10 Things I have Discovered While Planning Our Wedding

Hello There,

Well today we hit the 13 months away mark for our wedding, so while being at work I began feeling reflective and desperately trying to take my mind away from the house, still await the survey results grrrr. Before I began to plan our wedding I believe I was living in ignorance bliss, but even if I watch Don't Tell The Bride I get so nervous for the brides, even shed a tear! So I decided to put a list together of things I have discovered/learnt.....Here we go...

1. It's Your Day! LIES! BIG FAT LIES!

Anyone who says this phrase to you is lying through their teeth, it's the biggest contradiction I keep hearing again and again, EVERYONE has an opinion.

2. Everyone Has An Opinion

No matter who they are, they will tell you what would be good! I love my family dearly, but everyone and I mean everyone has something to say about what your doing, how it should be and what they think you should have! Their opinion MUST be considered. And before you ask 1 is different from 2, because with 2 if their paying you have to bow down to their request. This applies to my fiancee, I wanted a full band diamond wedding ring, i'm getting a half :-(

3. Family Involvement!

They might not be paying a penny to the wedding but they WILL make you feel bad in not giving them what they want and you WILL feel guilty that them purely attending is going to cost them money. Resulting in tears and arguments.

4. The Tears and Arguments!

You can never be prepared for this rollar coaster! Everyone in your wedding party will be subjected to this and if you haven't, your next!

5. Being Emotional Crushed!

I was even more unprepared for this......Last night I accidentally cut an invitation!!!! I'm FINE - but I just can't talk about it...............

6. Making It Yourself!

This is a wonderful process but so time consuming and emotional, yet soul crushing at the same time, especially when it goes horribly wrong.

7. Your Family Must Secretly Hate You!

Why is it the moment you plan a wedding your family gets even stranger! I swear every time I visit or talk to someone I get, I'm not talking to them, Don't sit them near me, I'm not having my photograph taken with them, just to list a few of many! Is it too much for world peace for one day? For us? Our families are going to clash, no matter what due to different backgrounds, so it could go either way....everything will be magically fine or arguments and amazement if no one gets kicked out. Might replace my dad's suit with a ref's outfit.

8. Everyone Has An Uncle K**b Head or 5!

The guest list, my god! Inviting people you are embarrassed by or just don't want near you, well tough because you can't invite them with out them, and they won't come if there not coming........ This discovery is supported by point 1 and 2. I have no comment.

9. Diet! HA!

Everyone at work keeps hearing me say ooohhh I need to diet before the wedding, well HAHAHAHAHAHA! Yeah no one who has actually said the words I need to loose a bit of weight before the wedding has generally began or attempted. I've given myself 6 months before the wedding as my diet cut off and lets face it, it's only half a stone. No motivation here, too much cake and meals to enjoy!!!!

10. On The Verge!!

Pretty much when I discuss or plan the wedding i'm dancing on that fine line of a mental/emotional break down or becoming Bridezilla. This is mostly tested when trying to arrange everyone getting together.

So how do you feel about my list? Do you agree with me? Should I employee Rhod Gilbert as my wedding planner?

I'll review this in a couple months time and see how I am feeling at that stage.

BYE
XxXx 

Is A Wedding Planner A Must?

My inspiration for my FIRST blog comes from a conversation Mike and Myself had after watching BBC 2 Rhod Gilbert Work Experience. I know your thinking what does Rhod Gilbert the comedian and weddings have in common? A man who publicly declared hates weddings, well whether he likes them or not in this episode he was a Wedding Planner, and as funny as it was, it made us ask do you need one? We are getting married in 14 months time and due to the expense we began planning and paying the beginning of this year.  

Courtesy of BBC

I became my own Wedding Planner! Who could plan our wedding better than me? Right? The best part I have done it for free, with simple tips as in, attend a free Bridal Fayre you get a free Bridal Magazine (usually £3.99) which had budget information in it and there is loads of websites that offer this for free, especially www.confetti.co.uk! Add the power of the internet, a phone and Excel Spreadsheet you can handle your own budget and keep an eye on it, even alter it if you need to! For the majority of the wedding we looked at online before visiting. For example nearly all receptions have online brochures in pdf files to look at. Also depending where you book you get a Wedding Planner for the day! So do you need to pay for 2?

But something Rhod said really got me thinking; "Blokes don't dream of their weddings from five years old. Blokes don't give a t***." My Fiancee is quite involved in our wedding but the bigger picture is me and my mum, especially with the little details.

 Now i'm not declaring war on Wedding Planners, but are they a wedding staple for everyone? But for us our budget is everything! With the average wedding costing £15,000 were lucky we have £12,000, but a Wedding Planner is extra cost! Can you afford the extra cost? Are you organised enough with plenty of time to do it yourself?

Smaller companies generally charge between 11-15% with bigger companies hitting 20%. Putting it in context, if we did have one we would loose £1,800 (15%) or £2,400 (20%) out of our budget. The company Rhod used 'Oh So Perfect Weddings' charge from £1,200, but offer a variety of services at different cost.

I guess if I was someone like Angelina Jolie, a Wedding Planner would be a must, but wedding companies would be offering her their services for advertisements and royalties.and I guess budget wouldn't be a topic" But I am a mere girl from Stoke who is finding reasonable costs!

As for Rhod: "I definitely 100% do not think I had a knack for Wedding Planning, so I don't know about the future if Give A S*** Weddings." But my question is how much did he and the BBC get for free?

But what do you think? To have a Wedding Planner or not?