Wedding Photos Part 1 & Getting Ready Tips

I’m finally getting around to sharing some wedding photos! There are hundreds to select so I’m going to split them into a series of posts, since they were divided up into sections by our photographer as well. This post has some of our getting ready photos at our wedding venue, Hotel Ballard, as well as some tips on how to best schedule this portion of your wedding day. All photos were taken by Alyssa Brooke Photography. Please request permission before reposting any photos.

Invites were designed on Vistaprint – I highly recommend this site. Their designs are simple to edit and the prices are super affordable. I tried on what felt like hundreds of heels before the wedding and ended up with this affordable pair from DSW. They are the most comfortable heels ever and I wore them to my best friend’s wedding as well.

Vow Books | Customizable Ring Dish | Heels (in black) | Perfume

All three rings are from Robbins Brothers Bellevue. The only designer I remember (oops) is Henri Daussi, who makes my wedding band. I really wanted a particular look for the band, some people call it a ‘bubble’ or also a ‘floating’ ring because there’s only a single prong connecting each diamond. My wedding dress is by EddyK Bridal and I purchased it from Ania Bridal in Portland, OR.

Makeup by Mandy O’Malley and hair by Wuen Oh.

Bridesmaid dresses are from Azazie in the color Vintage Mauve. Jared’s entire suit and watch are from Ted Baker and the bowtie is from Tie Bar.

Florals by Callarose & Co. I am obsessed with the bouquets! Also, how cute is our flower dog, Faye?! This is Christina’s baby, one of our bridesmaids. She was basically the star of the show.

Tips for Getting Ready on the Day of your Wedding

As far as the day of schedule, I recommend hiring a wedding coordinator if you don’t already have a wedding planner. Day of coordinators are fantastic if you can handle a majority of the planning but need some assistance executing things so that you’re free to just relax on your wedding day. We worked with Celebrate with Caroline for our wedding and she’s the sweetest! She made sure that everyone was where they needed to be and helped with set up, tear down, and more. Your coordinator will help you create a detailed schedule for the day of. (If Caroline is booked for your date, you should also try my best friend Audrey who is a part of the Jen Leslie Events team.)

Since getting ready for the bride and bridesmaids tends to take a long time, make sure you have a very clear idea of who is getting what services done that morning. An ordered list of all makeup + hair services is important. Since my hair holds curl fine, it was okay for me to start hair early in the morning. My skin gets oily so I didn’t want to get my makeup done too early, so I went after a few of my bridesmaids who have more dry skin. Be prepared to have contingency plans since it’s possible you may not run according to schedule. There are random things you might not think to share with your vendors, but may end up being important details. One of my random things was that I got eyelash extensions that didn’t end up being very dramatic. They were, in fact, very natural although they weren’t supposed to be! So, Mandy put lashes on top of my extensions. I communicated that she might need to do my lashes before the day of just so she was aware. Over communicate everything! Something this small actually takes precious time. In general, budget about 45 minutes for bridesmaid makeup and 1 hour minimum for bride makeup.

I would also recommend delegating certain tasks to your bridesmaids since not everyone will be getting ready at the same time, if you have hired out vendors like hair/makeup stylists. My bridesmaids are all super organized and helpful so we had all the details covered – like who would be in charge of getting breakfast or snacks, who was going to call our Lyft to the first portrait spot, etc. It helped alleviate my stress and made the day go a lot smoother with everyone on the same page.

Another obvious tip, but something I had to mention, is that you should pack carefully before you get to your venue so everything is in its place. A few different bags you might want to pack beforehand are:
-All jewelry, accessories, etc. that you want your photographer to shoot in a flat lay (have your florist coordinate with your photographer on the timing of these shots)
-Skincare and makeup for the next day if you want it
-Undergarments like shapewear, bra, underwear
-Pajamas, clothes for the next day, or an outfit change (including shoes if your heels are uncomfortable)
-Electronics like phone charger, battery packs, speakers, etc.
-Vendor/bridal party gifts, tips
-Snacks, water, first aid kit, gum or mints, and other ’emergency’ items (Check if your day of coordinator provides one, however I feel like this is helpful to have no matter what.)

All of our schedule details and roles, responsibilities, locations, etc. were stored in a master Google doc that every vendor and bridal party member had access to. It’s a great way to share information with everyone!