Wedding Planning #4

[Tinkerbell cat]

I second Bridebook! I don’t use it now, but I found it so helpful when I first started planning as I didn’t have a clue!

Join wedding groups on Facebook too! I’m in one local to my area and suppliers will post their services/deals and you can also post and ask for recommendations etc.

Not sure if it’ll help but this is everything I’ve sorted so far so March 2025:

Venue
Registrar
Photographer
Venue decor
Magician
Dress and alterations
Suit rental
Hair & makeup
Cake
Flowers (bouquets, button holes and wrist corsages)
Wedding newspapers
Cake topper
Save the Dates
Appointment to give notice of marriage arranged

So left on my to do list is:

Bridesmaid dresses
Flower girl dress
Invites
Signage
Place settings
Rings
Confetti

Obviously you don’t need everything but to give you an idea of what to think about. I’m not sure what your budget is and you could DIY a lot. I’m not artistic at all so have only DIY’d my save the dates and going to have a go at my invites, and for signs we’re considering designing on canva and printing through vista print to avoid paying loads for them! Also thinking about doing my own confetti and place settings.

I’ve seen people DIY their centrepieces and stuff and like someone else has said, you could sell on then afterwards too, I just know mine would look awful

My wedding is in March too and we literally have the same things left to do I found Vistaprint so good for save the dates that I think I will use them again for invitations. My friend has one of those machines that people use for making signs so going to borrow that and maybe try it myself but no doubt it will look like my 7yr old nephew has done it
When are you considering sending your invites btw if you don't mind me asking? I'm March 28th and it keeps throwing me when would be a good time for invites. Don't want to send too early but don't want to send too late either.

 

[DanaScully]

We've just booked our wedding for spring 2024 and I am *so* excited!

Unfortunately my family situation is really complicated and it's causing me such anxiety. Also my mum told my niece she'd be my flower girl despite me asking her not to mention it as I wanted to buy my niece a piece of jewellery and get a card made for her to open, asking her to be our flower girl.

The worst thing was my mum called me on Facetime whilst with my niece and said, "I've told Theodora she's going to be your flower girl!", then when I told her later I'd already asked her not to mention it she started gaslighting me saying she'd only told my niece I was getting married and asked if she'd wear a dress and that it was no big deal, I could still ask her.

Luckily my OH was nearby during the Facetime and heard her say it as I'd have doubted what I'd heard.
When I told her how upset I was she apologised and said she'd "mind her own business from now on". We've now not spoken for days!

My mum also showed me a possible wedding outfit on her phone and it was a bright cream wide leg jumpsuit. She looked genuinely surprised when I said, "You can't wear that, it's practically white!". She's being uncharacteristically awful at the moment and it's burning my brain out! We usually have a brilliant relationship.

 

[Ups27]

hey everyone. I am getting married in may 2025 and want to see if I’m being selfish. Me and my fiancé have been together 10 years as we met at 21! We’ve been engaged for 2 years in April and have finally set the date last month! My dad and his GF have both been married before- her once and my dad twice. They decided on the leap year day to get married, so they have been engaged 4 weeks. They have now let everyone know they’ve booked their wedding for next year, first week of July so around 5 weeks after me. Am I being selfish to be a little put out? I’ve waited my whole life for ‘my time’ and am just pissed off that they can’t wait a bit longer after only being engaged 3 weeks and having big weddings before?

 

[charlie6578]

Has anyone ever gotten married or planning to get married at their local city hall?
How much did it cost?

I know each city would be different but wanted to have a rough idea!

We got married at the registry office this year, if I remember correctly it would about £300 for the ceremony. We eloped so had the smallest room, it was more for the bigger room, weekends etc.

 

[Leo100]

Hi all, is it bad I'm not doing wedding favours?

Also I'm using a Spotify play list instead of a dj, has anyone done this before? Thanks

We are planning on doing a play list for our party (having an intimate abroad wedding then party back home)
We were looking at DJ prices and found one who you can hire the speakers etc to connect your phone but no dj , I know djs aren't the same these days and you can give them a list of songs to play or not play but we just liked the play list idea so interested to know if it's worked for others

 

[_Laura]

Can't hurt to ask, at worst they wont respond, but at best u can get a warning. Have u checked out reviews on bridebook?

Well there's the catch, it's new venue that only started trading this year so there's nothing on Bridebook or Hitched or anything like that Red flag after red flag, I know

 

[ginamarcella]

Charlotte Tilbury keep coming up at every wedding fair we've seen or been to, I think they're also offering bridal lessons like that if you have them in Germany x

I loooove the look of the Charlotte Tilbury stuff! The price? Not so much But I think I will bite the bullet and try out some of their stuff. Thanks for the suggestion x

 

[imtakingabath]

My partner and I are planning a fairly small wedding, around 25 people, and are trying to keep things simple and not horrendously expensive! (We already have two kids so it’s not going to be a traditional wedding anyway!) how much should we expect to spend on flowers at a minimum? Bearing in mind it’s a smallish venue, I’m happy to have a very small bouquet…

 

[ImDavidBrent]

Hi all!

Just looking for some advice please…

Me and my fiancé are finally getting round to wedding planning. We’ve been together for 8 1/2 years and engaged for almost 3 years and we have a house and a child together. This will actually be my second wedding. (Bit of background).

we want a small intimate affair, like a micro wedding. we’re only having immediate family so there’ll be 7 adult guests and 2 children guests plus us two at the most.

Our heart belongs to the Lake District so that’s where we’ve decided to get married.

I’ve been looking and I can only really find venues that cater more for a full on day wedding
Or elopement style weddings.

I want somewhere with nice views or by a lake, wedding license, we can have the ceremony there, photos of nice scenery and then just a meal and that will be it, and maybe accommodation there or somewhere close to stay over as we’ all be travelling there.

I’ve started to email venues but it all looks so grand. I don’t think we need a full on day do. Just a few hours for the ceremony and meal.

Does anyone happen to know a location in the lakes they can recommend for this or no where I should start looking?
I’ve just downloaded to brides book app and again it’s all lovely venues but caters for hundreds of people. Ha.

TIA

and congrats on all your engagements and upcoming weddings

 

[Kandy floss]

Omg what a beautiful dress, I’m the same as you bought from bridal reloved and is 6 sizes too big I love my dress but after a few weeks started thinking about would I regret it, I took it to a seamstress and I put the dress on and she pinned it how it will look on the day and honestly it has put me so much at ease.
I would honestly recommend you do that so you can see how it will look before you have booked and paid for a seamstress as they are usually no obligatory quotes so it won’t cost you anything and I did it also as I was panicking that it may not be able to be altered (one piece of lace over the whole dress) and the seamstress I originally took it too said it couldn’t be altered and I didn’t want to get a year down the line where I’m taking it to be altered they say they can’t do it and the shop won’t take it back and I’m left with a dress I can’t wear or alter. I hope that helps

I got a bit shy and deleted my post but thank you! Luckily my dress was too big as the sample but the shop have ordered a new one in my size so it will fit and they have an in house seamstress who’ll do my alterations. Hope you have the best day

 

[lilchicken]

Weird question but what’s everyone wearing for undies?

my dress has inbuilt support so don’t need a bra, but don’t know where is best to get special undies for the occasion? My dress is a-line so don’t need any support underwear or anything like that

My feet tend to get cold as well, but not sure about wearing holdups or tights? Is everyone just doing bare legs?

I’ve got small heels for the ceremony but plan on changing to converse after the meal!

 

[frattlethebed]

Has anybody used dried flower petals for confetti from Shein?! They look really good for the price but would love some honest reviews

 

[Hamburglar]

I feel like I may have asked this before but does anyone know the best place to sell a wedding dress? I have an unworn, brand new with tags dress that I got from wed2b for around £500 but I ended up not wearing as it didn’t fit me (those of you who were here a few years ago might remember my dilemma of having a baby 10 weeks before my wedding and having to buy a new dress 3 weeks before )

My mum keeps saying to just put it on Fb marketplace but I don’t know if there’s a better option , and also no idea what kind of pricing people would expect

I’m in loads of bridal groups on fb and there’s always dresses advertised so may be worth a try?

Vinted or eBay might be worth a shout with it being Wed2b, list it with the style name etc and you might find someone is looking for that particular style.

Also I’ve seen bridal reloved will sell your dress in their shops on your behalf (imagine for a commission).

I’ve got a dress to sell but haven’t got round to it yet so be interested in how selling yours goes!

 

[_Laura]

I got my contract within and hour of confirming, and every email we've sent i always got a response the same business day. I would find a new venue tbh. Imagine if they are this unresponsive once you've paid 1000s of pounds and cannot change, weddings are stressful enough without having unresponsive vendors. Not only you but your other vendors will need to be in contacting the venue and if they treat then the same it may cause wider issue for your wedding

You're paying for a service and it's not too much to expect a response

That's what I was worried people would say, because deep down I completely agree The first time I chased, I said that we'd really like to get it all official and in writing so we can book other suppliers and she said that she had secured our date in her diary. Sorry but surely you understand this isn't quite good enough?! I'm not going to start paying deposits to other suppliers because someone has written our names in their diary...

She's always been really quick to reply, it's only yesterday's email she didn't reply to, but that doesn't excuse the fact that she still hasn't sent the contract over.

Would you say it's out of order to message a few brides who have had their weddings there/have public Ig profiles to ask what their experience with the venue was?

 

[noseybirdxo]

We were gonna do a Thursday but have done Sunday instead

 

[cee-bee]

Did anyone get classic semi perm eyelash extensions for their wedding or was it just a case of getting a makeup artist on the day to do them?

 

[Tinkerbell cat]

A tip on the wax seals!

Apparently you can do them on to greaseproof paper and then when they dry, pop them off and stick on to the envelope with a bit of UHU glue or double sided tape.

I did mine the risky way and when I told my friend she told me of this, it would have helped for Tue first few duds

Even with that tip, I think I'd still have messed them up I have zero patience with things.

 

[strawb]

Oh my gosh sorry no hair style recommendations but that dress is absolutely gorgeous!

I think the model has the best hairstyle for it tbh!
I’d say soft, waves, half up half down or even a loose wavy ponytail with a bow as hair tie. Hollywood waves, maybe?

The dress is stunning and hair down might be hiding some of the gorgeous details

aw thank you! i think this is the one

i was also thinking i shouldn't hide the dress so initially thought about a loose updo but half up half down could be a nice option too!

 

[Ups27]

I completely agree with you. All weddings do come with compromises and I guess for weekday weddings, the trade-off is usually fewer people attending or maybe less of a ‘party’ vibe because of things like annual leave and people driving home. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that at all btw. Weddings can be so bloody expensive, I completely understand why people do it and why it's becoming more and more common.

The one thing I'm not totally on board with the idea that ‘those who want to be there will be.’ It’s true for loads of people and I get the sentiment, but there are definitely some who’d love to come but just can’t take the time off or afford it. I'm sure it's only a minority and I definitely don't think it should be a reason not to have a weekday wedding, but I reckon it must be upsetting for them to have to miss out, so hearing something like that – even if it’s not ill-meaning – could feel a bit hurtful.

Yeah no you are right. Both my best friend (a bridesmaid for me in May yay!) and my sister in law are both teachers and I have to consider that!

 

[Pinhead Larry]

[QUOTE="Joannabloggs, post: 21495897, member: 172284"
We're doing this as well as hiring a videographer which I know seems excessive, but after my fiancé's father's death last year, we are prioritising media. When the day is over, all you have left are the pics and vids.
[/QUOTE]
Absolutely love this and I am going to enquire about whether it’d be possible with our wedding being abroad


I have a dress related question.
Went to a dress shop last week and I’ve found the one! I’ve got an appointment at a different shop on 18th but I can’t see any of them topping the one I found.
Would it be silly to go back and re try the dress I believe to be the one even if no others match up to it and I’m definitely going for it? The shop is a 3 hour train ride away and I do have spare time to go and do this, but obviously it will cost me to go there and we are trying to save for the wedding. Can’t decide whether it’s a rational move or not