Wedding bliss!

As ‘Wedding Season’ is fast approaching us, I thought it would be appropriate to devote this week’s blog to these beautiful occasions!

Firstly I will be highlighting some do’s and don’ts of being a wedding guest, followed by some tips if you’re planning a wedding yourself.

Do’s

Make sure to RSVP as soon as you can.

Most couple will send out invites three months in advance to try and give their guests as much notice as possible. Some even do ‘Save The Dates’ which give even more notice for their guests, therefore it’s only polite to give them as much notice as possible if you are unable to attend or even if you are unsure. Couples will understand that sometimes it’s not always possible to confirm straight away or within the RSVP deadline, however keeping them updated on this will ensure they won’t get annoyed if it turns out you are unable to attend. The last thing a couple will want to be doing as the day gets closer is chasing guests to see if they are coming or not. Alongside this, if you are lucky enough to be given a plus one or you are invited as part of a couple, make sure you confirm exactly who is attending. Numbers and names are so important when planning an event and this is even more so for a wedding.

Take note of all the details on the invite

This is mainly aimed the additional details like gifts and children. When I got married, finding the right wording to use about gifts was definitely one of the hardest things we had to do. The thought of sounding ungrateful or rude always plays on your mind when deciding what to write. If a couple has asked for money rather than gifts, this is probably for a good reason. Maybe the couple already has all the home essentials they need, or like my husband and I, we don’t have a house yet and are living far apart so it wasn’t ideal for us to be moving things around. Inviting children is another tough one for most couples and again is a decision that will take time for them to decide upon. At our wedding, we were happy to have children but this was because we only have a small number of family/friends which have small children. If a couple has politely asked that no children can attend, make sure to follow their request. A friend of mine was made to feel very guilty when one of her guests asked if their child could attend and listed a number of reasons why. My friend had to give in in the end as it started coming between her and her fiancé…it’s just added stress that a couple do not need.

Say thank you as you leave

I think it’s only polite to thank the couple as you leave. After all they’ve spent a lot of money making sure their guests have a lovely day and/or evening so it’s only courteous to say a quick ‘thanks’ before you head out. It’s understandable however that sometimes the couple may be occupied with other guests, or just having a blast on the dance floor, so I would recommend sending them a thank you message for them to read the next day. It’s a very small thing and takes no time at all, but trust me; it will mean a whole lot to the newlyweds.

Don’ts

Upstage the bride (or groom)

I almost didn’t include this because I think it’s an obvious one however some people still decide to turn up to a white wedding wearing a white dress. Are they trying to unfriend the bride on purpose or what? Now some people may be reading this thinking the couple said it wasn’t a big deal or that some bride’s don’t wear white but personally I would steer clear…better being safer than sorry. This also goes for you too guys. Don’t go all out and turn up in a white suit or something that’s just a bit odd, keep it classic and wear a lovely lounge suit that won’t see you match the groom or any groomsmen.

Be late

There’s only person who is allowed to be late to the wedding and that’s the bride, so don’t be that person running into the ceremony after it’s started or walking into the reception at the time of the couple’s first dance or in the middle of a speech. Similar to above about RSVP-ing, if you know prior to the wedding that you are going to be late, let the couple know, they can then provide you with timings for the day so you know what time to show up. Saying this though, don’t try to contact the couple on the day as most won’t be carrying their phone around with them.

Be the drunken idiot

It’s almost always a given that at a wedding alcohol will be consumed and if you are lucky enough to be invited to the whole day, this can start as early as lunchtime if not breakfast. The last thing a couple wants to remember about their special day is that person who got so drunk they knocked over the cake, heckled the speeches and even grabbed the mic from the DJ to sing their own rendition of the couple’s first dance song. This is not the guest you want to be. Now I’m not saying don’t have a good time and have some drinks but don’t take it to the extreme. A couple won’t mind a few people making a show of themselves as long as it doesn’t ruin any of the careful planning they have done for months, maybe even years.

Next are just a few little things that I would recommend to anyone who is newly engaged or who is planning a wedding for a friend or family member.

Get on Pinterest

Now as much as I do love Pinterest, I am not recommending using it for every little aspect of your wedding because can be extremely addictive and time consuming. What it is great for though is getting some great ideas of how to be creative with your wedding and even how to save some money. I saved a load of money on my table centrepieces after I implemented an idea I had seen on Pinterest. With the help of some paint, water beads and my amazingly cute and helpful flower girls, I converted used glass jars into beautiful centrepieces for almost no cost at all.

Get a folder

If like me, you’ve googled ‘how to plan a wedding’ or something similar, one thing that appears on pretty much every site will be ‘create a wedding folder or binder’. The first time I saw this all I could image was Monica’s huge folder from FRIENDS and it actually put me off a little. I wanted to actually plan my wedding not spend all my time creating a folder to then plan my wedding after. This is sort of a lazy and impatient way of planning I know but what I did instead was just made sure I kept everything in one place, or one notebook. All my paperwork like contracts, receipts, and invoices went in a folder and all my notes about hotels, food, and guests were written in one notebook. If I did forget the ‘wedding notebook’ or didn’t have it on me when I had a genius idea, I tried to ensure I transferred any notes back into it. This helped loads.

Use a free photo app

I absolutely love the little hashtags people make to use on social media; my friend used #Cheers2Moore as she was becoming Mrs. Moore, however for me this raised a couple problems. 1. Some social media platforms don’t make it easy to save photos. For example, on Instagram it’s not easy to save someone else’s photos which is annoying when people have spent the time to use your personal hashtag. 2. People share the same last name and therefore may use the same hashtag as you. It’s not ideally to be trying to find your guests photos in a collection of other people’s weddings too. 3. And lastly, and most frustrating for me is I couldn’t think of a cool quirky hashtag to use for mine, thanks for this hubby ;) So I found a site called WedPics, which is free to use. It can be used online or as an app and what I loved was that only your guests can view the photos. It’s simple to use as you just create an account which generates you ‘wedding ID, which you can pick yourself (enter desired hashtag). You then give this to all your guests and they can log in to view, but more importantly upload all the snaps they take on the day. Through the app you can then save, send and even print the photos as well as being able to tag guests, comment or like the pics!

Don’t get stressed out

How many times have you heard that planning a wedding is one of the most stressful things you can do? Lots? Well don’t panic because I strongly believe that it's you who determines how stressful it is. I won’t list all of the things that didn’t go to plan when I planned my wedding, as it would bore the heck out of you but I will say that although my brother couldn’t find his shoes when getting ready, the hotel could not find our wedding favours the evening before and my dad’s speech wasn’t captured on video, my wedding day was one of the best days of my life. I know that some people will be reading this thinking “how did all that happen and you say it’s not stressful?” well my response would be that no one will know things have gone wrong except you. So if you choose to let the small things bother you and stress you out, then yes, planning a wedding will be one of the most stressful things you do however if you try and take a slightly more laid back approach then no, planning a wedding and the overall day will be bliss!

I hope you liked reading my blog and if you have anything you’d like to add please don’t hesitate to drop me an email.

Happy wedding season friends!