How to Plan a Wedding Your Guests Will Love

When you get engaged it is really easy to become engrossed in the planning process and want your Wedding to be a reflection of your personal wishes and desires. I hear lots of Brides say "It's my day and I don't care what anyone else wants". I was probably like that myself when I got married almost 3 years ago but what I really tried to do was make it a reflection of us but also think about my guests.

If you really think about what you want your wedding to be, you want to include all your own individual touches but you also want your guests to have a great time and really enjoy the day as that will create the great atmosphere that will make your day a success.

When I say think about your guests I don't mean do everything your Mother in Law wants or try to accommodate your Great Aunt who wants you to wear her own wedding dress, but think about the whole wedding experience from your guests perspective. Try to visualise the day as someone who has come to your wedding from a long way away and doesn't know the area or many people.

Start with the venue. Is it easy to find and accessible for all guests including any elderly guests or small children? Our venue was quite remote and had a very steep walk up from the car park so we created a wedding website with loads of information for guests. We included all local hotels with how much they cost and the distance from the venue. We also drove the routes and wrote detailed directions from each hotel.

On our website we put a note about the steep hill so people could be dropped off if they were wearing high shoes or had trouble walking. We also mentioned that there was open water so guests with children could keep an extra eye on them. Providing this sort of thoughtful information can really make your guests feel welcome. Also think about facilities for your guests like toilets and somewhere to get a drink if they have travelled on the day.

Our website also included a run down of the timings so people knew what would happen and when as well as information on the venue, food and things to do in the local area. We even added taxi numbers and car rental places as some of the guests flew down from Scotland.

It's also important to make sure that your guests are entertained while you have your photos, so we had a harpist and lots of food and drinks. Another nice touch was a basket in the ladies loo with things like deodorant, wipes, sun cream, safety pins and blister plasters and these were really popular.

I have also been to weddings as an evening guest and felt like a real spare part. Make sure that you value your evening guests and be there to greet them when they arrive to make them feel part of the wedding. Ensure there is enough space for everyone in the evening too as too often tables are removed and there is no-where for new arrivals to sit. With your evening entertainment try to have something to appeal to all ages and don't skimp on this area. You want your guests to not want to leave, not try to leave at 9pm because they're bored or feel ignored.

Here's some tips on how to keep your guests happy...

• Provide lots of information for your guests on hotels, travel and directions
• Make sure there's not too much waiting around for guests or boring lulls with no entertainment
• Provide thoughtful touches for your guests like personalised favours and complimentary toiletries in the loos
• Make sure the evening guests feel welcome and involved and not ignored
• Make sure there is enough seating for the ceremony and for extra people in the evening
• Get all of your guests together for informal drinks the night before so people get to know each other before the Wedding
• Ensure there is somewhere dry for guests to wait on a wet day
• Provide large umbrellas if it is likely to rain
• Make sure the food and entertainment will appeal to all ages, religions and tastes
• Keep the speeches appropriate for older guests and children
• If you have a lot of children, provide goody bags or childcare if the budget allows to keep them all entertained and allow the parents to relax

I hope that this was useful, for more planning help visit us at www.how2ido.co.uk