Archive for November, 2008

February 2009 sees the Essex FM wedding fayre arrive at the Brentwood Centre for another weekend packed full of Essex wedding services.
The wedding fayre is the largest in the county, and has helped many couples with ideas and help for their perfect wedding day.

The exhibition takes place on Saturday 28th February and Sunday 1st March 2009 and is set to play host to over a hundred different wedding professionals, and promises a champagne reception to every guest arriving at the Brentwood Centre over the weekend.

This year, Essex FM are also bringing back their showcase of the latest fashions in bridal wear after the success of last year, the fashion show will be themed around “Rock and Roll Romance”.

If you are looking for further details read more on wedding fayres in Essex

ESSEX FM WEDDING FAIR
Saturday 1st Feb & Sunday 1st March 2009
Saturday: 10-5pm
Sunday: 10-4pm

The Brentwood Centre, Doddinghurst Road, Brentwood, Essex CM15 9NN

Service is almost as important as food when it comes to choosing a wedding caterer. Be sure to ask any prospective caterers about the ratio of servers to guests at a typical wedding.

This can vary depending on the type of reception (seated dinner versus buffet) and the types of food being served, but it’s best to have at least one server per eight guests when you’re serving a sit-down meal or circulated appetizers.

Written by Smart Wedding Planning

This week’s video we thought we’d help you with some ideas for your wedding dress.

This clip shows 50 designer wedding dresses, hopefully that’s enough to get you thinking about what you want for your big day.

Enjoy.

According to Sky News, the cost of the average UK wedding has now broken the £20,000 barrier.

The report shows that engaged couples can now look forward to an average bill of £20,273 for getting hitched in 2008, this figure is up nearly 8% on the 2006 average of £18,781.

The wedding reception being the single largest expense, at a total of £7,724. That figure includes paying for hiring the wedding venue at £2,529, spending £3,497 on feeding everyone, £1,242 on drinks, plus just short of £500 for wedding entertainment.

Couples who plan a romantic getaway after the wedding, face their second largest cost of £3,220 on their honeymoon.

Wedding rings cost a further £900 on average, that’s after the groom has spent £1,400 on the engagement ring.

An average wedding dress cost is £977, rising further when you add in the cost of fittings and adjustments plus the accessories of veils, jewellery and shoes, bringing it tp £1,927.
Brides also splash more cash on a new honeymoon wardrobe and “going away outfit” totalling £352.

The grooms wedding suit costs £165, then you’re looking at a further £251 for best man / usher outfits, plus £313 for the bridesmaids dresses.

The survey was conducted online, asking 1,500 brides to be how much they forked out for their wedding.
The figures also showed an average expense of £839 for the wedding photographer, £400 on a videographer, £381 on wedding flowers, £308 on transport for the day, and £138 on the wedding stationary.

Chipping in on the article are Norwich Union who claim that one in five single ladies have started saving for their dream wedding day, despite the fact they’ve even met their future husband yet !
A designer wedding dress tops the list of wishes for 85% of women, who want their special day to be like a celebrity wedding.

It’s an interesting report, although a lot of people will agree that £20,000 for one day is a little excessive, there are plenty of ways to reduce costs without losing any sparkle.
There are also plenty of money saving schemes available for those who want to save for a big wedding, so whatever option you choose, make sure it’s memorable either way.

Tell us yout thoughts on this, leave your comments below.

Here’s a fun and simple way to make sure you’ve got your wedding planning on track. A full A – Z of weddings.

A – Accommodation – You and your wedding guests need somewhere to stay the night don’t they ?
B – Balloons – Everyone’s favourite party decoration.
C – Candles – Romantic table settings and centrepieces.
D – Disco – Get that wedding party started.
E – Entertainment – Make sure none of your wedding guests stand around looking glum.
F – Flowers – Every bride needs to hold a bouquet.
G – Gifts – Planned your wedding list ?
H – Horse and Carriage – The most romantic way to arrive at a wedding.
I – Ice Sculptures – Delightful, novel way of decorating your wedding venue.
J – Jewellery – Every bride will be thinking of what jewels to wear on the big day.
K – Knife – You need one to cut the wedding cake.
L – Lucky Chimney Sweep – Never heard of this tradition ? Read about a lucky chimney sweep.
M – Make-up – Find a make-up artist, book a trial, look fantastic.
N – New – Something new, something blue, etc etc.
O – Old – Something old, something new, etc etc.
P – Photographer – Timeless record of the best day of your life which only a professional wedding photographer can achieve.
Q – Quartet – Hire one for beautiful background music at your wedding.
R – Rings – Don’t forget the wedding rings, they may come in handy on the day.
S – Stationery – You know, invites, table planners, menus, thank you cards etc etc.
T – Tiara – Feel like a princess on your wedding day.
U – Unique – Don’t just copy friend’s wedding ideas, spend time to come up with your own theme.
V – Venues – Find the best wedding venue you can, there’s some beautiful places to choose from.
W – Wedding Insurance – We recommend it, we wrote an entire article about wedding insurance.
X – XXX – no rude words in the speeches please. (we’re scraping the barrel now).
Y – You – It’s your day, make sure you enjoy every single moment of your wedding.
Z – Zzzzz – Get some sleep in the run up to the wedding, you’ll need it.

Happy Wedding Planning !

Of all the expensive things you’ll pay out for on your wedding day, one that will top the list of expenses will be the food and drinks bill for your wedding guests.

Dependent on what you want from your wedding meal, then saving money can be as simple as choosing buffet-style meal. Not only will the catering bill be reducing by not having to employ as many serving staff, but the guests do actually enjoy the freedom of choosing the favourites from the selection.
There’s no need to feel like you’ve cut corners or downgraded the wedding at all, as any good catering company can make a buffet selection look utterly fantastic when laid out on silver platters.
Add some servers in white gloves for the meat or fish selection and the buffet suddenly becomes more upscale and luxurious.

There are plenty of wedding caterers who will be able to help you design your ideal wedding buffet, so don’t just think you need to select a set menu from anyone. Even if the wedding venue you’ve booked only allows you to use their own in-house catering, a good service will allow room for your thoughts and ideas on how the buffet should be presented and what’s on the menu.
caterers should give you a clear cost per head for the buffet, but they’ll still want to know final figures of how many guests will be attending the wedding.

Should you choose the option of catering for your own wedding, again, no need to feel like you’ve cut a corner. When it comes to your wedding day, there are usually plenty of friends and relatives who are willing to lend a hand and add their signature dish to your wedding buffet.
Undoubtedly this option will add to the list of potential things to worry about on your wedding day, but often there is nothing like a personal touch to make it more enjoyable for the guests.

A finger buffet would make a more informal occasion, so have a good think about what you really want. More popular for the evening reception, the wedding guests can help themselves to the food and eat it standing or at any table of their choice. It would be pretty difficult to encompass a finger buffet with the wedding speeches and toasts. However if you’re planning a less formal wedding, then we can guarantee you’ll never hear any complaints about a finger buffet from your wedding guests !

Another option for evening wedding reception buffets that seems to be coming more and more popular is a simple barbecue. Offering your guests bacon or sausage rolls in the evening is a simple, yet popular way of keeping the party going, and allowing your guests to snack when they’re ready.
Obviously more popular for the summer months, and reliant on the fact that your wedding venue will allow it – it’s great for more rustic style weddings with an outdoor theme. Think marquees, barns or country weddings and your guests will love this idea.

Hopefully there’s a few ideas for your wedding buffet catering, if you’d like to add any suggestions or comments, please feel free to do so by clicking the buttons below.

Happy Wedding Planning !

Every bride and groom should find the time in their busy wedding planning schedule to find a little gift for each of your wedding party, as a token of your thanks for the time, effort and support they have given you.

These gifts needn’t necessarily be an expensive present, something they can keep as a reminder of the special day, and a token of your appeciation.

Buying wedding presents for the bridal party needn’t be too time consuming, of course there are a lot of gift ideas on the internet these days, so there is no excuse for not putting the effort in. Your nearest and dearest who you have chosen to be around you on your big day will really enjoy and appreciate a small gift as a thank you.

For further ideas visit us at the wedding gifts page  – or keep on reading below.

Father’s wedding gifts
Assuming you’re lucky enough to have both fathers at your wedding day, and perhaps even luckier for the father of the bride to make a contribution to your wedding then a little gift is quite meaningful for them. Have a think about their interests or hobbies and buy a gift for them they will enjoy receiving. If you’re thinking of gifts for them to treasure, then carriage clocks or hip flasks were always a “Dad favourite”. Perhaps something more useful could be a leather wallet or beer tankard – why not have their intials engraved ?

Mother’s wedding gifts
A fairly common thank you gift for the mothers are flowers and chocolates, so try and steer away from giving a wedding gift that will be gone within a couple of weeks. Consider a nice photo frame, or photo album that they can place their memories of your wedding in. All ladies like jewelery, so perhaps a chain or some earrings for them to keep as a wedding token. If you’re the creative type, then any handmade wedding gifts always fair well for a mother.

Best Man wedding gifts
If he’s completed his role as best man succesfully, then there is possibly no one in your wedding party who has put more effort into the getting the groom to the wedding then then best man himself. Therefore a thank you gift is a must, after all, without him the groom may still be tied to a lampost in Southend on Sea.
The best man gift needs to be something that represents a reminder of your special day, and the part he played in it, something that says “thank you for being our best man” (perhaps not literally). Pint glasses, hip flasks, beer tankards, these are all very well, but have a good look around for something that he’ll really appreciate – there are plenty of wedding gifts you can have personalised or engraved.

Bridesmaids wedding presents
The bridesmaids play an important role of keeping the bride calm and looking beautiful on the day. The girls are easily pleased with wedding gifts, momentos of the day are important for them though. Like the mums, a nice photo frame so they can place a photo of themselves looking great beside the bride. Don’t worry about a bunch of flowers for them, they’ll be happy enough taking home one of the table settings.

Ushers wedding presents
Just a token thank you is all these guys need, they’re happy enough that you’ve provided them with a suit to wear ! Think along the lines of the usher beer glasses, or socks with usher printed on them. Cufflinks or a tie are also great gifts for the ushers.

Happy Wedding Planning !

Today’s article is written by Rebecca Jennings, professional wedding photographer in Essex.

This may seem like a daunting task, so many websites and images to look through to find the style of photography you want your day to be captured in. It doesn’t have to be…

Some of my tips for finding the right wedding photographer for your day are;

1. Searching - In your search on the internet, type in keywords reflecting what style you want, i.e. traditional, contemporary, reportage, formal, informal etc then wedding photography and then the location best for you. For example: modern, reportage photographer in Rainham, Essex. This will narrow the search results down to exactly what you are looking for.

2. Relationship - When phoning your potential wedding photographer for the first time, observe how well you talk together and understand each other as this is an important key to getting the photos you want of your day.

3. Information – Explain everything from the date/time/location down to the images you want and do not want, even the smallest details to ensure the photographer knows what you want and can provide that for you. For example, I have had many different requests like photographing every different guest family at the wedding, working with a Master of Ceremonies to organise and photograph the group shots to not photographing the bride from the left side or her back or not capturing the groom’s Mother and Father in the same photo.

Once you have chosen the photographer to capture your special day, agree on the package, the price and the work wanted and your set to have your day preserved how you want it!

I hope you have found this information useful and it helps towards finding your perfect wedding photographer, if you would like to find out more information about my wedding packages, view my work or contact me to discuss your wedding requirements, please do not hesitate to, I would love to hear from you.

Rebecca Jennings – R J Photography

Wedding reception decorations will help to transform a wedding venue’s blank canvas of walls, tables & chairs into a wedding reception that dreams are made of.

If planned well, decorating your wedding reception will add sparkle and glamour to your wedding venue, and become a focal point for the guests to admire.

Of course there are no boundaries to your wedding reception decorations, they can be as simple or as complex, as cheap or as costly as you desire. Inspiration can come from other weddings you’ve attended, from your home, the internet, magazines, parties, holidays – the ideas for wedding reception decorations are endless, and can come in all shapes and sizes.

Whether you are considering decorating your wedding venue with flowers, balloons, candles, fairy lights, drapes – a well decorated wedding venue can make a big difference on the ambiance of the occasion.

There are three main areas of your wedding reception decorations to plan for when you’re looking at decoration ideas; the room itself, the tables & chairs, and the entrance / outdoor area.

Wedding room decoration
The planning of your wedding reception decoration ideas will vary dependant on the wedding venue you choose. If you’re looking at a modern venue with fairly plain decor then you may want to make it a little cosier. Should you book a historic building with an antique feel to it, then some simple candles and flowers may be your first options. Either way, make sure you get a good feel for the wedding venue, as you’ll beed to work with what already exists.

The areas internally that you could possibly decorate the wedding venue are :

• Walls windows & fireplaces.
• The ceiling area, especially if you’re hiring a marquee.
• Staircases.
• The bar area.

Wedding table decorations

Typically, your wedding guests will be sat at their tables for a few hours whilst eating & listening to speeches. First impressions count for everything and you’ll want your wedding guests to appreciate your decorations, so ensure they match your overall colour scheme and theme.

When planning your table decorations, the main areas to consider are :

• Your top table
• The wedding guests tables
• The chairs

Ensure you don’t clutter the tables, your caterers will be filling the tables with cutlery and crockery, the wedding favours and wine coolers will also need space. A long single centrepiece would be enough for a top table, and often less is more when it comes to the guests tables. Brighten up seats with chair covers which are easily hired at a low cost.

Outdoor Wedding Reception Decorations

First things first, allow for the British weather and ensure anything you use to decorate externally is weather-proof, especially anything electrical ! Large decorative candles may look fantastic at night time, but if it’s a little windy, or there is rain in the air then your idea may well be spoilt.

Outdoor areas suitable for wedding decorations are :

• The main entrance to the wedding venue
• Driveways leading to the venue
• A courtyard, decking area, or patio area.

Hopefully this article has given you a few ideas for wedding reception decorations, if you have any further ideas or opinions, please leave your comments for us below.

Happy Wedding Planning !

Earlier in the week we spoke about entertainment for your wedding guests, and highlighted how hiring a magician can transform your wedding from the usual, to the highly unusual.
Today, we delve further into the options available for wedding entertainment and discuss whether to hire a fun to play casino.

Casino table hire is a relatively easy and affordable option of wedding entertainment, and can add a touch of fun and glamor to your big day.
Perfect for the time after the meal, but before the party really gets started, hiring a fun to play casino will get the guests revved up for and keep the conversation flowing. Suitable for both young and old (and everyone in between) the casino tables will bring everyone together as the professional croupiers entertain your guests with their skills.

For those of you who are not familiar with the format, the wedding guests will each receive a fun voucher, allowing them to “buy” an allocated amount of chips for playing at the tables. You can hire different games, usually companies have a full range of games available including Blackjack, Roulette, Craps, Chuck a Luck, Texas Hold’em & Stud Poker. Choose the game that you think your wedding guests will find the easiest to join in the fun, simpler games like a roulette table, and blackjack (21′s) are generally “safe bets”.

Once the casino tables are set up at your wedding reception venue, the guests are invited to start gambling their fun chips. Any winnings are paid out in these chips, and at the end of the event the wedding guest with the most amount of chips usually win a prize courtosy of the casino hire company, often a bottle of champagne or similar.

If you’ve hired a big wedding venue and are concerned about the size of it in comparison to the amount of guests you have attending, then hiring a couple of casino tables to fill up the room could be the perfect solution.
In our opinion, this entertainment option will only fill a couple of hours early evening, it’s great fun, and it will immediately draw in your evening guests into the party, but after a couple of hours it’s worth clearing them away to continue with the real party on the dancefloor.

More wedding entertainment ideas and articles to be added to the blog soon. If you have any comments, or suggestions for other brides and grooms of Essex, then please fill in the form below and we’ll get them added.