Wedding Planning Tips - Music / Venue Decorating / Photography

During my wedding planning consultations, I often begin with an open discussion with the wedding couple about their plans in order to identify areas which require the most attention. This allows me to easily come up with simple and tried solutions to help them along this process.⁠

I have recently looked over my notebooks and noticed that three areas come up quite a lot in our conversations - music, venue decorating and photography.⁠

Over the next three days I will be revealing a few simple solutions referring to these hot topics, so remember to join me on my Instagram and Facebook stories.⁠

WEDDING MUSIC

There's really three questions to ask yourselves when planning for your wedding music:⁠⠀

What? When? and How?⁠

It is definitely worth looking at the types of music and songs you would like to have at your wedding, across the different parts of your day.

Will you be having music for your ceremony and will you entertain your guests during the drinks reception? Finally, are you planning for background music in your Wedding Breakfast?

It is also particularly important to consider how this music will be supplied - are you thinking of live music or will it be music supplied on a digital device? Does your venue supply you with a sound system?

You can now see why it is important to spend some time thinking about this part of your wedding planning too.

WEDDING VENUE DECORATING

There's much logistical planning needed when it comes to wedding venue decorating.⁠⠀
⠀
Having delivered weddings operationally for over four and a half years, I will tell you exactly what elements of planning for your venue decorating you should consider.⁠

There’s really three integral wedding planning elements to consider when thinking about venue decorating:

1) Will your decorations vary between the different parts of your day? Are your decorations portable and easy to move?

2) Does it all require a specific setup and who will be looking after this? Including turnarounds and moves between different stages of your special day.

3) When does it all need setup? Is early access for setup permitted or will your venue permit setup the day before your wedding?

Venue Decorating does indeed take a lot of planning and it needs a lot of consideration - at the end of the day it only happens once.

WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY

I see a lot of couples forgetting to think about this important element - which in turn will produce one of the only physical memorabilia of your special day. Of course, your professional photographer will have a perfect plan for your day, but if there’s any particular photos you want to have - you will need to consider these early. Once again, you’ve only got one chance to get these right!

I often recommend for couples to meet with their photographer for a briefing to discuss exactly what photos you want taken on your wedding day. Plan and discuss your timings and locations - if you’re planning to travel to a remote location for your wedding photography, you will need to take timings particularly into account.

Finally, who from your wedding party will be responsible for family portraits? Even the most experienced photographer might struggle with this when they don’t know individual members of your family - will you allocate somebody to take charge of this?

I hope you found this blog and my Instagram and Facebook stories useful - let me know in the comments below if there’s any other topics you’d like me to touch upon in my next series of wedding planning tips by the Wedding Guru - Oskar.

P.S. Special Engagement offers from my recommended suppliers:

Janet Annand - Wedding Harpist (LINK)

2 for 1 on ceremony and drinks packages OR 15% discount on ceremony or drinks only packages - for all bookings confirmed by 31st January 2020

Next Scene Films - Matt Crofts (LINK)

10% off all packages when quoted “Wedding Guru Oskar”

BagPiper Online (LINK)

Special negotiated discount on all packages when booked through the Wedding Guru - Oskar

The Wedding Guru - Oskar (LINK)

2 for 1 on One Hour Wedding Planning Consultation for all bookings confirmed before 31st January 2020

TOP THREE TIPS on Wedding Planning for Newly Engaged Couples

Did you know that over 40% of annual engagements take place during the short period, between Christmas and New Year?

This is why, I have decided to put together a short guide on my TOP THREE STEPS on wedding planning for newly engaged couples.

TIP 1:

The first questions you will hear as a newly engaged couple when approaching wedding venues and suppliers are:

1)     Anticipated Guests Numbers

2)     The Date of you Wedding

3)     Ceremony Arrangements

It is definitely very helpful for you to look at your anticipated numbers as a lot of wedding venues will either have minimum numbers requirement or they might have varied options for you dependent on your numbers and you wouldn’t want to learn about them all – your time is also precious when planning for a wedding! In some cases, you might even benefit form better rates if your numbers are above a certain level too, so I highly recommend you consider your guest numbers before making enquiries.

Do not worry, you do not need to have an exact date of your wedding sassed out right away! (Trust me, not many couples do either!) What I mean by the date is a provisional range, seasons or even months you would ideally like to get married in. There’s a couple of reasons for that, firstly, a lot of wedding venues offer season pricing and you might be benefiting from deals and offers if your ideal date/period falls slightly out of the main season. Secondly, seasonality will also affect your choices of flowers, ceremony arrangements and supplies of certain foods, so once again, I recommend you have a think of your ideal time of the year scenario.

Thirdly, ceremony arrangements! This one is particularly important if you’re panning for a religious ceremony. Availability of your religious venue and person conducting your marriage ceremony might be restricted, so it is worth checking with them first too. Additionally, some venues with charge additional setup and early facility fees for ceremonies taking place on site of your wedding reception.

TIP 2:

I am often asked by couples who booked their venue: “What should we think about next?”

My answer is very simple – consider those suppliers that will truly make your wedding and my recommendations here are:

1)     Ceremony Officiant

2)     Photographer

3)     Evening Entertainment

Remember, a lot of these suppliers are a “one man show” and if you’ve got your heart set on them, you might want to consider them first!

Marriage ceremony is truly the reason why you’re making all these plans in the first place, therefore it is important for you to consider your arrangements early – will it be religious, civil, independent or humanist? Particularly the religious, independent and humanist Officiants will have a very limited availability so if you’ve got one in mind, approach them early.

I also don’t think that I need to explain how important wedding photography is – this is the one element of your wedding that will stay with you for the rest of your lives together and if you’ve got your heart set on a specific photographer or style of wedding photography, ensure you do your research early.

Finally, evening entertainment, weather that’s a band, DJ, saxophonist, tribute act or otherwise – these suppliers book up quickly, so don’t wait to book your choice as soon as you can. At the end of the day, evening reception is the longest part of your wedding and the one that probably most of your wedding guests look forward to the most.

TIP 3:

This one is very simple! I recommend you plan, plan and plan again! For a lot of you wedding will be the first large scale event you will be planning for in your lives! It is a big project with many integral parts to it, therefore it is important for both of you to sit down together early on in your planning and decide how you’re going to support each other in this process and delegate tasks between you both. If you’re organised and plan your wedding arrangements far out in advance and in smaller milestones, you will truly enjoy this creative and one of the biggest projects of your life!

If you find, however, that certain parts of wedding planning are a little too complicated, time-consuming or simply overwhelming OR if right at the start of your wedding planning, you realise that you might not have enough spare time to do it all by yourselves, there are people like me out there that can help you as little or as much as you need it. Imagine having an expert in the wedding planning by your side at all times, guiding you and supporting you along this process – wouldn’t that be just amazing?

If you’ve found my TOP THREE TIPS on wedding planning for newly engaged couples helpful, leave a comment below or drop me a text on +44 (0) 7492 385 310. I would love to hear how you’re finding the whole process of wedding planning?

If you’d like to find out more on wedding planning tips, feel free to check out the tips from my friends at the WeddingWire: https://www.weddingwire.co.uk/wedding-tips for some more exciting ideas that can be found useful in your wedding planning efforts.