What your wedding invitations should include

The dates set in stone, the venues booked; the ceremony is arranged now all you need are people to attend. Ideally your invitations will be sent at least one year before the date of your wedding. They should tell your guests everything they need to know about your big day. Follow the headings below to create the perfect invitations for your wedding say!

THE HOST

Traditionally whoever paid for the wedding was the hosts of the big day and therefore named as hosts on the wedding invitation. However, with the splitting of wedding costs to both families, variations of different hosts can leave you a little confused about how best to word them. So we’ve done the work for you.

BRIDE’S PARENTS –

{Carl and Carole Ferguson}

BOTH SETS OF PARENTS –

{Carl and Carole Ferguson}

and

{Doug and Carolyn Simkin}

COUPLE –

{Abbey Ferguson}

and

{John Simkin}

COUPLE & PARENTS –

Together with their parents

{Abbey Ferguson}

and

{John Simkin}

LOCATION

If you are to having ceremony in a place of worship, then the host will request the honour of the guest’s company. If your ceremony is anywhere else, the host will request the pleasure of the guest’s company.

E.G

CHURCH WEDDING / BRIDE’S PARENTS

…request the honour of your company

at the marriage of their daughter

{Abbey Ferguson}

and

{John Simkin}

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Don’t overdo it at the rehearsal dinner

I’m not the first person and definitely not the last person to admit that sometimes, just sometimes… on very rare occasions… one drink turns into ten. Maybe in an attempt to combat nerves and relax or maybe just because people are plying you full of drink and it feels rude to say no. The night before your wedding should definitely not be one of those occasions. Say no to the freebies, display excellent will power and do some yogic breathing to combat your nerves. The last thing you need on your wedding day is a horrendous hang over. Even the angelic sounds of a harp can be unpleasant with a banging head ache.

Don’t try new food
If you’ve seen Bridesmaid’s you’ll know why an adventurous or a risky dining experience is not ideal the day before your wedding. For those who haven’t seen that film I’ll just say it’s best to stay away from foods that may bloat, upset or disturb your stomach.  You can’t say ‘I Do’ if you’re stuck on the loo.

Don’t drink caffeinated beverages

With nerves and final little details running through your head it may be hard enough to get a good night’s sleep an excessive amount of caffeine probably won’t help. The night before your wedding you’re hoping for a restful restorative sleep so try to avoid anything that will prevent that.

Major beauty changes

No Last minute hair styles, colours or tans. Stay away from anything that could go wrong and be remembered forever in your wedding photographs.

Don’t watch a sad movie

Makeup artists can work magic BUT the last thing you want on your wedding day is puffy eyes from crying! Good chance you’ll shed a tear on the day itself.

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10 ways your friends can help with your Wedding planning

Those familiar word’s of ‘Let me know if there is anything I can do to help you’ are thrown around quite often throughout life. We don’t always take people up on the offers they present but planning a wedding is no small task and allowing people to help is essential. Below are some options of how your guests can help to make the planning less stressful and a little more enjoyable.

1. Perform at the Ceremony

If you’re lucky enough to have a musically-talented friend or family member, having them perform at your ceremony can be really special. If you have a specific song or style in mind, we advise hiring a professional ceremony musician, but your pal can still contribute their musical skills elsewhere. Friend’s in band could play your evening reception or serenade your guests whilst you’re having your photographs taken.

2. Ceremony Readings

This is something that any willing person can do, and is a particularly good way to get younger guests involved. Simply choose a ceremony reading for them or get them rto contribute something they want to and bobs your uncle!

3. Confetti Throwing

This is a really fun job that everyone can get involved with! You can either source the confetti yourself or ask your volunteer to pass them out to guests just before the big moment. Make sure to alert guests to any rules your ceremony venue has set in relation to confetti and prepare your photographer to capture the magical confetti moments.

4. Baking Sweet Treats

If you’ve got high hopes for your wedding cake, it’s essential that you hire a professional – even the best home bakers struggle when it comes to transporting the cake and keeping it looking and tasting fresh! If you’re having a cake table and asking multiple guests to bring sweet treats there’s less pressure. Don’t forget to assign a friend to get the table in order too – they should receive the cakes from the guests, label the bakes, and liaise with the venue to refrigerate anything that requires it.

5. Making Miles of Bunting

Bunting is such a quick way to add colour and atmosphere to a space, and although it’s fun to make your own, it can take a while. If you rope in a few friends, the experience will be quicker and more fun. This goes for lots of other DIY décor items, too.

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How to have a beautiful Wedding on a shoe-string budget

I get by with a little help from my friends:

Your Wedding guests aren’t after fancy arrival drinks and a swanky venue; they’re pumped to see their awesome friends getting married. With this sentiment at heart, most friends would also be thrilled to help you in any small way they can. Whether that’s collecting Jam jars for DIY centre pieces or jamming out on the acoustic guitar for your walk down the aisle. Friends and family are the perfect crowd to ask for support and help with Wedding elements that can save you a pretty penny. Firstly consider the most important elements of your Wedding allocate the money needed to those then consider how you can fill in the blanks with the help of your crew. A pro tip would be to keep a spreadsheet of the delegated tasks, it’s incredibly easy to forget who’s doing what amongst all of the organising.

Do it yourself:

As an avid crafter the thought of this fills me with enthusiasm and joy. Taking time to craft and prepare things for a wedding however fills me with stress and worry. I think the key to this is not over estimating what you can accomplish in the time you have and also planning ahead to allow yourself the most time possible. I wouldn’t wish a wedding eve like the night before final deadline hand in on anyone!! There are tons of amazing craft projects on Pinterest. See my previous blog to find a few of the Wedding Boards I recommended. (Link previous blog)

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How to Write your Wedding Vows

Marriage ceremonies can either be a very formal ocassion or a modern celebration of love. This is neither a good or bad thing and is entirely down to personal preference. Some people gravitate towards tradition and want to stick to the foundation of the marriages that passed before them and some people will opt for a modern approach. It’s becoming increasingly popular to personalise ceremonies and relax some of the more formal traditions. Writing your own vows is a lovely way to personalise your ceremony whilst still keeping the traditions alive. This blog will give you tips and a starting point to writing yours.

1. Make promises you can keep

A promise is a promise so make sure you can keep them. On top of the lifelong commitment you’re making to each other you should consider little intricacies that are special to your relationship. For instance I’m a fairly domesticated person. I can often be found cheerfully cleaning, washing, ironing and cooking for others in my spare time.  However, I have also been known to be extremely averse to taking out the bin and have gone to extreme lengths to avoid taking it out on many occasions. If my beloved promised to take the bins out until death do us part I would be truly elated and feel deeply understood.  OK so maybe the bins aren’t a big deal to you but hopefully it’s prompted you to think of promises you’d like to make to your other half.

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Bayley Mile

For the 3rd year running we have provided refreshments at this annual event, and, for the first time the sun was shining!

If you are a Telford resident, you will probably have heard of the Bayley Mile event.  It started in the 1930s and was revived 21 years ago – it sees children from schools across the town coming together at the start line to run a mile.

We are delighted and proud be sponsoring this event again.  We believe it’s our duty as a local business to get involved in the community, and as the start line at Wellington Leisure Centre  is only a couple of miles down the road from us, it really is a local event!

A big thank you to Siri, Priya and Griff who gave up their time to man the refreshment stall

Yoga for Pre-Wedding Nerves

So, a few weeks back we introduced you all to Abbey.  Abbey looks after all of our wonderful brides & grooms and all things wedding!  However, you are unlikely to know that she also teaches yoga.  Abbey tells us more;

‘My first interactions with yoga were purely for the physical benefits. I quickly fell in love with the postures and flows and slowly began to realise there was a more subtle transformation taking place. After several years the scheduled classes migrated into a consistent home practice then eventually a strong desire to teach and share my yoga journey.

Yoga has played a big role in shaping my life. Through the practice I found strength, gratitude, acceptance and a tool box for coping with life twists and turns. I completed my 200 hour teacher training in September 2018 with Green Yoga International in Mallorca. I am a Registered Yoga Alliance teacher’

This week’s blog from Abbey is about taking time to relax and is something slightly different.  I hope you enjoy it and also manage to practice it.

Clearing the Fog!

As far as planning and organisation for weddings go there are millions of individual resources with varied offerings. Every detail of a wedding is thought out, timed and premed to perfection.  This blog is hopefully going to give you a few tools to use in these ‘monkey mind’ moments!

1. Don’t Forget to Breathe

Perhaps the more obvious of the tips but definitely the most valuable. Breathing consciously in any way is an excellent tool to quiet the mind. One method is simply counting your breath. Exhale fully through your nostrils then begin to count to 5 seconds on your inhale. Don’t rush the counting.  It’s best to stick to the old ‘1 Mississippi 2 Mississippi’ to ensure you’re not shortening or quickening the breath. Once you’ve reached the 5 second counts for your inhale hold the breath for just a moment and begin to count your exhale for 5 seconds. You’re exhaling through the nose however it can feel very therapeutic to exhale through your mouth (imagine you’re trying to fog a mirror) making a ‘haaaaaa’ sound. Exhale fully and allow your body to release any tension further and deeper with each out breath. The breathing is balanced here with equal inhale and exhale; we’re trying to bring calmness and balance back to our mind by drawing the focus inwardly to our breath. PRO TIP: Extend your exhale for a second longer than your inhale to really empty your body and allow for a deep and full inhale.

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Wedding Planning Inspiration

This week’s blog is linked to our Wedding co-ordinator Pinterest account. If you’ve never previously heard of Pinterest allow me to introduce you to it. It’s essentially a virtual scrap book which allows you to ‘Pin’ or ‘Save’ images from other users ‘Boards’. You organise your ‘Pins’ into your own ‘Boards’. In wedding planning it’s extremely helpful and slightly addictive. You can spend hours trawling through centre pieces and dribbling over your dream dress. It’s full of inspiration, tips and DIY projects. Prepare yourself to discover little wedding intricacies that you never knew existed and find inspiration for every aspect of your wedding.

Here are a couple of boards that we follow:

Rock My Wedding –This wedding blog is Midland based and packed full of the most beautifully photographed love stories.

In their own words ‘We like weddings. We like the sexy the sophisticated and the pretty. We like timeless glamour, fashion-forward thinking and photographs that tell love stories.’

Wedding Chicks – This blog is followed by over 5 million people. The content is updated regularly and covers all aspects and provides inspiration for everything wedding.

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3 Little Touches to Enhance Your Day

What makes a wedding ceremony one of the most special and memorable days of your life? Is it the beginning of a lifelong commitment to your chosen other half? Is it the gathering of all your loved ones in one place? Or is it actually because you get to realise your fairytale dreams and live a fantasy for one day. Obviously it’s the first two but the third is a pretty great perk. This blog is to inspire you to think about the little touches that you could add to your day to make it personal and memorable for you and your guests for years to come.

1. Restroom Basket

Weddings are often an all day affair. Lots of eating, drinking and subsequently … restroom visitation! It’s a nice moment when your guests walk into the bathroom to find a selection of goodies and useful items to get them through the day.

Our Suggestions:

Bobby pins/Hair grips, Hairspray, Dry hair shampoo, Hair gel, Double-sided (boob) tape, Feminine hygiene products, Clear nail varnish, Nail file, Nail glue, Lash glue, Vaseline, Deodorant, Hand lotion, Mints, Tooth picks, Wet wipes, Baby powder.

Tips for the execution of a restroom basket:

• When finding your basket, box or container consider the size of the counter or table it will be placed on.
• Collect sample products from your local drug store to keep costs low. They are also normally a handy travel size.
• If you’re full to the brim with wedding tasks and planning delegate this task to a bridesmaid or helpful friend.

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Planning Your Wedding Timeline 

Planning a wedding can take on average 12 – 18 months. There is so much to consider and often the big day itself can be hard to envisage so far in advance. In-between booking the venue, suppliers and thinking about all the little details the final picture of how it all fits together will be easily lost. Today’s blog will be all about a wedding timeline and things to consider when arranging the organisation of your day.

Below are the foundational timings that we work from as a venue to plan your big day. Once you’ve got these timings in place the rest will follow.

First things first

Allocate 1 – 2 hours

‘The moment I wake up before I put on my make up’ (Thank you Aretha) I spoke about this briefly in my previous blog Wedding Planning Made Simple it’s important to consider how you want to wake up on your big day. You want to start your day off  in the best possible way.  Whether that’s an hour doing yoga or time spent with your loved ones, it’s yours to spend however you see fit.

Time for that Makeup

Allocate 2 – 3 hours

We’ve covered the ‘before the makeup’ stage so now it’s time to co-ordinate the arrival of makeup artists and hair dressing. Although it’s not an essential part of getting married, in our experience, it’s common practice for a bride and her bridal party to get pampered for the day. Normally you will have had a trial with your chosen Makeup Artist and you’ll have an idea of how long the process is from start to finish. Be sure to allocate enough time so you’re not especially rushed. This can be a nice time to capture candid moments of the pre- wedding excitement and butterflies so be sure to coincide this with your photographers arrival.

 Behind the scenes – Allocated time to be determined by suppliers

Whilst you are hopefully blissfully unaware, your months of preparation are paying off. Any room dressing suppliers are tying your chair covers, centring your centre pieces, carefully placing the cake and arranging the flowers. It’s important to confirm arrival times of all suppliers and co-ordinate it with the venue so that everyone is aware of what time everythings is arriving and were it needs to be. It’s a good idea to nominate your most trusted accomplice to oversee this stage of preparation whilst you enjoy a delightful stress free morning.

Civil Ceremony – Allocate 30 minutes

Your officiate will of been booked well in advance, your music is prepared (guide lines for music coming up in our next blog) all you have to do is turn up. Then live happily ever after.

Arrival drinks, canapés and photographs – Allocate 1 – 1½ hours

The time spent at this stage is determined by the types of images you’d like of your wedding day and the size of your gathering. A mixture of group photographs and couple images posed and candid are recommended but this can be discussed before hand with your photographer. Whilst you are off doing your couple photographs your guests can enjoy your arrival drinks and canapés or if you decide against providing arrival drinks you may find them naturally congregating at the bar. This step is entirely optional and some ceremonies flow straight into the wedding breakfast.

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