A Magic Sprinkle of Fairy Dust

For many, the decision on whether or not to invite children to their wedding is a difficult one... it’s also a bit of a taboo subject. But, whatever decision is made, the parents of the children should respect it... there could be many factors which have influenced the final decision.

For us, our wedding day is not only about Ed & I... it’s also about my daughter, Evie. We want the day to be as important and as memorable for her as it is for us so we’ve centred many of our plans round her and feel that the attendance of Children at our Wedding is really important.

To start off with... invitations will be sent to the children being invited to the wedding from Evie, rather than us, asking them to join her for her own part of the celebrations. So when she’s done her “job” for the Ceremony she’ll be off with her friends and family in tow for their own "themed" party... it'll probably be completely "over-the-top", but we don't care & I dare say many of the adults will be wanting a piece of the action!

To help out with the Children's party, we’ve booked The Care Fairies, a great team that provide Crèche facilities at Weddings & Events. They’ll be over seeing the children’s meal and entertainment giving the Parents some time to enjoy adult company and relax, safe in the knowledge that their children are in good hands. We expect the speeches to run without too many interruptions too... I always feel sorry for the fidgety children bored out of their minds at this stage of a wedding!

We’ll be catching up with Lucie, owner of The Care Fairies, again soon... she’ll be providing some information for the parents so they know all about the company in advance (so please don’t panic parents!).

Great advice... “Initial Planning”

Having some great Industry connections is a major plus point when planning a wedding. Not all Brides and Grooms have the luxury of these kinds of contacts at the push of a button, so we’re going to be sharing lots of posts over the coming months from wedding professionals, that are not necessarily directly involved in our wedding, but whose advice and thoughts we value.

Alison Tinlin
Wedding Planner



So kicking off our Wedding Professional Top Tips...

the current “Queen of the Wedding Tweeting World”, Alison Tinlin.

Alison’s company “Plans & Presents” are based in Glasgow, but cover the whole of the UK. Her job as a Wedding Planner is to work with you, providing as much or as little help as you need with your Wedding or Event to get exactly what you want, within your budget. That might be as simple as helping you find a venue, or a supplier you are particular difficulty sourcing, through to Full or On the Day Co-ordination, or anything else in between.

So, what key pieces of advice can Alison give for the initial stages of planning your wedding?

Prioritise & Compromise

Right at the start of your planning, it is important to sit down as a couple to work out the priorities you both have in respect of your Big Day. You need to decide what elements you really can't do without, and what you are willing to compromise on. It is highly unlikely that you will agree on everything, but it is important that both of you as a couple work together as this will be the most important day of your lives so far.

The Budget & The Date
With respect to your budget, consider any savings you have and how much comfortably you will both be able to put towards the marriage pot per month. Also consider any outside help ie. Family input. Remember that this is your day though, and family money does not automatically mean they get to make all the decisions. With respect to loans and credit cards, this is best avoided if possible as better not to go into marriage in debt, you don't want to be paying it off 5 years down the line.
With respect to a date, this may be a day that is particularly special to you like an anniversary or to commemorate a loved one. Be aware however that a winter/off season wedding, a Sunday wedding or a Midweek wedding will usually bring you substantial financial savings in comparison to a high Summer Saturday wedding.

Help
It is important that you have people helping you that your trust implicitly, and who you know won't let you down, whether it is family or friends [consider this when choosing your Bridesmaids and Best Man].Remember too that it is lovely to involve family or friends in your day if they have a special talent as this can make your day more personal and save you money.

Choosing Suppliers
Personal recommendation is great, but what works for one couple might not necessarily work for you. Take time, research at least three or four companies in each specific category of need. If they are able to send samples of their work then that is great, this works particularly well for stationery, video companies etc.
It is always important to sit down and have a good chat with suppliers you are interested in. If someone is being involved in the most special day of your life, it’s really important that you are on the same wavelength, and you feel that connection with them.

Frustration

Remember always throughout the planning stages that all Brides and Grooms get frustrated. Your planning will have its ups and downs and because it is such an important event, every issue can seem like a giant obstacle to overcome. Remember when everything seems like it is spiralling out of control, that not getting the exact colour of napkins you want is not a National disaster, and what is really important is love, health and happiness.
In view of this, it’s important to take a step back to recharge your batteries. As a couple it’s important to have regular date nights so that you remember the real reason you are getting married in the first place. And it is also important, as the Bride or Groom, to take care of yourselves. So try to take time out one night a week to pamper yourself or have a good night out with your friends where wedding chat is banned.

Get in contact with Alison

Website  |  Blog  |  Twitter  |  Facebook  |  Top 100 Wedding Tweeter

Save-the-Date... the story behind the design

Well, Mr Postman has done his job and successfully delivered all of our Save-the-Date cards, which means we can now reveal some photos and the story behind the design and where the inspiration came from...

So, as you've probably already read... Hayley Ruth (our photographer) met us for an Engagement Shoot when An Essex Wedding Magazine ran a small feature announcing our engagement and requested a photo. When we saw the results of the photo shoot we desperately wanted to share them with the world... but instead, we opted to keep them to ourselves and share the images at a later date in a non-electronic format with our friends and family. So, the idea of using a selection of the images in our save-the-date cards was born.

Initially, we discussed creating a concertina style album and wanted to present it in a format that gave the impression of a leather bound book, or an old styled journal. After deliberating over the possible elements forming a design we decided that individual images enclosed within their pocket would be most feasible and cost effective, and would add an additional element to the design when the card was opened. Our immediate choice for the printing of the images was Moo (I've used them before for clients) and have been impressed with the quality of print and speed of service. It also meant that we could add some details to the reverse of the individual images.

The next task was to create a package that not only gave a bit of a vintage feel but also represented our initial idea of a leather bound book. Using a brown leather effect card, some suede cord and some rather fabulous buttons (which we spent hours trawling the Internet for... and tweeting about!) we managed to create a look that not only fulfilled the leather bound idea, but also the vintage journal appearance. Printing the wording content in Brown Ink in a old style font also helped to achieve this.

Whether or not our guests understood the idea or concept is another thing... but so far we've had an amazing response to them. We were delighted to hear that one of our guests has taken all the images and had them framed... would she have done this if we had shared them with her on Facebook or by email?

If you're interested in hearing a bit more about the design and sourcing of materials, please email.

Save-The-Date's may be landing on a door mat near you!

Please Save the Dates

15th - 17th July 2011

to celebrate the marriage of

Emma Muir & Edward Fulcher

Little parcel's have been posted and will be making their way across the country today, and possibly landing on your door mat! We hope you like them (we've already had some very complimentary words about them)!!! We'll post some pictures and a bit of info about the idea for the design of them towards the end of the week when we know they've been received.

Stay tuned to our blog, as more information will be added for guests shortly here.

If guests have a question in the meantime, please email us.

Formulating a guest list for Brides & Grooms to be is quite a difficult task (often stressful in fact), especially when guest numbers are limited by the ceremony licence of a venue. So, we've sent Save-the-Dates to our "A-List" (gosh that sounds awful...) of guests that we especially want to share our day with.

Ooooo, now it feels official!

Having spent 20 minutes sitting on a rather uncomfortable set of Local Council chairs we were finally met by the registrar and led off to his office... My palms broke into a sweat and I actually felt a bit nervous, not entirely sure why, probably something to do with the fear of being interrogated (and potential uncomfortable questions about the failure of my 1st marriage). But, we were quickly put at ease by "Reg the Registrar" who was jolly and reminded me of a cross between The Fat Controller and Bernard Mathews (I did NOT use the interview technique of envisaging him naked to help settle my nerves... That would not have been appropriate, especially with the future hubby sitting next to me...).

So a bit of a chat (mainly from him about the celebrity weddings he has officiated...) and a few questions later (intimate and probing details about one another.... i.e. Middle name and occupation...) and "Notice of Marriage" has been given and we're all set for the 16th of July 2011 at ....... (ha, you're not going to catch us out too easily!).

By the time we got home an email had arrived from the district council that we're getting married in, together with a whole bunch of ceremony wording and choices to make... So, I guess we'll be on the hunt for some suitable readings soon... We're open to suggestions if you have any...

Tomorrow evening, our Parents are coming round for Dinner (I'll give you one guess as to who is cooking), to discuss SOME of our plans for the day, it should be a great evening, we're really looking forward to it... We don't often get the chance to entertain guests (yep, we're hermits).

B2B

X

Getting Organised... more suppliers booked!

It's been a really busy couple of weeks... no time for blogging, but plenty of time to get some more of our suppliers arranged! We've hooked up with some more of our fellow The Wedding Partners members and got them booked! Yes, we're being organised... we have to (if next spring is as busy as it was this year we'll need to be ahead of the game!). We'll be blogging about them individually later but to introduce you to the latest additions to "Our Suppliers List"...

Matt Carter, Event Pianist.

He's a great guy, and fabulous Pianist. He's busy learning something special for us... We can't wait to hear your version Matt! We'll be catching up with him for a chat soon!

Claire & Sarah, Finn Jordan

Two fabulous ladies... Claire is the whizz with the sissors, tongs and pins and Sarah has the magical fairy wand to sprinkle a bit of beauty dust... We've had brief chat about style etc... so now I'm really excited about the trial... yippee!