Picture your upcoming wedding for a moment. What do you see? Do you see smiling faces from family and friends, your picture perfect dress, and the love of your life excited to join your lives publicly together forever? I’m willing to bet it looks something close to that and not a day full of regrets. Unfortunately for many brides when they think about their wedding day it’s full of regrets. I don’t want that to be you. As a wedding photographer here in Indianapolis I only want the best for your wedding day. Because when you are happy it shines through in your wedding photos. So after talking to some of my own past brides and looking over the internet, here are the 5 biggest regrets brides have from their wedding day.

Let me clarify real quick I’m not talking about small regrets like inviting too many people or drinking too much the week before the wedding, (Another momosa? Why not!) No I’m talking about the regrets that would keep you up at night years after your wedding in the hopes that you can avoid the mistakes these brides did to have the perfect wedding for you.

1.Not Having A First Look

I know what you are thinking, “Someone out there is losing sleep because she didn’t see her Fiance an hour earlier?” The first look is so much more than seeing each other before the ceremony. It sets the tone for the rest of the day. Having that time before the ceremony lets you get out your nerves that you would otherwise have to hold in for another hour or more until the ceremony. The first look also allows you and your bridal party to take all of your portrait before the ceremony which means you can enjoy your cocktail hour with your guests who came from near and far to spend these few hours with you. Also did you know the tradition of not seeing each other before the ceremony is not about bad luck but it’s from arranged marriages to keep the groom from jilting the bride to be if she was not to his standards. Gross.

2: #DressRegret

One of the biggest decisions you will be making for your wedding day aside from who you will be marrying is what you will be wearing. When asked one bride said “I don’t like thinking about our wedding day because I hated the dress I wore. It wasn’t my style at all but I felt so bad that my fiance's parents bought it I couldn’t take it back” It’s natural to have some buyers remorse after every big purchase but if it doesn't pass in the time leading up to your wedding you might want to see about an exchange policy and get a dress that makes you scream with excitement.

Check out my interview with Sophia's Bridal

3: Not Hiring a Day Of Coordinator

On your wedding day a whole host of things could go wrong. Like the caterer not realizing your venue is out of their delivery area until the day of the wedding and won’t deliver and serve your food. Or your limo breaking down on the way to the pick you up and take you and your bridal party to the reception. These are not problem that you want to have to solve on your wedding day but for some couples hiring a full service wedding planner is just financially out of the question so they think they have to deal with all the stress. Thats not the case. A Day Of Coordinator is much more in reach financially, still lets you plan the perfect wedding for you, and will take care of all the fires on your wedding day.

4:Following The Hottest Trends

Did you know that almost 40% of 2000 brides surveyed would do their hair and makeup if they could? The main reason being is that they picked the hottest trend at the time of their wedding to follow. Now following popular trends isn’t always a bad thing but the problem is we won’t know if it was a bad idea until years later (Just look at your moms hairstyle in her high school yearbook). But I’m not just talking about hair here, everything from your style of dress (again look at your mom’s wedding dress) to your wedding venue. Remember it’s always fun to do something new but on your wedding day make sure it feel right, too.

5:Not Hiring a Professional Photographer

I know this may seem like I’m being biased here, so don’t take it from me. Just Google “Wedding Regrets” on your own and you will see that every single result on the first page highlights a bride who regrets not hiring a professional photographer. As most couples who have been married for 10 years or so will tell you, they don’t remember what their centerpieces looked like, they don’t remember who sat where, what flavor cake they had, or what their wedding colors were. The very things you may be stressing over right now you won’t have any recollection of in a few years. You don’t remember them because you can’t take the with you after your wedding day. Your wedding photos are the only thing that last for years and decades after your wedding.

You may be considering hiring a friend with a really nice camera to shoot your wedding like this couple Tracy and Duran. Shortly after their wedding day their friend moved to New York and 5 years later they are still waiting for their wedding photos.

Check out their Wedding Reshoot HERE!

If you keep googling you will find brides who’s photographers used the buffet as the backdrop for family photos, go missing for major parts of the day, or who’s cameras die half way through the ceremony. These are all reasons to consider hiring a professional photographer especially when hear that more than 40% of brides say they would have spent more money on their wedding photographer knowing that they only get married once and their wedding photos last a lifetime.

As an example check out the photo this bride got back from her co worker who had a nice camera of her and her bridesmaids.

I hope this list helped motivate you to not make the same mistakes the brides in this blog post did. Ultimately it does not matter if the two of you just get eloped in Yosemite or if you have a $100,000 wedding. What matters is that you two stay true to yourselves and your relationship to plan the wedding perfect for you both.

See More: Complete Wedding Planning Guide!

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