What We’d Do Differently If We Married Each Other Again | Youngstown, Ohio Wedding Photography

Josh & I got married in November 2010. It was a BEAUTIFUL day full of love and our favorite people, and everything went as planned. We stuck to our budget. We loved our vendors. We absolutely loved our wedding day and are very thankful that our parents helped us to plan and fund such a lovely occasion. I don’t want to say that we have regrets about our wedding day because I wouldn’t characterize them as such . . . “regrets” has such a negative connotation. I will say, though, that, knowing what I know now, there are a few things I would change if I were to go back in time and marry Joshua all over again. I get giddy just thinking about marrying him – vow renewals are definitely in our future just so we can celebrate our love with our family members and friends again. 🙂

Photo Credit: Inlux Photo

If I went back in time and married Joshua again, I’d definitely have a first look prior to the ceremony! Josh & I got married before we began our photography business so we weren’t working in the photography industry. While we were planning our wedding, I had heard of a first look before, but I didn’t know too many details about it. I just thought, “I don’t think I want to see him before the ceremony because I want to have that epic moment when he sees me walking toward him down the aisle.” No one told me that NOT doing a first look and NOT having a lot of time in between our ceremony & reception would greatly reduce the amount of images we’d receive from the bride & groom creative session. That should’ve been common sense, but, like I said, we weren’t in the wedding industry then. That thought really didn’t cross my mind & I wasn’t familiar with how much time I should have set aside for bride & groom portraits.

Photo Credit: Inlux Photo

While the moment I walked down the aisle toward Josh was amazing & so beautiful, it sort of left me wanting more. As I stood two feet away from Josh on my dad’s arm, I couldn’t give Josh a big hug or talk to him or kiss him or laugh with him or chat with him about how excited I was to be becoming his wife that day. Nope, I had to stand two feet away from him silently in front of a church full of people looking on. I’m not saying I didn’t LOOOOOOOVE our wedding ceremony. I certainly did! It was personal, tailored so uniquely to our personalities, full of little touches we wanted as part of our day, God-honoring, and everything we wanted from our wedding ceremony. It was just that I wish Josh & I had gotten to see each other, touch each other, and be excited together before that moment up in front of everyone when we had to keep quiet.  Plus, if we had done a first look, we would’ve gotten to spend MORE time together on our wedding day. . . novel idea, right?! Treasuring and investing time with the person with whom you are pledging to spend your entirety on earth on your wedding day? That sounds like a plan! 🙂 Additionally, we got married at the end of November, which means that Daylight Savings Time had kicked in & we had “Fallen Behind” on the clocks. Since our ceremony was at 3:30 pm, lasted until 4:00 pm, and we had to get all of the family posed shots finished in the church before heading to our creative photo location, it was pretty much dark outside by the time we got to take 10 minutes worth of bride & groom photos. Thus, a first look would’ve served us VERY well on our wedding day. The wedding day timeline could’ve been much more photo-friendly, which is what we wanted because photography was the top priority for us. In fact, we invested 1/3 of our entire budget into the photography & we’d do that again in a heartbeat! The photos are what we have to look back on our day & they help us to relive it again and again. We simply wish we had been advised on or done our research about the amazingness of a first look! We could’ve gotten to spend more time together on our wedding day, gotten the family photos finished before the ceremony, gotten some bride & groom portraits before the ceremony, and not had to rush in between the ceremony and reception for family photos, bridal party photos, and bride & groom portraits. A lot of times, brides & grooms tell me that they can’t imagine giving up “that moment” that they have built up in their minds- the one when the bride is walking down the aisle toward the groom, and the groom sees her for the first time. Believe me, I completely understand because I thought that way, too. Now that I KNOW what a wedding day feels like, how quickly it flies by in a FLASH, and how I felt the ENTIRE day and EVERY time I looked at Josh. . . I KNOW without a doubt that doing a first look would’ve only ADDED to the excitement, happiness, and completely ecstatic and elated emotions that I felt the entire wedding day. I felt like I was floating. Nothing (especially not seeing and touching Josh before the wedding ceremony) could’ve taken away from the special moment of walking down the aisle on my dad’s arm as a bride. So that’s why I would do a first look if I could go back in time and marry my love all over again.

Photo Credit: Inlux Photo

Another thing I’d do differently if I could go back in time? Tan less! I was way too tan! It was November for crying out loud. If “Now Danielle” could go back in time and tell “Wedding Planning Danielle” one piece of advice it’d be “Put down the tanning lotion! Step away from the tanning bed! Ugh! Seriously. Come on, Danielle!” I know tanning beds are bad and cancer-causing, Readers. Believe me, I know. I haven’t been in one in almost four years and don’t plan to ever lay my bare booty into one again. The health aspect is one of the reasons I wouldn’t tan for the wedding if I could go back. However, my line of thinking was that I didn’t want to be pale because I feel more beautiful with a little color, but natural color is hard to come by in November in Ohio…hence the fake bake.  The thing is, too much fake baking makes most people look a little orange. I love our wedding photos & felt absolutely princess-like and beautiful on our wedding day, but when I look at the photos, I kind of wish I looked more natural. I think that comes with maturity, though, and there’s nothing I can do about it now. It’s just something I’d change if I could.

Like I said, our wedding day was absolutely amazing. I love reliving it with our wedding video, photographs, and memories that I’ll cherish for the rest of my life. My hope is that this blog will be helpful to readers who are currently planning their weddings. Even if you don’t ultimately choose to take my advice, at least you’ll have heard my perspective and taken my points into account before making decisions about your own wedding day. I’d also love to blog soon about a few things we LOOOOOOOOOVED about our  wedding day, although it’ll be really, really, really difficult to narrow it down!

Get social with us:  Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter | G + | Instagram

Follow