This blog is now based on the How 2 I Do website and is therefore no longer updated. Click here to view and enjoy the new and regularly updated blog.
Why not also visit my other blog Bristol Wedding News, which is packed full of ideas, tips and inspiration for Bristol Brides. Visit Bristol Wedding News here.
There are still lots of great articles and Wedding planning tips on here so please take a look around. Thanks for visiting.
Showing posts with label wedding Planning tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wedding Planning tips. Show all posts
Thursday, 22 December 2011
Friday, 12 August 2011
Our Great New Wedding Planning Workshops in Bristol
How 2 I Do now offer three different Wedding Workshops depending on what stage you are in with your planning and where you would like professional support and inspiration.
The How 2 Get Started Planning your Perfect Wedding Workshop is designed for those who are just taking the first steps into planning their Big Day. It covers all of the basics of where to start planning as well as fantastic inspiration for venues, Wedding planning timescales and crucial key questions to ask suppliers. Those who attend this workshop will also receive a free copy of How 2 I Do's useful new 50 page book called "The Essential Guide to Getting Married in Bristol", which is worth £10.00.
How 2 Afford your Dream Wedding is designed for those who need some practical budgeting help. It shows couples how to allocate their budget to be able to afford everything they need for their Wedding. There are also lots of money saving tips and advice and a fun exercise to knock thousands off your total budget, plus they will be sent an interactive budgeting tool, making the £20 per person fee well worth it.
Finally there's How 2 Make your Wedding Day Sparkle. Steph from How 2 I Do named it this as she says it's all to do with the little touches and behind the scenes planning that make a Wedding seem really polished and run smoothly and seamlessly. This Wedding Workshop covers Wedding Style and Themes as well as more practical areas like contingency planning and timescales for the Big day. Couples who attend this workshop will come away with an inspirational mood board, a sample table plan and a personal timetable to ensure that their Wedding runs like clockwork.
The workshops cost just £20 each per person or you can book all three for £50 per person. You can learn more about the workshops including dates and locations on the How 2 I Do Website or contact Steph by email.
The How 2 Get Started Planning your Perfect Wedding Workshop is designed for those who are just taking the first steps into planning their Big Day. It covers all of the basics of where to start planning as well as fantastic inspiration for venues, Wedding planning timescales and crucial key questions to ask suppliers. Those who attend this workshop will also receive a free copy of How 2 I Do's useful new 50 page book called "The Essential Guide to Getting Married in Bristol", which is worth £10.00.
How 2 Afford your Dream Wedding is designed for those who need some practical budgeting help. It shows couples how to allocate their budget to be able to afford everything they need for their Wedding. There are also lots of money saving tips and advice and a fun exercise to knock thousands off your total budget, plus they will be sent an interactive budgeting tool, making the £20 per person fee well worth it.
Finally there's How 2 Make your Wedding Day Sparkle. Steph from How 2 I Do named it this as she says it's all to do with the little touches and behind the scenes planning that make a Wedding seem really polished and run smoothly and seamlessly. This Wedding Workshop covers Wedding Style and Themes as well as more practical areas like contingency planning and timescales for the Big day. Couples who attend this workshop will come away with an inspirational mood board, a sample table plan and a personal timetable to ensure that their Wedding runs like clockwork.
The workshops cost just £20 each per person or you can book all three for £50 per person. You can learn more about the workshops including dates and locations on the How 2 I Do Website or contact Steph by email.
Tuesday, 21 June 2011
How Wedding Planning Workshops Can Help You
Wedding Workshops are a relatively new concept, but one that is fast growing across the UK and America. They are specifically designed to bridge the gap between the DIY Bride and the Professional Wedding Planner. Most workshops offer affordable group planning help and inspiration in a simple format that allows Brides, Grooms and anyone else involved in the planning to come along and learn all of the basics in a few hours.
I think this concept is going to grow and grow and will in a few years become second nature to newly engaged couples. Much like attending ante-natal classes to prepare for the arrival of a new baby, which allows you to learn everything in a short space of time in a supportive group environment as opposed to spending hours looking online and in endless books.
It has been estimated that planning a wedding takes 250 hours. On top of this planning a wedding requires diligent research, patience, extreme diplomacy, super organisational skills and a good understanding of finance to keep everything on track. Wedding Planning Workshops can cut down this planning time drastically because the bulk of research has been done for you and you are provided with a concise set of options.
The other key advantage of a wedding workshop is that the facilitator will share all of their skills and experience with you as well as offering tips, inspiration and tools to organise and simplify the planning process. Our How 2 I Do Wedding Planning Workshops run regularly in Bristol and show couples firstly all of the elements that go into planning a wedding and then timescales of when they need to be completed by.
We then move on to our interactive budgeting tool that shows you how to allocate out your budget to afford everything. This in combination with our money saving tips could knock thousands of a typical wedding budget and mean couples can sometimes afford their dream day with just a few simple compromises like making some elements themselves. More importantly we also tell people where not to cut their budget as some things such as photography should never be done yourself.
We also cover what to look for in a venue and key questions to ask when attending a viewing. Our planning pack provides a list of 30 great local venues in the Bristol and Somerset area. Our workshops also cover how to make your wedding really stand out by giving couples loads of options for entertainment and food and drink so they can try something other than the traditional 3 course meal and Church organist if they want a more individual approach.
Our couples also get a planning pack to take home that summarises the workshop and lists local suppliers. It can also be used to store their other planning documents. They also get a disc with the interactive planning tools to organise their budget and planning timescales. So if you want to find out more about How 2 I Do Wedding Planning Workshops then please contact me by email steph@how2ido.co.uk or give me a call on 07725 656682. Alternatively pop along to http://www.how2ido.co.uk/.
Steph
I think this concept is going to grow and grow and will in a few years become second nature to newly engaged couples. Much like attending ante-natal classes to prepare for the arrival of a new baby, which allows you to learn everything in a short space of time in a supportive group environment as opposed to spending hours looking online and in endless books.
It has been estimated that planning a wedding takes 250 hours. On top of this planning a wedding requires diligent research, patience, extreme diplomacy, super organisational skills and a good understanding of finance to keep everything on track. Wedding Planning Workshops can cut down this planning time drastically because the bulk of research has been done for you and you are provided with a concise set of options.
The other key advantage of a wedding workshop is that the facilitator will share all of their skills and experience with you as well as offering tips, inspiration and tools to organise and simplify the planning process. Our How 2 I Do Wedding Planning Workshops run regularly in Bristol and show couples firstly all of the elements that go into planning a wedding and then timescales of when they need to be completed by.
We then move on to our interactive budgeting tool that shows you how to allocate out your budget to afford everything. This in combination with our money saving tips could knock thousands of a typical wedding budget and mean couples can sometimes afford their dream day with just a few simple compromises like making some elements themselves. More importantly we also tell people where not to cut their budget as some things such as photography should never be done yourself.
We also cover what to look for in a venue and key questions to ask when attending a viewing. Our planning pack provides a list of 30 great local venues in the Bristol and Somerset area. Our workshops also cover how to make your wedding really stand out by giving couples loads of options for entertainment and food and drink so they can try something other than the traditional 3 course meal and Church organist if they want a more individual approach.
Our couples also get a planning pack to take home that summarises the workshop and lists local suppliers. It can also be used to store their other planning documents. They also get a disc with the interactive planning tools to organise their budget and planning timescales. So if you want to find out more about How 2 I Do Wedding Planning Workshops then please contact me by email steph@how2ido.co.uk or give me a call on 07725 656682. Alternatively pop along to http://www.how2ido.co.uk/.
Steph
Thursday, 2 June 2011
How to have Happy Bridesmaids
Bridesmaids are a big part of your Big Day. You probably have selected your closest friends or Sister or like me had some hard decisions to make about who your Bridesmaids are if you have an extended group of friends from childhood and University as well as family to consider. Unfortunately my budget didn't stretch to the full 11 adult bridesmaids so I opted for family and one friend who I had lived with through University and up until we both moved in with our then Boyfriends and now Husbands.
Picking your Bridesmaids can be tricky but picking their dresses can be trickier still. Adult Bridesmaids will probably set you back about £200 to £250.00 each by the time you have bought a dress, shoes, a gift and a bouquet and that doesn't even cover any hair and make up. Of course you can do it a lot cheaper if you can find dresses on the high street or in sales. Great High Street options are Monsoon or Coast, which both have regular sales. This dove grey Kipp Dress from Monsoon is £110.00 from www.monsoon.co.uk and is very elegant with it's soft draping and embellished neck and waist.
With adult Bridesmaids it's nice to have a consistent theme or colour but to allow them to express some individuality. Also it's essential to consider that Bridesmaids come in different shapes and sizes and some may not feel comfortable in short, strapless or low cut. One great idea I have seen recently is an innovative design from Two Maids that means that all of your Bridesmaids can have the same dress but wear it in 15 totally different ways from strapless, backless, halter, cap sleeves or one shoulder.
These dresses can be bought in Bristol from the Mews, Clifton www.themewsclifton.co.uk. You can also buy a matching bandeau to go underneath for a more modest look, which is great for curvier girls. They even work on pregnant Bridesmaids too thanks to their flowing silk jersey design. They also make ties to match all of the colours for a complete look for the guys too. The Photos below courtesy of Two Birds at the Mews Clifton, show the full length dress with two of the 15 options.
If you are having little Bridesmaids Monsoon Girl has some lovely dresses like this Audrey Butterfly one for £46.00 show below. For Brides on a tighter budget it's worth checking out BHS for a range of coordinating dresses and little waistcoats and cravats for any page boys.
As it's the tradition in the UK that Bridesmaids don't pay for their dresses but get to keep them it's well worth getting them something that they will wear again.
Monday, 21 March 2011
Where to Start Planning your Day
So you're engaged...Congratulations! I bet you can't wait to start all the fun stuff like looking at dresses and venues, but hang on there a moment because there's a few things you should do first if you want everything to go to plan.
The first thing you need to do is think about roughly when you want to get married and decide whether it's in 6 months or 6 years and whether it's in Summer, Winter, Spring or Autumn. Next you need to make a list of everyone you would ideally like to invite and get a ballpark figure as planning a wedding for 50 people is a very different matter to one for 150.
So, you've decided to get married in May next year and invite about 60 guests. What comes next? You really need to pin down your budget at this point as this will dictate all of your planning. To do this you need to look at funding options from savings to loans and help from families. Try not to overstretch yourselves as you may have the day of your dreams, but you really don't want to still be paying for it when you have been married a few years and need to save for other big purchases like buying a house or kitting out a nursery.
Once you have a budget figure you can work out what you can afford for your venue as this and your food will be your largest areas of spending. You can find venues online, in wedding magazines and from recommendations from friends. Make a shortlist and visit three or four before committing to your final choice. Make sure to take a list of questions to ask the venue and don't be afraid to haggle over prices.
If you have a tight budget there's loads of areas where you can reduce your spending and our How 2 I Do wedding planning workshops are full of tips and ideas to keep your budget on track. Here's a few we've decided to share with you, because we're nice like that...
The first thing you need to do is think about roughly when you want to get married and decide whether it's in 6 months or 6 years and whether it's in Summer, Winter, Spring or Autumn. Next you need to make a list of everyone you would ideally like to invite and get a ballpark figure as planning a wedding for 50 people is a very different matter to one for 150.
So, you've decided to get married in May next year and invite about 60 guests. What comes next? You really need to pin down your budget at this point as this will dictate all of your planning. To do this you need to look at funding options from savings to loans and help from families. Try not to overstretch yourselves as you may have the day of your dreams, but you really don't want to still be paying for it when you have been married a few years and need to save for other big purchases like buying a house or kitting out a nursery.
Once you have a budget figure you can work out what you can afford for your venue as this and your food will be your largest areas of spending. You can find venues online, in wedding magazines and from recommendations from friends. Make a shortlist and visit three or four before committing to your final choice. Make sure to take a list of questions to ask the venue and don't be afraid to haggle over prices.
If you have a tight budget there's loads of areas where you can reduce your spending and our How 2 I Do wedding planning workshops are full of tips and ideas to keep your budget on track. Here's a few we've decided to share with you, because we're nice like that...
- Ask your guests to donate towards your honeymoon for your wedding gift
- Instead of a toastmaster ask your Best Man or venue Wedding Coordinator to make announcements
- Ask your married friends to lend you a veil as your something borrowed as they can cost hundreds to buy and you will only wear it for a few hours
- Use flowers that are in season or grown your own to keep costs down
- Use film students via http://www.schoolyweds.com/ to film your wedding video and you'll get future talent at affordable prices
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