Bride-to-be Megan's Wedding Planning Top Tips

This month, we're so pleased to introduce you to Megan, a bride-to-be who's been planning her wedding to Simon for a year...and now will be finishing her plans a year later than expected due to her wedding being delayed from July 2020 to June 2021!  ...Coronavirus strikes again!

Here she shares her planning experience so far and her top 5 invaluable tips to make planning your wedding a dream!

Says Megan...

Simon and I got engaged in July 2019, and being the planning and organisation nut that I am, within a week we were looking at venues and securing our wedding date for July 2020. 

I have spent the last 10 months thoroughly enjoying booking suppliers, scouring Pinterest for new ideas and shopping for wedding decorations. When the-virus-that-must-not-be-named really started rearing its head in March, we realised the prospect of a wedding this year was not likely. We absorbed and processed that inevitability pretty well before making the decision to postpone to June 2021, so that we can safely celebrate with all our family and friends. 

Everything wedding-related is neatly packed away for the time being, but with everything that is sorted so far, it shouldn’t be too hard to pick up from where I left off once some sense of normality resumes! 

So here are my top tips for planning a wedding that I have learnt so far…

1: A spreadsheet is your best friend

Monica Geller would be so proud. Ours has everything on it arranged into tabs; what we’ve booked, how much we’ve paid, how much we owe and when by, guests and their dietary requirements etc. We also made a tab for song requests from our guests to give to our DJ – we want to ensure that everyone has a great time dancing. 

It’s equally important to make a list of songs for your DJ that are a firm NO. Ours include Dancing Queen – Abba (following Theresa May’s awkward walk-dance thing), the Grease Mega-mix and Belinda Carlisle – Heaven is a place on Earth.

2: Make a list of questions before going to visit your venue / suppliers

You need to make sure you have all the information you need before making your firm decision. Natalie gave me some amazing tips and questions I would have never thought of asking; is VAT included? If there’s a wedding coordinator – how many meetings in the run up to the wedding do you get and when? Will they do decorative set up for you? What is the corkage rate? Does venue hire include furniture? Lighting? Napkin hire? There can be loads of add-ons!

3: Why just one day? Make it two! 

We hadn’t originally planned for this, but we are now in love with the idea. We booked our venue first, but then found that there were no registrars available until 5pm that day. Frankly, we weren’t going to spend all that money on a venue for the big day to not get started until early evening… So we decided to book a small registry office wedding the day before, with just close family, and an afternoon pub lunch. We booked a celebrant for the big Saturday event; you get a level of personalisation to your ceremony that you just don’t get with a registrar. 

Added bonus – you get 2 dresses!

4: You will undoubtedly not get the dress you wanted… 

I imagined a fitted sheath dress; understated but classy. Turns out that the dress I had daydreamed about looked simply horrendous on me and I wanted to cry. I felt disappointed so asked my friends and family girls to pick some things out for me. This is why it’s so important to take people dress shopping with you who you trust to be completely honest with you. They picked out the “ultimate princess dress.” I laughed initially, but as the lovely shop assistant said, “It’s the dress that you never imagined wanting which ends up being THE ONE”. And yes, there is a strange, butterfly feeling when you try that dress on. You might shed a tear. 

Also, just because your mum wants you to wear a veil, it doesn’t mean you have to. For me, the “ultimate princess dress” is where I draw the line!

5: Get creative! Wedding stuff can be super expensive

So, try thinking outside the box. We got our little jam jars for flowers and pillar candles from Wilkos for a bargain, and the glass bottles for taller flowers are just white wine vinegar bottles from Tesco (80p a pop is actually cheaper than buying just new bottles themselves!). I got some weird looks at the checkout when buying 20 at once but hey ho! 

Also, don’t forget about children guests – goody bags will keep little ones entertained and are equally as fun to put together.

Megan, these are A-MAZING tips, thanks so much!  ...and I'm so lucky, as Megan is my cousin and I get to see her fabulous planning in all its glory next June!

I'll see if she'll let us share it with you all, as it's going to be a stunner of a wedding with a match made in heaven...and knowing her as I do, the dance floor will be packed and I can't wait!

Happy planning x