The power of high-impact wedding planning

There are so many expenses when it comes to wedding planning. Things like the venue, caterer, photographer, florals, decor…the list goes on and things add up quick! Many brides have to prioritize what they want to invest in. Unfortunately, some brides make budget decisions that can greatly affect the overall wedding experience. Such as not booking a professional wedding photographer! Please do me a big huge favor…don’t do what I did and have family members photograph your wedding (unless they do this for a living!). This is one area that you should not forsake. The photos (and video) from your wedding day are the only things you’ll have to look back on for years to come. Hire a pro! Ok rant over…haha!

So, after years of photographing weddings in Northern California, I have found that there are certain things to avoid investing in and other parts of the day that a little extra investment will go a very long way. My hope is that this list will help you invest in the parts of your day that will be high-impact and will help you avoid spending money where it doesn’t matter.

Invest in your bridal bouquet over other florals

Make your bridal bouquet a big priority! When I’m photographing a wedding, if the bride has a gorgeous bouquet, I can make the entire day look like there were beautiful florals everywhere! I can use the bridal bouquet to spruce up bridal details, reception details AND even bride and groom portraits as well! The bridal bouquet is a focal point for me when it comes to your wedding photography and so I highly recommend getting your DREAM bouquet and investing less on the bridesmaids bouquets since they will not be photographed nearly as much.

Go with greenery over blooms

Greenery is beautiful and photographs so well! And the best thing is it can be half the price of ordering blooms. I recommend actual flowers for your bridal bouquet and other bouquets but then decorating other aspects of the day with greenery to save money but still make a huge visual impact!

Have one well-done Installation instead of a lot of small vignettes of decor

If you’re hoping for a heavily detailed reception but the cost is adding up, focus on one focal point instead of trying to decorate everywhere. For example, invest in a beautiful, large, hanging chandelier or unique lighting elements but do shorter, simpler floral centerpieces on half of your tables and candles on the other half. Or make your focal point be on the sweetheart table then the rest of the tables scaled down a bit. 

Double purposes for decor

Maybe you choose to have an epic, well-styled entryway décor at your reception that also doubles as an amazing photobooth later on throughout the evening once party dancing has started! Or you have décor items at the ceremony that can double as purposeful décor for the reception too. 

Avoid spending money on tiny details

I know customized favors, personalized M&M’s, etc. are super fun and cute, but it all adds up. At the end of the day, your hard work in the tiny details can often be overlooked. So I’d hate for you to spend that money when it could be used in other parts of your wedding day that’s more impactful.

I hope this post helps you! I know just how stressful wedding planning can be. So it’s my ultimate desire to help relieve some of that stress by giving you helpful tips and providing you with as stress-free of a wedding photography experience as possible! If you haven’t booked your Northern California Wedding Photographer yet, let’s chat!

Love, Jen

P.S. I came across this page with coupon codes for Zola! (CLICK HERE) If you don’t know what Zola is, it’s a wedding planning website similar to TheKnot. I have a profile page on there that you can see here. 

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