TIP OF THE DAY :)

My tip of the day is to enter COMPETITIONS!
Look on facebook, Twitter, Magazines, Wedding websites..

REMEMBER you have to be in it to win it!

I entered a competition on EasyJet's Facebook site and was lucky enough to win!

To enter we was asked to share a holiday photo. We chose a photo that was taken just after I was proposed to.
Our picture was selected to win an Easyjet bear. One of the bears had gold a star on and If you received this special bear then you also won some free flights.

The parcel arrived on Monday with the bear inside. When we unwrapped it and Craig noticed the gold stars on the bears tag.
I didn't believe that we had won, so emailed EasyJet with the picture of our bear and they emailed back to confirm that......

WE WON!!!

I feel so extremely grateful and overwhelmed that we won. We are so excited to choose where to go and get them booked as we are using them for our honeymoon.

I will try and re-tweet as many competitions as I can find on my twitter page so make sure you follow me https://twitter.com/TheWedAssist

Have fun entering!

The Wedding Assistant  

Our Photo, saying goodbye to Sunshine Egypt. Both our hands 

I love this little treat treat box on the plane :)

So much so that last time I was flying I took a picture!! 

The Winning BEAR!!!! <3 <3 <3

  

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Task 4 - Deciding what to do with the venue.

You have your guest list draft.
You have your venue.

So know you can start planning the style of wedding you would like or the theme that you would like to create.
This will help you finalise your guest list and work out the final number that you can accommodate for.
It might be that you want a Registry office wedding and a big party reception,a Church wedding with a sit down meal, or have the whole day in one place.
You could have a sit down meal, a BBQ, a picnic, afternoon tea, a buffet, a hog roast, the list goes on and on.
You may want a vintage wedding, summer fete, winter wonderland, nautical,beach wedding, Autumn Wedding... This is where your wedding becomes unique.

I will post a blog for a variety of themes as its an area that really excites me and I'd love to pass on some ideas.

You will probably find that your venue dictates to an extent the theme and the style of wedding that you have.
Our wedding is a Church of England Service. Our Church and Venue hold 100 at a squeeze so our initial thoughts of having a BBQ were put to a swift end when we thought about the layout of our hall and how 100 people would feel about moving in and out to get food and having to meander around each other. 
We have decided to opt for a sit down meal so that there was not as much moving around.
As the hall is of the Tudor era we felt that a rustic vintage theme fitted in beautifully.   
We spent a lot of time at our venue and made sure we measured and counted everything!!

Things to do while you're at the venue

• Count the tables and take measurements
• Count the chairs and take measurements
• Look at where power points and doors are
• measure the hall
• measure the outside space (Marquee's / Party Tents)
• measure any kitchen areas and other rooms
• count the toilets
• List all facilities the venue has to offer 
• list any equipment that you are allowed to borrow.

If you are allowed a good length of time in the hall then set it up!! Plan how you would like your tables to set out and see how easy it is for people to move around. 
If you are short of time then you can always sketch out your ideas to scale on graph paper. (Mum's tip)



TAKE LOTS OF PICTURES - Ceilings, floors, windows, doors.
   

Make sure you spend time creating mood boards and creating a look that works for you.

As I say your venue will help you dictate this.

I got a lot of my inspiration from Pinterest 

http://www.pinterest.com/naynay19841/

I loved reading real brides stories and found that the 'Wedding Ideas' magazine was fantastic and sharing real events and helped me have the 'I can do this' attitude.

http://www.weddingideasmag.com/

You may change your mind 100 times. We sent a shortlist of our options to our caterers of choice so that we could get a selection of quotes which also was a huge help in finalising our choices. We got a quote for Marquees, Bars, BBQ's, sit down meals. We felt it was important to have the information on hand to help us finalise our decision.

So have fun exploring magazines books and Pinterest. Get cutting sticking and creating! 

On my next blog I will go through my wedding theme and the decoration.

If you would like any help on selecting a theme or decoration ideas then please comment below or email me directly the-wedding-assistant@outlook.com 

Thank you!

Task 3 - The Venue 

The Budget has been set..
The number of guests has been estimated..
So now for the fun bit.. The Venue.
When I was searching for venues we came up against numerous barriers. Websites that show no prices, Venues that only allow wedding packages, venues with a minimum spend and venues where you are tied to using their caterers and suppliers.
We found that although wedding packages are stress free and reliable, the premium cost was always there. We often needed a few items from a few different levels of package options which meant we would be paying more than what we wanted and paying for bits that we just did not require.
Going off the wedding radar..
Instead off doing a 'Wedding Venue Search' we did a venue and function room search which came back with a whole host of exciting results..
We had a few things on our check list;

• A large open space
• A pretty venue
• A room big enough for 100 people
• the freedom to be able to create our own day.

We searched through town and village halls, old schools, various function rooms, hotels, sports grounds. A whole variety of places.

you will find the hire price will dramatically drop. You don't have to have a venue with a Kitchen or a bar as outside caterers can provide an outdoor Kitchen, and a mobile bar can be brought in. 

The Venue that we decided on which my Fiancé found is a Tudor barn which is used as a community village hall. It is set in a small field and holds 100 people. It came at an attractive price too at just £15 an hour. The cost allows us enough money in our budget to be able to add lots of personal finishing touches that will really make our day special. We also had enough room in our budget to hire the hall for the entire day before. I cant wait to get a team of family and friends together to help me decorate and create a beautiful room to host our reception.

We were also able to provide all of our own welcome drinks and Champagne for the toast which is a huge saving in itself!!

I love the fact that we are so hands on with what we can have and the flexibility to create our own day is exactly what we were looking for.

if your able to and want to spend extra time and have more control over your wedding then don't be scared to go off the radar and 'DIYing' it. 

If you want a package option they are fabulous for a pretty stress free option.

What ever you decide to do, make sure its right for you.

And don't be afraid to book it. You find once its booked that you stop looking around at other venues and fall more in love with the one that you have picked.    

If you would like any more advice on anything above then please comment below or email the-wedding-assistant@outlook.com 

Have fun 

The Wedding Assistant 

Task 2 - The Guest List

Now I was struggling with what Task 2 was going to be...

The Guest List.... 

OR 

The Venue......

I have decided to go with THE GUEST LIST :)

Its the people that make the wedding special. Family, Friends and loved ones.

So how do you decide on who to invite, how many guests to have and who to invite for the whole day and who to invite for the evening celebration.

THERE IS NO RIGHT OR WRONG WAY TO DO THIS. you have to decide what is right for you.

Have a good think about who in the past present and future who you want to be part of your day.

Points to remember when deciding on your list

A wedding is about two peoples lives coming together. Two sets of family, two sets of friends, two sets of loved ones so therefore the guest list should be as equal as it can be to each partner.

Invite who you would like to celebrate with. Start your list as if you could only invite 10 guests.. then move up to 20 until you reach the number that you are looking for. This will help you to prioritise your list.

Listen to your family/ family to be but have confidence in your own judgement. Family will expect to have a very big say on who makes the guest list...Listen, take it on board, but remember its your special day so you have the final say.

The style of wedding. You could have a  five course meal in a 5* hotel, or a Buffet in a big community hall. The cost per head will vary greatly. Try searching price per heads and match it up to your budget to give you a rough estimate of the number of people you can afford to invite.

Do not get stressed!!! This is your list of people that you want to celebrate with... 

Does the person know your Fiancé?

Do they know that you are engaged? 

Have you seen or spoken to them in the last 10 years?

Would you go for tea and cake with them one on one?

Are they going to be an active part of your future?

Go over your list every few days over the course of a couple of months to make sure that you have a fun and fabulous list of people to give you a celebration that you will never forget...

How was your Guest List experience? How did you decide who to invite? Share your story below.

If you would like more tips on writing up your guest list then please give me a shout :)

The Wedding Assistant  

Task 1 - Set your budget

A wedding is not a performance... Its a celebration... A celebration of love and the start of your new lives together. 

The Budget helps you to set the foundation of your wedding, and gives you an understanding of what you will need to work towards.

The easiest way to set your budget is to look at your disposable income-calculate what you can REALISTICALLY afford and times the amount by the period of time you have to save.

example Save £400 per month x 15 months = a saving of £6000   

A wedding should only cost what you want it to cost.

You should not be tempted to borrow as although its a special day, its just one day. After this day you have the rest of your lives to enjoy,which is a lot more important than spending it paying back debt.

It is also important when setting your budget that you make sure your focusing on what is right for you. Block out other peoples expectations and demands and focus solely on you and what you want and more importantly what you can afford.

I am in the process of saving the same amount as in the example. Along the way we have had peaks and struggles but by the end of our savings we are hoping to hit the target amount.

We have had a lot of people think that a wedding is simply not possible for the amount that we have saved or that we will need to cut too many corners. As you join me through my blog you will see how we have achieved it. I have not compromised my expectations and I am excited to see the final result.

If you have any questions on affordability or budget setting please post below and I will do my utmost to help you out. 

As I said earlier A Wedding should only cost as much as you want it to.

There are a million different ways to host a wedding and a million different ways to make it perfect.