June 4, 2017

10 Things I Learnt From Planning a Wedding

SPOILER: It didn’t miraculously turn me into J.Lo…

Last weekend Mark and I got married and it was easily the best day of my life. My cheeks hurt from the smiling and the day panned out even better than we both could have ever expected. We drunk G&T’s (whilst our mates got my Dad tipsy on White Russians), ate Domino’s (10 large ones to be precise) and danced in our front room to Despacito. In lieu of a proper wedding video I roped Mark into filming a little Q&A earlier in the week which is linked down below if you fancy a watch. Planning a wedding though is quite the process, so for today’s post I thought I’d share 10 things that we learnt through doing it and why everything is worth it in the end…

The Big Question. You will be constantly asked about your wedding plans, practically from the minute that you begin telling people that you are engaged. Whilst it’s nice to talk to others about their stories of friend’s weddings or their own, sometimes there are just more exciting things to talk about like the weather or the Cheerio you found in your belly button the other day (true story). Don’t feel like you have to have a plan set in stone immediately or that you have to talk about it 24/7.

Talk About It. That being said, there is one person that it’s good to talk about wedding plans with – the person you’re bloomin’ marrying! In order to work out what you both want from the day it’s a good idea to spend a couple of evenings (LOL – we spent a year doing this), chatting through guest lists, looking at venues, going on Pinterest and thinking ‘Oh my word that looks pretty/dreamy/terribly expensive‘, working out budgets and just generally coming up with an outlook for the day.

Party Planner. The beginning stages of planning can seem daunting, depending on the size of the doo. We managed by using just a couple of pages of my Bullet Journal and Mark’s kick-ass project management skills. In the end a double page with headings for each section of the day to make sure that we didn’t miss anything out, worked a treat. There are a tonne of resources online too and various different planners you can buy; but if not a pen, paper and a couple of highlighters will serve you just as well.

The Noise. Opinions are like butt holes – everyone has one. And when it comes to weddings people just love to throw in their two cents. Whilst it’s sometimes a good thing to absorb, wring yourself out like a sponge and just keep the helpful hints and tips behind. Try your best to ignore the rest, but know that I’m not sure that anyone in the history of the world has ever not conducted a wedding that has had a bit of a pain in the ass moment at some point (and if they have, then they deserve some kind of medal). Trust me – it’s all worth it in the end.

The Politics. This is a fun one. Wedding politics is a right laugh. NOT. Luckily both of families were pretty on board with our small wedding plans and our friends are chilled folk who completely get it. I think we had a pretty easy ride with this one, but I’ve heard some horror stories about guests lists and of course, the dreaded seating plan. Again try your best to be empathetic, but also not give two hoots at the same time. Hey – isn’t adulting fun?

Budgets Be Crazy. Like real crazy. It’s so easy to get caught up in the moment and before you know it your budget is like a runaway train that’s never going to stop. On the whole we managed to rein it in, but it’s probably only down to Mark raising his eyebrow at me after I suggested some insanely expensive wedding components. If you do end up overspending in some areas, look where you can claw it back in others. We perhaps went a little mad with food and booze, but kept decorations really cheap and cheerful (once people were drunk, I’m pretty sure they didn’t notice the fake ivy).

Accept Help. When your Mum says she’ll make you both a wedding cake – say yes. When the florist asks if it’s easier for them to liase with the restaurant to coordinate the delivery – say yes. When the restaurant staff say they’re happy to put out the placecards and wedding favours in the morning – hold them close. Just accept help wherever it’s offered and if you have mates that have talents in particular areas, I’m sure they’ll be more than happy to muck in. Lily was my chief Boomerang-er for the day and she did a great job of it. Thanks Lily!

It’s All In The Detail. This is something that we didn’t really clock until it was the weekend before the wedding and we realised that we hadn’t even considered decorations for the wedding reception back at our flat. Cue a mad trip to Hobbycraft for fake ivy and a ‘Just Married’ sign and a shedload of Amazon orders to source everything from cups to confetti. The little details are often the things that take up the longest time, but that your guests will love the most. We spent the evening before the wedding putting together a pub quiz and everyone lapped it up (and got so competitive that even my Grandma could hear the whole thing).

The Day Before. Whatever you decide to do, whether it be secretly eloping to a mahoosive party, there will undoubtably be some kind of prep the day before. We thought we’d breeze through the day before just prepping bits in the evening and whilst Mark went to work on the Friday, I spent the day dashing around town running errands, putting up decorations and reorganising our fridge to accommodate the 45 bottles of tonic we’d bought. My top tip would be to both take the day before off work, hopefully that way you can spread the load and not reach the point where you’re tempted to take deep breaths and stick your head between your legs in Pret (again, true story).

THE DAY! Your actual wedding day will undoubtedly be fricking awesome and you will feel like you’re gliding around on your own little cloud of happiness made for two. Cheesy but true. If anything does go wrong, or isn’t executed exactly to your taste, the chances are that you won’t even notice (I didn’t notice a chinzy ribbon the Florists had put around the table decorations until the Monday after!) and things that you thought could have possibly been stressful (like having almost 30 people in your flat with lots of red wine and beige carpets), really don’t register as that on the day. I’ve never been so chilled, so happy and I would jump at the chance to do it all over again. ENJOY!