10 things to consider once you're engaged

Firstly, read this when you're relaxed and actually looking forward to doing some 'wedmin' (wedding admin). Whenever you are doing ANY wedmin, it should be enjoyable and fun. Never book something under stress or pressure. (This might be where you decide to hire a wedding planner to take the stress off your shoulders if things get too much)

Make sure you have nice nails before telling family and friends! Unless you're not that kinda gal, in which case skip this point...

Tell your friends and family of course! But remember to take in the moment with your FIANCÉ (!) before calling everyone, because you'll be on the phone for hours!

Venue search.. Before you start the venue search, think about what size you might like your wedding to be... 50 people? 100 people? 200 people? And also think about what sort of wedding you would like... Outside? Marquee? A barn? (wedding planners can help massively here). Unfortunately you will always need to compromise on something with your venue, there isn't THE perfect venue, sorry to break it to you, so remember this when searching. Discuss your priorities / areas you're not willing to compromise, this will help when cutting down on the number of potential venues i.e large garden for reception or license for marriage on site.

Get a moodboard together... this is where Pinterest will be your best friend. Make different boards for all aspects of the wedding, for example, tablescapes, chairs, foliage, signage, suspended decor, aisle decor.... you get the gist! But remember a lot of images on Pinterest are professional shoots and weddings with huge budgets, so you may find some things are out of your reach, which is normal! Don't feel disheartened by this. (Here's one of my moodboards for an example, click on it to go through to my Pinterest page... Yes, I have a type)

Budget... this is one of the first things you should think about but, I know, you just want to get carried away with a drink in hand and dream about all the venues you can visit. However, budget is extremely important, so make sure you do look at this. Portion it out... Things like flowers or stationery usually take 10% of the budget which may surprise you!

Guest list... Try to get a guest list of first invites together as soon as you can because this will give a good idea of the size of wedding you may want to have. When I say first invites, people quite often send out more than one wave of invites because sadly people do sometimes have other commitments on your date (I know, how dare they!?), so this means spaces for those who you haven't yet invited. List A and list B!

Consider the time of year you would like to get married in...pros and cons of summer weddings (boiling hot but lovely long days and a larger variety of flowers), autumn weddings (different seasonal flowers, slightly cooler weather), winter weddings (colder weather, darker, moodier evenings, cheaper venues, fire pits) and so on...

Support small businesses. I know, this isn't a must but in the wedding industry, nearly all of us are small businesses. Covid has had a huge impact on all businesses big and small. This is your chance to do your part in helping the industry and we are all so happy to see business start again! <3

Table plans can be tricky. So, I suggest you get a draft together and you can just keep going back to it every so often. Your first draft does not have to be the last! Some people change the table plan the night before the wedding, that's okay! No-one else will know. See below a technique which, in my opinion is the best way to do your table plan. Once you know you have a post-it for everyone attending, get them on the board and have a play around!

**Remember my emails and DM's are always open, feel free to drop me a message xxx**