17 Essential Wedding Tips To Have A Great Dayton Wedding & Reception

May 2, 2024

Tips To Have A Good Wedding Day

I have assembled 17 essential wedding tips for having a successful wedding. I have photographed more than 200 weddings since 2007 and have collected tips along the way. To help make your big day better, I want to share these with you.

“Kevin is wonderful, caught so much, had a great ideas, excellent pacing, and managed to be everywhere but was never in the way. Couldn’t recommend enough!”

— Steph (2023 Tri-State Warbird Museum Wedding)

Six Essential Wedding Planning Tips

  1. Hire a professional
    1. Wedding professionals likely run a legitimate business, have vast experience, and know how to handle anything that comes their way.
  2. Get a contract
    1. Contracts ensure you get the goods and services you paid for while protecting the vendor. Make sure to sign and date the contract to make it legal.
  3. Read reviews
    1. Search wedding websites and Google to see what others are saying about your vendors. Don’t rely solely on reviews provided by wedding vendors. Pay special attention to when the reviews were published. Be wary of a vendor who hasn’t had reviews in a year or more.
  4. Monitor social media
    1. Check the wedding vendor’s social media to ensure it is updated regularly and recently. A vendor who is not updating social media may be neglecting other parts of their business. Check with them if you feel unsure!
  5. Too good to be true
    1. As with everything in life, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Doing your wedding homework with ensure you get a high-quality professional wedding vendor.
  6. Sales tax
    1. In Ohio, your photographer is legally required to collect sales tax.
17 Essential Tips To Have A Great Dayton Wedding & Reception

Five Tips To Ensure A Smooth And Efficient Wedding Day

  1. ·Have a schedule and stick to it
    1. Your wedding photographer will appreciate it
    2. 6-hour wedding day timeline
    3. 8-hour wedding day timeline
    4. 10-hour wedding day timeline
    5. 12-hour wedding day timeline
  2. Keep it on time
    1. Alert notoriously-late people that they are needed 30-60 minutes prior to when they are actually needed
  3. Dole out responsibilities
    1. Assign a wedding guest ( non-wedding party) to move all wedding materials from the ceremony location to the reception.
  4. Get them to stay
    1. Anyone who will be in the formal photos needs to stick around for the formal photos. Let them know ahead of time or have someone remind them.
  5. Planning is key
    1. Work out a plan with DJ before your big day. The DJ should have the grand entrance order and pronunciations ready when you arrive at the reception.
17 Essential Tips To Have A Great Dayton Wedding & Reception

Six Tips For Having A Great Wedding Reception

I often feel I have seen it all at the 230+ weddings I have photographed.  Then, I go to my next wedding only to discover something that makes me say “I have never seen this before.”  Here is a list of tips that help make the wedding reception successful.

  1. Sit Elderly Guests Away From The DJ
    1. Often at weddings, the table for the grandparents is directly in front of the DJ speakers. This often annoys the grandparents and can make them leave the reception early.
  2. Have An Efficient Timeline That Leaves Extra Time For The Unexpected
    1. The biggest time-waster at wedding receptions is large gaps of unused time during the reception. Once dinner is done, toasts and dances should commence immediately.
  3. Don’t Buy Wedding Cake For Every Guest
    1. I suggest ordering half of what you think you will need.
  4. Don’t Waste Time Between Arriving At Reception And Being Announced
    1. Quite often a lot of time is wasted at the reception while the DJ prepares the wedding party. Ensure the DJ knows all bridal party pairings, entrance orders, and pronunciations prior to the wedding.
  5. Keep The Dollar Dance Time To A Minimum
    1. The dollar dance, while awesome for some extra honeymoon cash, can run very long. Insist that the bridal party members who are taking the money limit to dances to 20-30 seconds at most. Too many times the same person is dancing with the bride for 60-90 seconds.
  6. Bonus Tip
    1. Please keep all kids off the dance floor for the special dances and bouquet toss.

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