Wedding Planning Tips. Jess + Mike

Plan a stress free wedding with insightful tips from real couples who have already walked down that aisle. Wedding photography by KJP Images.

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Couple : Jess + Mike
Location : Cheshire
Wedding Photographer Website : KJP Images
Ceremony Location : St. Nicholas, Wallasey
Reception : Inglewood Manor, Ledsham
Wedding Date : 12th September 2015

Wedding Planning Tips

1. Have a long engagement! We were engaged for two and a half years before we got married. We started planning early and this gave us plenty of time to make all of the arrangements we needed to at a leisurely pace with no last minute panicking that we'd forgotten something.

2. Buy a wedding organiser/planner file. Never having planned a wedding before, we would have been lost without ours. It gave us step by step tips on what we should be doing and when, and meant that we could see where we were up to as we ticked things off the checklist.

3. Make the day about yourselves. Everybody will have their own opinions and expectations of what your wedding should be like so it's important to focus on the things that matter to you. Incorporating the things that you love into your day will make it so much more special. Our guests were delighted when we donned our welly boots for the photos and even my mother-in-law indulged in a little light headbanging when our band played Rage Against the Machine!

4. Don't expect everything to go smoothly! The chances are that something will go awry on your wedding day be it a rainstorm, a wonky cake or a crying baby. Just try to relax and enjoy yourselves and don't take it all too seriously.

5. Remember to spend some time with your new spouse. It can be quite overwhelming when you have so many guests to entertain but try to spend a little bit of time alone together. One of our favourite moments of the day was driving from the church to the reception venue in the back of the 1930s Rolls Royce drinking champagne, just the two of us.

We booked our photographer over 2 years in advance of the wedding, in fact it was the first thing we booked before we even chose a venue!

I had seen KJP Images' photos before online and was blown away by how beautiful they were. I knew they only shot around 30 weddings a year and didn't want to miss out.

When picking a photographer it is important to decide what you want from your photos. I usually hate being photographed and really didn't want a series of cheesy poses and forced grins in our wedding album. Kris approaches wedding photography as artist whose use of light makes his photos truly unique and beautiful. He and his glamourous assistant (his lovely wife Denise) know exactly how to put you at ease and capture the spirit of your day on camera without imposing, and this was exactly what we wanted. What resulted was a set of stunning photos in which we, and all of our guests, looked happy and relaxed. And not once did anyone ask me to say cheese!

It is essential that you feel comfortable with your photographer as they are going to be spending a large chunk of the day with you. We met up with Kris and Denise a number of times leading up to the wedding and even had a pre-wedding photoshoot which really helped us to relax and get used to being photographed. Denise was such a huge help on the day, keeping us calm while we got ready and adjusting my dress, we even joked she was like a 4th bridesmaid.

Our ceremony was held at the beautiful St. Nicholas Church in Wallasey. It was a very traditional service complete with organ, bells, choir and of course the obligatory trumpeter which the mother of the bride insisted upon! The reception was then held at the spectacular Inglewood Manor in Ledsham where our guests looked after by the wonderful staff and rocked the night away to our brilliant band Groundhog (hence the headbanging!)