A Wedding Planner’s Wedding #2: Where, When, Who?
In the second instalment of my blog series as an experienced wedding planner planning my own wedding, I have to ask myself exactly the same questions I pose to my clients.
Where
Before even choosing your venue and getting into a google maps plotting frenzy, think about any obligations first. I know ‘It’s your Big Day,’ but let’s not kid ourselves. If you choose to host your wedding on an Island in the Maldives, which is a short 10hr flight, followed by a 3 hour sea plane and finished with a 50 minute speed boat, I don’t think Nanny June and her dodgy hip will be too pleased. Let’s not even imagine what that trip would be like for sister Sarah and her five kids under the age of 12!
When
Almost every bride opts for a one year engagement, but in truth you need a year in itself just to plan the wedding so you won’t really get enough time to enjoy being engaged. I don’t have any elderly relatives so I’m glad from my perspective as a wedding organiser that I could afford to have a two year engagement. Now a year in, I can tell you, it goes so quickly. I’m so glad I decided to take my time and really get to enjoy every moment. You may want to celebrate through a series of wedding ‘events,’ because let’s face it, you want to make the most of this time so you need to pace them out. You may think nothing of having four events, but your guests wont appreciate you monopolising their diary for the year. You’ll soon discover there are a lot more entertaining evenings needed to be planned in your role as wedding organiser than you originally thought.
Have a look at my list:
Dinner with both families
Dinner with Maid of Honour
Afternoon Tea with my Bridesmaids
Dinner with Best Man
Engagement Party
Engagement Photoshoot – yes very American but why not!
We haven’t even started the list of shopping days!
Who
I don’t care what they say, size matters!
If you’re Indian, the wedding is your parent’s way of showing off their wealth. The bigger the crowd, the wealthier the parents. I don’t see why they just don’t tweet their bank balance. That’s why Indian weddings are so big! As a little girl, when my arms were too long for my cardigan, I remember going to a wedding where the groom was the son of a guy whose older brother was a man my dad once bought a watch from!!!
Again, the question that needs to be asked is who do you really really want to have there, as well as how big is your bank account!
Your wedding is not a social media competition and it doesn’t matter how many likes you get or how many people follow you.
My list of who I really, really, want present on my wedding planner’s wedding day:
11 Family
6 Friends
