Wedding Planning Tips for 2025 Couples

INQUIRE

Expert Insights from a Wedding Photographer and Bride

Are you planning a 2025 wedding? Get insider tips from someone who understands weddings from both sides of the aisle.

Wedding planning can feel challenging for many couples, and in this episode, Kadra Clark of Kadra Marie Photography brings us the full inside scoop on what it’s like to plan a 2025 wedding from the perspective of both a bride and a photographer. She shares how her insights as a vendor have influenced some of her decisions as a bride, but also how her experience as a bride has affirmed and refined the client experience she provides. Kadra offers tangible advice for both couples and vendors on how to navigate the planning process in a way that is as seamless as possible, while sharing important reminders about what truly matters most on your wedding day.

APPLE PODCASTS | SPOTIFY

Meet Kadra Marie Photography: Wedding Photographer & 2025 Bride-to-Be

Kadra grew up ranching and rodeoing in Wyoming before moving to Nebraska for college, where she earned a business marketing degree while competing in college rodeo. It was during college that she met her fiancé about four and a half years ago.

Her wedding photography journey became more serious during her college years and took off unexpectedly. She was fortunate enough to transition to full-time wedding photography after graduating and has been amazed by the places her career has taken her and the connections she’s made along the way.

Now, as she plans her own 2025 wedding at her family ranch (which has been in her family since 1887!), Kadra has gained unique insights into the wedding planning process from both sides of the aisle.

How Being Both a Wedding Photographer and 2025 Bride Has Influenced Her Perspective

Kadra shared that being in her clients’ shoes has given her a different insight into the 2025 wedding planning process. As a detail-oriented wedding photographer, she’s now experiencing firsthand the emotional weight behind the details that couples want captured on their wedding day.

“Being in the shoes of a client has really given me that different insight. Now that I’m planning my own wedding, I’m thinking about things that I really wouldn’t want to be missed.”

One particularly meaningful example she mentioned was honoring her late grandfather at her wedding. Having lost him two years ago, Kadra is planning special memorial elements and wants those moments documented thoughtfully in her wedding photos.

This experience has reinforced for her that each wedding isn’t just another event to check off a list—it’s a deeply personal day filled with meaningful moments that deserve to be captured with intention and care. This realization shapes both her approach to wedding planning in 2025 and how she serves her own photography clients.

Wedding Planning Tips: How Being a Wedding Photographer Influenced Her 2025 Wedding Decisions

The experience of photographing weddings has given Kadra a wealth of knowledge about what works well and what doesn’t at modern weddings. This insider perspective has directly influenced her own 2025 wedding planning choices:

She’s seen wedding ideas she loves and wants to incorporate into her own celebration
She’s witnessed wedding traditions that didn’t work well and is intentionally avoiding them
She admits sometimes having “seen too much” can make wedding planning decision-making challenging

One specific example? After photographing “too many awful garter retrievals,” Kadra immediately ruled that wedding tradition out for her own celebration!

When it comes to balancing wedding trends versus staying true to herself, Kadra emphasizes remembering that “it’s our day and nobody else’s.” This grounding perspective helps filter out the noise and pressure of social media and current wedding trends that might not align with your personal vision.

2025 Wedding Vendor Tips: Insights from a Bride-to-Be’s Perspective

Kadra’s experience as a 2025 bride has reinforced several best practices she already implements in her wedding photography business:

Wedding Vendor Response Times Matter

One frustration Kadra encountered during her 2025 wedding planning was vendors taking more than a week to respond. This experience confirmed the importance of timely responses in her own wedding photography business.

“It is definitely annoying when vendors take more than a week or so to get back to you. That solidified for me that I do have a timely response time and people do like that.”

Simplifying the Wedding Inquiry Process

After experiencing lengthy wedding vendor questionnaires as a bride, Kadra appreciates her own approach of keeping initial inquiries simple. She believes detailed wedding planning questions are better saved for after confirming availability to avoid wasting couples’ time.

Wedding Day Timeline Assistance

Her experience has reinforced the value of helping couples build their wedding day timelines. Since most of her clients don’t hire wedding planners for their 2025 weddings, Kadra’s expertise in wedding timeline creation has proven invaluable.

“I’ve always prided myself on being a part of their wedding planning and helping them because most people just don’t hire wedding planners where I’m at.”

In-Person Calls vs. Wedding Questionnaires

Most notably, Kadra has moved away from wedding questionnaires in favor of timeline calls with her couples. She finds that most couples prefer talking through wedding details rather than filling out forms, and this direct communication has been more effective for wedding planning. A tip we may all benefit from!

2025 Wedding Planning Tips: Managing Your Wedding While Running a Business

As someone balancing 2025 wedding planning with running a successful wedding photography business, Kadra has developed effective time management strategies that any busy couple can apply:

Start the day right: Kadra begins each day at the gym and walking her dog to set herself up for a successful day
Dedicated work time: Mornings are exclusively for her photography business (editing photos, calls with couples, emails, contracts)
Wedding planning in breaks: She works on her own wedding details during afternoon breaks or just simply takes a break from work to recharge
Set boundaries: She shuts off her computer around 5pm to maintain her work-life balance
Wedding and business organization tools: Kadra uses Asana to keep separate lists for business tasks and wedding planning details

One particularly helpful wedding planning tip Kadra shared was creating a dedicated wedding email address specifically for her wedding communications. This has helped her keep wedding-related vendor messages organized and separate from her personal and business emails.

Best Wedding Planning Tools & Resources for 2025 Couples

Kadra recommended several practical wedding planning tools that have made her 2025 wedding planning process smoother:

The Knot for 2025 wedding website creation and digital RSVP management
Vistaprint for affordable 2025 wedding save-the-dates and invitations (pro tip: order postcards instead of traditional wedding invites to save money)
Minted.com for pre-addressed wedding envelopes (upload your guest address spreadsheet for a time-saving wedding planning hack)
Facebook Groups for wedding guest communication (The Knot offers a custom link for wedding guests to submit their addresses)

Her Tips for Ranch Wedding Logistics

Kadra is planning her 2025 wedding on her family ranch, which brings both special meaning and additional wedding planning considerations. While she wouldn’t have it any other way, she shared valuable insights into the extra logistics involved in planning an outdoor or private property wedding:

Securing restroom trailers for wedding guests
Planning adequate power sources for wedding caterers and DJ equipment
Arranging the barn and barnyard spaces for optimal wedding reception flow
Setting up an outdoor wedding dance floor that works on uneven terrain
Installing romantic string lights across the barnyard for evening wedding ambiance

Despite these additional wedding planning considerations, Kadra appreciates the flexibility of not having to set up and tear down on the same day, as many traditional wedding venues require.

Top Wedding Planning Advice for 2025 Couples

Kadra’s number one piece of advice for couples planning 2025 weddings is to truly soak in and enjoy the engagement period rather than getting overwhelmed by wedding planning details:

“You’re only in the engaged stage of life for just a little bit of time because it goes so fast. It’s truly about you and your partner getting married. So just cherish those moments and find the joy in everything. Don’t get wrapped up in social media and what others are thinking or doing.”

Creating an Authentic 2025 Wedding Experience

She also encourages 2025 couples to trust their wedding photography team rather than getting caught up in recreating specific Pinterest wedding shots or following every wedding trend:

“I am a huge proponent of not trying to make your wedding just look like all the other Pinterest weddings. No matter what, it’s you and your fiancé’s day and it’s gonna be whatever you want it to be.”

Kadra believes the most successful 2025 weddings will be those that authentically represent the couple rather than trying to match someone else’s vision from social media.

Wedding Industry Advice: Serving 2025 Couples Better

For fellow wedding professionals serving 2025 couples, Kadra offers this valuable perspective:

“Remember that for most people, this is their first time being engaged and planning a wedding. We’ve been to so many weddings ourselves, but this is their only experience.”

She reminds wedding photographers that while certain wedding poses might feel repetitive after photographing dozens or hundreds of weddings, for the couple, it’s their only wedding poses. This fresh perspective helps maintain enthusiasm and personalized service for each couple.

Wedding Vendor Best Practices for 2025

Kadra also emphasizes these key elements for wedding professionals:

Prioritizing timely vendor response times (within 48 hours ideally)
Being readily available for wedding planning questions
Remembering that wedding clients don’t have the industry knowledge professionals do
Providing genuine guidance throughout the wedding planning process, especially with timelines

Follow Kadra’s 2025 Wedding Journey

If you’d like to follow along with Kadra’s journey as both a wedding photographer and bride-to-be, you can find her at:

Wedding Photographer Culling Tool Recommendation: Kadra uses Narrative Select for culling wedding photos, which has significantly sped up her wedding photography editing workflow! Try it with her referral code: Narrative Select

MEET YOUR HOST OF THE SUNDAE BEST

LOGAN FERREE – COLORADO WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER AND MENTOR

Hey there! I’m Logan Ferree, a Colorado-based wedding photographer, mentor, and host of The Sundae Best podcast. I’m passionate about helping fellow photographers grow successful businesses that attract dream clients and provide the freedom and flexibility we all crave.

After years of trial and error in my own business, I now share what works (and what doesn’t) to help you skip the struggle and fast-track your success. When I’m not photographing colorful, joy-filled weddings, you can find me mentoring photographers, recording podcast episodes, trying a new recipe, or exploring Colorado with my husband.

For more photography business insights and resources:

Learn about 1:1 mentorships with me, Logan Ferree, Colorado wedding photographer and mentor!
Follow me on Instagram for more tips and interviews: @the.sundae.best
Visit our show website for more episodes: thesundaebest.com

Thanks for joining me on The Sundae Best! New episodes drop every Sunday on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can sign up here if you’d like to receive these straight to your inbox!