The wedding season fast approaches and I have heard from a number of clients and readers who are looking for advice on getting started. What an exiting time. There's so much to think about and it's often, like designing a house, hard to know where to even begin. Once you get started though, it will all come together beautifully.
When it comes to planning a wedding here are a few things to get you started.
We have all heard the phase "fail to plan is planning to fail", I am strong believer in this and love the planning stage of any project whether it's my new year diary, the start of a new project or a wedding or event. I always begin with a good quality book or binder to help me keep everything organised. There are of course apps for this now but growing up in Norfolk has taught me that being stuck at a venue with no signal trying to update an app with information doesn't always work as well as a good old fashioned diary. This on is from Ginger Ray.
Once you have your planning sorted guests is usually the next thing to look at. Without knowing if it's 10 or 100 people you can't start looking at venues or items you're going to need. It's always good to send a "save the date" card when you have your list. You don't want to plan a wedding and it ends up being over the week almost everyone you know goes on holiday. That means of course also having a date set - there are lots of places online that ca help with this too.
Now it's time to look at the venue and a theme. Now you could employ someone like Create Perfect to design your wedding or you can do it yourself. When designing a theme, like a house, start with inspiration. Trawl Pinterest and Instagram and get a wide selection (100+) images of all the things you love - from dresses to decorations. Now cull this down to your top 10 and add them to a board. There are lots of great software now for this but I love PowerPoint myself.
This should point you in the way of a theme. Now you can start shopping. To start will be a venue that suits the style, maybe a castle, or a vintage looking hotel, a golf course or a summer house. And a supplier who can supply the decorations (this maybe several). I love this Botanical Wedding range from Ginger Ray.
A couple of things people sometimes forget when looking for decorations include: The kids - there are bound to be children unless you specifically choose a child-free wedding so cater for them and keep them busy. I love this activity pack from Ginger Ray. Bubbles are another good shout - on our Pinterest Page for Wedding Inspiration you can find lots of interesting ways to keep kids entertained.
The other one of course is entertaining the adults. Although weddings are lovely there is often a lot of waiting around. A fun one to look at is the modern photo-booths, there are lots of different options from selfie sticks to back drops, frames to dress-up. This doesn't even have to stop at the guests. When you're planning your photographer don't forget you can shake things up - it doesn't have to be the traditional man, women, white dress by the river.
Flowers are another big spend of weddings which it's worth thinking about at this stage. Budgeting should be part of your planning stage but now you have a theme set it's much easier to think how many flowers (or plants maybe) you are going to need and what style or colours. I loved this that I saw recently from Paper Tree. Hand made, ethically, sustainable and beautiful paper bouquets and decorations. The quality is amazing.
Whilst I could go on forever, I am sure everything will now be coming together and you'll be run off your feet but having fun as the design process unfolds. One last thing not to forget are gifts. Maybe you have a terribly helpful best man, a supportive bride-maid or a well-meaning mother-in-law and gifts are great way to thank them on the day for all their hard work. For women Jewelry is a still a great hit and there are a vast range of places that can customise your pieces - what ever your budget.
For the boys, this stunning brushed polished brass traveler's compass makes an utterly amazing gift helping them on their journey through love and life. It can also be engraved in the circle around the glass of the compass with a loving message so they also remember the day and initialed on the front - and all for £37 so not breaking the bank either.
For plenty more inspiration do check out our Pinterest page or feel free to get in touch for details of a range of packages to help - including our wedding concept package which is only £120 this month of love.
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