5 Ways to make your wedding day look more high end!
BRIDE TO BE! You are here becasue you want some ideas on how to make your wedding look more high end, and I’m SO excited to share my top 5 tips in helping you do that if you are on a budget…..and lets be real….most brides are!
I think its so important for you to know before you read my tips and tricks on how to make your day look more elevated, you don’t have to apply all of these to be able to achieve a higher end style of wedding! Every wedding day is unique in its own fun way, but these are just a guide for you to be able to pull from if you are really wanting to up the “WOW’ factor on your wedding day! I have been around the “wedding day block” a time or two, and I have seen some things that brides have done that really took their budget wedding, to something you would see in a magazine, that didn’t cost a ton of extra money!
ANY bride is able to have a luxurious and timeless looking wedding, because when you are planning it all boils down to the little details you plan intentionally, not the budget you have!
LET’S GET INTO IT!
My first tip is going to be invest in REAL FLOWERS! Now I know you are thinking “Sam….you said we could do these on a budget”….AND YOU’RE RIGHT!!!!! As a photographer that has photographed MANY flowers, you can 99% of the time tell when they are real or not. Whether you have it in your budget to buy real flowers for your wedding day or not, it is 100% possible to get real flowers incorporated into your day without breaking the bank, and here is 2 ways how:
This is something I would do for table flowers instead of bouquet flowers (unless you find some wildflowers you love for your bouquet!) If you are getting married in a warmer month, anytime between late February- late October/November (depending on where you live) you can go flower hunting outside! This costs next to nothing, other than some time and gas. Drive around your town, and find some blooms that you love, cut them (if your able to…maybe not out of someone’s yard unless you have permission lol) and stick them in some water or wrap the stems in a wet paper towel! I would do this day before so that they aren’t wilting on your wedding day. There is many times I have been went to food lion and they have had beautiful blooming trees and bushes on the side of their building, or in a Mcdonalds drive through, or even on the side of the road! You don’t need a ton, because candles are great table fillers also!
Even if you can only afford buying real flowers for just your bouquet, DO IT! These are some flowers I snagged from food lion, they were $11 and made such a beautiful bouquet option!
2. The second tip stems from the end of the last one, and it’s if you don’t have a huge floral budget, fill your tables with different sized candles! You don’t need a billion flowers on your table to make your wedding seem elevated. Honestly, the saying “less is more” is so true in the wedding world to me. Simple, but intentional. One way to keep it simple and timeless, is having just a few flowers on the table, and filling any extra space with different sized candles! Tall, short, fat, skinny…ANY kind! Having them vary in size makes it fun and unique! Here is one example!
3. Having different styles of bridesmaids dresses! Having your girls in different dresses made of the same material makes your photos look more dynamic and elegant! When everyone isn’t matching and wearing the same exact thing it gives the eyes something fun to look at! Have you ever looked at a photo and LOVE it, but sometimes you just cant figure out why? Thats because compositionally our brains love looking at certain things that are easy and fun! Same thing with slightly varying dresses. A photo with bridesmaids in different style dresses is more enjoyable for the brain to process than a quick glance at everything the same. ALSO, your bridesmaids will be so much more comfortable in their dress! They are having to pay for it anyways, they might as well pick out a style they love! Here is an example!
4. Make sure you choose the right photographer! Truthfully, I should have put this as number 1 because it is probably the MOST important out of all of these!! I mean lets think about it for a minute. All of these little intentional things that you will try to implement into your wedding day to elevate the style of it really don’t matter unless you have a photographer that can capture it the way it deserves to be! Having these images in an album to look back on is one of the main reasons why you plan all of these tiny details to begin with! So choosing a photographer that captures all the details in a high end way is a MUST!
5. Last but not least, is Stay away from plastic chairs at all costs! Man….now I’m thinking this should have been number 1, because it is SO equally as important!!! If you are trully wanting to elevate the style of your wedding day, don’t go with the plastic chairs! This one you might have to invest a little more in, but it is SO SO SOOO worth it to take that wedding day up 10 notches! Investing in the Chiavari, or round rattan back, or even the x back chairs are so worth it opposed to the foldable plastic ones! Most venues have at least 1 of those options as an upgrade! Here is an example! These Chiavari chairs vs. plastic ones
Small Sidenote: There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with plastic chairs! Your wedding day will still be as special as the person that has the fanciest chairs money could ever buy. But if you are wanting to elevate the look of your wedding intentionally, upgrading your chairs are so worth it!
Thanks for reading!
Xoxo, sam