10 top tips for your perfect wedding
We all know planning your perfect wedding can be stressful. Here are our top 10 tips for making your big day the best day of your life.
- Unique touches
Make your perfect wedding day as personal as possible. Create your own favours or decorations, include music that’s special to you… anything that shouts about you as a couple and the time that you’ve spent together. The more ‘you’ your day is, the more your guests will love it!
- If the shoe fits…
When buying your wedding shoes, make sure they are comfortable. You will be on your feet for a long time and won’t want to end up with blisters on your perfect day. Wear them around the house prior to the wedding but only on carpet. If you are wearing sky-high heels, consider getting funky flats for dancing in later on. Also, make sure you have your shoes in time for the dress fitting, or you could end up with an ankle-length hemline – not a good look!
- Music to our ears
If you’re using a CD or iPod for any of the music, make sure one person is responsible for this. They need to do a pre-wedding sound check and have a list of the running order. You don’t want to end up walking down the aisle to the wrong song!
Money, money, money!
Choose one member of the wedding party to look after any final payments to suppliers on the day so they don’t get forgotten. If you have an on-the-day co-ordinator, ask them to do it. If not, ask your Mum or your chief bridesmaid. Put all the cash into envelopes beforehand so you can just hand them over at the end of the night.
- Speech writing
If you’re hoping to make a speech, make sure you start planning it well in advance. Don’t drink too much either – slurring brides equal bad speeches… and even worse videos! Try to relax and enjoy it, keep it short and sweet and finish with a toast to your new husband.
- Come rain or shine
Don’t set your heart on the weather on your perfect wedding day. This is the only thing you can’t control so don’t let a spot of rain or an overcast day ruin the whole thing. Have a wet weather plan and some colourful umbrellas at the ready, and then if it doesn’t rain, it will be a bonus!
- Get online!
There are lots of websites to help you plan, with quick and productive ways to compare costs, find items and get reviews on suppliers. For great advice, take a look at our planning section with financial planning spreadsheets available to download, along with all the latest news, offers and ideas to help you get your perfect day right.
- Be specific
Give as much information to all your suppliers as possible, down to the very last detail. They cannot read your mind and what is in your head may not be correctly interpreted over a phone call. Follow up with an email to clarify your wishes. If you can show them pictures from magazines, even better. If you think that their interpretations don’t reflect your needs, then you must speak up as soon as possible to avoid any disappointment and ruin your perfect wedding day.
- Pampered princess
Make sure you look irresistible on your perfect day. Book an appointment to be pampered the day before – remember nails, pedicure and massage! Facials and fake tan practices should take place at least two weeks before the big day to avoid any adverse reactions or, heaven forbid, smudges and tan lines!
- Final checklist
Check and re-check every single detail you have planned. Confirm each supplier a week before, checking they know the correct day, time and place. Ask your venue co-ordinator to organise people on the day and give them a list of suppliers and mobile phone numbers in case they need to call anyone at the last minute.