Our A-Z of Wedding Planning
As Wedding Season is very much upon us and the sun’s out to celebrate we’ve compiled our A-Z of some wedding planning tips – practical and inspirational. A-M is here with N-Z coming next month.
Ambience
The ambiance isn’t just about the wedding reception and the
wedding venue it’s held in, it’s all about your wedding’s ‘brand’. What sort of
day do you both want? This is the question you should ask yourselves before you
start looking for anything to do with organising you wedding. Well maybe apart
from THE DRESS!
Relaxed, informal, traditional, small & intermit, large
& grand. All questions you need to ask and what you decide with then ensure
what sort of celebration you create. This will then set the ambience you want
as well. Friendly with just close friends and family or grand with a more
traditional and often extensive guest list. Remember it’s you wedding ‘brand’.
Budget
Sadly we do all (well nearly all) have to stick to a budget
and it can bring the joyous occasion of planning a wedding to a point where
serious questions have to be asked. Who’s going to pay for what and what is the
budget for each element. It’s also better to get this sorted before too much
planning happens so once it’s agreed you have the budget to work towards and
not spend all you budget on THE DRESS before the other elements are considered.
Tempting as it is.
Ceremony
The wedding ceremony can often be overlooked as it is also
often the simplest to organise. Once a date has been set – which can be the
difficult part, remember not to forget it. It needs just as much attention.
It’s where your guests start to enjoy your day together, where the order of
service is handed out and everyone gets assembled to celebrate your marriage
together. After all it’s the legal bit and where, most importantly, you make
promises to each other for the rest of your lives together.
wedding Dress
Finally we get to THE DRESS. Not much to be said really.
Make sure it suits your day, you, and you can afford it. It’s often the case
that brides think it is the most important part of the planning as you can go
shopping with your close friends and family and be pampered while you are the
centre of attention. Be careful not to get the dress element out of perspective
though. But like all elements of wedding planning you have to be able to fit
the cost within your budget, no matter how wonderful those really expensive
options are.
Along with all your other wedding stationery, evening wedding
invitations are very important if you’re having an extended party in the
evening. Couples organise evening wedding receptions for many reasons. Often
the reason is that numbers are limited during the main wedding reception due to
budget, or the venue. More people can be invited just to the evening reception.
It’s also quite common for more family to be invited to the wedding reception
itself and friends, younger with more energy to have a good party, invited to
the evening reception.
First Dance
The perfect moment to really show off to your friends and
family with a set dance routine no matter how innovative. Or just a great
opportunity to finally be together after what can be a very hectic day.
Gifts
It can often be a hard one for couples to justify. Gift
giving is part of the traditions associated with getting married. Guests
genuinely want to pass on their best wishes to you both for the future and set
you up for life living together for years to come. What some couples find hard
is the guest list and therefore dictating what people should buy and that you
are expecting a gift. But don’t worry, most guests want to buy you a present
and are pleased there’s a list you have compiled to help them choose what to
get you and guidance on the gifts you want and need. Just make sure there’s
plenty on the list you actually do need and also to suit many different
budgets.
Hen Nights
Hen and Stag nights have become a whole new party to
organise and enjoy. Gone are the days when the groom went out the night before
his wedding with a few friends to have a small drink with one last time as a
bachelor. Hen and stag parties now last whole weekends and so have to arranged
often months before the wedding itself. Organising thankfully is the role of
the best man or chief bridesmaid. Whatever you’re doing – have a good one and
make sure it’s not the night before the wedding!
Personalised wedding invitations in the UK are so important. They announce you’re getting married which is to be celebrated and enjoyed by so many family and friends. It can sometimes be the first those not in contact with you hear about you forthcoming wedding and everyone enjoys a chance to get together and celebrate a happy occasions. But as well as giving all the relevant information needed to your guests the luxury wedding invitations most important role is to set the tone, ambience and nature of the day to come. Guests will know what to expect thanks to the design of the invitations, the tone of voice in the invitations and also information on what the day holds. Something for guests to really start getting excited about.
Junior Bridesmaids
Younger bridesmaids can be wonderful to have in your wedding
party. They can add lots of fun and also help to get rid of any pre-wedding
nerves. They can also be flower girls and obviously look adorable at the same
time. But they’re not essential, like bridesmaids themselves. But Bridesmaids
do help with traditions and as they’re often your closest friends and family
they’re great to shard memorable moments on the run up to your wedding with
like shopping for bridesmaid dresses, hair and make up on the day as well.
Kids
It’s a good idea to decide whether kids are invited or not
early on in the planning. Your close friends can often determine this, do many
of them have kids, if they do then it maybe difficult for them to attend if
their kids aren’t invited. It’s up to
your own personal choice and your guests will be happy to follow your lead so
ensure you do what’s right for your day and your wedding.
Laughs
As the planning stages really start to kick in and the
evenings and weekends are taken up by all the wedding preparations remember to
have some laughs along the way! And on the big day itself live, laugh and love.
It’s what its all about!
Not essential to have on the tables at the wedding reception
but wedding menus can be a nice touch and help to bring your wedding ‘brand’
together as personalised printed stationery can be your design and visually tie
everything together. Plus inform your guests as the sit down so they know the
lovely food you’ve chosen and organised for them.