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Writer's pictureNina Bashaw

5 tips for getting the most out of your wedding day



One part of my job as a Tampa wedding photographer is to help you have a stress free wedding and give you beautiful images to look back on with good memories of your wedding. So I am giving you 5 wedding planning tips to help you make sure you have a fun and enjoyable wedding day.

1. GIVE YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER PLENTY OF TIME FOR DETAIL SHOTS

As a St Petersburg wedding photographer I love shooting bride and grooms, portraits are one of my favorite parts of the wedding day. But another thing I get excited about shooting are all the the little details of the wedding. Such as the dress, rings, flowers, etc. Many bride and grooms forget to have all of these details laid out for their Sarasota wedding photographers to photograph and often are scrambling at the last minute to get all of those items together so they can be documented. But you might be asking, why are these things important? Because they help tell your story in your wedding photos, and it really helps tie the whole wedding together. You also may have taken a great deal of time either picking out all of these little details, or you may have spent hours actually putting your centerpieces together and you really should have those photographed so you can look back at these things and look fondly back at your wedding. Make sure to allow 45 minutes for you photographer to capture all your details.



Yellow velvet ring box from Etsy
Tampa wedding photographer Nina Bashaw


2. HAVE A DETAILED AND SIMPLE FAMILY PHOTO LIST

List the the photos by family and include each of their names for each set of group. By doing this it will help your photographer know who to ask for in each photo and it will make sure that no one is missed from the photos. Family photos can take up a lot of time when you’re trying to organize everyone in one place. So to keep from wasting time have the list available for your photographer, wedding planner and make sure that everyone knows what time and place family photos will be taken at! As always keep the list as short and simple this will allow time for bride and groom portraits and for you to get back to your guests to celebrate!



How to have a stress free wedding. Tampa wedding photographer Nina Bashaw
Sarasota wedding photographers

3. TAKE A FEW PRIVATE MINUTES AS HUSBAND AND WIFE

I personally think this is so incredibly important for couples to do this. After all your the wedding day is often hectic and before you know it’s over. I suggest to take a break from it all to sneak away to have a private moment and process everything thats just happened. This can be after the Ceremony or right before the Reception.


4. HAVE A FIRST LOOK AT YOUR RECEPTION

If you’re a perfectionist you’ve more than likely gone over and over in your mind and on your Pinterest boards on exactly how you want your reception to look and feel like. So take time to sneak away and have the first look at the space before all the guests see it. After all you should be the first to see all of your hard work and vision brought to life! Make sure to have your wedding photographer there before your guest arrive. You want them to capture everything in its clean and beautiful condition. What you don’t want is crumpled napkins and half-empty drink glasses, and dishes all over the place.



luxury wedding at The Orlo House in Tampa, FL
St Pete wedding photographers Nina Bashaw

5. DO A FAKE WEDDING EXIT

This one I can’t stress enough. I know that everyone loves a fun exit photo but from personal experience and from the 100’s of weddings I’ve shot I will say this is often the one biggest disappointments of the bride and grooms wedding day. If you wait until the end of the reception to do your exit photo one of the two things will happen. 1; the majority of your guests will have already left and not that many people are there to make the exit “photo worth”, 2; the guests are a little tipsy and don’t follow directions. What’s the solution? Do the exit earlier in the evening, such as right after cocktail hour, or my personal favorite the old school exit when you’re leaving the ceremony. This ensures that your guests will be in attendance, participate in the excitement, won’t be drunk, and you will end up with the exit photo of your dreams!





Tampa wedding photographer Nina Bashaw how to get the most out of your wedding day
Tampa wedding photographer Nina Bashaw



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