Wedding Mistakes To Avoid

Not wanting to sound patronising at all, however after more than a decade working with hundreds’ of couples in the wedding industry I do feel I am well qualified and versed to offer some advise to help couples avoid doing some very common mistakes on their very special day.

So you have the date planned, booked the venue, shortlisted your preferred suppliers, now it’s just a matter of joining the dots and actually planning the date and securing your bookings.

First of all, if any supplier offers you a “deal which is too good to be true or too miss” then it probably is. As I mentioned in previous blogs always meet the supplier in person if possible before parting with any deposits. If you cannot actually meet in person, try and meet virtually. Thankfully technology is now very commonly available and easy to use.

Secondly look for reviews and proof of previous work. Make sure that if you are dealing with a supplier, especially when it comes to DJs that you explicitly ask the question:

Will it be you in person who will DJ on my wedding day / night or do you subcontract?

Do NOT accept anything other than a straight forward YES it will be me. Any other response is only a disguise to subcontracting your booking.

Have a clear mind what sort of music you would like and more importantly what you would not like played on the night. However keep an open mind and do not overdose your playlist to suite your own personal music tastes. Remember you will have guests of various ages and demographics and hence you will want everyone to have a good time and enjoy themselves. If your DJ is a true professional he should easily be able to read the crowd so leaving him to it might also be a good call, so long as you would have met him before and you feel you can trust him to do a good job, also based on his previous reviews.

Choosing The Right Photographer & Videographer. This is also imperatively important.

Clearly there are photographers out there that offer a far more expensive package then others. By all means this does not mean that the less expensive photographers are not worthy of shooting your wedding or not as talented. Give them a chance, check their work out, meet up with them have a chat, again look at previous work and ask for reviews.

A professional photographer would definitely guide you but not impose or “push” you around or worse of all “higher” his voice to get heard. This is your fun day, your most special day and again your photographer must be prepared to be flexible and appreciate how important it is for you. You are far more than “just another booking or a couple” to him or her and any remotely professional would clearly appreciate that and behave accordingly.

It is entirely up to you to tell the photographer what you would like and what you would not. The photographer would then take note of this and work around your style.

If a photographer is not happy with having another person independent from him or her video filming the wedding at the same time, you really ought to question his confidence and level of work. Any professionals would work together even if they’ve never met previously.

It is to be predicted that there will be a few guests who are likely to pull their phones out, possibly even their personal cameras to take a few shots of their own. Again a professional photographer should easily be able to overcome and work with such distractions which agreed are not the best thing to do but does not justify any photographer making a fuss about it.

Finally, many couples just think that having a videographer is a waste of money or they simply think that they could not afford one. This is a very big mistake may I add. You can easily find decent videographers or even photographers such as Derbyshire Wedding Events that offer great deals when booking the two together, so it’s always worth enquiring. I promise you that great quality will not cost you an arm and a leg.
Again, meet up before be clear on what you wish and you don’t. No videographer would be justified not to offer you exactly that. Admittedly it does truly frustrate me when I meet certain videographers and photographers who refuse to do certain things such as taking guests video messages on the day, simply as it’s “not in the couple’s chosen package” as they put it! This makes ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE AT ALL! The videographer is there for you and your guests alike to capture the fun, the day and document it for you. It will never cost the videographer anything more to do whatever you request from him withing the time he is at your wedding working for you. So flexibility and the willingness to go the extra mile is the most important you should consider when booking any of your preferred suppliers.

Finally, remember, your wedding day is the most important day in your lives. It is important that all parties working for you come together, do what they are paid to do, what they are professional at and do it to their best of capacity to offer the couple the perfect day.

However two of the most important suppliers on your wedding day are always your DJ and your photographer. Your DJ will literally make or break your day and your wedding will always be remembered for either of these. Your guests will always look back as you would and remember what a great day, what good fun it was, or God forbid remember how dull it was, how boring what a hopeless DJ they had.

Your photographer is most important to as he or she will offer you the opportunity to look back again and again and refresh your memories and re-live the day. If your photos are bad quality you are not going to be happy.

This is your day, shop around, enjoy the planning, and look forward to a very special day!