The Bridesmaid Dress Debate

There are endless articles covering the negative side of buying bridesmaid dresses from China and from websites where designer copies are made for a fraction of the price.

So what do you do when you are on a budget and the average bridesmaid dress retails around the £200 mark?

I would like to make clear that I do not agree with people coping designers work and passing it off as a genuine piece and I also think that designer copies are disrespectful to the craftsmanship, skill and attention to detail that goes into each designer gown.

Everyday sites are shut down and brides are left out of pocket with alteration fee's to try and make the best out of what they have purchased or in the worst cases having to buy new dresses meaning they are paying full price plus the cost of the wasted dresses.

So what are the other options?

There are high street shops that sell a fantastic selection of bridesmaids dresses. 

Here is a selection from BHS Their dresses range from £36 for children up to around £120 for adults.

It is also a good idea to keep an eye out for bridal sample sales especially if you only have 1 or 2 bridesmaids.

When I was looking for dresses I kept getting tempted by sights such as 'lightinthebox' but was also scared off by reviews stating escalating postage costs and poorly fitting dresses. I ended up researching dress makers that rather than selling designer copies sold a small selection of there own bridesmaids dresses. I came across a business called 'littlepridebride' on ebay. All of the reviews were positive and I was able to both speak to the lady that fronted the business via telephone and frequent email conversation. 

The amount of communication and help I received put my mind at ease and I felt completely confident processing my order. 

The Order for 6 Bridesmaids dresses took around 5 weeks from start to finish. I was really happy with the quality and how the dresses looked. They had a heavy weight to them and were beautifully lined. There wasn't a wonky seam in sight. I also didn't have to worry about escalating postage costs as they were shipped to the UK office before being sent to me. My dresses averages out at £45 per dress.  

Here are the photo's of my Bridesmaids in their dresses.

Picture taken by Alex Lawrence Photography
http://alexlawrencephotography.com/

Here are some tips for if you're looking to buy your dresses online.

1) Do your research! review, review, review. 

2) Measure three times

3) Match your measurements to the nearest dress size rather than buying custom dresses. This will make them easier to alter. The only thing that I customised was the length for the taller ladies.

4) Factor in alteration costs 

5) If you have any doubts or niggles then DO NOT ORDER!

Decoration - To buy or to hire?

In the last few posts we have talked about where to buy wedding decoration and looking at the DIY options and if it's better to buy or to hire.
In this post I will go through how I decorated our hall and how much I spent on creating the final look. 

here's a few of my lovely helpers that made my vision a reality:)

We hired Chalton Village Hall for our wedding reception. Village Halls tend to be quite reasonable and cost as little as £15 per hour. Due to the low cost we decided to hire the hall the day before the wedding to give us plenty of time to make everything perfect.

I chose to purchase most of the decoration and hired just the tables and the wine coolers.

I really enjoyed setting up the hall the day before the wedding. It was fun seeing it all come together and I got to spend time and build memories with family and friends. I also have a lot of respect for the people that do this for a profession. 

I feel that picking a venue where I had to plan and organise every detail was both the most brave and refreshing thing that I could have done. The venue dictated the theme which was in-keeping with my original ideas. I started looking for inspiration and shopping around for key pieces around a year before the wedding. I had no idea whether I wanted to hire a decoration company or do it alone. I had never planned a wedding or even a party before so this was a new experience for me. 

I knew how many guests we were having which helped me to be able to plan how many tables we needed and how best to position them. We had 100 gusts and our hall was fairly small. We went for two long rows of trestle tables to allow clean lines and clear walking routes.

I now had the template to draw out my table plan inspiration. I knew I wanted vintage birdcages and that's where I started my research and found these...

I came across them in B&M and they only cost £2.97 each. To decorate them I used ribbon and Hessian string £1 each from Tiger and paper roses hand crafted in Thailand £1.85 for 50 eBay. I sold 12 of the 15 centrepieces for the same price as I paid. The remaining cages went into my memory box.

the most costly and time consuming item to purchase were the chair covers. I wanted Ivory cotton covers which worked out around £2-£3 each to hire. After lots of bidding and just missing out, I purchased 165 covers for £175 and went on to sell them for the same price! But be warned laundering 165 chair covers is a time consuming job and does add to the cost.

I managed to purchase 18 tablecloths for £46 which works out £2.55 per table cloth, which is half the price of the average selling price. I sold these for the same price.

I purchased my chair sashes from a higher company for £45 for 115 sashes. I then sold these for £35.

As you can see I saved quite a lot of money from buying and selling on. the preparation and set did take a lot of time, so do make sure you consider that when booking your hall and planning your final few days before your wedding. 

Here is the breakdown of my costs 
Chair covers        £175
Chair sashes        £45
Tablecloths         £46
Centre pieces       £50
Large Centre pieces £22
Burgundy Napkins    £40

Table hire          £57
Wine cooler hire    £9.50             Total amount £444.50 

Money from selling on items  £336.00 

The total spent on wedding decoration came to £108.50 

The hire company that I used and would highly recommend were Jaspers Luton. 

    


  

I'm back!!

I have been off of the wedding scene for quite a while! Wedding planning quickly fills your time and when you are creating a lot of it yourself every second is precious.

I am so happy to be back and sharing my experience through my blog, Instagram and pinterest (I feel like I have been away so long that the websites I have listed have probably been replaced with new ones) It's nice being able to write this blog knowing  the end result. We had an amazing wedding day and I have met amazing suppliers, super creative people and had lots of support and time from my family and friends. I can share real photos and real experiences. 

I can write about every decision, my doubts and worries (more about the bridesmaids dresses and marquee decisions than becoming a married lady)last minute decisions, the days running up to the big day and the days after. 

If you would like any help and guidance along the way then please email me the-wedding-assistant@outlook.com

I will hopefully also be getting out and about and taking a look at affordable wedding venues and meeting with wedding suppliers. If you are in the wedding sector and would like me to run a page on you then I would love to hear from you.

Now to get writing!!! 

Have a great day 

The Wedding Assistant 

 

Task 4 Continued - Decoration - Where to buy

You have picked your theme, had a good look on Pinterest for inspiration and ideas and you have planned the layout of your venue.

Now for the FUN bit..... SHOPPING 

I had such a great time exploring both the high street and the internet looking for pieces that would make my decoration unique and personal to me. I found pieces in shops I would never expect and have probably never even thought about shopping in. 

I am now the proud owner of a glue gun, a button pot, Spray mount and endless amounts of ribbon, craft stamps and fabric.

It has been exciting seeing it all come together and I am very excited to see the end result.

I wanted to buy everything cheaper than it would cost to hire. I also wanted to buy pieces that I could get creative with to give my decoration that personal feel. 

Buying also gives you the opportunity for people to take bits home with them or for you to re-sell or re-use.

Here are a few pieces that I found whilst on my travels that I thought would be suitable for a good mix of wedding themes.

These Metal Pitchers make lovely centrepieces or can be used to decorate feature areas like fireplaces.
To personalise them add ribbon to the handles or a transfer on the front and fill with flowers.
available from DiscountUK Small £1.99 Large £3.99

The 3 above pictures are all from B&M. B&M always seem to hold bulk quantities so fantastic if you have lots of tables to decorate. Again all can be personalised and made to suit your chosen theme. The hollow heart would look lovely hanging from beams.




Oversized glasses have been a very popular choice over recent years. I came across these ones in The Range in Stevenage. They were a nice sturdy quality and would look lovely with various different things in them. Autumn leaves for a Fall wedding or mini baubels for a Christmas Wedding.  

   





Ikea is a fantastic place to pick up bulk products at very affordable prices with small vases from 65p and larger vases from £1. I also love the big paper decorations. They create a fun focus. 

Vase £1

I found these tin Beer coolers in 'The Works' £7.99
Fantastic for inside and outside use - welcome drinks - just fill with ice and beers :)

All you need is love - Asda £7 Great for decorating a card / cake table.












This was one of my Favourite finds from Wellpersonalised £12. They have a lovely affordable selection of products. Take a look at their fingerprint guestbook. 



Don't forget to look on Ebay and Amazon.
I managed to buy my cotton chair covers on ebay for less than the hire cost and I am currently searching for some fabric to sew my own napkins. I will keep you posted!!


And remember you can always get creative and personalise items to make them your own.

Have fun CREATING!! The Wedding Assistant x

Task 4 - Theme and Decoration Ideas - planing your layout

If you are anything like me as soon as you have selected your venue your mind will go into a creative whirlwind and you will become full of ideas on how to make your empty hall into your dream venue.

In this blog post I am going to share my shopping secrets, take a look at a few different themes and show you how fun and easy it is to DIY.

So Lets start with the Theme 
There are a few things that you need to consider to help you decide on a theme including, what your venue looks like, what season you are getting married in, and the colour scheme you are looking to use.
You may find that your venue dictates your theme fully and already gives you a strong back drop.






















Here's our venue. We were very lucky as we wanted a rustic / vintage style wedding with a colour scheme of Burgundy and Gold. We could not believe our luck when we turned up and saw all off the rustic beams and burgundy finishings.

There are lots of different themes to choose from and once you have picked your theme then that's where the fun starts...

Rustic / vintage / modern / Alice in Wonderland / casino / London / Paris / Las Vegas / music / comic book / Christmas / Easter / Halloween / Spring / Autumn / rainbow / nautical / beach / summer fete / garden party / travel / colour / seaside / art deco / books, library / film, cinema / fairytale /  the list goes on. 


So Where do you start?
We went to the venue with a list of questions. As we were planning a full DIY wedding we had to make sure we were 100% clear of what we were allowed to do. We made sure we made lots of notes to refer back to.
Our questions and notes included;
What is included in the price of the venue?
Are there tables and chairs that can be used?
Chair / table dimensions / Quantities 
access times / hall availability
hall dimensions. 
Power points / music systems / fire escapes
decorative areas (fire places)
Facilities available
Outside space
car parking 

Make sure you take the time to fully look around the venue and take lots of photos. Take photo's from each angle of the venue and any features. For example at the end of our hall there is a nice wooden fire place and above that there are two hooks - so we will be making the most out of these by decorating the fire place with jugs full of flowers and hanging banners or bunting off of the hooks.

Once you have all of your measurements you can sit down and work out a hall plan. The first thing to consider is the size of the hall and how many people you want to have seated.
Our hall is on the smaller side and we are going to have 100 people seated for the meal. I found the diagram below really useful on helping to decide the style of tables to use and the final lay out.   

A good tip that my mum gave me was to draw out everything to scale onto graph paper so you can make sure everything will all fit exactly how you want. 

Remember to work out where you would like other key areas - Welcome Drinks / DJ / Bar / Cake table / card table..

We decided to go for a top table running in front of the feature fireplace followed by two long rows. This allows us to fit in the required number of guests with plenty of room for everyone to walk around with ease. We have a corner for the DJ and a large alcove for the bar.

I really like the set up of this hall. I think long tables work really well. Pinterest is fab when creating inspiration for different layouts and set ups.

I also like the mixture of long and round tables that are used in the picture on the right. All pictures show strong ways to make the most of your space.

As we have a smaller sized hall we want to make the most of the outside space. We are lucky enough to have a large lawn area surrounding the venue. We have decided to have either a marquee or laced gazebos depending on the weather and create both a seating area made from hay stacks and a lawn games area for the children to play. This will allow us to create a larger feeling venue and really maximise all of the space. 

Remember to look at your venue as a whole and not just a single room.

Once you have a list of ideas of the theme and colours that you would like to go for and you have set the layout of the hall you can then start to get Creative.

You will need to research the following areas

Centre pieces

Tables / table linen 

Chairs / Chair linen

Extra table decorations (wine coolers / jugs)

Place settings

Favours 

Feature area decorations (fireplaces / hooks / beams)

Cake stand 

cake knife

sashes / bows / swags

signs  

candles / lighting (inside and out)

Outside decoration

I know I keep on saying it but to help me generate ideas and channel my creativity I spent a lot of time on Pinterest and google images. You can search for anything on there and so much inspiration and ideas come up that it really helps you to perfect exactly what you want.

Popular searches that I used 

Rustic wedding 

Barn wedding 

Vintage centre pieces 

Long table decoration 

Burgundy Wedding 

Village hall wedding decoration 

Fireplace displays for weddings

Wedding signs 

outside wedding ideas 

I created a board displaying my likes so that I could collate them in one place. From this I then drew out table plans and decoration ideas to visualise exactly how everything would look.

From this you can then Write your Shopping list 

In my next post I will show you my purchases and the best places to pick up key items. This part has been such a fantastic experience and I wish I could keep doing it. I have made surprise purchases from shops that I would not of even planned to go in and sourced and researched items from the internet. I have made things and love the DIY touches that I have added. I cant wait to share them with you all.

If you have found a real gem then please share your findings below. 

And don't forget to hit the follow button :) 

Have a nice day 

The Wedding Assistant

  

                                                                                                                                                                               

My visit to White Horse Weddings

 Today I went to White Horse Weddings to see how the venue is set up, watch the finishing touches being put together and meet a few of the team that put the beauty into each and every wedding.
The Sun was shining and the birds were singing. It was a beautiful day for a wedding. Spring was certainly in the air and it was difficult to believe that we are only half way through March.

The White Horse is surrounded by beautiful county side views. The country side appears endless creating a beautiful background for wedding photographs.
As I was walking around my imagination was going crazy with the endless possibilities and fun you could have with creating a look that was personal to you. Natural and rustic, vintage.. you could even go for the extreme and quirky!

 

 The whole surrounding area is full of beauty and everything from the drive in to the view from the venue is stunning. There is also lots of parking and a great children's adventure playground which will keep the little lovelies entertained.

 As I walked into the venue the team were hard at work perfecting the finishing touches. You could see the amount of detail that goes into each wedding and the care that is taken to ensure every personal touch is perfect.

The venue looked delightful. The flowers and decoration were stunning and the attention to detail was spot on.
I was very impressed with how personal the wedding felt and excited that there was nothing generic. You could see that the time and care had been taken to make the wedding personal to the couple. 

I love these little love heart favours. They double up as place settings too. The fabric used on the jar lids is also used in the bunting and the flowers pick out each of the colours creating a perfect Spring look.

My favourite part of the day was meeting the team. They all have so much passion for what they do and you can tell that by the atmosphere that they create and the way that everyone works. Every single team member was full of enthusiasm and energy and had lots of pride. It was lovely to see.

Firstly I got to meet Laura who is one of the events coordinators. Laura has worked for the venue for over 2 years and has a wonderfully varied role where she gets to see events through from start to finish. Laura works closely with the events manager Jon and has a hands on approach with venue decoration, running the bar and ensuring that every event is run as it should be.

It wasn't long before we were having a good chat about the weddings that had taken place and the ones that stood out. Laura said that Jon has a lot of inspiration for weddings and she really likes it when Brides and Grooms 'to be' bring a selection of ideas with them so that the team can get creative. Her Favourite personal touch was when a couple had LOVE spelt out in Grass letters for their photos. Laura also enjoys that she can call out random dates to Jon and he knows the Bride and Groom that are getting married on that date "Every wedding is personal and a lot of time is spent with each couple so that their wedding is true to them."  Laura would love to go a little outrageous on her wedding day with some wonderful little details that I will keep secret :)

I then got to meet Alex who is the Events supervisor. He loves seeing the enjoyment of each couple planning their wedding and enjoying their Big day and helping the Bride and Groom bring their ideas to life. Alex has had a variety of roles and has worked for The White Horse for 4 years so has seen the wedding side grow into what it is today. We talked about how they had a smaller Marquee to begin with that Jon and Alex worked together to put up and then a year later they got a bigger one. Alex has seen a variety of weddings at the venue including the wedding of his Auntie. His favourite finishing touches are the old fashioned sweet carts but then said with weddings its mainly down to the Bride (I totally agree!! very wise words Alex)

Here's the Chefs!

Today they were cooking for 200 people.

I got to speak to Jason who has been a chef for over 12 years. Jason Knows exactly how to deliver a perfect meal and explains that planning and preparation is the key to success. 

Today they are cooking a chicken pate starter followed by a lamb roast and chocolate fudge cake for dessert. They are also creating an evening buffet. Sounds delicious!!

And Last but certainly not least Jon.
Jon brought the White Horse in 2009 as he saw the potential for the small country pub to be something to suit customers from all demographics - business, family, young couples, offering a fresh product in contemporary settings.
Jon quickly established that he needed to create an identity for the pub and worked hard promoting and creating the brand The White Horse - Tea Green.
Jon used all forms of media including their own website, social media, and advertising to share and promote the new look and what they had to offer.
During this time there was a downturn in the economy which brought many challenges for the pub sector where as many as 50 pubs a week were closing.
After analysing the business and the local area they decided that a small events company would bring additional revenue and provide the community with a place to host birthdays, christenings and even sadder events such as funeral receptions.
In 2011 they were asked to host their first wedding. This is when Jon realised that there was a niche to provide quality magical weddings without couples having to re-mortgage their house to achieve their ideal day and from then on White Horse Weddings was established.
Since then The White Horse has increased the size of the marquee to accommodate larger weddings and have added a list of strong suppliers to their inventory including DJ's, chair covers, florists, decorators and stationers with the sole aim of providing the Bride and Groom with the best package all tailor made to their requirements sticking firmly to their policy of “Quality, Value and Fun” 

To finish off I wanted to find out what Jon's favourite part of his role is and I must say that This is exactly what I first noticed about White Horse Weddings.

"My favourite part of the job is meeting with the couples and their parents and building a great relationship. We are proud to be flexible in our approach to our couples big days and want to achieve THEIR perfect day and not be: “you have to have this”, “you must do it that way” etc like so many of the larger wedding venues can be. Also seeing the brides face when she sees the marquee dressed on the day makes all the hard work worthwhile"  
    
I really enjoyed my time at The White Horse - Tea Green and felt very welcomed. The atmosphere was full of pride and the work that goes into each wedding is unique and beautiful. It is so nice to see a venue going away from the set expectations and assisting the Bride and Groom to create their day, their way...
I also had a wonderful time sitting in the garden taking notes and listening to peoples reactions to the venue that were very complimentary..

Take a look at the website and don't forget to give them a follow on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date with offers and events.

http://www.whitehorseteagreen.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/White-Horse-Tea-Green

https://twitter.com/TheWhiteHorseTG

   

Bridesmaid Dress Shopping

Bridesmaid Dress Shopping <3
Last Saturday I took my lovely bridesmaids shopping for their dresses. I have 6 bridesmaids, 4 adults and 2 junior bridesmaids so wanted to try a selection of options to see what looks worked best. I wanted just a casual ideas shop where I could freely get the ladies to try on various styles and lengths so that I could see what look suited them to help narrow down my search.
I chose to take a look on the high street rather than a bridal shop to give me the freedom to basically be a nightmare... try on take off.... try shoe's...try different dresses... swap this swap that...take measurement's... be noisy... so yes high street it was...
I had a good look on-line to see the product ranges that different stores had to offer and found that BHS had a dedicated bridal department and had by far the strongest range of styles so that is where we began our search.
In my head I already knew the style of dress that I wanted so I started with that. I wanted a strapless full length chiffon dress that went to the floor. When they tried it on, it looked lovely but it didn't quite work for the look that I wanted to go for so I picked up a different style that I liked which was a deep V neck chiffon dress which was more of an empire cut.
As soon as they put on the dresses I knew that that was the dress that I wanted them to have and they all really liked it. They all looked really elegant and the shape complimented every one of them (although the dresses needed an extra few inches in the length).

Bridesmaid dresses £95 available in various colours

I then popped out of the changing room to get a pair of shoes for each of them so I could try shoe sizes on them and see what heel height we were looking for.
As I looked through the racks of shoes a strappy pair of gold sandals jumped out at me.... I had been searching for a pair of gold strappy sandals to suit all of the bridesmaids needs for months and had been struggling to find ANYTHING!! so when I saw them I grabbed each of the bridesmaids sizes and quickly got them to try them on. They Fitted and they had every size that I needed in stock. I thought that the sandals were meant to be and swiftly purchased them.

Shoes BHS £23

While I had all of the girls in one place I took all of their measurements so that If I saw any dresses on-line or in any shops then I had all of their measurements to hand to see how each size works out in relation to each companies size guide as a size 10 can vary greatly from one shop to the next.
So the adult bridesmaids were nice and easy...

now for my junior bridesmaids..   
My junior bridesmaids are age 10 and age 12 which is a difficult age to find bridesmaid dresses for. Looking around the shops, bridesmaid dresses either catered for very young or adult age groups.. nothing really in the middle.
The young dresses looked too young and princess like where as the older ones where obviously too big...
The older junior bridesmaid looked very pretty and elegant in the adult dress but they are just not made for a young girls frame. I also wanted them to either match the adults or match each other.
We all had a lovely time and it was very interesting to have a try on and see what styles work. It was funny to see that the dress I had in my mind was not what I wanted and what style would suit the younger girls best.
I now feel that I know exactly what I am looking for. Don't be put off if a shop doesn't have the colour that you would like as finding the style is more important. The bridesmaids tried on a variety of colours none of which were the colour that I was looking for.
I would strongly recommend BHS for their product / price range. The dresses are beautiful and if they had the colour in stock that I wanted and at the length that I needed I would have purchased them there and then.
For the younger ladies I think that a bridal shop would have been the best bet as the cater for the 'junior' age bracket.

We also had a look in;
Monsoon 
TK Maxx
House of Fraser 
Debenhams 

BHS have a 20% off event for card holders at the moment so take a look at their bridal section before it ends :)
http://www.bhs.co.uk/en/bhuk/category/wedding
  
How was your Bridesmaid shopping experience? Where did you go? and where would you recommend?
Share your story below..

The Wedding Assistant