Lying in the sun on my newly purchased sun lounger I was enjoying my garden far more than I ever thought was possible. Obviously, I knew from living in a top floor penthouse apartment I would relish having a garden of any sorts. Then, when I moved downstairs to my ground floor flat I excitedly planned parties and patio barbecues on my new outside space. Soon however I grew tired of the Courtyard garden I had and longed for some grass and maybe a shed. Now I have it I wonder where and what I will want for next, however as I spent my long Easter bank holiday in the sun, Pooch by my side and with the noise of Mr Warehouse's gaming in the background I delved deeper into wedding magazines and planning books.
Following on from last weeks blog post, I have taken great joy in trawling the wedding planning website "Hitched.co.uk". This got me thinking and after some more research found tonnes of wedding websites dedicated to giving the best advice possible to a successful big day! Scrolling through the websites, blog posts and articles online (in-between cocktails and trips indoors to make said cocktails) I came across some more helpful tips and tricks from "Brides.com".
Top advice from "Brides.com" comes in the form of crafting. They say that it is essential to remember that you’re not in this alone! After all, a wedding is the coming together of two people and their friends and families so take your bridal party, family members and maybe even your fiancé and ask for their help. Be sure to delegate some tasks to take some of the load off of you. Have you got a friend with flare, a crafty cousin or a baking bestie? If yes then rope 'em in too and get your address book to be your vendor list. I can almost guarantee as in our case you will have someone who knows someone and no doubt they will be able to give you not only a genuine quotation but also maybe make a little more of an effort or even do you a freebie if you're lucky! People love to help and in my experience as soon as I started discussing wedding planning, friends, family and associates were throwing themselves at me to offer up services or names of people that could help.
I would summarise that most people nowadays be the cost of a wedding and probably keel over from a heart attack. If however, they have not succumbed to the shock then I would imagine they would think that the DIY could be a cost-effective way of creating your dream day on a budget. Doing it yourself can add some nice personal touches too, just don’t go overboard or you’ll end up with more work than you know what to do with. Feel free to go the DIY route with things that can be done well in advance, like favours, table numbers, etc. For things like flowers or food that need to be done close to the wedding date, professional help is best, however, I have decided myself to cut down on costs entirely and make all of my bridal parties flowers and arrangements myself. I have chosen to do this on the basis that the boutonnieres for the groomsmen and best men and the bouquets for the bridesmaids and maid of honour can be kept as a gifts. I also happen to have a bunch of faux flowers that I have picked up along my way through wedding buying, most of them fairly inexpensively on ye olde Facebook Marketplace.
Another interesting take on modern wedding etiquette that certainly didn't happen in either mine nor Mr. Warehouses parents time was that of social media. Whether you want to broadcast your wedding to the world or have an unplugged wedding, the strategy is important. Hashtags, signage and photo booths are a great way to get guests posting on social. If you’re more private, include signage about an unplugged ceremony or have the officiant make a quick announcement before proceedings begin. Mr Warehouse and I have yet to have the discussion as to whether we would like people to hold off posting until we have, although I am almost certain that he will tell me I would be a major bridezilla by asking people not to post before I do. I love the idea of having our wedding just for those that are there in the moment and not having mobile phones in your face, just like so many generations before us. However, that being said I also enjoy the attention and the fact that my wedding would be broadcast to my following on social media including old school friends that I no longer speak to, ex-boyfriends that could have been and maybe a few enemies along the way would fill me with great joy.
It seems that organisation is key when planning your own wedding, and I think that this will be especially true, if, like us, someone is on a shoestring. There are so many balls up in the air at once, you need a way to keep track of everything. My advice - Spreadsheets. One of the many wedding planning management apps or programs out there can help and places like "Hitched.co.uk" and "Brides.com" both have helpful budgeting tools. I suppose though that I will just remember that even with the most meticulous planning and organisation system, there is bound to be some chaos from time to time.
Whatever happens, the control freak inside me says I should probably try my best to plan ahead and not be too hard on myself when the inevitable happens on the big day. however, we've still so much left to plan and the plenty of time to do it in a very much doubt that there will anything left till last minute.
