5 Wise Wedding Day Tips :: Bride to Bride
  • Bride to Bride
April 30, 2014

Dear Bride,

Man meets woman…they fall in love…he puts a ring on it! Marrying the love of your life is a magical day! I remember wondering what type of man my soul mate would be, how was I going to meet him, how would I know it was him? All of my questions were answered on Saturday, March 29, 2014 when I married the man of my dreams and it was absolutely the best day of my life. We had everything planned out to a “T” since we are both planners and always have been. To my surprise not everything went according to plan on that beautiful Saturday morning… Let’s be real…weddings are expensive!!!

The biggest surprise was setting our budget and then seeing it quickly double once price quotes started flowing in! Eeek! You can do one of two things…start looking to where you can cut down extra costs (that won’t be easy, a girl knows what she wants) or dip a little more into your reserves and make it happen. We both had our opinions of where we would not cut costs and where we could use our reserves so working together we made it happen. With this being said both of you will probably have areas that you may or may not be willing to compromise but that this is a not a time to let ego get in the way. Talk openly about things together and it will be less stress on both of you and your decisions will be the right ones. New Jersey Wedding Photographer Wedding Tips by POPography.org_877 Photography:

If you’re reading this then you’re off to a PERFECT start! I can’t rave enough about Leaha and Jeff with POPography and you can’t go wrong with them! Seeing their chemistry, both personally and professionally, brings out the best in their ability to capture the depth of your relationship with your mate. Leaha has captured our hearts and souls through a click of her camera and I can truly say we have made some amazing friends in them. One of the things I wanted the most for our wedding was POPography and I am so glad that my husband agreed. Your photos are your memories that will last the rest of your life and for this reason you deserve the best and that is exactly what POPography will give you! Photography was one of the bigger parts but we got exactly what we wanted and couldn’t be happier! I cannot wait for POPography to capture all of the next big chapters in our lives!

New Jersey Wedding Photographer Wedding Tips by POPography.org_876 Hair:

Research a stylist, get recommendations from family and
friends, and plan to have a trial “style” done on your hair before the big day.  I did my trial “style” for our engagement pictures and wanted a simple wave curl for those and half up for the big day. Easy-peasy. It looked amazing for the photos, even if it was very humid and sprinkled on us a little bit. Then for our wedding a friend of ours offered us the use of his salon for a steal of a deal (cutting down cost, yay!…so we thought). My “new” stylist called me and we chatted for a bit while she told me about herself and how she likes to do things. She sounded perfect! The morning of the wedding was hectic…our wedding was at 12:30pm!!!  Hair at 8am?!? I am not a morning person, not that I could sleep anyways, so to the salon we went. Two of my bridesmaids arrived at the salon before I did so the stylist started on them. I thought they looked beautiful but was then informed that she had not styled their hair the way they had asked. My mom’s turn…same thing. Oh boy! My turn…gulp. I showed her two pictures of what I wanted.  She started curling and everything was fine…then she started tying knots on the top of my head? YES, knots! I asked her what she was doing to which she replied, “I’m giving you an elegant rose bouquet headband”…um no! I told her I didn’t like it; she then proceeded to give me a flat, huge bump on top of my head. It was awful!  Thank goodness for my girl friend, Mercedes (an amazing hair-stylist at Reign Salon in Southlake, Texas). She sat me down and fixed me right up! My hair looked exactly the way I had envisioned and she really helped save the day! New Jersey Wedding Photographer Wedding Tips by POPography.org_881 Make-up:

When someone tells you they have done hair and make-up for
 models and has been featured in a few magazines…research them anyway! Find out any and everything you can. The same stylist who tried to give me an “elegant rose bouquet headband” also said she was a make-up artist. To be quite honest, I am a little embarrassed by this! She made me look like a completely different person! Painted on eyebrows, blue eyeliner, no eye shadow…and if she told me I looked just like Faith Hill but prettier one more time I could have screamed! Faith Hill is gorgeous and we look absolutely nothing alike! Dark brown lip-liner, light pink lipstick…oh, I just looked awful. I paid her and couldn’t get out of the salon quick enough, not only because I was already late to my own wedding, but also so I could cry my eyes out. I snapped a quick ugly-selfie in the car and headed straight for the church. Thank goodness for my awesome bestie, Becky, for watching make-up “how-to” videos on YouTube instead of studying for school on all those late nights because she also saved my day! New Jersey Wedding Photographer Wedding Tips by POPography.org_883New Jersey Wedding Photographer Wedding Tips by POPography.org_882New Jersey Wedding Photographer Wedding Tips by POPography.org_884 Sentimental Venues:

Every venue or photography location we chose had 
a special meaning to us. Our engagement photo session locations, yes plural (poor Leaha), were all at places that were special to us and therefore made us even more comfortable in our pictures…not to mention the few bottles of wine we “incorporated” into the shoot. Our “Save the Date” location was shot at a local theater that had a very helpful staff that accommodated our idea. It was also shot by friends so again this made us very comfortable. We got married in our church, where I was baptized and Jason was confirmed; our reception was where we had our first Valentines dinner and since we had a day wedding we also had a Wedding Celebration at night at Trophy Room Dallas where we had our very first kiss. Not all of our venues were within the budget we set for ourselves but it was something we both wanted and after we talked about it all we easily agreed. It also made for great
 conversations with our guests and we were comfortable everywhere we 
were…I think that’s key! New Jersey Wedding Photographer Wedding Tips by POPography.org_880 New Jersey Wedding Photographer Wedding Tips by POPography.org_878 Massage:

By the time your wedding day finally arrives you will have put an enormous of time, effort and energy into it. Whether you have a wedding planner or not decisions have to be made like deadlines, budgeting, colors and the list goes on and on! It all can take a toll on your body and mind and unfortunately you might find yourself not being on the same page with your fiancé or maybe falling behind on your normal day-to-day things. You owe it to yourself to let that all out before one of the biggest days of your life! You’re getting married! Splurge a little and get that couples massage or a single massage and take 90 minutes for yourself. I promise you, you won’t regret it! It will help you decompress and get refocused on all of the tasks at hand.

Final Thoughts:

Getting married shouldn’t be about making other people happy.  I had to keep telling myself that over and over again. If I can give any advice from a bride who has no regrets regarding her wedding, besides not being able to spend enough time with guests, make sure your wedding
 represents who you and your fiancé are and do what makes you happy. It
 is no one else’s day but your own! Own it, love it and remember it forever!

From Bride to Bride,

Mrs. Goode New Jersey Wedding Photographer Wedding Tips by POPography.org_885 New Jersey Wedding Photographer Wedding Tips by POPography.org_879Click “LIKE” to let us know you were here!

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