How do Christians plan a wedding?

I’m not shy to say it; I wasn’t brought up in a Christian family, and neither was my wife. But now I can call myself a Christian Wedding Photographer too.

Even though our families were super loving, it wasn’t until we were both in our teenage years that we discovered Jesus and, cutting a long story short, are following him together as a family now.

Deep.

You’ve heard before that we managed to get engaged and married, having the wedding we always dreamt of, all within four months.

How the heck does anybody do that? Here’s the trick:

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”

Also, we had a heap of experience with weddings, considering we had photographed lots!

Even though most of the weddings I photograph are of no faith, I have lost count of the number of Christian couples and friends I have chatted to about their wedding plans, giving them some tips that can save a heap of stress and bring a load of joy.

If you’re a Christian, planning your engagement or planning your wedding, this could still be helpful to you.

(I won’t give fluffy answers here; I’ll provide some basic practical tips. Promise.)

Book your suppliers quickly

Now, what I’m not saying is to book your suppliers rashly.

You simply don’t want to delay. You want to be married.

Not all Christians do this, but we moved in on our wedding night. Literally, after our wedding day, our lives completely changed.

We were SO excited!

So we didn’t want to rush, but we were also so stoked to begin this new life together that we didn’t wish to hang on when we could be making something happen.

It’s not too much to make a little note on your phone of the few suppliers you see pop-up on social media or when you’re at somebody else’s wedding:

– Venue

– Photographer (hey there)

– Band

For us, it took the weekend we got engaged to pray, play with the idea of particular dates, and book the date at the place we knew we wanted. Also, we made the decision pretty quickly because we had chatted candidly about ideas in the past. Good communication!

We also knew that wedding photographers get booked up pretty quickly, and I always knew the particular photographer I wanted to capture my wedding.

Understandably for me, the wedding photographer was the supplier I was most passionate about getting booked.

Thankfully, they were available, and we settled the deposit there and then!

Budget Wisely

We both worked at a church, and my photography business was getting going, so we didn’t have lots of money.

Initially, we had to invest financially into our marriage (flat, furniture, bills) just as much as the wedding. With that, we had to be realistic with how much money we had to spend. We didn’t want to take out any loans but steward what we had.

– Note your combined total income

– Note your savings

– Find if your family want to contribute anything and take that into account

– Note your lump-sum expenses for finding your flat/house

– See how much you have to spend on your wedding!

Photography is important to us, so second catering; it was the thing that we spent the most money on.

Don’t splash out on everything if you can’t afford it – pick the things that you want to push the boat out on and the things where, if necessary, you can DIY it.

Canterbury Cathedral Wedding Photographer

Plan your wedding like your marriage

I get it; sometimes life is stressful.

But more often than not, life is meaningful.

Weddings are fun, so enjoy the planning process; it’s only happening once.

Community Community Community

Genuinely, we couldn’t have planned our wedding as efficiently as we did without the help of our friends and family.

Our community. Our church.

They helped us do SO so much:

– For the whole day before the wedding, friends travelled down as far as Germany to set up for the following day

– Arrived early to make sure everything was ready

– Cleaned up afterwards

– Volunteered to make cakes and serve drinks afterwards

– Worked on the sound team, worship team, visual team

– Prayed for us

– Paid for lots of things

– Celebrated and partied HARD with us too!

For all the reasons above, the church can be such a rock for you when planning your wedding. Get known in your church, don’t just spectate. Belong. Serve others well and, they will be more than willing to serve you too.

Peace, your Kent Wedding Photographer Tom Keenan