Category Archives: Wedding Planning Articles
Average costs of being a wedding guest
No doubt the sensible brides and grooms amongst you have drawn up a wedding budget, and hopefully are managing to plan and organise your wedding comfortably within your set figures.
However, have you ever considered the cost that is faced by your wedding guests for the privileged of attending your wedding ?
A poll conducted by High Street bank Halifax suggests that in order to attend your wedding and it’s full celebrations, it could cost your friends and family an average of £624.10 each.
The poll looked at costs that a typical wedding guest will face and considered wedding gifts, hotel rooms, new outfits and travelling costs.
The bank concluded that wedding reception drinks cost an average of £43.70, wedding gifts ran up to around £100, and celebrating on the Stag or Hen parties costs £92.50, or as much as £258.50 if you were planning a weekend abroad.
The poll also found that 62% of wedding guests think that the bride and groom should consider these costs to the wedding guests before they make any decisions when planning the big day.
Head of Halifax banking Mike Regnier said: “The cost of attending other people’s weddings is often underestimated. It is clear that wedding guests are spending in order to be there for their loved ones.”
It’s a fair comment really, whilst you may of been planning and saving for your wedding for sometime your guests may not of been.
The best advice we can offer is to allow people as much time as possible to put some cash aside. If you’re planning a Hen night or Stag weekend that is going to be expensive, consider setting up a savings account and ask your friends to pay a set amount in there each month, perhaps enough to cover the hotel or the flight.
Whilst the country is experiencing financial upset, don’t make your wedding guests feel bad, or even worse, they may have to turn down some of the celebrations to be able to afford to attend.
Is the Credit Crunch affecting your wedding plans ? Vote in our poll in the right hand column of this article….>
Wedding Videographers
We were chatting to a bride to be on Monday whose wedding in Essex is coming up at the end of May and she was telling us all about her wedding plans.
The excited young lady was laughing at the fact she’d got everything done and her wedding plans were running so smoothly she could relax and enjoy the final month’s preperations without any stress.
Her final booking was made a few weeks ago when the couple booked a harpist to play for their wedding ceremony.
Her wedding DJ was booked, as was the photographer. The dresses were on order and the men’s suits were booked with the hire company.
The wedding flowers had been arranged and the happy couple were just finalising details on how they wanted their table centrepieces to look, and even the wedding favours were all delivered and ready for the wedding guests. Everything was in order and the bride to be looked very happy, excited and pleased to be so organised.
That was until we asked her whether she was having a videographer for the wedding, to which she replied no, and was now nervous that everyone had asked her this and she now regrets not booking one.
The fact was that they had reached their set budget for the wedding and felt a wedding videograher wasn’t a necessatity for them.
It’s true, plenty of the wedding guests will own a camcorder, some of them may even bring it with them, and maybe one of them will record the back of your heads from their seat towards the back of the ceremony – but nothing beats watching a professionally made DVD capturing all the moments of your big day.
The thing is, hiring a videographer at your wedding is something you’ll never regret, during the day you’ll barely notice they are even there. They’ll arrive before you and leave after they’ve captured hundreds of moments from your wedding day that you didn’t even realise happened.
Asking a friend at your wedding to point a camcorder in your direction will never have the same results as a proffesionally produced wedding DVD, and you certainly won’t get the same excitement went sitting down to watch a shaky effort from your mate as you would do from a proper wedding DVD.
Even with today’s IT programs, you may be able to edit the clips at home, add some titles, and a bit of background music, but can you be sure that the end product is something you’ll really want to watch again and again ?
Our recomendation of the day is that should you find you have sufficient budget for your wedding, you’ll certainly never regret hiring a videographer to capture your wedding day and present it to you on a wonderful DVD for you to enjoy for the rest of your life.
For more info on how to get a quality DVD of your wedding day – speak to one of our wedding videographers in Essex.
Writing your own Wedding Vows
Writing your own wedding vows
If you’re planning a civil wedding in Essex, then you can also consider writing your own wedding vows for the ceremony.
Having the option to customise your own ceremony needn’t be a scary idea, and can be a lot of fun, and certainly a great deal more personal then the usual formal vows.
Your registrar will give you a few options of the standard wedding vows to choose from, but if you think you’d like to write your own, then that is perfectly acceptable too.
As with any formal ceremony, there are always one or two rules to abide by, but they aren’t really too hard to fit into your personalised wedding vows.
Legally a civil ceremony is not allowed to use certain wording that has any religious references, by this we mean words you may use everyday without even realising, such as Angel, Heaven etc. Should you want background music or ask a friend or relative to make a reading, these aren’t allowed any religious references either, for example Robbie Williams “Angels” would not be allowed.
The personal wedding vows also need to include statutory declarations :
“…Solemnly declare that I know not of any lawful impediment why I, (name), may not be joined in matrimony to (name)”
The other part of the ceremony that needs to remain intact is the usual calling upon those present to witness your vows, other then that the wording is yours to personalise as you want.
Things to look for ideas are poems, special quotes you may of made over the years together, or even famous wedding or marriage quotes made by celebrities.
Personalised Wedding Vows
Other ideas or things to consider when writing your own wedding vows :
- How your life has changed since you met.
- What qualities does your partner have that made you fall in love.
- Talk about special moments since you met.
- What happened the day of the proposal.
- What are you looking forward to in married life.
- What does your partner do to make you smile.
- What dreams in life do you share.
Personalised wedding vows can be the most romantic thing you can ever share, and even if you’re a little nervous about writing the vows or reading them out in front of all your wedding guests, you’ll look back at that moment with very fond memories indeed.
Writing your own wedding vows helps create your own very personal wedding style, with a special touch.
Excellent wedding photographs
Welcome to March 2009, Spring is in the air, wedding planning season is in full swing and we’d thought we’d kick off this month’s blogging with a couple of excellent wedding photographs.
Now everyone loves to have great photographs from their wedding to treasure for the rest of your happy married lifetime. But have you ever thought of getting the wedding photographer to snap away at a few dysfunctional poses, something a little quirky or different, something that you can look back on and laugh at, a memory takes a moment but lasts forever.
These two photos we’ve found here, must of come from weddings that wanted exactly that, the photographer has captured a moment that they may not of wanted capturing at the time, but heh, this is meant to be the happiest day of your life, so at least look back on it and have a good laugh at what went on !
Preparing for your wedding
Did the bride really want her armpits to be shaved with the photos in the wedding album ? Maybe, maybe not. It’s an excellent wedding photo, and I bet she looks back on this and laughs, however, why is she moving her lips as if her moustache is next to be checked for unsightly hair ?
Can I help you with that piece of cake ?
So the bride had unfortunately dropped something down her wedding dress, let’s hope it’s not the knife used to cut that wonderful looking wedding cake ! What does the groom do to assist his new wife….? Lick her elbow. Most useful thing to do while the wedding photographer is snapping away. But lets face it, another excellent wedding photograph capturing a wonderful moment of a beautiful day.
Make sure you ask your wedding photographer to capture images that are not just family members lined up in a row, but get some quality photos of what really happened during your wedding day.
Happy wedding planning !
Wedding Cake Ideas
Wedding Cakes
When you’re thinking of your wedding cake, most of us picture the traditional tiered fruitcake with white icing and maybe an edible flower or two decorating it, alongside the bride and groom statues.
Of course this style of wedding cake remains very popular, however there are so many different options available to the bride and groom when you’re considering your wedding cake.
Recently fairy cake wedding cakes have become popular, it’s a nice way to show that you want your wedding to be a little contemporary, and it allows each wedding guest to receive their own “miniature” wedding cake.
Coloured icing matching the colour scheme of the wedding, or perhaps coloured icing flowers to match the scheme are also popular ideas.
How about really getting away from the tiered wedding cake idea, and have fairy cakes with your wedding guests initials iced onto each individual cake, perhaps even use them as a sort of place card.
Wedding Cake Ideas
Something that makes a fantastic desert as well as a unique idea for a wedding cake is a tower of profiteroles, stacked pyramid style covered in chocolate and filled with cream, your wedding guests will love getting stuck into it. Miniature meringues also make a good tower idea, perhaps with fruit inserts.
Whatever your choice of wedding cake, make sure it matches the style of your wedding though. By that we mean, a chocolate wedding cake may be a fantastic choice for a winter wedding, but a lighter sponge cake may be more suited to a summer wedding in a marquee, a wedding in a country barn may match a rustic theme for your fairy cake wedding cakes.
As well as looking fantastic in all your wedding photographs, you’ll want your guests to enjoy the taste too.
Fruitcake remains a popular choice, and of course has a much longer life if you’re planning on sharing it out with people who couldn’t make your wedding day.
If you’re having a tiered wedding fruitcake, it is a tradition to save the top tier and cut it on the christening of your first born child.
Other tasty wedding cakes options are carrot cake, chocolate, plain sponge or perhaps lemon cake. If you’re having a few tiers, why not ask for a few different flavours, obviously this may push the price up, but if it’s what you want then ask your cake designers if they can manage it.
When you’re discussing your cake ideas with the baker, try and show them photos of your ideas, or better still ask them for photos of their previously made wedding cakes.
For local cake makers in Essex – please take a look at our list of Essex Wedding Cakes.
Valentine’s day wedding ideas
Tomorrow is Valentines day, and if you’re getting married on Valentines day, then you are either very romantic indeed, or just fancied a Saturday wedding in mid February.
However, if you’re still in the stages of planning your Valentine’s day wedding perhaps for next year, then we thought we’d compile a few wedding ideas to help you along the way. Make sure your wedding is inspiring and captures the romance of the day.
Valentine’s Day Ideas
Wedding colour scheme
It’s Valentines day, so the colour that immediately springs to mind is red, simply because of red roses. However, a deep red is perhaps not always a bride’s idea of the perfect bridal colour, especially when thinking of bridesmaids dresses or hiring waistcoats for the gents, so consider warm colours or fresh light colours too.
Wedding Dresses and Suits
An old fashioned look on Valentine’s day is quite a nice idea, think classic styled dresses and tuxedos.
Wedding Venues
First things first, wedding venues will get booked up early when it comes to Valentine’s day, especially when they fall on a Saturday as it has this year. Beautiful picturesque wedding venues may look great when you visit, but don’t forget February is winter, and in England you’re pushing your luck hoping for a sunny day. Make sure the wedding venue has some indoors areas that will make great backdrops for your wedding photos, just incase the Valentine’s day weather doesn’t match your hopes.
During the Ceremony
Don’t forget everyone else is celebrating Valentine’s day too, why not ask the registrar to get the wedding guests standing and and reaffirm their love for each other too, it’ll be fun and make them feel even more part of the occasion.
Wedding Music
Romance is in the air, Valentine’s day music needs to be a harpist or string quartet – playing all your favorite love songs.
Flowers
Flowers are romantic, so try and fill the room with as many flowers as you can afford. Of course roses are the flower of choice on Valentine’s day, yet they are also the most expensive at this time of the year too, consider tulips or freesia as second options if you’d prefer to save some all important budget.
The Menu
Discuss with your caterer if they can create a menu with a Valentine’s day theme, perhaps a few aphrodisiacs mixed in to spark the wedding guests of, asparagus, perhaps even an oyster bar? Strawberry’s covered in chocolate springs to mind for a romantic dessert.
Wedding Invitations
Instead of the usual “you’re cordially invited…” how about something like “Please come to celebrate love and romance on Valentine’s day at the wedding of…”
Wedding Favours
Love Hearts offer mini tubes of personalised sweeties that make excellent wedding favours. Other ideas are chocolate shaped hearts in red foil.
Table Plan
Instead of the usual Table 1, Table 2 etc, why not choose famous couples for the table names? David & Victoria tables, Brad & Angelina, Charles and Camilla !! It’s all about making the Valentine’s day wedding a bit more fun and special. Place the table names in heart shaped card and the wedding guests will love the fun.
Wedding Venues in Essex planning a wedding
Now that Christmas festivities are well behind us, the wedding planning season really kicks into gear this month with several wedding fayres in Essex.
If you’re in the early stages of planning your wedding, then probably the first thing you’ll want to do is set your all important wedding date to tell all your friends and family.
Realistically you can’t set a fixed wedding date until you have a confirmed booking with your wedding venue or church. If you’re planning a church wedding in Essex, then you’ll also need to confirm a wedding reception venue has availability for the same date.
It’s becoming more and more popular for brides and grooms in Essex to get married and have their reception at the same venue. There are lots of wedding venues in Essex that offer a civil marriage, and then have the facilities for a meal for the guests followed by an evening reception.
This idea not only saves travelling from one venue to another, but means that costs can be saved as well.
When you’re planning your wedding and looking at wedding venues in Essex, you’ll need to consider the following points before making the final decision :
Availability of wedding venue – If you have a date that is not flexible, this has to be your first question to the wedding venue.
Size of venue and how many guests can be held – Have a good idea of how many daytime guests and evening guests you will be inviting to your wedding, don’t choose a wedding venue that is too large or too small.
Facilities at the wedding venue – Is there a bar, on site catering available, dance floor area, outdoor area for photographs, somewhere to be if the weather isn’t so nice, do they have a house DJ ? Several questions to ask, find out what the wedding venue offers, and whether you must use certain facilities as part of the hire.
Timetable of wedding venue – If you’re planning a midday wedding ceremony, you want to ensure the start and finish times of the wedding venue hire.
Costs – Different wedding venues in Essex will have different costs and packages available for you, often dependant on the day of the week, and month of the year. When they quote a price, ensure you know exactly what you are receiving for that price.
These are just a few questions to start considering when discussing your wedding day with potential wedding venues. Often the most popular wedding venues in Essex are booked a long time in advance, but many of them offer late booking deals if they have dates available, and off-season (winter) weddings should always be a cheaper option when booking.
Remember, wedding planning is the most exciting part of getting married, the actual ceremony is exciting but can be nervous for some brides (and of course grooms) – so ensure you enjoy every moment of planning your wedding in Essex.
We are lucky to have some of the very best wedding venues in Essex, so try and visit as many as you can, read their testimonials and decide which wedding venue is best for you.
Happy Wedding Planning !
Changing your name after the wedding
Although some brides in today’s modern world choose not to change their surname after the wedding day, the practice of adding a hyphen followed by your husbands last name is becoming more and more popular.
Whether you decide to take on your new husband’s surname or not, to avoid problems at a later date, arrange the task of formally changing your name as quickly as possible.
This checklist should help you get started after the wedding, but more often then not a copy of your marriage certificate may be required.
* Social Security
* Bank Accounts
* Credit Cards
* Dr/Dental Record
* Car Registration
* Passport
* Driving Licence
* Insurance Policies
* Employment Records
* Memberships & Subscriptions
Tips for a Green Wedding
Each year more and more brides think about the impact their wedding is having on the world, and opt for a green wedding.
With the wedding market growing each year, and people offering you exotic honeymoons on long haul flights, expensive large cars to take you to the wedding and people travelling all over the continent for hen and stag parties; it’s not surprising that weddings do have a significant impact on the world.
So we’ve got a few tips for you if you’re wanting to do your bit for the environment and have a green wedding.
Think small.
Not only will fewer guests mean the less fossil fuels that will be used, you’ll also be consuming less, and create less waste. Having a smaller guest list will also give you a bigger choice of wedding venues and presumably less expense.
Buy Edible or Consumable Favours.
Consumable favours are fun, and environmentally friendly. Some ideas are home-made jam, chocolate, cookies or even beeswax candles. Favours need only be a token thank you for your guests, there is no need to by something that no one will ever use.
Or don’t buy any favours.
Alright, maybe that sounds mean, but would anyone really notice ? Another option for wedding favours is to donate money to a charity in the names of each guest. The wedding guest receives a card informing them that instead of a favour, money was donated to a specific charity of your choice.
Be a ‘Locavore’.
Instead of lashing out on wedding caterers, why no buy from farmers’ markets or even to grow or pick your own food, fresh, local products are more nutritious and taste better anyway. Locavores also shun supermarket offerings as an environmentally friendly measure, since shipping food over long distances often requires more fuel for transportation – how much fun would the buffet be is your wedding guests could see that you’ve grown and made your own foods.
Have your Ceremony and Reception in the Same Location.
A lot of wedding venues in Essex of this option now, and it will mean less travel for you and your guests. Some wedding venues also offer accomodation, meaning that out of town guests won’t spend half the day driving their cars from point to point.
Potted plants instead of fresh cut flowers for your centrepieces.
We love fresh flowers, but we also love the idea of being able to enjoy the table centrepiece long after the wedding. Potted flowers are lovely, and you can allow wedding guests to take them home too.
Buy a Second Hand Wedding Dress and Bridesmaid Dresses from Special Moments in Collier Row in Essex – they are run by St Francis Hospice which is a simply fantastic charity.
Don’t bother with disposable cameras.
Why do people still do this at weddings? The images are awful, they cost a fortune to get developed and the plastics are totally non environmentally friendly. The wedding guests will all bring digital cameras – ask them to email you the copies so you can print a few favourites.
Scrap the Confetti.
Do you really need confetti? Why is it thrown at a wedding anyway ? Are you just tossing bits of paper all over the ground ? If you feel it’s a must, then use flower petals.
