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 - 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

  

                                                                                                                                                                               

Wedding Dress Shopping

Wedding Dress Shopping can be the nicest experience where it all goes perfectly or the most frustrating experience where you are left feeling as though finding 'the' dress is just not going to happen!! But don't worry.. YOU WILL. 
I would say that my experience was a mixture of both.... 
The first time I went dress shopping was 15 months before the wedding.... It was more of just an ideas shop than a serious hunt for the perfect dress.
The first shop I went to was Expressions Bridal in Hitchin. The shop was recommended to me by a few friends. 
The shop had a lovely feel to it and the owner of the shop was extremely welcoming. We were given white gloves to wear which I found fantastic as it showed how much the store cared about the dresses. I was given discs to pop over every dress that I wanted to try. I gave a few to family members as I wanted to try a variety of styles as it was more for ideas.
The owner (Carole) was so helpful suggesting fits and styles to fit my shape and had a selection of shoes to try so that you could see how the dresses hung.
I really enjoyed my experience at expressions and would recommend the service that they provide.

After my first wedding dress experience I realised that the task of finding 'the dress may be a slightly longer process than I thought, but I was excited to get started and began doing my research...

I looked at what style of dress suited my shape, What material I wanted, the colour, and the size of the train.
I've worked in fashion retail for a long time so feel that I knew exactly the shape that I wanted but still visited websites for inspiration as I wanted to keep an open mind.
There's lots of information on-line and lots of pictures to give you guidance but overall you need to go with a style that you feel happy and comfortable with.

 (image from Pineterest)

I knew the material I wanted and decided on the colour.. So now the hunt for 'the dress' was on.

I put my ideal dress description into Google images and Pinterest and browsed for hours. I found that the dresses that caught my eye were all by the same designer so I narrowed down my search by looking at the designers websites. I was left with two dresses that I really liked and saved the images and the product details on my phone.

Later that day I met up with my friends for tea and cake and showed them the pictures of the dresses that I liked. Louise (one of my Bridesmaids) had seen the dress in the window of the wedding shop near where she lived so the next day without an appointment my Mother and I went to the shop to see if it was 'the dress' 

IT WAS!! The owner at Hammonds invited me in and allowed me to try on dresses without an appointment. The ladies must have spent a good hour and a half with me and again we tried on a variety of styles.. I then tried on 'the dress'. Before I looked in the mirror I looked down and just knew it was the one. I remember popping my head out of the changing room curtain and saying to my mum "I think this is the one' 

I really loved the dress but felt it was too early to buy.. 
The dress was a sample as the dress had been discontinued, and It fitted... but I left empty handed.

I then stopped looking 3 months but didn't stop thinking about the dress that id tried. My mum and I went to sample sales, shops in different counties and to other bridal shops that stocked the range.

My highlights were 

http://www.bradgatebrides.com/sale-gowns-bridal-sale-gowns-c-48_5.html

A wonderful shop that specialises in discounted dresses, really friendly staff and they hold dresses in a wide range of styles and sizes. I even got a follow up call from them a few months after when they had received something similar to what I wanted.

http://www.mignonette.com/
A Stunning shop where the owner was extremely helpful. The shop is beautiful and they hold a great selection of dresses. I could have easily spent all day there.
It was whilst I was trying on dresses in this store that the owner explained to me that I had already picked my dress in my heart and that I just had to go and buy it.
SO that's exactly what I did!! 

The bad bits.
We went to one 'discount wedding store' that I will not name. The owner  claimed that she could get me the dress that I wanted, in the size that I wanted without any trouble...
I knew that the dress that I had chosen was the last one in the country so I was a bit confused that she said she could get it.
Looking back... the quality of the gowns was not up to scratch. The materials were thin, The lace was not like I had seen in other stores and they didn't take much care over the gowns.
Its easy to get caught up in the moment of wedding dress shopping so if you feel that something is not right or too good to be true then you are probably right. 
The work that goes into a wedding dress, the structure of the bodice and the fit can not be copied. Fakes will never come close to an original. Do not waste your money on cheap copies unless your happy to throw money away.
If you want to save money on a dress then going to a Sample sale or a discount store is the way to go.

If you want to check the authenticity of a bridal shop, most designers list every shop they stock on their website.

Also please make sure when you go dress shopping that you remove fake tan and make up. Treat every dress as if its the one that you are buying.

I am buying my dress hoop and veil elsewhere. I will let you know how I get on.

If you would like any help on checking the authenticity of dresses or what sample sales / stores to visit then please comment below.

Please click on the follow button below to keep up to date with my posts.

Happy dress shopping 

The Wedding Assistant x 

Task 3 continued - Reception venue ideas

I just wanted to take some time to share with you some affordable venues around the Beds and Herts area.
When your looking at venues you should view them as a blank canvas. Most wedding venues are a big empty room and its the decoration that gives them the WOW factor.
You can make an empty space beautiful with just a little imagination. If you put Village Hall wedding into google you will see exactly what I mean.
A lot of the venues below are in lovely grounds and even if you wanted to extend a venue you could always enquire to see if the grounds are suitable for a Marquee, or you could use party tents and gazebos to host the welcome drinks and give people and extra space to use.

This image is from google images. 



Venue: Woburn Village Hall 
Capacity:120 
Cost: £300 
http://www.woburnvillagehall.org.uk/Hire%20the%20Hall.html


Venue: Unity Hall 
Capacity: 80
Cost: £15 per hour 

We Went to view Unity Hall and I instantly fell in love with it.
It had such a welcoming feel and it was all nicely enclosed with grounds outside. It has a Kitchen, cloakroom and lots of parking.
As soon as I walked into the main hall I instantly decorated it in my mind.  

http://bartonunityhall.wix.com/home



Venue: Stanbridge and  Tilsworth community hall
Capacity: 150 
Cost: on application 

http://www.iloveleightonbuzzard.com/community/venues-for-functions/function-venues/756-stanbridge-and-tilsworth-community-hall.html



Venue: Millbrook Village Hall 
Capacity: 80 
Cost: price on application

http://www.millbrookvillagehall.co.uk/Millbrook_Village_Hall/Welcome.html



Venue Pirton Village Hall
Capacity 120 
Cost on application 

http://www.pirton.org.uk/VH%20Brochure%20aug07%20zigzag.pdf

We wanted to have an empty space from the start. Somewhere that we could make ours and the freedom aspect was really important.
We have hired our hall for 3 days so that we had a full day to set up, a day for the wedding, then the next morning to clear up.

I hope this gives you a bit of inspiration.

The Wedding Assistant 

Activity - Save the dates <3 Glue and sewing thread at the ready!!

There are so many exciting ways to ask people to save the date. 
you can gather lots of inspiration from Pinterest and Google Images. Try searching for unique save the dates, DIY save the dates, hand made save the dates, spring wedding, Summer Wedding, Easter Wedding and so on.

When we had finalised the guest list and set the date, we ummed and ahhh'd on if we should spend money on save the dates or just not have them.

But with all the Excitement of the date being set and all of our friends and family wanting to know the date and have a tangible item to show that they were invited, we thought that save the dates where the way to go :)

I wanted Save the Dates that would fit in with our rustic / vintage theme but also be affordable. 
After a brainstorming session and a good browse through Ebay I decided on creating these.

Luggage tags £3.99 for 100 tags ebay 

Rubber Ink Stamp £16.50 ebay

We wrote all the information on the back to inform our guests of times and locations and saved money by sending them to our day guests. To post them we gave them out gradually as and when we visited people and we popped the rest into our family Christmas cards.

I love the little luggage tags and they are ideal for people to hang on notice boards and are a cheap and effective way of spreading the word.

You Don't even need to buy a rubber stamp. Just use your finger tips to create a heart that is unique to the two of you.

I discovered a few other ideas that I fell in love with whilst searching for ideas;

If your having a music themed wedding then how about getting some small badges personalised 

There are so many different creations you can try when you come away from the norm.

I also saw (which swooshed my creativity into a whirlwind) 

100 small fridge magnets for £3.49... you could sew, stick or make things to create unique save the date fridge magnets.

Over the next few days I am going to create a range of save the dates with templates and directions on how to create them.

Tomorrow I will be baking some save the dates and will post my results on Sunday

And over the next week or so I will be sewing some!!

keep a look out on Monday.

Let me know how you get on with your save the date creations and share your pictures!!

Have fun with your creativity.
The Wedding Assistant.

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!