but I wanted to talk about a few things that really do make a big difference for your wedding video and photos.

Caroline x