Choosing Suppliers and Making Your Wedding Day Special

This arti­cle fol­lows on from New Year, New Wed­ding Plan!

Well you have set the date and bud­get; cho­sen the venue, thought about the guest list and agreed your pri­or­i­ties! You are now in a posi­tion to think about the per­sonal details of your wed­ding day, think about the wed­ding party and look for the main wed­ding suppliers.

This is a very impor­tant part of the wed­ding plan­ning process. You need to be sure you choose the right sup­pli­ers and peo­ple to help to pro­vide you with exactly what you need to make your wed­ding day vision become a real­ity. Split this up into bite sized chunks and keep it sim­ple, so let’s look at: -

• Which sup­pli­ers do I need?
• Who should I book first?
• What to think about when choos­ing them?
• How to find them and mak­ing a short-list?
• Man­ag­ing Sup­pli­ers.
• Putting Your Stamp on your Day.
• Choos­ing the Wed­ding Party.

Let’s start with a List of the Main Sup­pli­ers you may need:

• Pho­tog­ra­pher
• Video­g­ra­pher
• Florist
• Enter­tain­ment
• Cake Maker
• Hairdresser/makeup artist
• Caterer
• Trans­port
• Sta­tioner
• Bridal shop/Dress/Attire

Who should I book first?

We rec­om­mend that you set your pri­or­i­ties and decide on what you and fiancé really want on your wed­ding day. For instance this may include the Pho­tog­ra­pher, Enter­tain­ment, Caterer and the Dress. Look­ing for these sup­pli­ers first will mean that you have ful­filled your pri­or­i­ties. It will also stop you from being over­whelmed with a huge list and not know­ing where to start.

We rec­om­mend that you book a pho­tog­ra­pher early; they tend to get booked some­times a year in advance. Florists also get very busy as well as pop­u­lar entertainers. 

Choos­ing your dress should be done as early as pos­si­ble, if you have time, at least six months prior to the wed­ding day. This will allow for deliv­ery and fit­tings. The style will deter­mine your flower choices and prob­a­bly your décor and wed­ding theme.

Where Do I find Suppliers?

You can find sup­pli­ers through word of mouth, local wed­ding fairs, bridal mag­a­zines, venue rec­om­men­da­tion lists, blogs, twit­ter and online wed­ding direc­to­ries, and of course sites like this one!

Take your time and don’t rush, do your research then short list to two or three. See­ing too many is con­fus­ing and very time con­sum­ing. Ensure you meet the sup­plier in per­son. Don’t rely on their web­site as the only guide. Ask to see tes­ti­mo­ni­als or speak to past clients. Before sign­ing any con­tracts make sure you know exactly what is on offer, and you under­stand their terms and conditions.

Man­ag­ing Your Suppliers:

Set up a spread­sheet which lists all sup­pli­ers. Check when they need deposits and bal­ances paid. This will ensure you don’t miss pay­ments and keep track of your out­stand­ing balances.

Make a list of their details, phone num­bers, web­sites, and their con­tact names. Then if you need to change any­thing or query some­thing you have the infor­ma­tion at hand.

Putting Your Stamp on your Day:

Your wed­ding plan­ning is in full swing but there are a few more very impor­tant details to con­sider. How do you put your own stamp on your wed­ding day so that it truly reflects you as a couple?

A good place is to think about the two of you, your hob­bies, inter­ests, even when and where you met can inspire you. You can bet you will come up with a list over a bot­tle of wine and some well-earned time with each other.

Do you love trav­el­ling? Are the places you vis­ited impor­tant to you? Maybe you can use those for your table names and per­haps give guests lug­gage labels as favours or as place names. Once you start to think of what you two are really about the ideas will soon evolve.

Involve your friends and fam­ily, if your brides­maid is a fan­tas­tic cake maker or incred­i­bly arty maybe they can help make your sta­tionery or a fab­u­lous cake. Once you have your per­sonal details in mind you can then think about the lit­tle ways to use them through­out the day. This site is great for inspi­ra­tion browse and enjoy.

“It’s not about spend­ing lots of money on things such as favours or expen­sive items you don’t need. It’s about really show­ing the world why you and your fiancé want to spend your lives together”

The Wed­ding Party– Brides­maids, Ush­ers, Best Man:

At this point we should talk about your wed­ding party. Who you ask to help you with the wed­ding makes a big dif­fer­ence to the way you feel at the end of your plan­ning jour­ney, so choose care­fully. You don’t want to be com­pletely tired and stressed out on your wed­ding day.

Choose peo­ple who will keep you calm and are sup­port­ive; it also helps if they are good at organ­is­ing. Involv­ing your best friends and fam­ily is really spe­cial and makes your wed­ding that much more per­sonal. Every­one you care about can feel part of your day.

Please remem­ber, wed­ding plan­ning can be very stress­ful, ask for help if you need it. Look at employ­ing a wed­ding plan­ner, they can be an extra pair of hands to free you up so you can con­cen­trate on the things you like doing. Happy plan­ning and don’t for­get to stick to the rules!

The Rules!

• Remem­ber stick to your pri­or­i­ties and bud­get.
• Keep things sim­ple.
• Break plan­ning into bite-sized chunks.
• Sur­round your­self with sup­port­ive people.

Have a bril­liant wed­ding day!!

Huge thanks again to Julie from The Wed­ding Genie for this really help­ful arti­cle. Julie is a fab­u­lous source of infor­ma­tion for all things wed­ding, and her own web­site and blog are highly rec­om­mended whether you’re look­ing for advice about plan­ning a wed­ding, or more infor­ma­tion on wed­ding plan­ning ser­vices.

For more great wed­ding advice, please read Julie’s wed­ding plan­ning blog, sub­scribe to her newslet­ter or fol­low her on Twit­ter! 

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