11 tips on how to have a stress free wedding day…
Any fellow wedding industry friends or unfortunate chief bridesmaids have experienced ‘The Manic Bride.’ The day before the wedding running around like a headless chicken, sorting out where the flower girls dresses need to be, whether Uncle Gareth will make it to the ceremony on time and will the cake be placed in the corner you’ve told the venue a million times.
It doesn't have to be like that, with a couple of good planning tips we can help you say goodbye to ‘The Manic Bride’ and prepare you for a day that you will remember for the celebrating not the stress.
Prep, Prep, Prep.
This goes without saying a wedding day does take a lot of preparation. Sometimes it can seem overwhelming, but just get everything down on paper (we have known brides to have extensive excel spreadsheets!) Think about everything that is involved during a wedding, what you would like, how far in advance you need to book them… and get cracking!
2. Have a minute by minutetimeline of your day.
…and then forget about it on the day. This is our big tip for couples. Plan everything to the minute, what time your leaving for the ceremony, what time you plan on having group photos taken, what time are you cutting the cake.. and then forget about it, as inevitably your timings will run over. But the more information us suppliers can have the more prepared we can be and the less stress it will cause you.
3. Connect your suppliers together.
A lot of the time we as suppliers have questions about your day, which often can be answered by other suppliers, so save yourself the work. Where possible we will talk with the venue suppliers to get their timeline of the day. We may need to speak to florists to see when they will have set up flowers or Dj’s to see what lighting they plan on having at the first dance.
4. Delegate!
More often then not there will be someone in your wedding party that knows the day as well as you do, so there is no need to try and take everything on yourself during the day. Whether it’s moving chairs, dishing out confetti or lighting candles, pre organise these jobs with your bridesmaids and groomsmen so they know what they need to do.
5. Listen to your suppliers!
We’ve been to a million weddings and we've got great advice! All a wedding supplier wants from the day is to give you great service and for everything to run smoothly, so take on their advice, they are experts after all.
6. Do your Research
There are so many amazing wedding blogs, advice websites and magazines that give you information for free!
7. Ask your married friends
And if you don't want to buy the magazines, get first hand advice from your friends. We can guarantee you that although most brides will have loved their wedding they will always have a little advice on something they wish they had/hadn’t done.
8. Get a wedding planner.
If you really want to take the stress out of your day hire a wedding planner. However we understand that not everyones budget will stretch that far. Most venues will provide a wedding coordinator who will definitely help organise parts of your day.
9. Don’t leave it until the day before.
This is a real culprit of many a bride. The day before the wedding shouldn't be filled with stressful admin. Try to make sure everything is at the right location and everyone knows where they are meant to be on the day. If you’re brining an overnight bag to the reception, have it packed a couple of days before.
10. Check your due payments.
It’s well known that a lot of wedding suppliers take a deposit and then ask for the remainder closer to the wedding day, these often fall 4-6 weeks before the wedding. So make sure you’re aware of what is due when so you can budget yourself accordingly. You can alway pay balances early!
11. Get a good nights sleep the day before.
This is a no brainer really and if you follow tip 9 you should be able to make this happen! Your wedding will be an amazing day you’ll want enough sleep to be dancing on the tables until 3am!
