When planning your wedding, the first element on your mind probably isn’t the sun’s position at every hour. However, as you embark further on the planning process, considering lighting is especially important if great photos are one of your top priorities. While there are some typicalities behind wedding timelines, don’t overlook lighting when creating that schedule, as it can affect various photos throughout your wedding day.

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Choosing a photographer that knows lighting makesallthe difference, so I teamed up with Lulle Photo to give you some pointers on how to structure your wedding ceremony around lighting so you look good while tying the knot.

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Here are four elements to consider when planning your wedding ceremony around lighting.

So, you’re engaged and ready to start planning your wedding. Yay! Congrats! How exciting and…terrifying, at the same time. Two of the biggest (and usually most expensive) vendors you’ll choose for your day are your venue and your photographer.

Though, narrowing down which photographer to hire in a sea of photographers can be tricky, especially if this is your first time booking a professional. Even if you have previously worked with someone trained in photography, wedding photography is a whole new field, and it’s definitely not a vendor you want to skimp on.

If you’re wondering what the most important traits you should consider when selecting your photographer, Michelle from Wandermore Photography and me (Liz) compiled five elements to consider when browsing wedding photographers.

So, you’re engaged! Yay!

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You probably know the venue and have already selected the photographer – you’ve got your main priorities covered!

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But then what? You’ve got a laundry list of vendors to contact, meet with, and choose, And all this hassle on top of working at your day job while juggling every other priority in life.

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And there are all these websites that give you conflicting, and often unrealistic, information about when to book your wedding vendors.

Your wedding rehearsal is the first event to kick off your wedding weekend. It may seem like an easy task (you’re only gathering your loved ones, right?), but what should have been an exciting moment for you can suddenly feel like herding a flock of people together aimlessly. If your friends and family haven’t seen one another in a while, consider this even greater of a challenge!

Have no fear because your wedding planner and officiant are here! You might debate skipping a rehearsal entirely, but a ceremony rehearsal is an excellent way for everyone to get comfortable with the ceremony flow and place names with faces. A quick runthrough kicks some of the jitters aside for smooth sailing on the wedding day in front of your guests.

Your officiant and planner are both knowledgeable about ceremony processionals, choreography, and directing members of your wedding party to walk and stand so they look photogenic and comfortable.

But who guides this process? Depending on your preference, the rehearsal can be led by the planner, the officiant, or both. Follow these tips to decide who to have present during your rehearsal.

Figuring out who the heck to officiate your wedding is one tough job, especially if you haven’t been to many weddings before or have any idea how a ceremony is supposed to work.

Whether you’re asking your friend to officiate your wedding or hiring an officiant, there are few qualities you’ll want to be on the lookout for to ensure you have a tip-top wedding ceremony to kick-off your day! Nothing is more of a buzzkill than a sleeper ceremony or someone who drags the ceremony on and on with embarrassing stories of you both.

Here are a few tips to help you out.

Have you ever been to a ceremony where you either fell asleep during the ceremony, raised your eyebrow in confusion, or had your eyes open wiiiiide in shock because of something the officiant said? Because I HAVE. I don’t officiate every wedding I’ve attended, so I’ve seen the good and the bad side of wedding ceremonies.

A wedding ceremony can seriously make or break a wedding. If you don’t think that’s true, do you remember the last wedding ceremony you went to? Probably not, and that’s not a good thing. The last thing you want at your wedding is grandma snoring (my grandmother has snored during a wedding) or Uncle Bon cracking inappropriate jokes about you peeing in public as a child during your ceremony (I have also heard this story at a wedding….). Your flowers and photos and food choices are certainly important, but this day is about your commitment, right?

As wedding ceremonies become more and more personal and non-traditional, professional officiants are booking real fast. Whether you use a pro or enlist your friend, here are X reasons why you should find an officiant first.

I love unity pieces in wedding ceremonies. Symbolizing our lives is a great way to think about where we are now, where we will go in the future, and who we might become. Though, I don’t like unity pieces just for the sake of them.

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If you’re working with me and pitch me a unity piece that really doesn’t fit with anything we’ve talked about, I’m going to tell you honestly. For example, if you don’t like going to the beach, why on earth would we add a sand pouring unity to your ceremony? You should not include any unity element solely to kill time. There are plenty of ways to make your wedding ceremony unique without creating some cheesy metaphor to signify your love.

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So, how do you go about developing a unity ceremony that truly belongs to you?

Here are the 5 elements I consider when brainstorming unity pieces with couples.

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Photo Credit: Rubinski Works

Everybody’s been to a wedding ceremony they don’t remember. Maybe the processional had way too many folks in the wedding party, or the music played a little too late or a little too early, or the officiant dragged on and on and on. Naturally, it’s easy to skip over the ceremony planning process and dive right into crafting beautiful floral arrangements, specific colors, trinkets with your memories, and heart-stopping reception speeches because everyone remembers the reception.

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While everyone else may have a sleeper of a ceremony, you don’t have to. Sure, it may seem challenging to create a ceremony that captivates your guests’ attention, but you only need two vendors to give your ceremony all the feels and certainly leave your guests crying, laughing, and sharing your ceremony experience with all of their friends.

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Hiring professional live music and an officiant can evoke some seriously stunning and light-hearted emotion throughout the ceremony your guests won’t forget during the most important part of your wedding.

Boom Island Strings and Liz Rae Weddings teamed up to provide three ways hiring this dynamic duo (or quintuple!) can make your wedding talked about for ages.

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Photo Credit: Kaylah Hammer Photography

As an officiant who also owns an elopement and small wedding planning company, it’s quite comical that I’m writing this. Or contradictory. However you want to view it.
I started my elopement planning business long before COVID – two years to be exact. I’ve been pushing elopements before it was cool. Yeah, I was that vendor.

But I don’t believe it’s right to push couples to elope purely for the sake of keeping the wedding industry alive or to keep our wedding businesses alive. That’s not fair. And it’s not fair to couples who are persuaded to host a wedding they quite literally never wanted.

So, my lovely couples, I want to be honest with you and provide you with some solid reasons why you shouldn’t elope, even if it seems like your wedding won’t happen for another century.

I can’t lie – I love small weddings. I’ve always found them to be less awkward than a large wedding. What’s weirder than hundreds of people staring at you while you say your vows? I’m not sure, but I do know that a small wedding is so much more inviting!

Though if you were planning on hosting a large wedding and suddenly had to change plans, it’s jarring to be thrown into a miniature wedding. Is it still a wedding if none of your original guests are there? And what the heck do you do when timelines are thrown out the window? Where do you stand? Do people sit? Do you play music? What do you doooooo?

Deep breath. Calm down. Your small wedding will be just as great because here are four easy ways to make your small wedding less awkward:

When I first searched on Google before diving into officiating, I remember thinking, “Wow, officiants my age are basically nonexistent and the rest have websites from the 90s.” It’s been six years and really nothing has changed. I’m not trying to toot my own horn (toot toot!) but I have yet to see another officiant with a bright, bold, fun, colorful site like ours.

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As much as I wish I could be in multiple places at once, I can’t, which means I can’t accept every wedding request we receive. So, how on earth do you find a cool officiant that doesn’t have any preconceived notions about your wedding?

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Well, here’s some real truthful knowledge about the wedding industry and real places you can find a cool officiant like me.