Honeymoons, gift lists and...brie?!

Hello.

Hello.

Happy 2024.

It's 2024, another episode of Let's Get You Wed, the

Yes. The first one of the year. No, it's not the first one of the year.

well, we

Yes,

special, so hopefully

we did.

those. Got some

Yes. This is our first recording of 2024. So yeah. Exciting stuff. Should we get started?

let's do it.

Hi, I am Hannah.

I'm Haley.

We're your wedding planning experts.

Here to spill the tea on the inside of wedding planning and everything that goes with it,

Expect our honest opinions, the real juice on what happens on a wedding day,

a few tips thrown in between.

and also just to chat between friends.

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And let's get you it. Woo. Fab. I wonder how many of you guys listed are getting married this

this

year? Dun dun.

It's your year.

It's your year.

It's your year.

I'm not gonna lie, that final week, I don't know about you, 2024 couples out there, but when I was like, Hmm, we're like a couple of days away now from it being 2024, I did start to worry a little bit

Panic

Just literally, it's like the stress of like, and even though I've sat there and I've gone because, so as of today, as I've recording. In four months time, I'll be traveling to Wales to get married.

That's crazy.

And even though, you know what I, I mean the way I'm kind of planning mine, same way as I do with all my couples, you know, I've got my to-do list and each month it's got like, so I've basically written everything down that I possibly need to do. Up until the day and I've split it into months. Yeah. And then I can tick it off and I'm all up to date with it. And you know, it is, there's not, it's not like I'm like, oh my God, I really need to do this, or I really need to do that.

It's just

No. But I still

volume

felt,

that you need to do kind of

yeah.

Yeah.

I think it's just the fact that it's. Coming round so quickly. I dunno. I dunno what it is. I, I can't put my finger on it, but it's just this feeling. When I think about the wedding, I'm like, but I don't really know why. Yeah, maybe.

you spend so long, like organizing it all and planning things, and then all of a sudden it's like, oh my God, it's coming round so quick. And I think it's the fear almost of like that being over as well, you know,

Yeah, a hundred percent. And I also think it is just like that pressure of thinking, like, have you think, especially. Because of my job.

Yeah.

I'm like, if I miss something or if I do something wrong, or if I like, do you know what I mean? It's that whole, yeah, it, it is. It's gonna just make me look really bad.

No, not at

people are like, she's a wedding planner and she couldn't even plan a wedding

How.

I think especially, I obviously I had such a busy summer last year that I did kind of leave things a little bit like for me, you know, my, I have. I, I do prioritize my, my business and my couples weddings. So I did kind of leave mine on the back burner. It's, it's not even necessarily about prioritizing. It's like, you know, when I'm working all day doing weddings, I don't wanna then after work be picking up.

doing your

Stuff for myself. Yeah. But I have actually like put into my working hours, like a couple of hours each week for my own wedding. I'm almost kind of treating it now, like it's, yeah. One of my couple's weddings because I thought, yeah, I don't wanna sit there after work and then be planning my own wedding. 'cause I'm like, Ugh, don't wanna think about it.

that you don't wanna be like leaving on, not that you would, but you know what I mean? Like last minute things

Exactly.

couple of weeks before and you're like, oh my God,

Yeah.

this and like that stress. Like I remember I had like, I think everybody does the, especially the two weeks before you get married, there's this list of things that you've forgotten

Mm-Hmm,

you haven't considered and it's just stressful. I found the last week really stressful

Yeah, I remember that. And, and you suddenly started changing your mind on a few things as well, didn't you? A couple of weeks before and you started second guessing it. I remember a couple of things that you were like, maybe I need this.

Yeah.

I was just like, you don't need it, but.

Oh my gosh. Remember the port, the port loo,

That's exactly what I was thinking about,

Oh my

honestly.

I've gotta tell the story. So basically

You do

wanted the where we were getting married was you had to go through where our wedding breakfast was in like to, to get to the. where

for the drink resection. Yeah.

Anyone going into that room when it, 'cause during the ceremony they were gonna set up the room. So

Mm.

when they walked through to go to the ceremony, it was just a room. So afterwards I wanted everyone to stay outside, go down the lawns, have drinks, not come back through. But the toilets were through there and I was like, I really don't want people seeing it before it's done. So I was like, I'm gonna hire.

Literally, she was like, no, well, nobody's going in. And, and, and her husband to be was a bit like, what about if anybody needs the toilet, Hailey? And she was like, well, they're not, they're not gonna be, they're not allowed to go in the toilet.

I don't care about people's welfare,

Do you know what I. So what we did on the day was we, we laid the tables, but we didn't put any of the flowers on. So you could kind of, and, and there was a couple other bits we didn't put on. So you kind of didn't get the full gist of the setup until you went into the wedding breakfast. But I can't remember if anybody actually kept, 'cause we obviously didn't do the Porto because that's ridiculous. But,

I think again, one of the builders like portal, he's like.

oh God I don't think anyone went through for the toilet. I can't remember.

so my sister-in-Law's, obviously they had a little five month old at the time, so our nephew. And so they went in and they, I think they ended up going in the room where Izzy was like preparing the

Yeah.

tables and

Yeah.

in there and couldn't come out because they were like, they

Ah,

can't come out. And they were, we need to leave.

Well, you can't come in the room.

She.

That was probably me. You're not allowed. You'll have to stay in there

Yeah, so that's funny.

What the bride wants. The bride gets.

to like

Yeah.

your like aesthetics is crazy. I went a.

I'm kind of hoping I don't get that last minute panic though, because you know, I feel like a lot of things crop up those last couple of weeks. Especially if you're planning a wedding yourself because you don't think about it and people say, oh, are you doing this or are you doing that? And then, or you see something on TikTok and you're like, I haven't done that. I wanna do that.

be more levelheaded because you

Yeah, I think it's just, if I, yeah, and I think it was the same with you. You hadn't forgotten anything because you were working with me,

Yeah.

it you, it was more that you'd suddenly like change your mind, like, I need this toilet. And we were like, no, it is fine.

just remember the looks in the room as I dead serious, and I was like, why is no one taking me seriously? This is a serious, serious

This serious and suddenly you were like worrying about like how the tables are gonna look and you wanted to add the glasses and which we'd done quotes on, but you were like, but you'd made decision. No. And then you changed. Yeah. And then you changed your mind. You had them.

that was a good, that was a good shout

That was a good move.

look

Yeah.

I'm not

Yeah.

Love a

But yeah, so it was more that I feel like maybe I have those last couple of weeks freakouts. I dunno. But I'm just gonna have to call you and you're just gonna have to do a me and just talk you down.

Calm you down. Don't

Hannah. You don't need the portal.

You don't need the, actually, you do need the,

I do need Lus. Yeah, Which I still haven't hired. That's the last thing that I need to book is my toilets.

no,

Oh, that's another story. But how's your week been anyway? Obviously it's been Christmas.

I know

We've not had a lot going on, really. You know,

not working much really, to be honest. Just eating chocolate and, you

fair play.

year where there's like so much food in the. Cupboard, like you've got

Yeah.

but then it's like actually nothing to eat. You know what I mean?

Yeah. You're like, how do I make a meal?

It's like, Hmm, what have I got? Some dairy milk, tray and Bria

Some crisps, some pate.

I can't eat. Patty

Oh yeah. What the hell? Ridiculous.

I didn't realize. This is funny as well, So I've beening down on the.

Showering down. Are you not? I'm sorry, but was this a thing like 50 years ago? Probably like when our parents had us, they were probably, and Brie.

probably were basically brought, you know, brought into this world via brie, you know, love cheese,

Yeah, I don't, I don't I just don't, I also think there's a lot of things, so I sometimes speak to the chefs about this 'cause we sometimes get that as a dietary, like, oh, they're pregnant and if they've got pate or parfait or something. So I'll go to the chef and they're like, no, it's fine. 'cause it's made with un pasteurized milk. And I think a lot of cheese now is probably made of unpasteurized milk. I might be speaking completely wrong here, but.

isn't it? The other way

Or the other way round.

I

Yeah,

I might be wrong. I mean, how

I don't know,

been eating stuff I shouldn't be for like nine

but, but I feel like a lot of the cheeses now, especially that you're buying from supermarkets, are made from the milk that you can have when you're pregnant. So whichever those

with you, if I, I've been eating it and I've been fine, I've not that I would, you know, I don't condone this.

she didn't get drunk people.

But it's funny 'cause someone offered me like smoked salmon, which is basically raw fish. And then when I was eating the Bri, they were like, don't eat the Bria. I was like, but you offered me raw salmon

Yeah.

Anyway. Yeah,

Oh dear.

spent, you know, Christmas eating and chilling

Eat and Brie.

Have been Back to work a bit this week, well, sort of, kind of winding down now, but had a consultation with a couple about their wedding in August, which was really nice. So,

Nice.

It was just nice to get back into like, the swing of like consultations and like

Yeah.

and things like that because I, I really do enjoy it. It's, it's nice like seeing them hearing about the couple's vision and what they

Yes.

and kind of like putting it all together and,

Yeah. Nice.

that. So that was nice. But yeah, and just kind of things down really

Yeah.

arrival

for the baby

baby, which is mental. It's come around so quick and

Yeah, I bet.

yeah,

I bet.

hopefully the breeze not, you know, affected me too much.

We were just talking before we started recording her about Hayley's. Just posted a picture of the bump and she is,

I am big now.

no offense, just the bump, obviously not you in general.

If anything, it makes the rest of me look slim. So you know, just this great big bump, but the rest of me is wasted away.

Brilliant. Love that.

Oh

love that.

Yeah. So, yeah, I went to meet this couple and obviously I hadn't really sort of mentioned that I was pregnant because I'm taking a couple of months

Yeah, you kind of don't wanna panic people, do you?

This is the thing I've struggled with. I haven't

Yeah.

anywhere. Obviously we talk about it on here, but I haven't like really gone anywhere online. I'm like, I wouldn't put it on my business page or anything. Be

Yeah,

the way I'm, because I'm literally taking like two, a couple of months off. And then obviously I'll be on emails in admin. But actual wedding

yeah.

I've got some in April, so I am kind of

Yeah.

back to it.

I think it's because it's just such a, a norm for like people who work, you know, who are employed, that they go off on nine to 12 months maternity leave. I think that's so normal that people instantly think that's what we do, but we can't do that because maternity. Isn't a thing in the self-employed world.

Yeah.

A good, you know, a long time afterwards,

It is

so Yeah.

honestly, of like, sort of like not being there, not being relevant and being forgotten about. Although

Yes.

think it's, there's kind of two sides to me because I've got like the side of me that's like, that wants to like push my business and be successful. But then I've also decided to start a family and this

yeah,

time in my

yeah,

with, you know, to start a family.

yeah.

that's gonna have to be my priority for a

A hundred percent.

while I,

And at the end of the day, your baby's only gonna be that age. They're never gonna be that age again, are they? Do you know what I mean? So you've gotta focus on that. This is,

decide what you are

yeah, so true. People keep saying that to me as well about my wedding. They're like, you need to not be taking on too much work around your wedding. And at the end of the day

get back at the end

Exactly. It's never gonna do it again. Well, you hope

Yeah. Well, you never know. not obviously

hopefully not. Hopefully not.

you know, how was your week?

yeAh, it's good. I mean, I've been away. I literally came back yesterday. I've been away all over

Looked amazing. So jealous

Thank you so much. Obviously had my kind of bit of a freak out. But one thing I did do is I booked my honeymoon while I was away, which I'm very happy about. Very excited. it Was a little bit of a, a last minute stress because I basically, we were waiting for British Airways to open the flights up. Now, top tip for anyone that is, you know, looking to book their honeymoon. So what we did was We actually got, which I don't condone credit, we've talked about this before but we got an Amex card.

of

So we needed to go like we literally wanna go basically straight after the wedding.

Yeah.

So yeah, so it was kind of a little bit of a stress 'cause we couldn't get the flights and I was like, oh, but that's where I wanted to go. And then also I'd started looking into it a little bit more recently and the weather, it is there. Rainy season, I was like, ah, I'll be fine. But actually. I, I dunno, like it's just gonna be, it's very hit and miss. They basically said to me like, it, it's so hit and miss. Like it might be great. Whether it might not, it's the start of the rainy season.

really, and that's a really interesting place to go actually. feel

Do you think? Yeah.

I feel like you, you know, you ask people where you're going in honeymoon, generally it's

Yeah.

it's all

Yeah,

I mean? Like Baha, but somewhere like that. But actually cost Eureka's really cool. It's just really

well we, the thing is we are just not beach people. I could not think of anything worse than sitting on a beach for two weeks. So the Maldives is just, just out for me. Also, I hate,

somebody

I, yeah, literally. Also, I hate the sea. Like I have a real fear of the sea. So like. That's just not gonna happen. So the only thing is right, so we've put these flights, which by the way, so yeah, top tip. Go and get one of these cards because we got business cards, flights return for 900 pounds.

That's really

So good. Isn't there?

from Or

Gatwick Keith, I don't, I don't really know someone,

in

an AirPod. That's, that's my other half deals are that kind of stuff, but I'm now having to book, so we are just not like, we are not like all inclusive kind of people. Do you know what I mean? So we are flying into San Jose and then we are, I'm trying to work out a route at the minute, but I wanna go to a few different places. So I'm basically gonna book like hotels, Airbnbs kind of a mix. So. At the minute, literally all I'm doing is sitting on my phone, like looking at hotels, looking at

That's exciting though. I love that.

It's, but I just wanna get it done Hailey.

Wanna get it

I just wanna get it signed, sealed, delivered yet. Lovely.

the

get on that plane. Yeah, yeah, that's very true. But there's so much cool stuff to do that I am really excited, but

travel around while you're there. You won't stay

Yes, we're gonna hire a car.

yeah.

Yeah. And then because from the airport, like the main kind of area is about two hour drive anyway, then there's another area. Have you ever heard of like the bioluminescence water?

Yes,

C. Yeah. So we're gonna go and do that, but that's at a different point.

Ah,

And then there's some volcanoes, so we wanna go to that. And then there's like the cloud forest. So we wanna go to that. So we wanted to do a few different things. So we are just gonna get a car and do a few different things, and then we can like. We're going 15 nights, just we were, we booked to on the Tuesday. We get there the Tuesday.

Yeah,

I,

absolutely.

didn't, I didn't even thought, and, and actually now I thought about it, I probably maybe would've gone down. I know some honeymoon planners, but I was like, nah, it's fine. I'll do it myself. And now I'm like, maybe I should have gone down that room.

think it depends what you want, doesn't it? If, if you

Yeah.

like you are doing where you're like sort of tra traveling around, going to different

Yeah,

you kind of do need a bit of like an itinerary and maybe like

yeah,

a plan in place so

yeah.

of like, so you can make the most of your time basically.

Yeah.

you are literally going to like all inclusive. On the beach two weeks, you know, but package, you don't,

Yeah, it's not too difficult, is it?

wherever, don't you? But

But then at the same time I'm like people, it's like someone planning my honeymoon for me. They don't really know. They don't know me. So like it's kind of like they don't, you know, I don't want the bog standard kind of honeymoons, you know, like what we've been talking like the mal eves or whatever. Like it's just not really us. So I dunno. And I do enjoy doing stuff like that. It's just like when you think like it's just another thing, isn't it?

travel and things like that. That's

Yeah, I don't mind it. I just lose patience with it. To be honest. I'm a wedding planner. I'll plan a wedding all day long, but my honeymoon, not for me. Someone else is planning my wedding. I'll be all right. I'll just spending all my time looking at the honeymoon. But I'm very grateful that I have some amazing bridesmaids and friends who are planning the Hindu, because I

That's one

not think of a. Having to do that as well, like

No thanks

absolutely not. So make sure that you get a good crew

Yeah.

to do it for you

definitely get

Yeah,

plan your hin. Do

yeah,

that's and stag do whatever. It's just so much.

yeah.

It's just extra stuff for you to do. You don't need

Exactly.

got a good friend.

Yeah.

can do it for you.

Yeah. It's also, I'm going to just tell everybody now, if you're getting married in like May, June, July, now is the time to get your invites out.

Oh yeah.

Definitely. I thought I'd just slip that in there. I'm, I need to get mine out. I've, I started getting the questions from people like, oh, what's the, you know, when you,

yeah.

obviously you send out, you save the dates, but nobody. Keeps them. So it's like, what is the postcode again? So I can book my hotel. I'm like, don't worry. The invite's coming out. It tells you all the different places you can stay locally, or what do you guys want for your wedding present? Like it's on the, it's on the invite.

Yeah.

I was like, you afterwards, did you know what I mean? So I need to get mine out. I need to do it asap.

remember if you said you, are you posting them or you're doing e like E

Doing EIN invites with a wedding website. Yeah.

that's

So,

as well. I know he said like, there's just, there's so many benefits to doing that, but

yeah.

having to know everybody's address.

Yeah.

had to, I posted mine, so I had them. So our friend Kelly, she did them and made them, they were really nice. So they were like, like lots of different pieces of card, like tied together and, so I posted them, but I had to get like all the addresses from my mom and dad, like for

Yeah, sure.

that

That's a lot.

it was just so stressful. I was

Yeah,

do I

that's a lot.

just

Yeah. I mean, we've We have gotta get email addresses, but they do do an option where you can just send people the URL, but I don't really want to do that. So I do have to get email addresses, but I find, kind of find like it's not too bad. I mean I've got all the ones for the save the dates anyway, so I've really got them. And also you only send one out don't you? To like the, obviously we haven't got family, so we haven't got kids, but you know, to each couples.

So we did exactly the same as you. So we, like, we were, obviously we'd been living together for like three years in our house. We, you know, we don't need anything for the, for the home.

No. Yeah.

obviously. basically what we said was. Thank, you know, basically your, your presence is our present

Yeah. That's what I've written. Yeah.

but if you, you know, if you do feel like you'd like to get us something, then we would like contributions towards our honeymoon.

Yeah.

Because the way I look at it is you've. Put on a day for everybody. You've paid

Yeah.

money. Like, not that you should expect something bad, but in some ways you are putting on a party or an event, I do feel like people tend to wanna, like, you'd bring a bottle of wine, wouldn't you? Like if you go

Yeah.

house, you, you'd

Very true.

if you. Have something that you are saving towards.

Yeah.

And then I don't think there's anything wrong with being like, you know, if you are gonna give us, get us a gift, would love a contribution

Yeah.

because that's what's sort of like costing us that extra money.

Yeah, exactly. And to be, do you know what as well? If somebody said to me, oh yeah, just send me some money. Lovely. Nice and easy for me.

Yeah, So, so we actually actually did so we had a wedding website, but then we also used this website called proa.

Yes.

basically people could go on there and rather than just give us money, can buy like cocktails by the beach and it was like a 25

Oh, can you?

but they call it. Cocktails by the beach things like that. Or like

Ah,

out while you're away and it's like 50 pounds and like, whatever. And they can select things on there. Like you can do like a gift list that way. And

yeah.

done

Do they take a, do they take a cut?

No, not from what they give you. I don't know how they make their money.

That's a great idea because there's, yeah. How do they make their money?

think they make, they must make their money by, I'm just trying to think now because

Can you set up gif lifts lists with them of like John Lewis or something? So maybe they get a cut from, from the department stores,

got lots of things on there. They advertise

right?

So you can make up a gift list with gift list with what's on there.

Yeah.

I might have to actually go through and have a look and, and get my facts right on this, but I'm pretty sure because basically people paid into the PREA

Yeah.

drew the money out, but we didn't, dunno if they took a percentage.

they might have done, you know.

need to look.

Have to have a look at that. I'll have a look at it. 'cause that's interesting 'cause there's quite a lot of excursions and stuff we wanna do. So actually that would be quite nice because then it, and I would use that money like you know, for that trip and you could almost like take some pictures on the trip and send it to that person that's bought it for you. That's actually quite cool. So I'd have a look at it then I'll see if they take a cut.

an easy way of like, rather than having to put your own bank details

Yeah.

like that, they just, they just, you just drew the money out.

Yeah.

you have to

Love that.

time after the wedding or something. I, I don't even think you had to do that. I think it was like. You put a input, a date that you

Instant. Oh, okay. And they send it because it's a bit awkward, isn't it? Because I've kind of said like, you know, obviously we can take dollars to Costa Rica, or here's my bank details, which is a little bit awkward, isn't it?

thing lets you kind of do that, but it's in a, like a more subtle way.

Yeah.

feel like it, how you word it is, is

Yeah.

you don't

Nice.

rude or

Exactly.

or anything. But at the

No. She be like, eo, gimme money.

And like if you're gonna be generous, generous enough to get us a gift, like we would love.

Yeah,

the same thing as well, like when you're having a baby, obviously, like you can do gift

yeah,

stuff for that. I mean, I haven't, because I just dunno, who am I talking

yeah. You, you're like, I actually know what I need.

the world. Yeah. It's sort of but you can set up gift lists and things like that's the same sort of thing.

Oh, that's a.

tell you what you need Yeah.

I'm gonna have a look at that.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's, it's, it is, it's a difficult one. And I think as well, like just around the whole like gift giving thing for weddings is just, you know, I see a lot of people say like, should do, do you have to, do you not? And I do think, like, it does really depend on the situation because I do think like a lot of people now are having destination weddings, and I think if you've paid to like fly somewhere, then.

Yeah.

I dunno, is it a necessity? Like what, I suppose the couple are paying, you know, for your day, they're paying for your food, your drinks, all those kind of things. So I suppose it's nice to, to give something back, to say thank you and good luck for your future. But then I suppose if it is, yeah,

I think they actually do. Like I, if I was to go to a wedding, I would want to get that couple of

yeah, yeah,

but actually I would feel better if they told me what they wanted. So I

yeah.

just buying them

So true.

ta

No, I do not.

Like,

you know what Hailey?

photo frame for something, you know, or a picture. Just things like that. You just think, you know

Yeah,

this going?

I honestly, Hailey, I couldn't think of anything worse than getting like, you know, it, it's kind of like there's no thought if even got into it when you get like the Mr and Mrs mugs or the champagne flutes, even though we don't drink champagne or the, do you know what I mean? I'm just like, please nobody get me anything like that.

Yeah, we didn't, honestly, it was so much better for us because we, we just had, we had, people had done it in advance as well, and

Yeah.

they could leave a message on this prea, like, thank you.

Yeah. That's nice.

like congratulations and things like that. And it was, and you could see, and then also it, it's easier to just do it. Like you can say thank you with the thank you cards and sending them

Oh, nice.

what everyone's got

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

root through

To worry about who got what. Yeah.

things,

So true.

so

the bottles of champagne and the, I just, no, honestly, if anybody was coming to my wedding and is contemplating buying Mr. And Mrs. Mugs keep your 20 quid spend at the bar, ha's like shit, I bet. Ever return those mugs. I mean, I'm, I mean I'm using that as an example, but there's a lot of tat out there and I'm just like, I think people feel like they need to get. Even if they give you money, they then get you that as well. And I'm just like, no, no,

it doesn't

no. Thank you.

No, just the

No thank you. Look, the money is fine. Thank you. Goodnight.

Over and out.

everyone out.

so I've been thinking this week a bit about like the year that we've just had really and kind of comparing it to like how couples and that are approaching me suppliers this year.

Yeah.

And how things have kind of changed, think, obviously before covid and things like that. I feel like people were getting in touch like really early.

Yeah.

I, I'd say like a good year to year and a half before the wedding. for me doing flowers, it's a little bit different. So generally I'm not one of the last things, but decor. Decor, like in like, I don't wanna say it's like an add-on, but you know, like cake decor, decor,

Yeah.

flowers, things like that. It's kind of things that you can

It's later on down the process, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. You wanna sort like your venue, catering, your photographer, that kind of thing first. Yeah.

those done and it's like your big things and then you

Yeah.

on to aesthetics, I guess.

Yeah.

but think I'm finding now is people are coming to me a lot later on,

Mm.

people that are like sort of five months away coming

Yeah.

which is like quite far

Yeah.

but I just so wonder if it's the same for like, I know obviously with you kind of, with the planning process starts obviously from the beginning, so you're working

Yeah.

all the way through, but know if anyone else is finding that. Supplier wise,

Yeah, it's, I think it's, I think shopping trends changed massively over covid. I do think people are scared to book things to in advance. I think, for example, me booking my honeymoon January. We're going in May. It's actually quite last minute, but even holidays and stuff, all of my friends that I speak to about holidays, you know, but gone are the days where we used to book like, it'd be the summer and you'd come back and then you'd book straight away.

Oh

But more just thinking like, you know, what about if life cha, you know, what about if something happens and we think actually we're gonna go later on in the year? Like, you know, things change and.

do.

I, I just don't, I, I mean, I've never been a huge, like, in advance person anyway. People still do book me. I think the, the, the most fur out people ever book me is 18 months and that for a full plan. So starting with nothing 18 months, but I haven't had an inquiry today. They wanna get married the first week of August.

Yeah.

they You know, they've done nothing yet. So they're, they're, they've just got engaged. So yeah, I do think people are doing things more last minute and I think maybe there is that kind of fear in the back of people's minds of, look what happened with Covid. Because if you booked your wedding in 2018 for 2020 and then it got postponed and that changed people's lives. 'cause people postponed to later in the year, they then postponed 2021. They then are older

was

and people wanted to have children. And I've still got people that I. Couples that I know from working in venues, they still haven't got married because they then thought, do you know what? We're gonna have to go and have kids because

that's the

got a time Cook

Yeah, that's it. Life just got in the way. Well, not

Yeah,

the way, but like obviously you plan a wedding, you know, you know, a lot of people have like a five or a 10 year plan or they're

yeah,

know, we're gonna start a family, we're gonna get married, start a family. Obviously Covid is like literally taken, it literally took like two years

yeah.

lives

Yeah.

time just went and like, you know. If you've planned a wedding and then you won't have a family, but then you, and like you say, for, especially for women, I feel like you have like this biological

you do

and

Well. Yeah.

and it's crazy, but I just remember like, especially like I had couples from 2019 that only got married like last year,

Yeah, exactly.

the, obviously there was all the backlog, but it's just, I'm finding this year, for couples this year that I'm getting like inquiries now for people in, like,

Yeah.

had an inquiry for someone in May two,

Do you know what as well?

May

Do you know what I think it could be as well? I do think it could be a little bit with everything that's going on in the world, like everybody, regardless of how much money you, you have

yeah,

is being affected by everything cost living going up. Because yeah, regardless of how much money you've got, everybody has to pay bills so. If you've got a huge mansion, like your mortgage is probably gonna be more in your, and your gas electrics more and stuff.

it a

So it could little be a little bit of that. I do think last year was a very strange year. A quite, I was really busy, but I spoke to a lot of people who weren't. And a lot of people were saying 2024 was slow. Yeah. So I'm wondering.

I've found 20, 24 to be, that's what I'm sort of is it is, it's slow, but then you're getting people coming in like last minute for,

Last minute. Yeah. Everybody's saying 2024 is gonna be busy. 2023 was a little bit slower. That's, that's what I'm kind of getting from people. You know, I, I'm, I'm speaking to venues who were busier in 2024, before 2024 started than they were in 2023. So, yeah, it's a, it's a strange one. I think it depends what market you are in as well.

with like suppliers, everybody's had to put their prices up. I mean,

Yeah.

year you have inflation anyway,

Mm-Hmm?

just generally do increase. But I think obviously with what, what's been going on, and especially in this country, like everybody's put their prices up and I think it's making couples hold off, like actually getting, or they're getting engaged, but I think they're waiting

Yeah.

actually Get married.

Yeah.

The sort of saving for longer, obviously we spoke about that.

Mm-Hmm

and things like that. So I think it's the, the, the gap is longer,

mm-Hmm. Definitely.

were kind of doing it within a year.

Yeah.

I mean, the couple I met with today, getting married within a year. They got, they got engaged in August to get married

Yeah.

but, which

Yeah. Nice.

actually now so.

Yeah. Yeah, it is. Yeah. Mine is, majority of mine are within the, the same year, so I'll start getting inquiries in now for that year. I do.

I quite

I love it.

a couple and then you're like, so you've got, you, you sort of speak about it and then you can look forward to doing their wedding the same

Exactly.

like fresh, but obviously things

Nice.

changing and, but yeah,

Yeah.

exciting. so obviously you get trends on Instagram.

Yeah,

the latest one I've seen since the new year is this ins and outs. So people are posting like what's in

right.

and what's out for the year.

Oh, I haven't really seen,

have you

I mean, I haven't been about for the last few weeks, so

been off the grid, whereas

yeah. Maybe I've.

like a so I've seen it all.

I've just been, I've just been scrolling for Costa Rica tips. Oh, switching back to that. By the way, what the hell did we do before TikTok? 'cause all I've been searching for on TikTok is Costa Rica, and that is how I found out everything to do with my honeymoon

So my really close friends are going to New Zealand for a month in

Nice.

weeks. And literally she's been on finding like so many tips, like travel tips and

Yes. Brilliant.

And she was showing me

Honestly,

the other day and I was like, oh my God. It was just so satisfying to watch.

yes, the, it was honestly, it's, it's brilliant. I found out some cool stuff. So, yeah, top tip. There you go. Sorry. Yeah. Going back, going back to your, going back to your ins and outs, ins and out ins and outs of the honeymoon.

Yeah, so I thought it'd be a fun one to do. So the ins and outs of basically what's in and out for weddings this year.

Oh nice. Yeah.

in depth about trends and things like that, but some of these are quite funny, so

Yeah. Lovely.

go for it.

Fab

first one is create in your own, sorry, this is in this

Yeah.

Create in your own traditions.

Oh yeah. Suppose oh.

rather than, I mean, we sort of spoke about traditions that are a bit of pants

Yeah. So you basically mean like not following Yeah. The standard editions. Doing your own thing.

let the

Yeah,

a speech because

yeah,

probably done all the planning.

yeah, exactly. Yeah.

First looks. Which is a

Yeah. I've done quite a few first looks lately. Yeah. Last year. End of last year. Yeah.

Leaving your suppliers. Lovely reviews.

Ah, nice.

definitely

We, we wish that was in It's really like, look, I'm gonna make sure I, I'm gonna make a conscious effort to do it, but I kind of get why people don't. 'cause if you've got like 10 to 15 suppliers involved and you've gotta write them all, a Google review last's, time consuming

Do you know what? I was sad. I actually did that. Well, it's not sad. I, I knew how much it meant to

I'm going to a hundred percent do it.

did

Yeah.

and do it. I spent like a

Yeah too, right?

means a, obviously, like a good review

Yeah. We need it. We need it for the Google people.

yes. Get those rankings up.

Yeah, exactly.

Responding to on time.

Oh, is that in, is it? But is this because though.

in.

Is it because we're doing, making it easier because, I'm sorry. People who send me an RSVP and I have to put in an envelope and send it back in the post box, like No, it's 2024. I was about to say it's 2023.

Text me

Like, come on. Whereas nowadays, a lot of people, I, I, majority of my couples end up with a wedding website. Even if they want a lovely, beautiful, hard copy invite, they'll also have a wedding website and all you gotta do is log in, find your name, tick. Yes, I'm coming. Brilliant.

that's great.

Great.

had that on our website. Amazing. Wedding websites have got these, they're, sorry, wedding websites in for 2024.

Yeah.

always

A hundred percent.

celebrant led weddings and elopements

Yes.

in,

in,

are

I think. I feel like more people are finding out what a celebrate pe. Sometimes people are like, what's a celebrant? And now they know. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. Nice.

If you dunno, get

I'm doing both. And an elopement. And a celebrant. Oh hoo.

like world trendy

I'm so in for 2024

my God, I'm so glad you're on this podcast,

Oh

Having the cake flavor you want, not just what tradition says.

yeah. There's some ones now.

You can, it's, I mean, the world's your oyster with cake flavors.

Really? Is

to just be a, well, they used to, it used to be a fruitcake

used to be a fruit, Kate. Yeah,

fruitcake for your child's first

that's right.

it in the,

For the child's christening, but you can, but obviously that would just keep, 'cause his eyes said marsy pan and fruit. But you can still do that with the sponge cake, but you just freeze it.

Oh, okay. Oh,

Yeah.

I've got my, I've still got the top tier of my cake in

Have you, are you waiting for your baby?

Well, no, well, well, I wasn't, but I

You might as well now if you're not getting the baby christened. If you're not having the baby Christens, you could just get it out. I mean, are you gonna probably think about this? Probably not. I'm not a mother. I don't know. But when I'm thinking like when, when you first have like your parents round, like to see the baby, you could get the cake out the freeze and have a little bit of wedding cake.

That's quite cute actually.

Yeah, I like that. There you go.

and use that as my own idea.

Or you could wait until your baby starts eating and then defrost it.

some of this. It's from your mother

Get it, keep it for the baby's first birthday, then you gotta buy a birthday cake.

been in the cake for a, for a year, so

Lovely.

What's gonna, what's

Be fine.

you know?

Silly sponge

Oh dear. so that's what's in, unless you have anything else to add. Do you

I mean, there's, there's a lot of things.

a lot, but I

There's a lot. I won't, I won't, I won't,

didn't

won't drag it on. No. Yeah.

So anyway, what's out? What is out?

What is out?

having a million stag or hend celebrations. So you know these people that have like

Ah,

stag dos and five

is it out?

and then they, then they do this,

Yeah.

do that and whatever, and I just, yeah.

Yeah. I think people are still having longer ones, aren't they? Like a, like a weekend

Yeah.

people are doing, so maybe that's why. Maybe that's why they're not having a few then.

yeah, so having

Yeah. So instead of having like multiple nights out, they're just having one long weekend

one,

maybe.

yeah. One big extra bang I can

Nice.

one for friends and one with family,

Yeah,

know, like you.

yeah,

Obviously

yeah. Like, I'm like, mom, you,

going

coming to my, to my party weekend. You know what I mean?

My mom wouldn't have wanted it to be a mine. said we went to, gotta get this right. Is it Pauly Ballers?

Oh yeah. Yeah.

it Ball mc

Molly Mc Ballers. Yeah, I, yeah. Your mum didn't wanna get in the balls, did she? Bless her?

Madonna with a Oh God.

bad times?

Oh dear. So also out speeches that go on forever.

Oh, that is definitely not out. Well, I hope it is out for 2024 'cause honestly,

I've had enough.

I've had enough. No, I have definitely seen a lot of weddings in the last three to four months, which still have very, very long speeches.

They're still doing

Yeah, unless, yeah, I, I left

I left, but they're still there.

I had a holiday to go on. Sorry people. So yeah, I hope they're out for 2024.

Yeah.

No one wants to hear it. Put a timely limit on your speeches

But yeah, I

honestly, please. And make sure you've got an mc and tell them to cut them off. You like Monica on Friends? I'm gonna get my mc to be like

Yeah, let's wrap it up.

And that's it for that speech. The next speech up.

How embarrassing is it? You doing the speech then that happens to you. You just sort of take that, take that social cue,

Do you know what? I don't understand how it happens though because my and my were talking about this. 'cause we were planning our ceremony the other day and we were saying like, you know, we were putting sections in and I was like, you know, this person talks for three minutes or whatever. And he was like, three minutes is actually a long time to stand up and talk for. So when you've got really good, you've got a good. Five to 10 minutes per speech.

That is

So how do some of these people talk? I've seen speeches go on for 45 minutes for one speech.

chat though forever,

True.

but

a very good point,

know your, know your place at a wedding

but we're talking to each other. We're having a conversation. But how

true.

somebody can stand and just talk at people. I mean, I probably could. I'm not gonna lie,

you're like, actually I'm.

actually that, that, you know what's gonna happen. My speech is gonna go on for 45 minutes.

I'll be like this. Wrap it up. Wrap it

it.

So also not feeding your guests is on there for al I mean,

For out. Not, I mean, I hope you would feed your guests. When was that? In

I would say like perhaps in should be canopies or something. 'cause I

Yeah. So maybe they mean like not feeding your guests enough, like we've spoke about this before, haven't we? Like make sure you've got like consistent food.

happy. Guests

No. Yeah.

at all.

Yeah.

Getting hangry. oh, ignoring the no plus one on your invite. Now, if you turn up to a wedding with a plus one,

Oh,

haven't been you could bring a plus one mate, who

not happy about that. Yeah, that's weird. This is another bonus of a wedding website because you have to type your name in to get your R so it'll be like RSVP now, and then you type your name in and then it'll come up and it will then ask you the questions. If it can't find your name, it will error. So if you can't r rs VP,

an

you can't come

you can't come in

You can't sit here

can't sit here having phones out the whole time during the ceremony.

Yeah, no, I've actually put that in my ceremony.

Unplugged

Our auntie and uncle who are ordaining us. No. Do you know what? I'm not bothered about it being unplugged. Take your photos. But when I'm walking down the aisle, they don't want phones in my face. Like I've got a photographer and a videographer. And also don't want, in the photo, in the photos of me walking down the aisle is people's phones like this.

Yeah,

Do you know what I mean? Like, and then really whatever point do you probably, when they say you may make us the road they, maybe they would then, but that wouldn't bother me too much. But it's that walking down that aisle, like, no, I don't.

I feel like people kind of, well, you'd like to think they kind of get the hint. You know what I mean? Like you have,

Yeah,

think to myself, when people put, this is an unplugged ceremony, I just think really you have to tell people that. But I suppose

yeah.

you do, obviously.

But I've done it. I've been at a wedding and the bride's about to walk down the aisle and I'm recording it, and I think people think.

excited, don't you like,

Yeah. And I think people think they're doing it at the benefit for the bride and groom. And do you know what, I'm not bo bothered about phones being out 'cause I agree with people, and you see this a lot on TikTok, where like, you know, a, a friends and family actually get really nice content that your photographer and videographer doesn't see. So that's fine. But it's just that walking down the aisle moment and I'm like, nah. Don't want people their phones out.

of the ceremony that,

Yeah.

yeah. aBout the weather, you can't control it.

Yes, very true.

yeah.

I mean, I am worrying about the weather. I'm not gonna lie,

shit. I mean, the weather we've been having here, was it Storm? We've just had, that

I dunno. I haven't been there, mate,

Oh yeah. Of course.

I,

You've

avoided it.

Oh, it's

I missed. But we came back and was like, why is there a lake in the field?

Why?

I was that there three weeks ago. I.

It's terrible. Really bad. I mean, I'm probably, I mean, obviously there've been weddings going on.

they've been getting it out of the way. Ready for May the 7th of May, the 26th. 2024. mm-Hmm. I'm gonna plant my sausage. I'll be okay.

Yeah. It's

Yeah,

My friends did that. They, did. They actually plot in a sausage.

yeah.

not

That's the thing.

it was August

Did they have a dry wedding?

It was dry. It rained a little bit.

Oh, well that didn't

was

work.

woods, but

Damn

raining a week. It rained in the

Ah, okay.

stopped. Stopped for their ceremony. I don't remember it raining at all during the day. At least you

There you go.

stopped. So they planted the

I'll be fine then.

was a veggie sausage. So

Oh, man.

but you know, that's the same rules apply

same ru. Yeah. Maybe.

bUt yeah, that's it. I dunno if you've got anything to add

Fab.

to be honest

yes. Favors, wedding favors. We spoke about this, didn't we? They're definitely dumb.

See you later.

Yeah, they're, they're out. I actually responded to a, a woman in a Facebook chat the other day that was like, oh, I am, I, I'm not sure to do about favors. What did everyone do? Like how, oh, I don't wanna spend loads of money. And I was like, don't bother

Don't do it. Don't do it.

don't do it. And I was like, do you know what the money you would've spent on it? Just put it behind the bar.

Yeah. Put it behind the bar. Put towards your honeymoon.

Yeah. Lovely.

yourself some cocktails.

Yeah. Lovely. I'm gonna look at that. That's, I'm gonna write that on my to-do list. prea. I'm gonna look. Thank you so much.

all right.

Well, that's us done for this.

That's it. Wrapping

Thank you so much guys. Don't forget we are on Instagram at Let's Get You Wed we're also on TikTok. Let's Get You web podcast. You can email us your questions. Let's get you web [email protected]. We wanna hear your stories from engagements, because obviously it's just been Christmas, so

Lots of

us your stories. Yeah, any questions? Like, I'm seeing a lot of, you know, questions going on at the moment, so send them in. Send them in.

'em to us. We answer them for you.

Yeah.

Alright,

Fab. Lovely to see you. Speech you later. Bye.