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Would you like to plan your own wedding but don't know where to start?
Come along to our interactive workshop that will give you the knowledge and tools needed to plan a stress free wedding on budget.
Sunday 13 March 2011
9.00am - 12.30pm
You will go home knowing how to have a stress free wedding, how to save money, how to work with suppliers and much more.
Just £50 per person or £75 for two
Places are limited | Refreshments will be provided
"The fee for the workshop was small compared to the money we saved"
Kathryn Quinton, Wedding in July 2010
If you would like to know more about the workshops, please call me on 01473 681201 or 07906 705191. You can also contact me via my website http://www.endless-love.co.uk/
Part of my job involves going along with brides to search for their perfect dress – as a wedding planner, I can provide a no nonsense, impartial opinion and relate that to how the style of dress will fit with the overall theme and design of the wedding, as well as how well the style suits the bride.
The first thing most brides to be will do as soon as they get engaged is buy a stack of wedding magazine and start turning the page corners of the wedding dresses they like. A pattern will soon emerge and there is likely to be a style of dress that you continually go back to - but try not to set your heart on something purely based on a picture. Think about the outfits you have in your wardrobe and try to go with a similar style to your favourite dress. It’s your favourite dress because it fits you well and you feel comfortable in it.
Keep an open mind when going to try on dresses, and remember that the dress designers fit brides in wedding dresses every day so they really do know what they’re talking about – ask them for their opinion.
A strapless full gown doesn’t suit everyone, yet it is one of the most popular styles of wedding dress. You can still feel like a Princess in other styles. For example; if you are slightly larger in the bust area (like me!), you could really benefit from some structure and probably some straps to help you feel more secure (particularly for dancing!).
Most importantly you need to feel comfortable, the last thing anyone wants to see at a wedding is a bride constantly pulling up her dress or fiddling with the straps …and you just want to enjoy the day. Dress designers can work wonders with a needle and thread, my underwear was sewn into my dress when I got married so I didn’t have to worry about any unruly bra straps!
Good luck with your search for ‘The Dress’, if you would like to ready my story of how i found my wedding dress, click here to read my post on it from August last year. If you would like a no nonsense impartial opinion when dress shopping contact us to find out how Endless Love could help you.
Picture credit: The Wedding Place
If you are getting married in 2011 now is the time to start thinking about hiring a wedding planner. Hiring a wedding planner can be a significant investment of your wedding budget. Here are just a few questions you should ask wedding planners when considering who to hire:
How long have you been planning weddings? How many weddings have you planned?
You should not expect a big number here! If a wedding planner is going to assist you in planning your wedding, do you really want them to be planning lots of other weddings at the same time? To plan a wedding well takes a lot of time; researching, negotiating and finding the suppliers that are just perfect for the client and their budget. You should be suspicious if your wedding planner says they plan over about 10 per year. Most wedding planners will only have around 3 or 4 in progress at any one time as there will be an awful lot of detailed work involved with each one. As some of you will know my background is in hotel based wedding co-ordination. During this time I would often have around 40 weddings on the go at any one time, but please remember that I was only dealing with the things that happened at the hotel and I had a massive team of staff that ran the events on the day (sometimes two at a time!). Having worked on a large number of weddings like this means that I really appreciate the care and attention that is needed to produce beautiful, unique events from start to finish, and can really focus on every detail when I am only working on a couple at a time.
What experience/qualifications do you have?
Anyone can set-up in business as a wedding planner, it’s really important that you interview potential wedding planners to find out what makes them the right planner for you. Ask about the training courses they have undertaken and organisations they belong to. I trained with the UK Alliance of Wedding Planners (UKAWP) and since I launched Endless Love I have been an associate member. This means I adhere to the UKAWP’s code of ethics:
Respond to enquiries within 48 hours.
Respect client confidentiality.
Disclose all suppliers that they have a vested interest in.
Always pass discounts and/or commission onto the client.
Ensure their Public Liability insurance is up to date.
Never give client details to any third party unless for the sole purpose of the wedding.
Respect copyright of all planners, co-ordinators and related suppliers.
Represent each client fairly and honestly.
How do you keep up to date with industry news and wedding trends?
You will find most wedding planners are very active in the world of social media, with twitter accounts, facebook fan pages and blogs (like this). Do some research in advance of meeting potential wedding planners; take a look at their website, follow them on twitter, become a fan of their page on facebook and read their blog. All of this will help you get to know them and find out more about their business.
Are you married?
If a wedding planner is married themselves the will have had the unique experience of what it’s like to be the Bride and deal with all the stresses of the wedding day. Hiring a planner (even just for the wedding day) means you can have a relaxing and enjoyable morning getting ready with your bridesmaids as your wedding planner will be at the venue making sure everything is set-up as you wish and that any problems are resolved quickly and efficiently, usually without your knowledge of anything going wrong.
All good wedding planners will offer a free consultation so you will have the opportunity to get to know them before you make a decision. Your wedding planner will become a big part of your life over the next year or so – it’s important that you like them and get on with them!
To find out how Endless Love could help you plan your wedding, contact us now to arrange a free, no obligation consultation.
Photo credit: Ross Dean Photography
Were you lucky enough to get a marriage proposal as a Christmas present? My congratulations to you if you are newly engaged and about to embark on the exciting journey of planning your wedding.
In this post I'm going to give you a few pointers as to the first things you need to do now that you're engaged.
- Tell People - you can put a formal announcement in the press if you wish, but most people ring around family and friends to tell them their exciting news.
- Set a realistic budget - you may have some money put aside for your special day, now is the time to think about how much you feel is reasonable to spend on all the elements of your wedding. It may also be worth setting up a dedicated wedding bank account to start saving.
- Draft a Guest List - it will be difficult to book a venue (and ultimately set a date) if you don't know how many people are going to be there. Some venues will only be licenced up to a certain number and you don't want to cram all of your guests in. Likewise, you wouldn't want your 80 guests to be lost in a room big enough for 300.
- Must Haves - any newly engaged couple will have ideas of what they want to happen on their wedding day. Now is the time to talk to your partner and agree on a few 'must haves' that are important to you both for your wedding and will take priority. It may be that your cake is a certain flavour, the bride's mum does the flowers, or you go somewhere really special for your honeymoon...
Visit my blog weekly for lots of planning tips, advice, inspiration and supplier features.
If this all seems too much, you can hire a Wedding Planner to guide you through the entire planning process - see our website for more information on how Endless Love can help you have a stress free wedding day and planning experience. Including information about the next Wedding Planning Workshop on Sunday 13 March - the perfect way to spend a morning; learning everything you need to know to plan your wedding.
Happy Planning!
Photo Credit: Tiffany & Co.
