You wake up and realise that today is the day – your wedding day! You may feel overwhelmed, a little nervous and a whole lot excited. What lies ahead is a unique day, a wonderful day, a day full of love, affirmation and care. This is the day when the most important person in your life will pledge to love and honour you forever. You will be in the company of family who love you, the people you are honoured to call friends and this experience is certain to be exciting and uplifting. You and your loved one will be the centre of attention all day.

Your wedding day will pass very quickly through its three main stages – preparation, ceremony and reception.

The first is the getting ready stage. For both bride and groom time and attention will be given to ensuring you both look and feel your very best. This ritual is often carried out with the close family members and friends. Some butterflies would be normal but fight them off and eat a good breakfast before you head into the day.  Your flowers will arrive, the hair and make-up artists will begin to do their thing to ensure the bride looks gorgeous – even the groom, off somewhere with his groomsmen will have some special preparations for the day ahead.

Stage two is the ceremony itself. By the time the bride arrives at the ceremony venue all of the guests will have gathered in anticipation. It is just not respectful of people to keep everyone waiting for more than 10 minutes or so. The ceremony is the formal part of your day but formal doesn’t mean tedious and boring. It can be fun, containing lighthearted moments and more serious ones, it should express your personalities and the commitment you are making to one another. The ceremony is the words and symbols that express your love for one and other and the love, support and encouragement of the community of family and friends who gather with you as your witnesses. A great celebrant will ensure beautiful words are spoken to capture the essence of who you are, these may include readings and other forms of guest participation but all will be presentation with panache. A great ceremony will make this a very memorable day.

The third stage is the move from the ceremony to venue and the meal, speeches, music and dancing. Again time will pass quickly and you are likely to be absorbed in the company of all the people who have come to spend this day with you. Ideally you will try and have a personal word with everyone, taking a moment to thank them for taking the time to be with you and for all their support and generosity.  It is also important to take some tome with your new spouse – just a few moments of quiet time out in the veranda, under the stars or on the dance floor to connect.

Through much of the day your photographer will be, sometimes in the background recording events as they unfold and at other times directing proceedings. Many couples head out with their wedding party for an ‘on-location’ wedding photo shoot. In addition to giving your some amazing photos to remember your day this gives you a n opportunity to spend some quality time with each other.

At the end of the whole day you are likely to be back in bed again, this time with the person you have pledged to spend your life with, don’t forget to tell him or her just how much you love them!

A warm thank you to Larry & Suzanne Hill – a fantastic couple to get to know- for sharing their amazing wedding photos with me.  The photos are by AWPP Studio.