Win a Fabulous Wedding Prize

If you’re getting Married I'm sure you have been spending lots of money on things for your Big Day. Well finally here’s your chance to get something exciting for your wedding totally free and with very little effort involved. Read on to find out how to win one of our great Wedding related Prizes from How 2 I Do. 

This great promotion begins at 9am on Friday 1st July, 2011 

Entering couldn’t be simpler. All you you need to do is first “Like” our How 2 I Do Facebook page (if you already like it then it's even simpler) and then just write a brief message on our wall. You can find Our Facebook Page here.

Your message must begin with the words “I love How 2 I Do because…” so that we know it’s a competition entry and then simply add your own brief personal message afterwards. You can write whatever you like. Perhaps tell us how we can help you plan your Big Day or why you deserve a fabulous Wedding freebie.

For example “I love How 2 I Do because they make wedding planning easy and stress free”

Anyone who completes this task between 9am on the 1^st July and 5pm on Friday 16th July will be in with a chance to win one of these amazing prizes, which will be allocated throughout this period at random. Only one entry per person is permitted, but a couple can each enter separately, so get your Grooms involved too to double your chances.

The 10 amazing Prizes on offer, which are worth over £400 are…

One How 2 I Do Gift Voucher for 2 Wedding Planning Workshop Places worth £60.00 (to be used on any Bristol How 2 I Do Workshop – subject to availability)

Three How 2 I Do Workshop places for our Sunday 31^st July Bristol Workshop, each for 2 people worth £60.00 per couple. This Wedding Planning Workshop is at the Avon Gorge Hotel in Clifton, Bristol from 1:30pm to 4:30pm

One stunning Swarovski crystal and faux pearl tiara from www.PrincessBridetiaras.com worth £50.00

Two interactive wedding planning tool discs worth £10.00 each, shown here as part of our Planning Pack (the full pack is not included in this promotion, but is provided as part of the workshop). The discs include our budget allocation and monitoring tool and our planning timescale tools.

Three Free Wedding Photo Sharing Accounts with Share My Wedding worth £12.50 each to allow all of your wedding guests to upload their photos for you to view. Read more about Share My Wedding here.

Please note that there is no cash alternative to these prizes. This promotion ends on the 16th July 2011. You can Learn more about the Workshop and Planning Tool Prizes at our How 2 I Do website.

So make your way over to our Facebook page now, click on “Like” and write your message. We’ll post a comment under any winning messages telling you which prize you have won. If you have won something, just email us with your contact details and we'll send you your prize.

Good luck from How 2 I Do - See you on our Facebook page

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/