Five Quick Tips from Shira Savada, Real Weddings Editor for Martha Stewart Weddings

Photo credit:  Roey Yohai

I'm so excited to share today's 5 Quick Tips from Shira Savada! Shira is the real weddings editor at Martha Stewart Weddings, where she has been working with real brides and industry vendors for the last three years. In addition to covering weddings for the magazine, featuring them on the website, and talking about them on The Bride’s Guide blog, Shira stays busy being a bridesmaid and helping her friends plan their big days.

Without further ado, here are Shira's 5 Quick Tips:

1. Keep the traditions in mind, but don’t be afraid to make up new ones. It is a wedding after all and there should be some sense of that, but it should be YOUR wedding.

2. Make sure to loop your photographer in on all of the elements and special details of the day. Providing a list of all the people you want portraits of is a great starting point, but you should also list all of the things you’ve been laboring over for months… the invitations and save the dates, the welcome bags of local goodies, your bouquet with the family heirloom tied on with ribbons, the perfect cufflinks you finally found for your groom, etc.

3. If you’re going to do a wedding favor, make it something that reflects who you are as a couple but is something that your guests will want to take home with them. It’s so sad seeing leftover favors at the end of the wedding. There is no need to do something just for the sake of doing it. If you’d rather make a ferocious welcome bag, or allot that money for another part of your budget, that’s fair game.

4. Eat something! Your stomach may be a ball of nerves all day or you may be taking portraits and not want to mess up your makeup. But you NEED to eat. Ask your caterer prepare a plate for you and your groom to nibble on during cocktails. Don’t wait until the seated dinner, after all you’ve ingested is bubbly, to fill up. You can get light-headed and ravishing.

5. Go for a hair and makeup trial. Yes, it is an additional expense. But you’ve gone for fittings in your dress and this is the only other thing that will directly affect the way you feel and the way you look. You want to be comfortable and know that the morning of your wedding, as you sit in that chair to get ready, you know you’ll look and feel as beautiful as you’d always dreamed.

We also asked Shira, what will you DEFINITELY do at your wedding when you get married?
A photobooth! I am obsessed with them and would do more than one if that weren’t a bit crazy. Some of my favorite photos are from photobooths over the years and I could probably cover a sizeable wall with strips and photos. I have never met a photobooth I didn’t love, nor have I attended a wedding with one that I didn’t pose in at least once.

Thanks, Shira, for your awesome tips! As everyone knows, I'm a HUGE fan of Martha Stewart Weddings so it is a real honor to have Shira's tips.

If you would like to be featured in our Five Quick Tips column, please contact me at info AT amynichols DOT com.