HaveHold
TO
AND TO
THE SUSSEX WEDDING GUIDE
WELCOME
SEATING PLANS MADE EASY
th
to the 17 edition of To Have and To Hold: The Sussex Wedding Guide. Firstly, congratulations on your upcoming wedding! In this guide you will find a few tips and tricks to take (some of) the stress out of the incredible amount of planning it takes to organise a wedding. This edition aims to inspire you with a few different ways to make sure you create a day to remember. We explain how you can create a seating plan without tearing your hair out about who to sit where. You’ll learn the most popular choices couples will be making at their weddings this year in our 2016 Trend Guide. You can even learn how it’s possible for you to plan a wedding for under £5000 if you’re on a tight budget. As well as some trusted local businesses you’d be crazy to ignore. Happy planning!
Elise
HOW TO PLAN YOUR WEDDING PLAN YOUR ENTIRE WEDDING FOR UNDER £5000 DECORATIONS YOU CAN DO YOURSELF TOP TRENDS FOR 2016 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD’S 2016 SURVEY Photos kindly supplied by Paul Fletcher Photography www.paulfletcherphotography.co.uk
Seating Plans Made Easy When attending a wedding, the majority of people will probably be most excited about the venue, the dress, or the decorations. As a guest, the seating arrangement is probably the least considered part of a wedding. However for the person organising it, it can be the most stressful.
Placement is key
To ensure it goes as smoothly as possible make sure you carefully consider who to place where. As much as you want all of your loved ones there for your big day, if you’ve had any family fallings out or ugly break ups you’ll be feeling the pressure to try and keep everyone happy.
Atmosphere
The most important thing to remember is not to panic. All of your guests are there because they love you and they will do their best to keep the peace for your sake. Start with the ones who don’t get along and place them on separate tables, then add in their partners. Make sure you have the full list of confirmed guests in front of you and have a think about who would be well suited. Maybe your Great Uncle Jimmy and Debbie from accounts have exactly the same sense of humour and will keep the rest of the table laughing for hours? Try to think about the atmosphere and how you want to feel during the reception. Whether it’s filled with laughter or trips down memory lane, where you place people will change the ambiance completely.
The kids
If you’ve got children attending, think about whether you want them to have their own table. Those parents with slightly older children will probably appreciate spending time with other adults while safe in the knowledge that their kids are having fun playing. Try to accommodate the kid’s table with plenty of activities and team games that will include even the more shy children.
Switch and swap
Draw out a plan on paper of how your tables will be set out, or ask the venue to send one over. Then pencil in people’s names so you can move them around as often as you like until you’re happy with the arrangement. You don’t have to be too traditional when it comes to the top table but it is advised that you sit next to your partner as you might not actually spend much time together the rest of the day. Many couples say that they’re so busy chatting to guests that they haven’t seen for ages that they forgot to actually speak to their new husband/wife.
The theme
When choosing a theme for your tables and seating chart, have a think about what you’ve already chosen for your wedding. If you don’t have a strict theme, research online for fun ideas you could try, popular ideas include vintage films, countries, animals or celebrities. At the end of the day, everyone will be in the wedding spirit and have a great time so try not to stress about the seating plan. Don’t be afraid to get creative and enjoy the process as much as possible.
H
o y u r n W a l P e ddin o t w o g Planning your wedding is an exciting time, as it will be unlike anything else you’ll ever experience. This handy timeline will help you to make your dream day become a reality.
Budget
Start saving, and discuss the budget and who will pay for what. Be realistic about what you can afford as this will prevent you from getting carried away and spending too much.
See what’s out there
Decide on possible dates, visit a few possible venues and check availability. Visit some local wedding fayres and start reading wedding magazines for ideas and inspiration.
12-18
Choose the Bridesmaids, Best Man, Groomsmen and Ushers & Flower Girls if you’d like them. Start looking at wedding dresses and accessories, suits and bridemaids’ dresses. Choose a photo album you like and start filling it with all of your ideas. Things like photos of potential dresses and hair ideas as well as the stationery you’ll use for the invitations. This will give you a taster of the wedding planning process when you look back on it for years to come.
Coming together
Having done your research, book your ceremony and reception venue as early as possible, plus the registrar or vicar. Knowing the capacity you have to work with in both of the venues, draw up your guest list and send out the Save the Date cards.
Book your team
You may wish to hire a wedding planner to take the stress out of everything as well as a photographer, wedding cars, entertainment and a florist, who should also help with decorations.
The food
If you’d like to have a caterer, now would be the time to sample their menus. Also go to cake tastings and have a think about what type of cake you would like, taking the size of the guestlist into consideration.
Give notice to your local registry office of your upcoming nuptials and buy your marriage licence. If you’re having a church wedding, attend the reading of the banns. If you’d like a professional hairdresser & make up artist, book these now.
TO GO...
The party and their outfits
6-12
Finalise
MONTHS
3-6
The guests
MONTHS
TO GO... Scrapbook it
Choose your dress as early as you can to ensure you have enough time to make changes if things don’t go to plan. You should also order your cake in advance, especially if you’re getting married in peak wedding season (April-September).
MONTHS
TO GO...
Send out your invitations and book any accommodation needed for you and your partner and the guests. Plan your wedding giftlist and send this out to all attendees.
Celebrate
Take a break from all the planning and let your hair down to have your hen and stag parties! This will be where everything starts to feel real.
Favours and fittings
1-2
Choose and buy your wedding rings and favours. Have a dress fitting with your chosen lingerie and shoes on.
The vows
If you’re writing your own, start writing these now and get lots of practice in reading them out loud.
Final Runthrough
MONTHS
TO GO... Cue the music
Choose the music you’ll walk down the aisle to and play during the ceremony, the readings and order of service.
The gifts
They’ve been a huge help throughout your planning process so you may wish to thank your wedding party with gifts.
The menu
Give the caterer the RSVP head count and organise the seating plan and final menu choices.
One week to go
Hold a rehearsal with the Bridal party so that everyone knows where they play a part. They can practice walking down the aisle, standing where they need to be once they’ve got there and all of the timings.
Getting Ready
Walk around in your shoes so that they feel comfortable on the day. If you don’t normally wear heels and have bought some for the day, get lots of practice so you feel confident walking down the aisle. Pick up your dress and keep it somewhere safe where it won’t get creased.
Rest assured
For peace of mind, confirm everything with the wedding vendors and your honeymoon arrangements. Finalise the delivery of the cake and flowers and appoint someone on the groom’s side to organise dressing the room.
Relax
Treat yourself to a massage and facial and try to just unwind. Don’t panic - nerves are a good thing and everything will run smoothly. Do your last minute beauty preparations including your nails and a spray tan. Give yourself a day off from wearing makeup to ensure your skin looks its best.
The day before
Prepare
Organise the day from start to finish so you have a good idea of timings and where you need to be by when. Factor in how long it will take you to get ready and try to account for delays and traffic on the way to the venue. This should keep you from getting too stressed out on the day.
PLAN YOUR entire wedding FOR UNDER £5000 Beat the budget
The cost of a wedding can often be enough to put many couples off the idea all together. A survey in 2014 found that the average cost of a wedding is £20,983* in the UK, with couples often borrowing 20% of that to help fund all of their expenses. Believe it or not, it is possible to have a beautiful wedding for less than £5000 without compromising on creating memories that will last a lifetime.
Finding the venue
It was also found that the average cost of venue hire is £3,397* so the first step to keeping the costs down is to think creatively about where you’d like to get married. If you’re thinking about going abroad to wed, take into account travel costs and prices for accommodation before booking, especially if you want to have it during the school holidays. The safest bet would be to stay closer to home where you can easily travel to the ceremony and the reception without racking up a huge bill.
Save the date
When you’d like to get married will also play a huge part in the cost of hiring a venue. Typical wedding season runs from April to September so you may find that the price of your dream location will be significantly less outside of these peak times. Saturday is typically the most expensive day to get married, with Fridays and Sundays close behind it. If you’re not concerned about the day of the week, opt for a Monday or Tuesday to save on the pennies for exactly the same room.
Hidden costs
When booking your venue, try to ask as many questions as possible to avoid being hit with hidden costs. Ask if there are extra costs for staff hire, corkage, tables and chairs etc. If it’s a hotel, can they offer your guests a discounted rate to stay there? Is there a marquee available for hire? Also be sure to ask if the price includes VAT so you know exactly how much you’re due to pay.
Photography supplied by Paul Fletcher Photography www.paulfletcherphotography.co.uk *Study by You and Your Wedding with 2,320 respondents in June 2014
Food and drink
Plenty of large hotels can offer you room hire for fairly cheap and will also offer catering for your guests. The most low cost and accommodating option is normally to have a buffet. This will also save you from spending out on an expensive three course dinner which some guests may not even enjoy and will end up going to waste. A buffet will allow everyone to pick and choose what they like, and as much or as little as they like. Think about what your guests will drink too, don’t feel like you have to provide a free bar or wine with the meal if you can’t afford it. There are also venues that allow you to bring your own alcohol so search for these if you’d rather tell your guests to BYOB.
Make your own fun
Bands and booked entertainment can get really costly so you could try planning the entertainment yourself by teaching your guests a dance routine or if some play instruments, ask them to perform a song on the day.
Let them eat cake
When ordering the cake, don’t go overboard. Not everyone likes cake so many couples find that they have a lot leftover at the end of the day. Choosing cupcakes gives people the choice to take some home with them and are so easy to make yourself or buy from the supermarket. It’s really simple to decorate shop-bought cakes so that they still look professional, then just purchase a pretty cake stand online and add as many or as few cakes as you like.
Dress to impress
The wedding party’s outfits are often very expensive so decide early on what’s important to you. If you must get married in designer then you might find you have to compromise a little. If you would rather invite more guests and are happy with an off-the-rack dress then shop around early to get the bargains. Bear in mind you can buy beautiful secondhand wedding dresses from recent brides for up to 50% of the original price tag online.
BACKGROUND BY FREEPIK.COM
DECORATIONS you can do yourself Whether you’re trying to cut down on costs or just have a creative flair and vision, making your own decorations for your wedding can be a really affordable way to make your day something to be proud of. Before you begin buying materials and equipment, make sure you have a strong idea of what you want
the theme to be. Do plenty of research online, and in wedding magazines to get inspiration for what you’d like to create. The sort of decorations that are easy to create and still look amazing include chair backs which can be wrapped in your favourite fabric and dressed with signs and ribbon. You could also buy second hand chairs and spray paint them to look uniform and match your theme. You could
also make your own invitations, name cards and seating plans for fairly cheap if you have a decent printer or, if you’re feeling confident, handwrite them. Centre pieces can get very expensive if you’re hiring them from your florist. Fishbowls, jam jars and milk bottles are popular choices for displaying floral arrangements and can be painted or tied with ribbon and string for a look worthy of appearing on Pinterest.
TOP TRENDS 2016 This year the trends on the wedding scene are all about couples showcasing who they are. Decorations are set to express the personalities of the two getting married rather than what has been portrayed in recent celebrities’ weddings. Cake A trend that has been rising more and more over the last few years is substituting wedding cake for tiers of cheese. The ‘cheese cake’ can be made up of as many different types of cheese as you like to give as much variety as possible to the guests who don’t have a sweet tooth. Flowers For flowers this year, simplicity will rule with green and white being the key colours to focus on with small bursts of colour if the couple so wish. Aroma will also play a big part in the floral choices with many couples requesting natural scents in their arrangements including mint, basil or lavender. Transport Finally, the way people are travelling on their wedding day is changing. Gone are the days of cruising around in a limo big enough for the actual ceremony. Now couples are choosing transportation that really reflects their personality and hobbies such as campervans, motorcycles and tandem bikes.
Have Hold 2016 SURVEY
TO
AND TO
Post to: Friday-Ad Ltd London Road Sayers Common West Sussex BN6 9HS
Simply answer the questions below for the chance to win a bottle of Moet champagne
Or to enter online please visit: http://bit.ly/HaveHoldSurvey
NAME ____________________________ EMAIL ____________________________ TOWN ____________________________ PHONE ____________________________
HOW MANY GUESTS ARE YOU PLANNING ON HAVING AT YOUR WEDDING? 0-20 21-50 51-100 101-200 More than 200
WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN PLANNING YOUR WEDDING? Stag/Hen Do Venue Flowers Cake Dress Other ________________________
ARE YOU MORE LIKELY TO HAVE YOUR WEDDING: In this country Abroad FROM YOUR GUESTS WOULD YOU PREFER: Gifts Money Nothing
WHAT IS YOUR WEDDING BUDGET? £0-£4,000 £4,000-£8,000 £8,000-£12,000 £12,000-£16,000 £16,000-£22,000 More than £22,000
WOULD YOU MAKE YOUR OWN DECORATIONS TO SAVE MONEY? Yes No HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO YOU TO BE TRADITIONAL? Extremely important Important Not that important Not important at all
WOULD YOU RATHER: DJ Wedding Band Other ________________________ WOULD YOU PREFER TO SPEND MORE MONEY ON YOUR: Wedding day Honeymoon
ng s Ri
g
ca ke
ng
W
ed
di ed
di n
r he ap gr W
ot o Ph
HOW FAR WOULD YOU TRAVEL FOR THE PERFECT WEDDING DRESS? Local National International
HOW MUCH WOULD YOU SPEND ON: Less than £100 £101-£500 £501-£800 £801-£1000 More than £1000