handling the wedding day stress for my brides

If you’re feeling a little stressed about your wedding day, I want you to know this first: that’s completely normal. Weddings come with a lot of moving pieces, a lot of emotions, and a lot of expectations — many of which you didn’t put on yourself, but still feel anyway.

The biggest thing I tell my brides is this: your wedding day doesn’t need to be perfect to be meaningful. It just needs to be yours. Something will run late. A plan might shift. Someone might forget something small. None of that will matter in the long run, even if it feels big in the moment.

One of the easiest ways to ease stress on your wedding day is to let go of trying to control every minute. You’ve already done the hard work in the planning stages. The day itself is about experiencing what you planned, not managing it. Trust your vendors to do what you hired them to do, and give yourself permission to be present instead of prepared.

I always encourage brides to build in a little breathing room if possible. A few extra minutes here and there make a bigger difference than people realize. It gives space to slow down, take a breath, and actually soak in what’s happening instead of rushing through it. Those quieter moments often end up being the most meaningful.

Another thing that helps more than you might expect is grounding yourself in the people around you. Your wedding day isn’t just about the timeline or the details — it’s about the people who showed up for you. A deep breath with your mom, a quiet laugh with your bridesmaids, a moment alone with your partner before everything begins. Those moments bring you back when things start to feel overwhelming.

From my perspective as your photographer, part of my job is helping carry some of that stress for you. I’m watching the flow of the day, adjusting when things shift, and stepping in when guidance is needed — and stepping back when it’s not. You don’t need to worry about how things look or whether moments are being captured. That’s already covered.

At the end of the day, your wedding will be remembered for how it felt, not how closely it followed a plan. Joy doesn’t disappear just because something runs behind. Love doesn’t fade if the schedule changes. Give yourself grace, trust the people around you, and let the day unfold as it’s meant to.

You deserve to enjoy it.