The Big Day

Every little girl dreams of their big day... The one day they share the most happiness, the beautiful planning and prepping doesn't go unnoticed and the day they get to wear white. I have been dreaming of my wedding day probably from the age of about 5. It was the first primary school boyfriend and the time where I reminisced over my mum and dads wedding day. I would always ask my mum if I could try on her dress and feel like a princess.

As I've gotten older, I always questioned whether I would ever find the one. The one person I would spend the rest of my life with. That person that would do anything for me and love me for... Well, me. I had only been through a handful of relationships before I found the one person who could see past my flaws. Fast forward to today, we are coming up 2 years of being engaged and next year on the 08th September 2022 is going to be the day we tie the knot. I can honestly say that the pressures, stresses and ups/downs are so real. I thought that I would share some of the things I've found challenging and how I came around them. Choosing the guest list Now, when we first got engaged, everyone warned us that choosing the list would be not only challenging but also heart breaking. We batted it off thinking it would be absolutely fine and there would be nothing to worry about. Wow, how wrong I was. We began making a guest list and soon enough we were at 120 guests. Not only does your venue often have a limitation but you also have to remember that you are paying for every head at the table. In our case, each person was £75 an adult and £30 a child. How we got around the challenge I hear you ask? We made three lists - Who we couldn't have a wedding without, who we would ideally like there and who we could have a wedding without. This made the priority list so much easier. Yes, I will not lie, we had some very difficult conversations, not just as a couple but with other family too. You will always face the comment of - 'if you're having so and so there, you have to have so and so' or 'you cant have so and so and not invite so and so'. This is where we had to explain how much each person cost and that we were restricted on numbers. It was never going to be easy having these kind of conversations but you very much have to be, brutal.

The seating plan Once you've chosen your guests and sent out the Save The Dates, it's then comes the time to start a seating plan. No this isn't compulsory. We chose to do it early on as we knew we wouldn't get many family turning down the occasion. We

started off by questioning what kind of tables we wanted - straight or circular. One thing that always played on our mind was that although long tables are absolutely gorgeous, you were restricted on who you would be talking to - whether that be the person in front of you or sat right next to you. So, we went for circular tables of 10. We then faced the challenge of whether we placed everyone from one side of the family onto tables together or whether we mix both families. I have always stuck by the tradition of two families are joining as one. Its supposed to be the time where the two families combine and get to know one another. With that being said, we started to look into individual personalities. For example, we have tables based on their job roles. We have other families based on whether they are old fashioned or understanding of society. Then of course a children's table. This isn't just the list, it does go on... We have also stuck to couples. No couple has been split up. So at least, if they are not comfortable speaking with others, they always know one person. The money element A wedding can be as expensive or as cheap as you want. There is no expectation and it is truly how you want your special day to be. For our wedding I would say that we have gone for a medium priced wedding at around £21,000. We sat and went through Pinterest, finding the right styles and how we want our wedding to look. I then started to look at table decorations - This could have been the most expensive item on the list to plan however we chose to go through a wedding decorating company, its stress free and cheaper than buying individual items. We don't have to worry about setting it all up and also, they remove everything the day after. Stress free and no worries about selling the table decorations afterwards. On top of that, I also put together an excel document outlining all our budgeting... Without this plan, I would be sat with a pen and paper every time something changed - recalculating everything over and over again. Of course, I have attached this for you! Get downloading and have stress free price planning.

Blank Wedding Plan.xlsx

Download XLSX • 989KB

I do hope this post gets you through to your wedding day. Of course this isn't the only list of issues we have faced but these were the ones highlighted to me the most. I wish you the best of luck and a beautiful day.