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.

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

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

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...

• 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

For more tips and planning help book a How 2 I Do wedding planning workshop at http://www.how2ido.co.uk/

For Better or Worse - Contingency Planning

Weddings are a fun and joyous occasion so it's easy to plan for the good things that come with getting married. But what if something goes wrong just before your wedding or on the day itself? Even though it seems a bit depressing to think about, it's always a good idea to have a plan B.

For a start it you are getting married in Britain, it makes sense to have a wet weather plan. Ideally you will have all of your photos outside in bright sunshine, but if it does rain all day and let's face it with recent summers there's a good chance it could, where will you go? It's a great idea to speak to your venue and photographer in advance about wet weather plans. Scout some indoor or covered locations that you could use in the rain and make sure if you are planning an outdoor drinks reception that the venue has indoor space available too. Make sure to buy a few big golf umbrellas just in case. I've seen some great wet weather photos taken of Brides in wellies under huge brollies.

When you book suppliers, ask them what would happen if they are ill on the day. Many good photographers for example will have a network of other photographers that they would call on if they couldn't attend your day. It's a great idea to give a list of suppliers names and contact numbers to your best man or wedding coordinator on the day and then if someone doesn't turn up, they can start ringing them asap without bothering you.

It also pays to check simple details like can the stretch limo you have booked make it down the narrow one track country lane to your remote country house or can your 16th century venue support your DJ's amps and lighting rig draining all of their power without plunging the whole room into darkness.

Wedding insurance is essential and it will protect you from supplier problems and also the more unthinkable problems like having to call things off at the last minute due to ill health of the Bride, Groom or immediate family member. Apart from that the best thing is to confirm all of the details with suppliers before the wedding, make sure you have contracts with all of your suppliers and ensure that everyone know where they should be and when on the big day.

Don't let worrying about things going wrong ruin the day, especially the small stuff like your flowers matching your table diamonds, but do spend a bit of time thinking about what you would do if any or the big parts of your day like the weather, venue, cars, photographer or caterer let you down at the last minute.

Finding the perfect dress

When I got engaged I couldn't wait to go wedding dress shopping. Most women dream of the moment when they step out of the changing room in the perfect white gown. Picture the scene..you emerge from behind the elegant curtains to greet your Mother and best friends who are sat eagerly waiting for you. An awed silence transcends the room and you steal a shy glance at your Mum who is wiping away a tear, while your friends gush that your dress is "the one".

Well that's what I thought would happen, but unfortunately this never happened to me and, as far as I know, not that many of my friends have had this great thunderbolt moment. Instead I was massively confused by the fact that most wedding dresses look pretty special on and there were several I really liked. I visited four or five different wedding dress shops searching for "the one". They say most women end up buying the first dress they try on and I wonder if it's because it's the first time they have seen themselves in a wedding dress and been transported emotionally from fiancee to bride.

In the end I went for a Maggie Sottero dress because it was flattering, built on an amazing lace up corset and had enough features to make a style statement while still being feminine and bridal. It was the one for me, but still not "the one". In the end I absolutely loved my dress and I even got some tears out of my future Mother in Law when I modelled it for her in the shop.

For any of you about to begin this quest here are a few tips:

• Make appointments well in advance as most wedding dress shops are very busy, especially on Saturdays
• Take a couple of people with you who will be honest with you like you Mum, Sister of best friend
• Wear good underwear as you will need to be helped into the dresses by the shop staff
• Do your hair and makeup and try on veils and tiaras to get the whole bridal look
• Try on lots of different shapes and listen to the shop staff as some dresses will look nothing on the hanger but can be amazing on.
• If you are curvy, a dress built on a lace up corset will give you a great shape

So good luck brides in your quest for "the one". I hope that you find it and if you can find a dress you love that is also reasonably priced, then you're a better woman than me!!!

For more tips on planning your perfect wedding visit http://www.how2ido.co.uk/ to book a wedding planning workshop.

Weddings: Size matters!

When you get married it's great to share your wedding day with your friends and family, but before you casually mention your wedding to Bob from Accounts or your whole Sunday football team, it's important to think seriously about numbers.

The average UK wedding now costs in excess of £20,000 and a large proportion of that will be made up with your food and drink budget. You will need to allow approximately £50.00 per head for a day guest at your wedding. This should cover welcome drinks, food, wine, toast drinks and evening food. However, some upmarket venues may charge closer to this sum just for a three course dinner.

If you choose to invite all of your friends, everyone from work, friends from sports teams and your Parents friends you could easily reach 150 people. Before you know it that's £7500 just on food and drink alone and if your total budget is £10,000 it's not going to stretch to cover venue hire, entertainment, wedding clothing, ceremony fees, transportation, rings, accommodation and all of the other endless costs related to your wedding.

So how do you keep numbers in check? Firstly make a list of everyone you would like to invite and see what figure you reach. To have a wedding with a budget below £10000, you ideally want to keep to 50-60 day guests, with another 20 or so guests arriving for the disco.

Evening guests will only cost you the price of any evening food you arrange, normally around £10-15 per head and you can often only cater for 80% of guests for evening food as many will have eaten a big meal before they arrive.


If your list is on the larger side, you may have to be a bit ruthless to keep your budget on track. A good way to cut guests is to create some simple rules such as only inviting people that you have seen in the last year prior to getting engaged or only inviting work colleagues that you have socialised with outside of work.

Obviously family are a bit more complicated and you may need to discuss with your Parents who you need to invite. Perhaps stick to immediate family, Grandparents, Uncles and Aunts and first Cousins only. You may need to have some honest conversations with your Parents if they wish to invite twenty of their closest friends.

Another good trick is to think how you would feel if the person you are considering inviting got married and you weren't invited to their wedding. If you wouldn't be that bothered, the chances are that they won't mind not being invited to yours. What do you do if you try all of this and still have 200 people? Well you can always get married abroad and see if your Great Aunt Edna, twice removed still wants to come!

For more useful help planning your wedding, visit http://www.how2ido.co.uk/ to learn about our fun, affordable wedding planning workshops in Bristol