Five Ways To Personalize Your Wedding Day

I love when I show up to a wedding and see personal and unique touches incorporated throughout the day! The best way to make a wedding personal, for you, your partner, and your guests is to add personal elements. Here are five of my favorite ways you can personalize your wedding day to feel more personal and sentimental!

1. First Look With Parents to Personalize Your Wedding Day

I’ve seen brides do first looks with their dads and it always melts my heart. This was the first time seeing the groom and his mom do a first look! And let me tell ya, it was precious. First looks are such a special way of incorporating some quality time into busy wedding days. Taking these moments to be with your parents and celebrate with them is so touching.

2. Take time to take photos with your people!

This is one that a lot of couples want to do but not always does it work out due to tight timelines. But I’m here to tell you how to make it happen! Get ready earlier than you think you should. The one thing I see time and time again is getting ready taking longer than scheduled which then cuts into the time you had planned to take photos with your bridesmaids and groomsmen. Alexa and her bridesmaids arrived to the venue with their hair and makeup already done, they also already had their cute pajamas on so that they were photo ready. This is key!

A big reason why I include a second photographer in my wedding packages is because it makes it possible for both the bride and the groom to fit more into their wedding day photo timeline! While the bride and bridesmaids do getting ready photos, the groom and his guys can be doing the same thing! 

3. Personal Vows

I love when couples write their own vows, there’s nothing like it in my opinion! However, I know not everyone wants to share personal vows during their ceremony which I totally understand. So here are a few ways you can still incorporate personal vows into your wedding day…

– Exchange vows during your first look
– Share them while doing a “first touch” if you don’t want to do a first look
– Read them in the morning while getting ready

4. Meaningful Music

Okay prepare to read the sweetest thing ever… Alexa’s dad wrote the song that they danced to during their father daughter dance! Like what?! I don’t have an ounce of musical talent so I was in awe. I know that not every parent can write and record a song to play at your wedding, but there are a lot of other ways you can incorporate meaningful music into your wedding day. Here’s three things to think about when creating your wedding day playlist or telling your DJ a few of your favorites! 

– Think about what your favorite genre is or what the theme of your day is if you have one
– Ask your mom/dad what song(s) remind them of you
– For your first dance you could pick a song from an event you’ve attended together, think concerts or festivals, or your first date together

5. Personalize Your Wedding Day With Unique Details

I have seen so many couples incorporate unique personal touches throughout their wedding day, and it always makes me smile! I love when couples include things that speak to them and their love story and personalities. Here are a few of my favorite ideas for making your wedding day personal…

• Including pets! If your venue doesn’t allow animals or maybe you don’t want to stress about taking care of your fur baby during the whole day you can include them in other ways. You can have their face put on a koozie that doubles as guest favors! You can include a photo of them on napkins (cutest napkins ever right?!), or have a cake topper made featuring your four legged love!
• Do a t-shirt toss! This is one of my favorite ideas ever, it’s hilarious and so much fun! One of my couples had t-shirts made with their face on them and launched them while everyone was dancing during the reception, such a fun idea!
• Unique seating chart – This one is so cute! One of my couple, Rachel and Nathan, have a deep love for Hawaii and it played a huge part in their love story. For their seating chart they had postcards from Hawaii with their guests names that corresponded to which table they were seated at. And each place on the card was inspired by their honeymoon itinerary, so fun!

Whichever choices you make to personalize your wedding day, I’ll do my best to capture every tiny detail. If you are still looking for a wedding photographer in Arizona or for your Destination Wedding, I’d be honored to be part of your special day!