These photos are really fun, just try not to give your photographer too much of a long list of photos you’d like or you’ll find too much of your wedding day is filled by standing around waiting for the next shot… đź’•
http://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/impossibly-fun-wedding-photo-ideas-youll-want-to-steal?s=mobile
Just has to share this with you all x
http://distractify.com/fun/fails/the-most-hilariously-awkward-valentines-from-children/
A quick snippet from my sisters wedding day on Friday, tying the back of her dress together. What an absolutely wonderful day xx
What a night!
I won’t bore you with all the details, it would take hours to go through every detail of planning so I’ll break it down for you.
Choosing the entertainment
This is important as the entertainment has to fit with the personality of the hen herself but also keep her guests happy. My sister is not a crazy party animal so it was important to choose something that didn’t make her feel uncomfortable.
Choosing the best entertainment is also key, we ended up at a cocktail bar where we took part in a cocktail masterclass, the gents that fronted the class were both fun and knowledgable – they made my sister feel special and everyone got the chance to go behind the bar and shake a few spirits together.
One particular point that I felt was important was to do my best to find a venue where we were likely to be the only hen party. I’ve been to a hen party before where we were surrounded by about 4 other hen parties, it kinda took the special feeling away.
After the entertainment
After the cocktail masterclass I reserved us a table in the bar for us to enjoy the rest of the night and have a few more drinks. Boy am I glad I did! The bar got super busy and judging my the hight of some of the girls heels, chairs were welcomed.
Transport
Arriving in style is a big YES! I booked us a party bus fully equips with a champagne bar and an awesome stereo system. The driver was very friendly and welcomed us jumping around and dancing (safely) while he drove us to the cocktail bar.
Accessories
Well we HAD to have hen party sashes! My mum had a ‘mother of the bride’ sash, my sister had a ‘bride to be’ sash and the rest of us has ‘hen party’ sashes. I bought some fun ‘snog marry avoid’ cards with celebrity names on, some willy whistles (it’s not a hen party without a willy) and I made some dare cards for the girls to have fun with. I also gave some of the girls some disposable cameras, I know they’re dated but everyone loved them.
Games
I made a game called ‘how well do you know your husband to be’. A week before the hen party I asked my sisters fiancĂ© a number of questions and took some photos of some body parts (ears, feet, hands etc). On the hen night my sister had to answer the questions and pick out her fiancĂ©’s body part from a number of other peoples. Any wrong answer had to be forfeited with a shot. The game was fairly quick, but that suited us just fine as I didn’t want to keep the girls from letting their hair down and dancing.
Scrapbook…
After the hen party I spent a month putting a scrapbook together as a gift for my sister. I pulled pictures from Facebook that the girls had posted of the night, I visited a craft shop and bought tonnes of stickers and paper to decorate the book, she loved it!
All in all the night was a total success, I wouldn’t have changed a thing. So if you’ve been tasked with organising a hen party I hope I’ve helped!
Happy planning!
Once all the traditional wedding bits are over, the rings are exchanged, the register is signed, speeches are read and bellies are full, the bride and groom have the creative freedom to entertain the guests at… the after party!
For some people, this is what a wedding is really all about!
The music…
This is a very important decision, the bride and groom must be very careful in their choice of DJ or band, the wrong choice can lead to poor music being played or your guests even confusing the band for a karaoke night…
Firstly, check online for any reviews on the DJ / band you have your eye on, this will most likely give you the most honest answer to how good they really are.
Secondly, in case they don’t ask you, make sure they know exactly the genre you want them to play, nothing worse than hoping for the spice girls and ending up with a heavy metal DJ! It’s always a good idea to not just tell them what your first dance is, but your last dance too!
And finally, just to put a safety net over making sure you have a good night, give them a list of music you definitely do not want to hear!
For those who prefer a more interactive style of music, what about county dancing! I’ve actually attended a country dancing wedding myself, and I must tell you – they are fantastic fun! If you are the bride I would recommend wearing a dress that is easy to ‘Dosey Doe’ in and perhaps offer your female guests a more comfortable footwear, flip flops for example. Also, make sure the venue you choose has plenty of space for the band as well as space for your guests so skip around the dance floor!
What about a photo booth?
For those who don’t fancy dancing, how about getting them involved in the photo booth craze that seems to be sweeping the wedding scene? A photo booth gives your guests the chance to come away with their own professional picture from the day; and to make things more fun, why not offer a selection of dress up gear and signs to make the pictures super fun
Love is sweet…
Sweet stations are a common accessory to any wedding night now. They can be themed for your colours, or even made to match your ‘under the sea’ wedding, for example. Some people love sweets so much they gather a huge variety of sweets to spoil their guests with.
One point I would stress however, only unveil your sweet station AFTER the wedding breakfast, having it available all day will spoil the appetite of pretty much every child there, there’s the wedding breakfast gone to waste!
Drinkies!
The bar, the most popular place at the wedding! If you’re thinking about putting a tab behind the bar but you’re concerned about certain people taking advantage of your good will, fear not!
Firstly, enforcing restrictions is important and more importantly, setting a limit. Restrictions stop the tab from disappearing too quickly, for example asking the bar staff to only allow beers, wines, soft drinks and standard spirits (the cheapest vodka, gin and whiskey for example). A limit also means you will only end up spending what you can afford on the bar. If you’re worried about certain people spending much more than others then you could issue tokens to each guest which they can exchange with the bar staff for a drink of a certain price; this way everyone gets to have the same chance to get a few drinks and they can still drink at their own pace.
End the day with a bang!
Fireworks make the wedding so much more exciting and add extra of romance for the bride and groom. Companies like ‘Pyromania’ can put on an excellent display for you and your guests and will cater to your desires, they will make them as loud or as flashy as they can!
And finally, comfort accessories!
Many couples like to offer their guests bathroom refreshment baskets. For the ladies, hair pins, lip gloss and hair spray (and for emergencies – tampons) are top choices; for the gents, cologne, hair wax and mints!
As previously mentioned, it’s always good to keep your guests dancing, so providing flip flops is always warmly welcomed by those who’ve decided to celebrate in 6inch heels! Signs saying “a little treat for you dancing feet’ are a nice touch.
Next time…
Saturday 23rd marks the long awaited, much planned hen party of my dearest sister. I have been planning it for months now and it all comes to a head in a week and a half. So stay tuned to my blog for details on what we did and how well it all went down! 🙂
Some people have the inbuilt ability to romance their partner for a life time, keeping the spark alight. Others may find that once the dust has settled and the honeymoon period of their relationship has passed they struggle to find their romantic streak.
So what do you do if your partner isn’t romantic? No matter how many hints you leave them, they just don’t get it…
You could google it, find a self help book or even seek out a ‘love doctor’…
There are pages upon pages online or in books aiding people who are looking for romantic advice or those seeking to coax their loved one into romancing them. I’ll be honest, they’re all basically the same…
– watch a romantic film together in the hope that your loved one will pick up on the romantic vibes and respond accordingly, or just to spend some time together having a cuddle on the sofa.
– lead by example, show your other half exactly how it should be done, if candle lit dinners are what gets you going then treat him to a couple, if he enjoys it as much as you do he may just treat you to one!
– and then there’s the obvious… tell them what you want. Telling your other half exactly what makes you feel special, what melts your heart or what turns you on makes things a whole lots easier.
Love doctors are a little more complex, however. These self proclaimed ‘doctors’ base their 
advice mostly on opinion and, if you base your relationship on them too much, could more or less end up running your relationship for you, or even worse, ruining it.
Love doctors take many forms, through websites, as a ‘love hour’ radio DJ or even disguised as a close friend (I know this one sounds bizarre but even friends have a tendency to get too indulged in their friends love life).
Sometimes I think, just reminding yourself of the things that attracted you to your partner is enough to keep your relationship alight. Those little things your partner did for you at the beginning of the relationship to make you smile may now be something you’ve become accustomed to; reexamine your relationship before asking more from your partner, it may not go down as well as you think.
More and more commonly now couples are choosing to theme their wedding day. Themed weddings can be done purely for the fun factor or just to help illustrate the couple’s personalities.
I have worked hundreds of weddings in the short time I have been in this industry, many with themes ranging from gothic, to romantic to even under the sea. Each theme has its own assortment of colour schemes and accessories, here’s a few examples…
Romantic
There are many different ways that romance can be portrayed all of which depend on personal tastes. For example, to one person romance may be pastel pinks; to another it may be deep reds and purples. Just from these simple colour differences you can see how easily romance can be either a bright or a dark theme.
Romantic themed weddings could be held in castles, countryside retreats or even at home, it really depends on what the couple deem to be romantic.
Romantic themes weddings also tend to be much more traditional and can be decorated by flower garlands and hearts.
Gothic
Gothic weddings are generally associated with dark colours, dark purples and reds, and even black can be used to portray the gothic theme. Red roses are very popular at gothic weddings, occasionally they are even decorated with gems or dye to personalise them for the wedding. It is also common for the gothic brides to break tradition and opt for a non-white wedding dress! Gothic grooms tend also to dress a little more theatrically than usual by adding accessories like a top hat and a cane.
Skulls are very often a popular icon within the gothic community, however I would advise fewer skulls at your wedding is often better due to their usual connotations…
Under the Sea
I’ve chosen to discuss this theme just because I love it so much! Under the sea themes are either done subtlety, with a few fun accessories and light blue colour schemes, or can be done to the max with the bride and groom exchanging their vows underwater surrounded by marine life. Generally these ceremonies are performed in tanks under the watchful eye of lifeguards and in the case of a shark tank… first aiders!
Blue and green colour schemes can be used, and for those couples looking to really spoil their guests, sand can even be bought to create your very own private wedding beach!
Fun table centres can be made using round bowls, and replacing the tradition flowers for goldfish, just make sure the fish won’t be harassed in any way by any excitable children!
Another little gimmick is creating a sweet station for the evening made with seaside associated sweets, for example gummy turtles, foam shrimps and chocolate ice creams.
Weddings can be so much fun to personalise, pop into your local arts and craft shop to gather some ideas to help create your favourite theme. The one rule I will encourage you to follow however is to not go too crazy! Having too many accessories can make a wedding seem cluttered and having too many small projects on the go as well as the usual can leave you feeling incredibly stressed. Sometimes planning your theme before being let loose in Hobbycraft can stop you becoming too stressed, confused, or out of pocket.
Have fun guys! x
Well my next post was going to about trends, however I feel I have a more pressing topic on mind at present, speeches, or more importantly a speech I have been asked to make.
There’s no doubt about it, wedding planning can turn even the most calm of people into quivering ‘zillas… And like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is almost impossible to say when the inner Hyde in you might jump out.
Below are a handful of tips to help you along on your way to wedding day bliss, banishing the Mr Hyde in you and becoming more equipped to deal with planning your wedding.
Your body is a temple
James Leigh Hunt (1784 – 1859)
“The groundwork of all happiness is health.”
Most brides will already be considering what their beauty regime may involve in the lead up to their wedding day, from how to have glowing skin to making sure they fit into the most important dress of their life. However, keeping a close eye on health and fitness isn’t just important in the last couple of months before they wedding, it’s a regime that should be adhered to throughout the planning process, or even throughout a persons whole life.
Healthy living provides not only a fit body on the exterior but also a healthier way of thinking and generally being. Far less stress will be suffered and clearer thinking will be achieved simply from eating correctly and exercising regularly.
Now I’m not suggesting for one minute that you avoid such sins as chocolate and ice cream, I for one know that that is a simply impossible task, and I’m certainly not telling you that 2hours at the gym after work is necessary. It’s all about balance. Eating your five fruit and veg a day is a start and this can, within reason, be rewarded with treats.
Exercise is often looked upon as gruelling, challenging and generally a whole lot of effort; but it really doesn’t have to be. It can be exhilarating, fulfilling and even calming. Take yoga for example, a sport known for it’s ability to relax the mind, body and soul. Visit http://www.yogaclassnearyou.co.uk/index.php to find your local yoga class to see how this can help you.
Delegation is key
Bridesmaids, ushers, mothers and fathers, they all have a purpose, and that is to help you. There’s no doubt about it, doing it all yourself is bloody hard work and very stressful at that. Â Delegating some of the work amongst your bridesmaids and ushers is an excellent way of dealing with this. Traditionally the maid of honour organises the hen party and the best man the stag party. Others can be used to help rally the troops together for dress/suit fittings, advise you colours and themes and generally help with organising your wedding.
Get creative with mood boards.
A mood board is an excellent way of gathering ideas before making a decision. Take colours for example. Choosing the colour scheme for your wedding can either be easy or particularly difficult, a mood board can help alleviate the difficulties by presenting all the possibilities in front of you to make decision making much easier.
Getting creative with the pritstick can also be quite fun and allows the bride and groom to understand exactly what each other has in mind.
And then there’s me.
For those who are unfortunately too busy to plan their wedding, or simply do not have the ability to plan a wedding without turning into Mr Hyde, there’s me, the wedding planner. Wedding planners can be used in a variety of ways from just lending advise and keeping an eye on how you’re getting along, to completely taking the reins and planning your wedding from the engagement to the honeymoon.
Don’t worry, a wedding planner does not create a wedding and fit you in at the end, they follow every detail you give them to ensure they are creating your dream wedding for you.
As previously discussed, mood boards are an excellent way of physically seeing what you want in the styles that are available, and they also a great way to get across to your wedding planner exactly what you want.
Hopefully with these suggestions in play you will be well on your way to peacefully planning your wedding, whilst keeping Mr Hyde at bay.
…Happy Wedding Planning!
Musings Of A Wedding Planner 