Our sweet bride Paige shares her best tips and experiences from her and Evan's dreamy wedding
wedding tips, wedding ideas, wedding advice
Photographer - Lauren Day Photography
I have the honor to work with the sweetest couples with the best ideas and visions. In order to bring their visions to life, I really get to know them. Working with Paige and Evan I quickly realized how intentional they were with their wedding planning. Post wedding, I was able to ask Paige what her advice would be to future brides and she did not hold back!
Paige shares her wedding day experience, best advice & tips.
What did you love most about your wedding?
(Paige) The best part of our wedding was being at the reception and realizing that everyone in the room was there to celebrate our wedding day with us. The thought that so many people came to celebrate us meant so much to my husband and I.
What unique element did you include in your wedding day?
9Paige) We ended up having a quartet from String Source play our ceremony and cocktail hour, and they were absolutely amazing! It was so wonderful to have their talents showcased at our wedding and our guests loved them.
What was your something old, new, borrowed, blue?
(Paige) My something old was my Grandma's wedding band. Unfortunately, she passed away a few years ago, and so it felt like she was with me on my wedding day. My something new could be a lot of things...my dress, shoes, veil, earrings, and necklace. My something borrowed was the blue flowered hair pieces that I wore in my updo. One of my close friends and bridesmaids got married the year before and she wore the same hair pieces on her wedding day. My something blue was my whole wedding, but specifically my bridesmaids, flower hair pins, bottom of my shoes, flowers, and decorations.
What was the best investment for your wedding?
(Paige) I think the best thing that we spent our money on was our photographer, Lauren Day Photography. Your photographer is with you for the majority of the wedding day, so you definitely want your photographer to be someone that you get along with well. Lauren was organized and kept us on our timeline, and was also very kind and easy to work with. She has such a keen eye for detail and would tell us exactly where to look, where to place our hands, and more to achieve the best photos. Lauren also has the most amazing editing skills. Her pictures are so bright and happy and truly captured the essence of the happiest day of our life. I am so glad that we chose an amazing photographer because at the end of the wedding day, you really only have the photos and the memories.
What non-traditional thing did you do?
(Paige) We did a first look and all of our photos (except for family portraits) before the ceremony began. I was so happy that we did this because we were able to mingle with guests during cocktail hour and make the most of the reception.
Our DJ, Josh Byczek, did something unique that we had never seen done before at a wedding. After we finished our first dance and the dances with our parents, to open the dance floor to our guests he did a reverse anniversary dance. He first invited couples that had been married for 5 years or less to the dance floor, then he invited couples that had been married 10 years or less, and so on. By the end of the song, all married couples were on the dance floor, and the dance floor was open and full all within the 1st song.
Best advice to a new bride to be?
(Paige) When you begin wedding planning, just take one thing at a time. First, find the time of year that you are interested in having your wedding, and then begin looking at venues. Once you have a date and venue set, then you can take the rest of the vendors one step at a time. Each week, I focused on trying to find a specific type of vendor. For example, I tried to find a photographer first. Once I got that figured out, then I started working on the next vendor which was catering. If you just take it one step at a time, it will all get done and you won't feel overwhelmed trying to do everything all at one time.
Quick recap from Dana
Take one step at a time when planning. Doing a first look will create more time to spend with guests after the ceremony. Live music for ceremony & reception is a great option. Invest in a great photographer. Additionally, Paige had shared a tense experience with a vendor who tried to finalize details the week of the wedding. These details could have been finalized ahead of time allowing for a less stressed wedding week. Click Here to learn more how to work with our team.
Vendor Team (aka magic makers)
Photo - Lauren Day Photography
Wedding Designer - Dana Renae Designs
Ceremony music - String Source
Venue - Hanover Reserve
DJ - Josh Byczek
Cake - Lukes Custom Cakes
Caterer - DelightMore Catering