In today’s Wisdom guest post, wedding photographer Georgia Wiggs shares her unique perspective on how to ditch tradition and get ready together on your wedding day! Georgia shares her unique perspective on how breaking with tradition and getting ready together can help you make the most of your special day. With insights drawn from her years of experience capturing unforgettable moments, Georgia explores why this simple change could add more joy, intimacy, and ease to your wedding celebration. Happy reading Dotties! 

Photography by Georgia Wiggs via Hayley & Jack’s Colourful Destination Wedding in Richmond

If you’re currently in the throes of planning a wedding, it’s likely that you’ve heard the age-old adage “The day will go so quickly!” Speaking from firsthand experience, it wasn’t long until we were all on the dance floor at 11 pm begging the DJ for just one more song. While it’s widely accepted that time does indeed fly on a wedding day, it’s still commonplace to spend roughly half of the day apart from the person you’re promising the rest of your life and love to.

The Tradition of Spending the Morning Apart

Weddings are steeped in tradition, and it’s worth examining which ones hold value for you. Traditions aren’t inherently bad, but figuring out which ones work for you and your partner is key. Getting ready together on the morning of your wedding day breaks with tradition but is one of the easiest ways to maximise your quality time together. There are compelling financial, logistical, and emotional reasons to consider this as well.

Photography by Love J Wedding for Georgia Wiggs 

Rethinking Traditions: Making Your Wedding Day Yours

The most commonly held argument against getting ready together is that it could make the big reveal at the ceremony or first look feel a little bit lacklustre. This really couldn’t be further from the truth. There are many ways that you can organise the morning to guarantee the same degree of intense butterflies when you see your partner. Emotions are running particularly high on a wedding day, and there’s not much anyone can do to quell that beautiful feeling when you see your partner looking their absolute greatest. Seeing them beforehand will not take anything away from this.

Photography by Georgia Wiggs

Getting Ready Together: More Time, Less Stress

Some couples opt to help each other get dressed and document the moment together, while others who still want the dramatics of a big reveal at the ceremony can opt to separate into different rooms when ready to finally get dressed. This way, you can travel to the ceremony venue separately and still get the intensity of that moment. My wife and I went for the second option, and I’m so thankful. Despite being a wedding photographer for the past ten years, emotions were running high in the morning, and I was filled with nervous, excited, tingly tension. It was fantastic to be able to hug and dance with my partner in the morning and take turns calming each other’s nervous energy with reassurance and love.

Photography by Georgia Wiggs via Hayley & Jack’s Colourful Destination Wedding in Richmond

Cost and Logistical Benefits of Getting Ready Together

There’s a cost and logistical benefit here as well. Often, you may need to consider hiring a short-term rental or hotel for the wedding and surrounding days. This might be due to location or even just having enough space (or a photogenic space) for everyone to easily get ready in the morning. If you choose to get ready together, this means only splurging on one space. It’s also only one place to organise transport, flowers, hair and makeup, and photographer/videographer teams to attend.

Photography by Georgia Wiggs

Creating Beautiful Moments in the Morning

As a wedding photographer, if you’re wanting the getting-ready stage of the day covered, I generally advise 1 hour per person. If you’re getting ready together, we can really do that all together in just 1.5 hours (or under, depending on circumstances), saving more coverage time for the dance floor or even just cutting down on the package you need to get. Most photographers work with hours starting when they reach the first location, which means any travel time during the day can end up being quite costly to you. Traveling between the two getting-ready locations and the ceremony can add up really quickly. It can also lead to some really sweet, authentic moments captured in the morning together.

Photography by Georgia Wiggs

Is Getting Ready Together Right for You?

Whilst this departure from tradition may not be for everyone, getting ready together on the morning of can help remove stress, cut costs, and maximise your time spent together on the day. It can also give you some time to decide on some ultra last-minute dance moves if you’re anything like my wife and me (who had not practiced anything for our first dance).

Photography by Love J Wedding for Georgia Wiggs  

Final Thoughts: Make the Most of Your Day

Ultimately, your goal should be to remove as much unnecessary stress as possible in the morning and gear up for a really fantastic big day.

Photography by Georgia Wiggs

Thank you so much to the fabulous Georgia Wiggs for sharing these incredible insights with us! We are so on board for getting reading together. Also, absolutely loving the attached photographs.

About the author: I’m Georgia, G if you’re in a rush or Wiggsy if you’re so inclined. I’m a Melbourne based wedding photographer who always has a passport ready to go. In my spare time enjoy hiking, scuba diving, live music, harassing my two little cats and having a few drinks and a little boogie with my friends on the occasional weekend off. I hang out with awesome couples on one of the best days of their lives and document that for them to look back on in the years to come. Something that draws me to photography is my interest in people and relationships; their stories, the way someone looks at their partner bathing in secondhand embarrassment (usually because I’ve said some horrific pun). How gently your partner moves some hair out of your eyes. All the small idiosyncrasies that make us different from each other but also so similar. After all being in love is a pretty universal human experience. My photography is pretty reflective of who I am. I love bright, colourful images full of joy, surprise and laughter. I want to capture the real bits. The moments between, where you forget about the camera for just a second. The moments where you are engrossed in each other, married and having the greatest time. I love capturing guests enjoying your day too, crying, laughing and clapping along to all the big moments. Often, the 10 minutes post-ceremony when everyone you love is hugging the hell out of you, thats my favourite part of any wedding day. Unless your grandpa starts pulling some fiery moves on the dance floor.