Photo courtesy of Amanda Pair Photography

This next tip comes from a conversation that I had with a Mother of the Bride.  She was the planner for the wedding and decided that the wedding day timeline was just too long, especially for the grandparents (having to arrive 2-3 hours before the ceremony for pictures).  

Don’t get me wrong, timelines are essential on a wedding and they are always longer than people (the groom) realize at first.  Let’s say you are getting married at 6:00, you need to be hidden away at 5:00, so his family will do pictures at 4:30, your family at 4:00, the bridal party at 3:00, you and your groom at 2:00, so that puts you getting dressed around 1:00, if your hair and makeup is already done. Whew!!  

For little ones and our older family members, this is an especially hard day.  This mother decided that since the couple was doing a 1st look (to get all of the photos over with before the ceremony) that they would save the grandparent pictures until after the ceremony.  It would also increase the length that the grandparents would be able to come to the reception!  Every wedding should do this!

Photo courtesy of Allison Lewis Photography

We recently saw the best arrangement for the parents during the wedding ceremony. To better help you understand what I am talking about, this was a formal church ceremony, the groom's father was the best man, and there wasn't a center aisle.  

So both sets of the parents (bride and groom's) were sitting on the same aisle. But instead of being on the sides, they both scooted to the middle and sat next to each other.  How great is that!  We think it showed a wonderful sense of unity between the families.  Some brides and grooms are not as lucky.  And besides for a lot of weddings, the groom's mom has to sit by herself because her husband is standing with their son on the alter.  Great for pictures and video too!  

Photo courtesy of Morgan Trinker

It is clear that I don't read all of the wedding websites out there - I really have no need.  But I think this might be an original idea.  Most sites might have too much class to cover this topic, but I feel that it is vitally important.  

Before you put on your wedding dress, please remember to go to the bathroom!  Of course you will have to revisit this "topic" several times that day therefore you will have to have an entourage to help you in the bathroom.  All I am saying is that if you can remember to go beforehand, then that is one less time that you have to "bond" with your bridesmaids.  After all, what did they really sign up for anyway...

Photo courtesy of Amanda Pair Photography

Whether you like it or not, you and your groom are responsible for getting people out on the dance floor.  Well, at least partly.  You can have a great band or DJ, but your guests want to see you out there having fun.  

I am not saying that you have to physically drag everyone and force them to dance.  We have seen when planners guide their couple to the dance floor, the guests start to dance.  When they see you having a great time and dancing, they want to come out on the dance floor too.  

One more bonus:  Your photographer and videographer can capture some great memories because everyone is out there dancing and having a great time!  

Photo courtesy of Jerrod Brown Studios

Years ago, we did our first wedding with an After Party.  The bride wanted a nice ceremony with the grandmother-approved reception.  She had lot of family and friends that wanted to wish she and her husband well. And that is what they got.  They visited with everyone, cut the cake and threw the garter.  Done.  

Then the younger folks and the photographer and videographer jumped in our cars and went to a separate location for the After Party. I think it was at B & A Warehouse.  And that was really where the fun began!  They had karoke, snacks, and an open bar.  Definitely not grandmother approved, but it was what the bride wanted.  What a way to compromise.  And for the record, we actually delivered two versions of their video...

We have seen the After Party for many reasons - lots because of grandparents, but what about if you just can't afford to have an open bar for that many people or if you just don't want to invite that many people to your reception but because of family issues, you must.  Compromise.  

The After Party doesn't have to be 300 guests.  Invite who you want and think outside the box.

Several summers ago we filmed a beautiful wedding at a local church.  Everything was just perfect for the day.  During the ceremony, one of the mics that was on a soloist went out right before he was about to sing.  When a mic goes bad, it doesn't just stop working, it transmits this awful sounding static that is heard by everyone in the church.  

Photo courtesy of David Boyd Photography 

I guess these things happen. The problem was that as soon as it started, we looked over to the sound board for the operator to fix the problem on the board and no one was there.  Yikes!  The sound board was turned on by the church, but they didn't have anyone to operate it.  I don't know if this is normal policy for lots of churches, but come on, the ceremony is under 45 minutes usually, can't the church pay someone to be there!!!!! 

If someone had been working, they could have had the ability to fix the mic problem or if nothing else, pull his mic altogether.  Because trust me, this guy could have carried the entire church without using a mic!  To make it worse, people were looking at us to fix the problem, but we couldn't.  It wasn't our sound board, and we are running cameras.  Needless to say, for the final edit, we tried and tried to minimize the static on the video, and we made HUGE improvements, but you could still hear it.  Thankfully the wonderful bride and her family didn't let it ruin the day. (This beautiful photo below was not from the wedding in question.)

Moral of the story, make sure that the church not only has a sound board, but also an operator for your wedding.  

"He said, she said."

I don't read all of the traditional wedding blogs with tips and checklists and all of that.  I read it when I was planning our wedding, but really not since, so I hope you won't find any similarities.  The point of the Insider's Tips is to try to post things that you might not have heard of/thought of/seen before.  

With all of that said, my next tip might be one that you have heard about before.  But it is really important, so I wanted to post it.  

I think we have established that it is hard to pick out vendors for your wedding.  You don't know who to trust or who will do a good job.  If you have a friend that has recently gotten married, then she is a great resource.  But don't overlook the great resource that one of your already booked vendors can be.  

Now of course, I love receiving referrals.  A very large portion of our business comes from referrals, so I don't take this lightly.  But I really love giving referrals to brides.  After all, this is our world.  We work with a whole lot of people - we know the quality professionals to refer you to.  Anyone can spend a million dollars on advertising claiming to be the best whatever, but just because you have money, it doesn't mean that you care about your work or your clients.  Double check with a few of your wedding vendors to see who they can recommend.  

Photo courtesy of Stacy Richardson Photography - gorgeous bouquet by HotHouse Design Studio

Is this thing on?

Not only is my next tip one that can help you, as the bride, but it also makes our life easier too!  It's a win-win!

Here in the South, the majority of the toasts are done the day before the wedding at the rehearsal dinner.  Not only do you need to hire a professional to capture those priceless moments, but please also ask you venue for a mic stand.  

It will require your guests who are giving a toast to come up to the front of the room where everyone can see them.  (And maybe even stand in the lighted part of the room.) For your videographer, this helps tremendously!!  If you don't have a mic stand, people think that they can just stand up at their table and speak loud enough for people to see/hear them, while we are trying to get a camera focused on them from across the room.  

We are also able to plug our audio recording devices into the mic so that we get crystal clear audio on that special toast when your "never cries EVER" dad, tells you and everyone how proud he is of you, and how he couldn't have asked for a better guy than your fiancé.  Those are the priceless moments that we capture at the rehearsal dinner.

The video clip below starts with very compelling audio from the rehearsal dinner.  We are so glad that they hired us to film it AND used a professional mic setup.