How to make the most of your wedding morning
The morning before your wedding is underrated. Sometimes it can be as long as the wedding itself, and it’s often the part of the day that you actually have time to savor. Why not utilize it in an intentional way?
In this blog post, we’ll show you how to plan a meaningful wedding morning, with your bridal party, family, or whoever you’re getting ready with!
With our tips, you can plan for a meaningful time together with the people you’ve chosen to get ready with– no matter if it’s one or two people, or a whole entourage.
Start with the Night Before…
I’ve been to quite a few (read: over a dozen) weddings in the last two years (including my own), and I’ve had the honor of being a bridesmaid in a couple of them. I’ve found that you’re in one of two camps, as a person getting married the next day. You’re either eager to start the party, so you have a late night, and hope that concealer will hide some of your dark circles, or you are the bride who wants to get her beauty sleep.
Either way, the night before will set the stage for the morning, so be sure to communicate clear expectations to the people you want to spend time with (sharing the timeline with them is a great idea), and tell them why it’s meaningful for them to be there. They will appreciate hearing this, trust me!
So, when it comes to the morning of, it’s perfectly fine to have a plan, but we recommend creating some flexibility within that plan. Another way to say it: Create lots of ways for it to go right – not a lot of ways for it to go wrong.
What’s important with you about the “morning of”?
Picture yourself a year from now. What do you want to reminisce about from the morning of your wedding? Maybe it’s a mimosa brunch with your sisters, maybe it’s music blasting while everyone does their makeup, maybe you’re one of the rare breed that wants to do a 5k. Nevertheless, pick a couple of these moments that feel important to you and find ways to create them. Ask people to help you create them, invite them into your vision.
We recommend the following:
Making sure everyone knows each other: quick introductions or a group activity will help break the ice.
Curate a playlist of your favorite tunes that will bring back the memories of this morning years later.
Remember to eat at least a little something!
Plan for plenty of time for hair and makeup, you don’t want to rush it!
Take a moment of quiet time or reflection to soak it all in.
How to capture the morning of your wedding
If it’s in your budget, it’s a great idea to get your photographer to cover some of this time. It’s these candid moments with your friends that you can cherish – they’re so unlike any of the formal wedding photos. Personally, I had my photographer come just before I was changing into my dress, so she was able to capture those sweet moments with my mom zipping me up, and my friend’s reactions to seeing me.
If you don’t have formal photography coverage, don’t despair! Assign a camera-savvy friend to be on photo duty, or consider opting into the trend of wedding content creators.
One of the reasons why we send your video guest book two days before your event is so you can set it up multiple times and record hundreds of clips!
Give your bridesmaids something to do
Typically, the bride needs the most time to get ready, and they also need to be ready first! So, it’s common for your bridesmaids or wedding party to have a little more down time. This is a good thing – let them have their own morning routine that will get them ready to party later!
The morning of your wedding is an incredible opportunity for them to record messages on your video guest book. They can talk about how they’re feeling, how amazing you look, any secrets from the night before, and the best part? They won’t be rushed. They can speak from the heart, and have more privacy for those more personal messages.
Seeing your best friends full of love and excitement on the day of your wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It’s like bottling up that time to keep for later. You’ll laugh, cry, and get to cherish the friendships all over again when you watch it back!
At the reception, encourage them to record another Voast after they’ve danced (and maybe had a few adult beverages?) and you’ll get both sides of your friends, bookending your day – the heartwarming and the hilarious.
Don’t forget to record a video yourself on the morning of your wedding day, and then one later with your new *officially wedded* partner!
