Important questions to answer before your wedding day!

For any couple right now who is dealing with table plans, I feel you. I feel like there should be a law against people pulling like this. Just it, it causes so much. And one of my brides said to me, this, to me today, it just causes so much admin when people drop out.

it does. Actually.

It's

was.

honestly changing table plans.

because, um, say like, for example, this wedding I've got coming up where it's like a continuous run of however many foot,

Yeah.

a certain amount of people drop out, that's gonna take

It's gonna change it. I know,

my layout,

I know.

you

I did think about because they've had dropouts, but I, I haven't changed a table plan because of that long run of flowers,

You,

but it's.

me.

But it's, it's, unless your leg has fallen off, please don't cancel for a wedding. And like they were saying today, there's a few people where it's like, you probably could have told us this before. And it's like you have to tell the station now we have to change the table plans. We have to update the catering information like it's long.

I feel you're pain me.

I feel you. I feel you. But also just a little note to say, you're only dealing with one. I'm dealing with three right now, so

Yeah.

think of me.

I, I, I, I'm like, well, your job.

Yeah. That's what you get paid for. Should we get started?

Let's do it.

Hi, I'm Hannah

And I'm Haley

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word.

Woo.

Woo.

How's your week been?

My week has been very busy,

Hectic?

hectic, to say the least.

Uh, we're just, we're both a bit, we're both a bit tight. We're both a bit, what's the word? Like

lethargic,

bit all over the place, aged, like we might say some weird things. We might get some words wrong, so we might just completely forget. I went to message you earlier and I was like, what's her name?

That's jokes. I

And it's only Monday.

that's it. We've just been saying how we feel like it's the end of the week and it's only, the week's only just begun.

The end of wedding season and wedding season's only just begun. I've done one wedding and it has, fuck me.

I'm done.

I'm done. Mic drop.

so long. I really can't wait to hear about your wedding from this weekend. 'cause you said there was a surprise or something happening, wasn't there?

What did I, what was that about? Oh,

something really cool. Yeah.

I forgot to add that in my notes. Let me add it now. 'cause I'll forget. Tell me about your week first and then I'll go onto my head.

Uh, so, um, so obviously when we last spoke it was I was getting ready to do freelancing or

Yes.

so I was, I have been working all over that week and, and it was just long because it was like. I left at the house at half five in the morning and I

Yeah, you did.

seven in the

That's a lot.

days. Just long. lot of it's sight. Obviously there's a lot of traveling, so where I was going was like an hour away, but, um, but it was, it was so good. It was, it was really cool to see how they do everything.

Yeah.

of the planting for, um, queens

Oh yeah. You were saying about that last week. Yeah. Nice.

huge planters.

Yeah.

and they're all in, like,

Are they all done now?

yeah. They're all done for that

Cool.

now we're moving on to Royal Ascot.

Oh no. So you're not doing any weddings with them yet? It's all big events.

going on as well at the same time, so they've got

Mm.

like we're all put onto different bits. So I,

Wow.

I'm gonna be doing when I turn up for this

Oh, okay. Nice.

whatever it'll be, it'll be busy.

Whatever it'll be will be,

But I did so many, like, so much planting, I was like, ma, please let me touch a flower. I just wanna touch

oh, you missed your flowers.

and then on Friday I did get to do some actual

Nice.

was good.

you've got weddings coming up as well.

coming up. So I've been

Whew.

um, just planning everything. Like I do all my stem counts on like a spreadsheet, like an

Be. That's a lot of stems, ain't it? For this wedding we're doing in a couple of weeks and she's talking about hiring lorries and all sorts. We've been sorting the logistics for that. 'cause you've gotta think about getting a lorry into Oxford's. Uh, not fun.

luckily my dad's gonna be driving it,

Yeah, that's good. That's a good thing.

good in a L, so I haven't gotta worry at least about driving it

Yeah. Yeah.

that on top of

It's like, this is a thing though, like central locations, it's like drop off. They're like, oh yeah, there's a road outside. You might get ticketed, but

yeah,

you run the risk.

exactly.

So,

Cheers.

but there's no actual drop off point, like, well, no, because you're literally in the city center. You're like, yeah, fair.

so many times when I've done like a London wedding and

Yeah,

up and you'll just get a ticket.

yeah,

mean, it just, but it, it makes me laugh. I just think that you might have events and wedding, like things that

yeah. Like, how's everyone else do it?

off

I know.

But I

Like, why is the council not allow this? Because the council,

park in there.

yeah. I do think being at a lre, you're gonna be better off. 'cause they might just think you're like delivering to a supermarket or something. Or you know,

To Aldi

that they're, not that there's a supermarket anywhere near the venue, but,

super flowers.

oh,

Yeah.

oh,

but I also did something quite funny and I'm, well share it here

go on.

Richard told me that I was, I'd hit a new low and that I was really sad, but I don't care. Um, so where I've been working is like literally right next to Heathrow airport.

Yeah.

And um, I, uh, on Friday there was a ma there was an accident in the M 25 as there normally is.

As,

was

yeah. Yep.

So I thought, well, rather than sit in my car or van, shall I say, with my foot on the clutch, just

Yeah.

killing myself, I was like, oh, do you know what I'll do? I'll, I'll go and do a bit of plane spotting. So I drove to this. I Googled, where's the best places to watch the planes, Heathrow, and it took me to this. This, um, this road

Yeah.

up and I sat on this green and I watched the

Oh

landing.

my God. Until the accident cleared.

I waited there for 45 minutes, then I went all the way back, no problems.

Jesus.

I got to see some planes

She could have gone to a coffee shop, could have gone for a little walk in a park. No, she chose to go playing spotting.

was actually really good.

play.

And,

There you go.

that's,

Did she not feel a bit jealous though? You're like, oh, they good on holiday.

no, 'cause they were landing, so they were coming

Ah, you're like, ha, suckers. You know,

I was like,

I ate that. You know when you go on holiday and you see the queue of people getting off the plane, like, Hey, hey. And then when you come back you're like, oh, I'm now one of those people. Yeah. I shouldn't, shouldn't have laughed at them.

Welcome to hell.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah,

dear.

I always think that is, well, when people go on holiday and they're like, oh yeah, we're off on holiday today. And you're like, oh, damn you. And then a week later you're like, ha, they're coming home,

That's so bitter.

not bitter at all about their holiday while I'm in the depths of peak season.

Someone's dropping out of

Yeah, you're like,

Oh dear. yeah, that was my week. Busy, but ended with um, something quite funny.

good. Yeah. Love it. I hope you enjoyed it.

your wedding this

Yeah, it was good. It was g it was good. There's a lot to say, but it was good. Do you know what to, just to start, obviously the couple were are just ama they're just the nicest people. They've messaged us about three times since Yeah. Saying thank you and they're just so lovely and everyone was so nice and, and I just think that makes a wedding. But I'm so glad that we were there on Friday. They booked us to do, set up on the day management and set down.

Okay.

when I say they could not have needed us more for setup, which is quite nice because I like to be needed. I don't like to go to things.

Yeah. I

And think,

scratch standing or scratching me

yeah, like thi I don't like feeling like we were just talking about this before we come on with me. I don't like feeling like people have paid me and they don't actually need me. And I'll always be honest with people to say, uh, you don't actually need me for this. Um, so yeah, there was just a lot going on. It was at their own home. I. A beautiful, when I say beautiful house, like ah, it insanely stunning. So originally they were gonna convert their barn to a wedding venue.

oh wow.

Then they realized how much money it was gonna cost just to do the floor. So they then opted for a marquee wedding. So they had a marquee.

Okay.

so we turned up on Friday. That was all up. Um, the florist was doing, um, she was doing like a centerpiece all the way down the center of the marquee.

Oh,

Um, all like draped, you know, draped, I dunno what the flowers are called, but they're all like, trailing down a bit, you know, about half a meter long. Um, but it was all fo um, which she doesn't normally work in fo Yeah, that's it. That's the word. Yeah. All fo but she doesn't normally work in foe. Um, but she was doing a, done a really, really, really good job.

Yeah.

So we did the setup, but when I say the bride was off having her hair done, and I've said to one of her, her best friend, oh, you know, where's all her bits and bobs? She's like, oh, I think a lot of stuff's in this room. She took us through to this room and there was just, it was one of her like spare bedrooms. There was stuff everywhere

No. Oh God no.

and we're going through this stuff. Yeah, and I'm trying to, we're ticking off our list. So we've got a list. So when we do a final meet and we're like, like, tell us all about your decor. And I'll always say like, is there anything else you've not mentioned? Anything else you've not mentioned? So yeah, we're going through this list and we're like, yep, that's there. That's there.

hello. It's me.

This mean I need 40 charger plates.

of it.

Anyway, found the 40 charger plates from,

What, what

they're like gold beaded because she'd bought them,

um,

she'd bought plastic ones. Not glass ones, but I could only get a guy, I can't hire plastic. No one has plastic charger plates, but they looked exactly the same. Anyway, it was fine. So they incredible. Nadine from Issa Eve just down the road, she, she pulled through, dropped him off at to nine o'clock on Saturday morning. Legend. Absolute legend. So we sorted that. That was sorted. But just, that's just, that just shows, that's just one little thing that we couldn't find.

was gonna say like, surely like say if they'd turned up, you would be counting them off. Like, say if it was me and I needed like a hundred plates of my guests and they

Yeah,

I would be counting to make sure they were all

well she, she checked the order and she ordered a hundred and I'm like, why would you put them in two different places? And she was the kind of bride that I could talk to her like that. 'cause we were on that relationship. I was like, why would you have not put everything in one room? Why are you splitting stuff?

somewhere. She just couldn't find them.

Yeah, we just don't, we just dunno where, and I'm not surprised after seeing, I'll, I'll put you into perspective. This bride, she bought, I think it was three or four dresses for the evening. Didn't like any of them. Couldn't be asked to or just forgot to return them. So she's now just got four spare dresses.

insane.

Yeah, that was fun. Um, so yeah, it was just all little bits and then just things that, so then Saturday, Friday afternoon, she just pulls this big hoop out

No.

uh, it is like,

tell me you've got a,

she's like, oh, I got this as well. And we're like, okay, cool. I was the florist doing something with that tomorrow? No, no. I've bought a load of faux flowers, chucks us some faux flowers and I've bought this bit of material that's just, just on the floor. Can you make, just use your creative intuition. Do what you can. And we're like,

God.

yeah, I'm not a florist mate. I don't, I, I, I, I'm not, or a deck will come. I, I'm not good at this. So anyway, we get p dressed up, I go over to the Floris, I'm like, help me. Yeah, help me please. And this floris is like going, doing all this cool crazy stuff for these faux flowers. So anyway, so we make that look good. Uh, as good as we can. Saturday morning we get a message. I forgot to do the mirror, the mirror's, the table plan. Well, like, okay.

God. She's not done it.

No. So she,

Oh God,

so I find on a, the dining table, uh, so the room that she's using with all the stuff in it, everything's now been pulled out. 'cause people were staying in that room that night.

my God.

So I find,

more and more like hectic and my

oh, this is just the tip of the iceberg, mate. I can't, like

Oh my

Saturday morning, I then find this envelope with just like all these stickers in it. Like table one, table two, like it had been Ted, but you have to

you mean.

stick, transfer them onto the mirror. No it's not. So thankfully Chloe come in an hour early and just sat and did it. Well, when Nadine turned up with the charge plates, we was telling, we said, oh, we just have to do this table plan. And uh, she was like, what? She said, and she does them as like, as one of her professions. She said, takes me hours to do that. So I said, well, Chloe's just managed to do it in an hour. She was like, don't look at it. It's probably wonky.

play to

we managed to put put

so much

Oh yeah. 'cause of it being on the her and

so like fiddly,

Yes.

stuff.

And she and Chloe was like to her, why did you not tell me this yesterday? 'cause I was here all day. I could have done it for you yesterday.

yeah. Instead of this morning,

Literally like

crap

Saturday morning

it done.

trying to Oh, but yeah.

is the wedding?

Um, so they got married at one at the church. So yeah, we didn't have long, I'm not gonna lie, there was a lot of running around. We couldn't find all the alcohol. There was all in different places. And she was like I said in the end, ask her after the church service, like, look, we can't find the wine. Where is the wine? 'cause she'd said to us, all the booze is in the new kitchen. Okay, great caterer. That kind of, not irritated to be, but the caterer really needs to be there the day before.

say, a lot of the time if I do a marquee wedding, like I normally go the day before the setup, then the

Yeah,

is there and they're

exact. Yeah. Laying the tables and, yeah.

finding their feet a bit

Yeah, exactly. 'cause it was too much of a rush, you know, on the day. And like, so they didn't check all the stock until they turned up. They didn't turn up till like, I think the Kate manager didn't get this one at 11 on Saturday.

far into

Yes.

any

Well, it was so, because it got to the point where I was like, I can't ask the bride now where the wine is, because she was, there was just too much going on for her.

yeah.

So I was like, right. So I had to wait till after the service to be like, where's the wine? It was in the cellar. So we had to then find the cellar to get the wine out that we had to put it in the freezer to make sure it was chills enough, because otherwise we, we couldn't get it in the fridge. But it was things, like I said to her, hire a trailer fridge. Like anyone that's doing a marquee, just hire a trailer fridge. She's like, no, no. We've got fridges. They've put these there.

no. Come on.

So the caterer is trying to make this ice in this thing, and I'm, there's just, you are not getting enough ice. Yeah, so it is just, and I get it because there's so much going on and she did a really good job at what she did do. But what I just wanna flag is, look guys.

I think that a lot of people go in a bit blind to

Yeah.

and they're like, yeah, I can do it. It's easy. It's really

Yeah. She didn't have time. She doesn't have time or patience. So I can just tell from the person that she is a no, and she's a wonderful person, but she ain't got time to be making flower hoops. Do you know what I mean?

just do wedding flowers and just

Yes. And decor or,

decor, like

just hire it guys. Just hire it. And I'm telling you now you think you're gonna get your money back from Southern it afterwards. You're not. Not everyone thinks that they're doing it and everyone is selling stuff and you ain't buying nothing. And look, look at me and Haley, for example. Yeah. We are in the wedding industry. Haley's a florist herself. The only thing that I made for my own wedding was some napkins with my cat's face printed on them. And actually I know they're brilliant.

I didn't.

we did. We, because we know we don't have time.

it.

a flourish. She's a creative, we don't have time. Be realistic with yourself. Unless you're gonna have time to do stuff, please don't do it. Because this just highlighted it so much to me this weekend. Like people that just are thinking, yeah, I can do that. That you

And you

time. No.

just gets away with

Yeah,

not used to doing it, it's not something you do all the time as well.

yeah,

you are not gonna allow, allow that and, and also, I don't think people realize all of the things that you sort of have to do in preparation, like on the morning of your wedding

yeah.

the day before. Especially if you are having like a marquee wedding where it's like,

Oh yeah.

So it's, it's

There's a lot to think about. Yeah. So much to do.

like we say, it's a reason that me and you. Do what we

Yeah, it is.

People need us.

But yeah, the day rolled round, it was a lovely day. There was just a lot. There was just a lot going on. There was a lot going on. But the weather, um, it held out. It was fine. During the church, we managed to get all their group photos done at the church, which was good.

I was gonna say, 'cause it was pretty

Good. Yeah. Well, we got back to the marquee and Oh, bless her as well. So I am not really a white wedding gal, I'll be honest. So when we have marquees, I always say to people, add a lot of color because white weddings, just when you saw white, ugh, not a fan, but she had gone all white and actually she did it well and it looked so good. So she had white tablecloths. She went for the pure white Louie medallion chairs.

Oh, wow.

she did what I tell every couple to never do.

Oh,

And she had a full white carpet.

oh.

But what I'll say is it looked incredible. It looked

looked good for

good.

like photos. I bet it looked

It looked so, so nice. And the florist did an incredible job. She did. Like every other table was a tall can labra and every other, which we did, the bride bought those. Of course, we had to peel off, we had to peel off all the plastic

course you

every bit, screw 'em all together.

Oh, they weren't even put together.

No, put the candles in with BlueTech because uh, they were too big for the holders. Yeah. All that. All those kind of bits and bobs. Um, yeah. So we did all that. And then she did like the tall flowers. On every other table as well. So it, it looked amazing. It looked really, really good. But the reason that I'm against white carpets is the amount of people I had to shout at for a start to get their fricking who walks on a white carpet. Like, come on. It's wet outside. It's been wet outside.

realize, it's not like a,

oh my God. No,

peel away, does it?

no, no, no, no, no.

of force to

Yeah, well I rang Chloe when she was doing it 'cause I was at the church when she, and I said, do it when we're at the church. And, uh, she was our breath blesser, it was like full on workout, pulling this carpet up. So, um, so we did that. But, and this is why I just, it looked incredible. But as soon as, thankfully we got them back from the church, we did a first look of the room and then it stu it just went, literally we were doing our first look and it started hammer it down.

oh God.

I think if you've, if you are happy that you've done your first look, they've got photos of the room and it looks insane, great. But for me, if I, every time I walked into that marquee, that would've just annoyed me. The floor.

dirt.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Covered in footprints. I always say to go for like a charcoal, gray, dark color, like a deep, a deep gray. She can't see nothing on that. Yeah. So full white carpet we had, so that was interesting. I mean, I, you know, in the day it was right, because we had the plastic on and, and the bits that didn't have plastic, I was like. Shoe covers, shoe covers, shoe covers. I always carry loads of them.

shame.

the day before and I was a bit like, he said, I could either refund you the money now, um, or we can see how it goes. And I'm like, yeah, well, we'll see how it goes. And in the morning he messaged me and said, oh yeah, definitely can't come. Like it's gonna be thunderstorms. And I said to him, it didn't actually rain until halfway through the drinks reception. And I said to him, it, there had been no rain there all morning. It had been dry as anything.

but I mean, yeah,

But it was just like, but after I emailed him back at saying like, can we just see how it goes? Just didn't reply to me. Tried to get in touch with him. Just didn't reply. I just felt a bit like you just didn't wanna do it. Yeah. So that was a bit annoying.

Yeah.

They also had,

I get that a lot these days with people, different suppliers, they just don't reply or

I know,

they've, they've decided actually they don't want to do it. So then it's like Cheer lu.

yeah. He just like, come on. I know the weather's gonna be bad, but just get over it is what it is, isn't it?

Well it's

Also top tip, if you get married at home and you've got dogs, please get someone to look after and we'll take them away from the house. We had three dogs. All one of them was Unhea.

No. Oh, come on. This wedding's just hilarious.

even gonna tell you the things I saw.

No. Oh my God.

And apparently one of them was on heat and one of them's a boy. Uh, there's some boys and girls going on anyway and uh, I feel like they're gonna be, uh, welcoming some puppies soon is all I'm gonna say.

dear. What? I would've thought that you'd, so they were just literally running around, just

No, no, not, no. They kept him in the house, but they were supposed to be kept in different areas and I think one got out. And what I just, I dunno what, uh, what was, I'm not, you know, well I'm not a dog person. Not a dog person. So, yeah, that was, uh, I'm a cat girl, so Yeah.

cow.

We also had, uh, another reminder, marquee weddings and cakes don't go, they, uh, marquees and cakes hate each other basically. So, um, she basically enlisted her friend who doesn't do wedding cakes to do this cake.

classic.

I know. Bless her.

many times because someone's like, can you come and put flowers in it? I'm like, look, I can't polish a tad, but I'll try,

Yeah.

know?

she'd done a really good job. She dropped it off in the morning. The bride didn't want the cake in the house because of the dogs and the people.

dogs,

I get it. But I kept saying like, it's not hot. But the marquees, they, they hate cakes. So anyway, I said, put it in. I said, but when the caterer gets there, we'll put it in their fridge. We'll put the, she wanted the top in the fridge van. 'cause she had to put that on top of the, like, it was split into two parts. Basically. She said It needs to be a refrigerator or I'm not gonna be able to pick it up. So I said, okay, that's fine.

no.

So she came to put the cake together. She said, it's not cold enough. She was panicking. It's not cold enough. It's not you, you've not put it in the fridge. I said, I did put it in the fridge fan, as I said, I would, but as I said, they don't get, it's a fridge fan. It's not the same as putting in an industrial fridge that a cake maker would use.

Yeah. It doesn't get to temperature

So she was not happy with the cake, the cake maker. She got this friend over and I was, I was saying to her when she got him over to check if it was all looked all right, I said to her, look, you've, you don't do wedding cakes. You, I ha, I said, you have specialist cake makers who do marquee only weddings 'cause they know how difficult they are. You've done a really good job for what? F for You're not used to it. Yeah. And her friend just looked at it like, Ooh, like this.

Oh, mate, that would've annoyed me. I would've, I

Yeah. It annoyed me a little bit. And I said again, I was like, look, you've done a really good job. I said, as I said, the fridge fan is never gonna be as cold. It's not an industrial fridge. There's loads of stuff in it. Like it's,

to it?

it basically, the buttercream was just so soft that when she went to you gotta her obviously pick it up, spit on. It was just the, the, the buttercream was just fucked, basically. And she was trying to, you can't like,

or was it semi

It was just full of No, it was full of buttercream.

Oh

never, you never do buttercream on a marquee wedding cake. Never. You used fondant.

many times though. People just love it. It's like, it's like their country bumpkin looking it in a marquee and you've got the semi naked

Yeah,

and

there's just no, and buttercream is cream, whereas the marque was white. It should have been in fondant, but I don't think that's what she had and that's fair enough. That's not what she does. Um, but the bride, like we, we just didn't, the bride didn't, I dunno if she noticed, she didn't say anything to me, but the, the bridesmaid was like, please don't put it out 'cause she's gonna hate it.

so

She did the cake cutting. So, yeah,

though, isn't it? If you turn up, like you go to your friend and I really don't like the cake that you've done. Did she pay her?

I dunno. I ain't got a clue.

just asked

I, she's not the kind of person that would say she didn't like it though. She's not like, she's a really lovely person. Like she would've just been like whatever. So it was fine. But yeah, just a reminder again, don't use buttercream in a marquee and hire a cake maker who knows how to make a marquee even. But she did a good job. I really felt for her. I really felt for her. Yeah. But I was like, please don't blame me because I did put it in the fridge fan. It was in there.

So take heat of that people.

yeah, it was just, um, yeah, it was, it was, it was a beautiful day. They had a great time. Apparently they were party until 3:00 AM

wow.

the marquee was trashed the next day when Chloe went to clear up, but she cleared up and I think they were very glad. So they booked us for, set up and set down, and they were very glad because again, they used like a, a fa family friend to do the Caribbean evening food. So obviously there's no one there to then clear up. So you turn up and there's cups everywhere. There's plates everywhere,

sure.

know, so, but we just did it all, all would've cleared it all down for them.

'cause then they could

Here's Atley. They're chilling. Yeah. Loving life.

they have breakfast or anything the next day

No, I don't think so. They just cracked on with life. So yeah. Tidying up the house, I'd have thought, because there was a lot going on in there, is all I'm gonna say was like, we'll clear up the marquee, but you, you're gonna have toti to your house.

guys.

I, I think personally as well, if I was having a wedding at home and it was my own house, I would hire a cleaner for the next day too. Another top sip.

She's full of tips.

They had a great time. They, they had a great time. Food was great. Drinks were flowing. Yeah.

Did they have a band or a dj?

They had a dj. Yeah. Yeah. Really lovely dj. He was great. So yeah, it was all, it was all fun and games. They, um, they actually, so they hired the dj, but obviously DJs have cutoff times, don't they? So,

Yeah.

no, this DJ was pretty chilled. They, they said to him, can you stay later? And I think he did. Um, but they also hired just some, like, big speakers from the dj. So if it was, if it did carry on till later, I think he finished at about one half, one, they carried on till three. So they can just whack on the speakers. Um,

out.

yeah. Yeah, because you, there's things like that you don't think of. If you, if you're getting married at home and you know that you ain't got a calf, it's not like going to a venue and you've gotta be kicked out by midnight. You need to, um, yeah, you need.

actually. I suppose that's the

Yeah. That is the benefit.

land is like you can just keep the

Yeah. What I'll say is a lot of at home weddings that we do, um, they are normally in parents' land, so it's normally not as bad. I think it's when it's your, uh, 'cause the parents are then heavily involved. They help out and they keep all the stuff stored and they keep it in one place. When it's your own home and you are the couple and it's your house. That's, that's a lot.

Yeah,

That, that is a lot. Yeah.

was

Yeah. Yeah. It's their own house. Yeah. Beau a stunning place.

whereabouts was it? In the world.

Northamptonshire, so just down the road from me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Then. Oh, just reminded me actually,

Hmm.

lead singer? What, where, what was gonna be

Oh yeah, Kevin.

How

Ah, he was amazing. Oh, Kev, me mate. Kev. Yeah, he is really good. Yeah, he sang at the church. He was incredible. Wow. Very good. I actually got, I actually got a video of him and I meant to send it to you actually. I actually did it for you. And then he sang there First dance as well.

so

yeah, no, he was a really nice guy actually. He had, I went and chatted to him at the end and he said, I said, oh yeah, well done. You did a really good job. He was like, yeah, really nice working with you. I said, oh, you were great in the church. He said, oh, I was really nervous. I went, you're nervous, aren't you? Headlining Radio Two Festival? He said, yeah, but it's different. It's like he said, I don't really do weddings. Um,

he?

no, I dunno where you got that from.

Oh my God.

And was he definitely the guy that was on radio too? Because I sta Right. And the nun about him being on radio two the other day and he looked a bit confused.

no. Hang on. Lemme have a look. I'll,

Was the guy on the radio Scottish?

The lead singer of Wet is called

Yeah, the original guy. The new guy?

a new

Yeah. He started in like 2018 or 2019, type in wet. Wet. We, Kevin, he joined in like 2019.

I'm thinking of the, um,

I think the original guy, so, you know, you said he was on Radio two the other day. Was that the OG guy? Fuck it Al God. That's been like, oh, my friend was saying he was on Radio two the other day when we were emailing you. Ha, that's what you didn't reply to me and you just looked at me a bit like, is it It was, it was loud. So you probably couldn't really hear me. I couldn't, anyway, cut that bit

no way.

that, but yeah, no, really nice guy. Um, yeah, it was really good.

Good. Good.

So, yeah,

glad that you shared that with us. This is what I love about us getting into wedding

I know

we get to

we get the good to choose stories. Yeah. Oh, and the dogs running round. Ugh.

ing each other.

That's so funny. So funny. But yeah, talking about, um, obviously we've mentioned a few bits and bobs there. We wanted to have a little chat today about like final meetings, final details, the kind of things that you need to be asking, the kind of information that you need to be giving, um, the final things that you need to be thinking about. Obviously we've already mentioned a few there, like ice and dogs and bouncy castles in wet weather and

that are gonna melt.

Yeah. Things like that. But yeah, we thought we'd just, um, so we're gonna kick off with a bit of like florist, surfers. What do you need to know? Tell us what do you need to know, Hayley? What do the, what do our listeners right now, we're getting married in like four to six weeks time. They've got meetings coming up. What do they need to be telling? What do they need to be writing down for their florist?

be honest, I think a lot of it is to do with logistics.

Yeah.

know where you're gonna be the night, like the morning to receive your flowers from me.

Do you think as well, that's always. Necessary. So actually killing two birds with one stone here. The wedding that we're doing have said to me, that's fine. They'll just get 'em at when they get to the venue. She pulls up in her car, I'll give her a bouquet, then she's fine with that. So you can just give it, you can just leave it at the venue for me. Just FYI.

are.

Sorry, guys. Admin.

That, that makes my life a lot

Admin. I suppose it depends if they want photos before they leave or not.

depends. I mean, the most, the, obviously the classic thing is that I deliver the bouquet to the

Yeah,

before they leave for the wedding, and then they have photos with them and like all the

yeah,

in the bride together before they go. So that's, that's normally what happens. But some people are like, no, just leave it there. It's fine. And

yeah. Well, their point is why would I get photos of my bridesmaids in a shitty hotel room? Then the venue's incredible. I'll just wait till, look out the car and have a couple of photos there, which I'm like, yeah. Fair play. Yeah.

Well, that's, that's absolutely fine.

Great.

so that's, I mean, that's probably my main, like my, probably my first one and I

Yep.

they are in case a lot of the time, if they are having their flowers delivered the day before, uh, sorry, on the morning before they get to the venue, they tend to be staying somewhere else. So there's always that

Yeah. Yep.

and then I'd like to know what time they're gonna be leaving.

Mm-hmm.

So I know when to get there with the flowers.

Yep.

also like what time your ceremony is and things like that. 'cause sometimes people will be like, well, when we're sort of confirming details or doing a like initial meeting, they'll be like, I think it's, it's either one or two. We haven't confirmed yet. So that always needs to be

Yeah,

sorted.

set up time as well. Some venues are really strict. That one we've got Well strict, isn't it? It's like 4:00 PM access time. Woo.

you might have a really short sort of time to get

Yeah.

up. So

Mm-hmm.

need to know that. Um, thank you flowers.

Yes. People always forget that. Yeah.

I always ask like the final meeting, like, are you doing bouquets to give out a thank yous during speeches? It's like the classic thing.

Mm-hmm.

it's like a nice way it can have the flowers that match your, all of your like decor. So it all ties in and then, uh, like classic one mother of the bride gets a bouquet and then they

Mm.

at couple of weeks after the

Yeah. Nice, nice. I will add there, a lot of people are actually not handing them out in the speeches anymore. A lot of people are doing it beforehand because I think there's so many different family. I still see it occasionally. I always ask the question, um, as to whether we need to bring them out or not. But I, um, yeah, I think because there's a lot of family dynamics and stuff now, people like don't want someone to feel left out or, you know,

enough.

So that's something that you need to think about for your venue or your coordinator. Are you gonna be bringing 'em out during the speeches or not?

Um, and then also biggest one is that normally gets overlooked is ladies Buttonhole and Ladies corsages.

Yeah. Do you know what? It's funny 'cause we had this at the weekend. She thought a corsage goes on your wrist, so she'd order corsages and they just bought the one that pins, but actually she wanted

Wrist

ones. So you have to stipulate, don't you?

to, yeah,

Mm.

I always ask, because that's the thing, if someone's got one thing in

She knows.

make sure I put it in bold wrist

Yeah. Yes.

like that. But, um, but yeah, that's one that, 'cause I've, I've had it before. I've turned up, done all the flowers. of the brides, they're like, oh,

Where's mine? And I'm like, well, they haven't ordered you one.

Uh, yeah, they tend to get a bit icy about that, so I always like to make sure that if it's something you've not thought about, just to give, just to ask them.

off

Just, just just find out if they want one. Don't assume they don't

assume.

never assume.

avoid the pin ones for a mum, because the material can be heavy on their dresses,

yeah.

it?

Yes. So normally we, normally we suggest a magnet. 'cause if they're wearing something sheer, then it's not gonna snag the fabric and yeah. Um, so that's all, that's all good. And then another thing, cake, flowers, hair, flowers, uh, confetti. Sometimes people want real pet, like just we can break apart roses and make that into confetti cones. Or we do like aisle pedals. Things like that can be like a last minute kind of add-on. So we always ask.

don't use this dried stuff that unless it's like the proper, like you've ordered some, haven't you, for a wedding we are doing, and it's proper bulky petals, but we, again, on Saturday, we had this dry stuff and it was like tiny little bits and it just went everywhere. It was covered in her dress, it was all in our hairline. It was all in his hair. It just went everywhere. And after she was like, oh my God. Like what? Like, I, I, I can't get this out. And I think she was a bit

Yeah, it's like little,

it was, it's just all the worst stuff in the world. Just to point out, said this

it.

haven't I? I just look, shit, just, it was like dandruff in your hair the rest day. She ain't getting out.

Yeah, like little stuff. Yeah.

not even little stuff. It's like, it's literally dust. It's like dust almost. I

What, what? Like, like buds or something?

small. It's just like ti it just, I think it's where it's pets, but if you order off Amazon or something and they come and then it comes in the post and it all gets broken up, it's almost like it's

Oh,

into tiny little bits. I think if it's not proper good stuff, it's

yeah.

yeah, shitty. Yeah.

I always go to shop shear pets for mine.

the big bulky stuff, aren't they? Like the bulky, dried

yeah, yeah,

a

yeah. So

if you can. If you, then you allow it.

girl, for paper, we, we spoke about that, didn't we? Ages ago. Do you remember? It was like one of our first episodes where we spoke about the paper

Awful.

reminder. then I always like to ask about the aisle. So say if a couple hasn't actually added on any aisle decor. So I think it's really popular now for people to have like aisle meadows and things like that, but also like we do things like lanterns and candles. Um, and I think sometimes people forget that although we do florals, that we do decors.

You've got loads

Um,

you?

got so much stuff. Yeah, so much stuff. Um, and then, uh, yeah, so I think as well, like room changeover, logistics is the last thing. So if you are having your ceremony and then you wanna move florals from there over to your wedding breakfast, then it's just confirming what you want, where, so when we do the changeover, we know where it's going, and we're on the same page.

Make sure that in your very initial inquiries to mention, like if you want stuff moved, 'cause like for

Yeah,

example, that's an extra cost to move stuff from the church to the venue. And if she's

yeah,

at the end of the night to sit down as well, like, you need to make sure that you're thinking about like at the end of the night, you've got a venue where it's like you have to get rid of everything. If you are not, you know, if you are then going on honeymoon the next day or you have not got, if all your family live abroad or something, they're not gonna be taking flowers where the flower's gonna go. Because if you need

yeah. Totally. Exactly.

gonna be charging you for that.

Yeah. Yeah, that's it.

that's a lot

Um,

Stay

it's a lot of work and I think, uh, weirdly when I first, well, I'm going back about five years ago now. I used to just do it as part of, like, my,

just a

I used to just do it. Yeah. I didn't charge extra for it. And then I used to get questions like, oh. Can you do this? Can you do that? And then I'd say, yeah, the charge, and they'd almost like question why you're charging 'em. It's like, would you come outta your house? Would you, one in the morning? Like, I'm sorry, but if you want that now you're gonna be paying for it.

two hour drive, you've got to stay

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. But yeah, so that's probably everything I would bring up in a final meeting or like one of the, I normally do that about four to six weeks before, but um, obviously people do still change bits and bobs.

we know right

Nearest time. Yeah.

and I would say, um, with like venue coordinator kind of side, I mean, it's kind of the usual things that you should expect. I'll, I'll kind of go through, um, the bits that people tend to forget, but you know, your, your obvious stuff is your guest numbers, how many

Yeah.

meals you need.

I think supplier meals is a good one to just like really put in like, to, just to hammer that home because people don't realize sometimes with, with, um, suppliers that they.

They

either request to have a meal or like if they're there all day and they haven't got a chance to nip out to a Tesco and get something to eat

like a lot of

or there's nothing around, you're like in the middle of nowhere. Yeah. So,

saw a discussion about this recently on Facebook, and this person was like, oh, well, you know, I'm playing the suppliers. I shouldn't be paying for their dinner too. And I was a bit like, wow. Harsh

come on. That is harsh.

She was like, you know, when I go to work, I take my lunch. But what people need to remember is a lot of your wedding, we only really feed wedding supplies that are there the full day.

The full day. Yeah, yeah,

next week there's a wedding we are doing, we're doing 17 hour, a 17 hour day.

yeah.

yes, I'll take my own lunch, but I kind of need to eat more than once in that day, and I'd

Dinner. Yeah, yeah,

And

yeah. I mean, is it really that bad? And are people really that tight these days that you don't wanna spend? Like what, 20 quid on a, it's not even that is it? I dunno.

It's about, yeah, 25, 30

You know?

on the, depends on the caterer. But on the flip

Yeah.

what really annoys me as well is caterers who, which we experienced at the weekend. Um, we still got fed, don't worry. We got fed well. But, um,

Trying to put that in there.

get leftovers and it's like the couple of had have paid, like, you know,

Uh, yeah.

it's like a hundred and between a hundred and hundred and 50 pounds. You should be counting us as main

As, yeah.

we should be getting an actual pla the same as the guests. So when I used to do caterer management and couples used to pay for supply meals, I would literally, so say I'd served 90 guests, I'd then say to the chef, right, and I now need another five chicken or whatever. And then they would plate them up the same as, it would just be like another table. And then you would take them to the suppliers with their cutlery like. I, I should be getting left.

Imagine if you haven't packed any food. 'cause you were gonna get a meal though, and then you'll stuck there with nothing because that's, that's really bad actually.

not being funny. The couple of paid, like

Yeah.

them. I don't

What the hell?

that care that I'm not getting fed. It's more the fact that they've paid for it.

Well, I'd be well annoyed. I'd be like wasting, I'd be, I'd get ha, I'd get hangry. So there'd be problems. You're gonna hear about it.

but yeah, so they're kind of like your basics, you know, your dietary requirements, layouts, so also table plans. Make sure you are not only doing a table plan with table one, this is who's sitting on it, table twos is sitting on it. But a layout, even if you just hand draw that of this is where I want table one, this is where I want, this is one thing I forgot to mention about Saturday. So she'd given me this table plan, but it was literally like at an Excel with like table one, table two,

Oh, I see. Yeah.

neck, right? Okay. Inner circle. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, like that. And she went, oh, I'm really sorry. But they're not actually like that. It. And it was like 1, 5, 3, 7, like, like she'd done it really like random, so I had to move 'em all around, which is fine. It didn't take me that long. But yeah,

Uh,

like that. So we know,

oh God.

multiple times before because if you

Yeah,

list like that, you just automatically think, oh well the most obvious way of putting the tables. But if you know you want them in

yeah, yeah.

we need to know the

You need to make that clear. Yeah. Yeah.

set down times, um, photo lists. So, um, a lot of the

Oh yeah. Good one.

about it until their photographer reminds them, but yeah, you need like your family group shots, but also we need to know everyone's names. You can't just put like cousins or extended family. Like we need to know their names so we can shout it out. Like

So you can be like,

Billy. Yeah, we needed um, order of the bridal party. So we'll order, they're gonna walk in down the aisle so we can get them lined up. reserve

Did I do it?

ceremony make sure

Oh yeah, that's a good one.

You know

Get nice. Yeah. 'cause your stationary will do all that for you, won't they? Yeah.

you ask. So then they're like, oh yeah, good point. Obviously we always have standard

Oh no.

for the people that are gonna be walking down the aisle, but if you want

Yeah.

other people, you need to even make sure that the people that are direct like ushers or something are gonna direct those people. Or you've got reserve seating cards, which is the best, easiest way. Um, and also, um, letting us people know like how you and the guests are getting to and from the ceremony. So for example, are you gonna be having a big bus? Turn up? The venue need to know that. The caterer needs to know, is everyone

Yep.

at one PO one time?

I think it's making sure that everyone's like singing from the same hymn sheet, isn't it? Basically with like things like that. 'cause if you've just got like this giant bus turning up, but you've not told the venue, you know that they're gonna be like, huh? What?

But you know what? I'm

Yeah.

I'm having a lot of emails of people asking for the plan and I'm very proud because this is exactly what you need to be doing is putting all of this information in one document.

Yeah.

that document, you just need to ask me for it and we'll send it out to you.

Ask her. She'll send it.

So for free

All for free.

What? What can you ask for? But little

Exactly.

always forget perfume. Every time I say to someone What perfume you wear? And they're like, oh, I dunno. I haven't thought about that. And I always remind people, I always, one of my biggest top tips, perfume, every time you smell that perfume is gonna remind you of your wedding day. She wants something a little bit different to the normal every day. And it's a really

Yeah.

for your anniversaries and

I absolutely love mine. I've still got it. 'cause it come in like a. A special bottle, but as long as you keep it outta the sun, it'll last for years. It's like a proper one. But it's so like I'd never spend that sort of money on a purview normally, but every time I put it on, I think of my wedding and I think of my honeymoon because,

See

it. So yeah, it works.

things like that. Mc, who's gonna be your mc, announce you into the room and stuff, but also make sure you tell them, because I kid you not, 80% of the time, I go over to the mc and they're like, oh, I didn't know I was doing this. not even joking. It happens

I am shocked.

the time. Then they're like, what do

Yeah.

panicking.

What do I say? My brother loved it. He was like in his element,

was gonna be shy and he was loving life. Yeah.

he was loving it.

one of the things that people forget to think about is they just kind of take it for granted. Like sometimes DJs and MCs just take it for granted. You wanna be known as Mr. And Mrs. Smith. Sorry, I just realized that's your maiden name. But that's my example.

It's a very common name to be fair.

you might not be changed your name or there might be reasons that you don't want to be known as that. So you need to think about how you wanna be introduced on the day. Do you just want to be Hailey and Hannah, or do you want to be Mr. And Mrs. Smith? Like, ladies and gentlemen, please be outstanding for Hannah and Hailey. Woo. You know, so you need to think about that and you

Yeah,

people because otherwise they will just call you Mr. And Mrs. Smith.

that would just shame. Yeah.

Uh,

Yeah.

again. Dry hard weddings, marquee weddings, venues that don't take control of the rubbish who's sorting the

It's gonna be a lot of, a lot of rubbish. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

in the bin.

Oh, another one probably related to you, Hailey Buttonholes, how many buttonholes you needed and who for, because the amount of times, again, I get this on the

yeah.

it's like,

Who are they for?

and the people are like, oh yeah, I need one. I need one. And then you're thinking, oh God, I ain't got enough left.

And I always make a note of, um, asking the couple where, where they want these buttonholes because dad and someone else might be at the house with the bride. Brother's gonna be here, groomsmen's here, groom's somewhere else. So I always make a list of where they're going and what, and then I bring that list with me so then I can be like, oh no, like this is going. 'cause sometimes

Yeah, there definitely can be.

actually most times.

But I mean, there's loads of little bits that people are gonna reconfirm in like your ceremony music and stuff. But again, people, things don't

Yeah.

people don't always think about is like, who's gonna have the rings in the morning? Who's the responsibility? Is that it's normally like a best man or, you know, kind of people, um, speeches. What order are you gonna do them in? And also I always tell people, so say you're doing the classic father bridegroom best man, but telling those people to add in their speech at the end to introduce the next person. So there's not just that

Yeah. That's a nice touch. Yeah.

so who's got the microphone now? Um.

Yeah.

the um, first dance, um, what is, what song are you having? And also if you wanna do a second dance. So a lot of people do like a,

Oh yeah. We said about this, didn't we?

or whatever. But again, make sure that that's, um, told to your DJ or a second song after your first dance to get the party going. And also vital, oh, I've said this before, but last song of the night because you wanna end on a high, you wanna add end on a good song. So, yeah. Do you know we was

A high.

and it just came to my head. Um, we, we had another incident on Saturday.

Oh my gosh. It just keeps going. This wedding. My God,

oh, you need to make sure you get the groom there on time. 'cause he's always late. We got the groom there. On time, right? We were like, this is great. The bride was ready, all the bridesmaids are

yes.

We were like, bang on time. Boom. Right? So I'm handing out the bouquets, lovely hand, the bride, her bouquet, and she's like, what is this?

Oh, no, no, no, no.

boat. So the boat, the, let me just say, the florist who did the wedding was incredible, but they'd ordered their bouquets from a different florist because it was like a family florist.

Oh,

que, they're a bit of a tradition. So she felt like she had to basically,

oh, okay.

think she works with that church a lot, so she did, they did like the church pedestals and the, you know, so it's like one of them.

Oh, okay. Yeah.

done. It was obviously quite a, I don't know, florist, but they're done

Oh my. Oh my God. Oh my God.

what these are called, but you know where you hold

Was it a shower in the holder?

Yeah. And you hold it in a, say a

Oh

she was like, what is

yeah.

This is not what I asked for. she literal, she

No,

at me

no. My God.

need, you need to fix this. You need to sort this out again. Second time in two days, I'm not a florist. So I'm like, okay, okay. I'm like, right you guys,

I.

yeah. All go outside, go get some pictures. I'll, I'll sort this out. So what we did was we got a boat, we got a bride, 'cause there was two. One of her, the bridesmaids was a little girl. So we are like, okay, let's take a big bridesmaid bouquet. They can have the little girls bouquet. We'll make her just a little mini one out of the shower stuff. All she wanted was, um, in the shower bouquet was like a big orchid that the groom had an orchid on his buttonhole. So she wanted the orchids in the,

Oh yeah.

um, we added that in. I pegged it over to the marquee, was like, Chloe, I need the florist now. Um, as in the florist that was doing the table

Oh my God.

it over. So bless her. She did an a miraculous strawberry. She wasn't even doing the bouquet, but bless her. So she got the orchid, put it in, rewrapped the ribbon around the main one, added some bits to make it bigger. And then she

Fair play.

out of, 'cause this shower, I was trying to make a bouquet of it, but it's all just little tiny bits, like really short

it would've all been, yeah. Yeah. Oh no.

little girl out of it. wonderful job. just remembered that when

Oh my God.

Please stipulate

that's insane.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's a bit. Oh my God. That's actually giving me like, oh,

florist.

ick.

Bad times.

worst nightmare.

cake. Um, you know, do you want every tear cut if you don't? Do you wanna keep a chunk of each tear? Do you wanna keep the top tee? You need to be vocalized and things like that. Again, something that people forget about and unless you ask don't say. And then just picking up all your bits and bobs like, are your gifts gonna go with you in the taxi? Are you going to collect them the next day? Who's gonna pick up all your stuff?

Yeah, that's it. Otherwise, you've got all the responsibility of having to find somewhere to put it, but also getting it back. Yeah.

gonna lie.

What if you're going on honeymoon?

Yeah. So yeah, that's just a bit of a rundown and the kind of things that you guys need to be thinking about may not be thinking about. I'm sure there's other things that will come up. Um, write in if there's something that, um, you, you thought of and you're like, oh God, I forgot to

Yeah.

Or if you got married or a friend got married and forgot something urgent, um, let us know. We'd love to hear from you.

Yeah, we had a lot of, uh, questions, didn't we, about final,

Yeah.

in the final meeting. So we thought we'd do like a bit of, a bit of an update,

um,

bit of a list.

of a new episode. We're gonna be introducing once a month while we do a

I.

where we kind of almost, we are gonna basically release on our socials, um, a question that we are then gonna find out from you guys what your, so it's gonna be like a this or that. And we are gonna find out

Yeah.

and then we are gonna debate our preferences, the pros and cons, what

And what we think. Yeah.

be long tables or, uh, so banquet tables, which are long tables or round tables. So we'd love to hear from you. What would you

Yes.

Yeah.

in touch.

let's know,

Send us your opinions.

do you prefer

Yeah,

Yeah,

tell us.

we

I wanna know. You know where you can find us. We're on Instagram TikTok. It's at Let's Get You Word podcast, or you can email us with your listener questions. Let's get you Word [email protected]. We release a new episode every Thursday, so make sure you

Yes,

subscribe, and as always, we'll be coming in your ears every Thursday.

we will. Going crazy during wedding season.

Woo-hoo. We'll just get more and more gray.

Oh God. I dunno.

Uh, you won't tell me your hair, but mine's all dark at the root, so if one comes through, it's just like, oh God. A couple. I picked him out though. I know you're not meant to, but I'm having them strugglers in there.

bad times. But we'll see you next week with more wedding stories. See you next week guys.

See you on the flip side. Bye.