Hello. Happy New Year
happy New Year.
Woohoo. Oh, so and guess what?
What?
This year.
Oh my God. Just gotta be a people.
I can finally say this year I'm getting married. Oh, I'm so buzzing. Like so many people are like, oh, it's such a good feeling. So I'm getting married this year,
And
so yes.
I hate to say it and be one of those people, but it's gonna come round so quickly
It's gonna come around so quick. Should we get started?
yeah,
Let's
do it.
go. Hi, I'm Hannah
And I'm Haley
and we are 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,
with a few tips thrown in between.
and also just a chat between friends
And of course, make sure you hit that subscribe button
and let's get you.
word
Woo.
woo.
Happy New Year.
Happy New Year. Congratulations.
Yeah. Congratulations to all those. Newly Christmas engaged people. New Year engaged people.
Yes. year is another,
Fab
it's another hot, I was gonna say hotspot, but I meant I
another horse,
is hotspot.
a popular time.
For people to get engaged,
Yeah.
know, singing old Lang Sign,
Yeah. Singing up. It's not actually 2024 yet for us. We are recording in 2023.
Don't.
what, don't, don't give it away, but New Year. What's your thoughts on New Year? Do you have any plans? I mean, obviously your Prego, so there's not gonna be a lot going on. Is there?
Well, I'm actually hosting New Year this year
Oh,
mine.
lovely.
I've got family coming over doing fireworks, buffet, lots of alcohol that I can't have. But
Fireworks. You're going out.
New Year. Yeah, I do. I'm a big
Do you?
I just do you know what? To be honest with you, any excuse for a party and I'm there. I'm there.
Fair play.
it. I'm, you know what I mean,
Nice.
involved.
Lovely.
I just thought it's like nice to be with family. Like this is the year that I'm gonna become a mother. So I
cute.
know, it's my last like, new year without a child and that, so of
Fair play.
a bit.
Let her hair down
Yeah.
Next year the baby will be in the cupboard and then you'll be partying hard.
And one for me, one for you.
He literally, I just think it's a bit overrated though, isn't it? Like I always just think it's like the time of year when you just feel really fat and you just like, oh, I just wanna get, I'm sick of the Christmas decorations. I just wanna get into the new year and get back to routine. That's how I always feel.
Wow. So she also, so we had here first people. She hates Christmas. She also hates new.
I don't hate Christmas. I just have beef with Christmas.
Oh my God. Chases
I'll do,
though. It is a bit like I, it depends how you spend it.
yeah. We always do. One of our friends is really good. They always have everybody round to their, they always do a buffet. We always have drinks. It's normally what we do. Like most years
Yeah,
I just back in the day, you know, years ago and we'd be going out and stuff and it's just, it's so busy. Like we've been to London on New Year.
God, that is
London on the year was, oh my God. It was just insane. Like, you know, and I think since we've lived here, you know, probably for like the last five, six years, we've gone round to our friend's house and it is so nice. And it is, it is really nice to see them. Last year I ended up working a very last minute wedding because a venue they they coordinator had phoned in sick, so I went and helped them out. Yeah. But I've never really worked. New year.
But yeah, just, yeah, just, just all the going out and stuff. Not for me at home. Lovely family, friends, have a party. Love that idea. But yeah, this year I'll probably not make it past 9:00 PM I'll be in my van with a. Hot chocolate or my wine
oh,
watching me. Christmas films probably still
Oh,
I've literally like downloaded so many to watch over Christmas, so
I love that.
love it. But yeah, it's gonna be the year of my wedding. I'm gonna be so buzzing to for that.
So excited to do this like last, it's not the last bit, but mean from January to when you get married, and we can
I know,
the podcast of you and just find out what you need to ask. You know,
I know.
are just,
Literally, well, I thought today actually I was gonna do a little rundown of my wedding plan. So just kind of talk about what I've decided to include, what I've not decided to not include, and why.
Yeah.
so yeah, so first up. We're actually having two weddings.
one
in True, true. Had a form. Yeah. So as you'd heard from the last episode we got engaged at the top of the mountain and I was telling you my story about how I've always just loved you know, our memory of climbing Snowden together. So I'd always envisaged in my head. This is what we're gonna do for the first wedding, right? So you'll also have heard from previous episodes that I, I love a celebrant wedding. I love a, a very personal ceremony.
So I'd always known that I'd just wanna go to the registry office, sign the paperwork, which of costs you 42 pounds or whatever it is, and, and that the legal bits done. I didn't want no offense to registrars, but I didn't want a registry office wedding or a registrar to come out to my venue. So. We are going to Wales to Kanaf and Registry Office. We're gonna sign on the dotted line. I'm gonna be in address. Address my, my address for this day. Marty will be in his suit.
We've got two photographers booked. We've got a videographer booked. Once we've signed on the dotted line at 11:30 AM we will then be climbing Snowden in my dress
I love that. That's
with our photographers, with our videographer, and I'm so excited.
Oh my gosh. Amazing.
it's all, we're this all about like, I just think it's gonna be the experience on the day. It's gonna be a weekday in May, so I don't think it's gonna be busy. You know, we were talking last time about is a tourist hotspot,
Yeah.
although I love that idea. I just want everyone to see me and be like, congratulations
Oh, Right.
So, yeah, so we are gonna, we've had to, I mean, me and Martin have done it on our own before and we can get up and down it in about four hours. But I think, you know, we are kind of putting aside like six to eight hours for this because, you know, we're gonna be stopping for photos. It's gonna be a lot harder climbing in a dress than it is in like you. Hiking shorts. So very excited for that one. It's just us two go in.
We're not putting a lot of emphasis on the fact that we are actually getting married. 'cause to us we're just signing on the dotted line. It's just a really nice experience. And yeah, like Hay said, it's kind of, we want the incredible photos, we want that memory together.
Yeah.
but then staying in Wales the rest of the week, so we've got a really nice spa hotel book. So the next day you're gonna really chill. Have a nice spa. So it's call almost like kind of an introduction.
I wanna come along. It sounds amazing. I'm not gonna
A lot of people say that
It
wait.
but
I buzz him.
sounds like
Yes,
suited to the both of you and the
exactly.
is, and I love that.
And I'm not gonna lie, it took some persuading. When I first said to Martin about my idea, he was like, this is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life. But I brought him round and I think then he, I brought him round and he was like, if that's what you wanna do. 'cause I had my heart set on it. Then now he's like, no. Like he's looking forward to it. So that's good. so then three weeks later we're then having our wedding reception in South Northamptonshire.
So we've got a beautiful venue. Now. We've gone quite low on our numbers, I would say, like compared to like the average person. So we've got about between 45 and 50 on the day, depending on how many people are SVP. And then we're gonna have probably an extra like 20 to 30 in the evening. So it's not huge.
It's not small though.
No.
wouldn't say,
it's a good number.
not like intimate. It's not in the intimate bracket. It's,
Yeah.
just, yeah. That's a nice, that's probably actually a really nice number to have,
Yeah.
can get around everybody and see everyone and say
Well, that's what my thought process was. Yeah. So the reason we actually had to keep it small in the end is the venue that we've chosen, the room where we are having like our, we're not having a sit down. One of the things that we've decided to not include is a sit down meal. We didn't want a table plan. So we are having a barbecue. So but the, the, the room that we're gonna set up for people to sit in is quite small.
And even, you know, I mean, we are having our band outside but in the evening, but wet weather option, we need to use that room. It's quite small, so we need to think that over. So yeah, we are doing a little bit different. I'd say, you know, we're having an outdoor ceremony. Which our two friends are, or ordaining us, I suppose the word is quite an American word, but they are acting as our celebrants. So they're marrying us.
We then to instill quite the traditional, you know, canapes drinks, reception, offer photos. One thing that we've decided not to include is kind of family group shots.
Yeah.
The reason why I've decided to do that is just because I see it every week where the couple are just standing there absolute sick of life, because however many times I've told them to keep that list short, they don't, and they end up with so many photos and it's just, yeah,
Do
a lot.
we were actually, I was quite good. I felt we, we
Mm-Hmm.
because I wanted to get some, but we didn't have many.
Yeah.
didn't, and we did them all in the same spot,
Yeah.
we
You did. Yeah.
done in like 15 minutes,
Yeah.
long. Really? I I didn't
No, but still 15 minutes
I know It depends
feel like.
though, doesn't it? Like you
Yeah.
if you are not massively into like, ha, if you're not too worried about having those photos with everybody in them, like. Then, you know, don't have them
I just feel like they're images that you're never gonna print out news.
Yeah. I'm like, oh. I'm like, oh yeah, no. Who would have those? I'm not looking around my house and I'm like, my house Smothered with photos.
Ah.
That's not really,
I just,
not,
it's, it's, yeah, I just feel like they're not photos I'd use. I think it's not, and I would just much rather have like a, a photo with like my brother and sister when we're like dancing together
yeah.
or really natural. Do you know what I mean? And
I love that photography.
yeah.
well, it's
The only reason
to it,
I think
it?
Like informal fly on the wall documentary, that kind of style.
remember. Yeah.
Yeah, but I also feel like because we've got such a small wedding party, we can do that. I think if you have got a hundred, 150 people, you can't because you are potentially gonna miss out on like a photo with your mom. Some other ideas I've been thinking about as well is, 'cause we have garden games on the lawn, is to say, okay, I do wanna have a photo with like my mom, brother, sister, but we all go and like play like a game of giant Jenga together or something.
So you have got those people in that shot, but you're doing something.
Yeah,
Yeah. You know, because I just don't want the lined up, facing forward smiling photos. I'd rather it be like that. We're laughing or do you know what I mean? Or like hugging each other or do you know what I mean?
It's
So that's
like natural, isn't it? It's
yeah,
it's just taking photos of what's going on.
exactly.
Yeah.
Yeah. Music wise, we've got quite a bit going on. So we've got an acoustic singer for the drink reception. We then, the idea is what we're gonna do is we're gonna have the, the barbecue will start so we're not getting married till three o'clock. Barbecue will be lit up. You know it, that the food will be ready to go from like five. So we've recruited an mc. Highly important role. I'll go into that in another, in another podcast.
But we have an cece who will then announce to the guests that the barbecue's ready to go. But the idea is that They'll eat when they wanna eat. They'll sit where they wanna sit. If they wanna sit outside, they can sit outside. If they wanna sit inside with a beautiful room with the beautiful flowers that Haley's doing, they can I.
Flowers,
So, yeah, I'm just gonna keep it really informal. There's no seat and plan. Eat when you want, eat, you know, and the, and the table. We're gonna make really beautiful with all the barbecue food. We've got a pianist plane in the room, so I'll be fully sit a hundred percent in that room because it's gonna look incredible. And then we'll then do our speeches in front of the fireplace in that room. So everybody will see those. So we are keeping to speeches, but we're keeping it.
So I'm gonna do one of course as well. So bridegroom, and then.
we?
Yeah, we did. And then Best Man will do a speech and also my best friends are doing a speech as well, so a little bit different, but love that. Yeah. And then after the ceremony, we've got a band in the evening, so what we're gonna have outside, so we've got some beautiful lawns and we basically wanna make most of the lawns, but obviously we live in the uk so we are having a, like what we almost call a wet weather cover per outside, over the lawns.
So it's basically like the exterior of a marquee. So it's like the clear roof with the, the frame legs and that. That's kind of it. There's gonna be a stage for the band, 'cause, so they need a cover. So even if it's sunny, you still, you just don't ever know if it's gonna start raining. So we're gonna have that up. And then if it does rain we can have our ceremony under that as well. But the idea is that it literally, it's almost like a ga, like a giant gazebo with a clear roof, basically.
cool. It's not, it's not stretch tent. It's not like a stretch tent.
No, it's not a stretch tent. No, it is basically the, the, that's how you start building a marquee. You put the clear roof on, you have the legs. But yeah, stretch tent swag. The only thing with the stretch tent for us is that your smallest stretch tent is that, that we can get from the provider that we are using is still probably quite big for the area and we wanna kind of keep everyone together.
quite big, aren't they?
Yeah. And I also don't wanna really make a thing of it. I just want it to be like, yeah,
if
it's a cover.
Yeah, yeah.
you know what I mean?
That's good. That's good
so yeah. Then we're gonna be partying outside. The other reason I love that is because you'll be able to see the stars, like through the,
so
so the band's gonna be playing, you're gonna be able to see the stars through like the roof. Like you're gonna have your outside seat, and we're gonna have a fire pit on the go. So if people wanna sit down by the fire pit, they can. If not, they can dance to the band. We're all in one area. The bar's gonna be in the room. Where we were for like, so people can still sit in there 'cause all the lovely tables will still be in there. So yeah, that's kind of,
I'm literally like so, so excited for you. It sounds
Ah, thank you.
Yeah.
So yeah, so we've got, you know, kind of things we've decided not to include. Were like the seat and plan the formal speeches. Yeah, you know, you sit down meal even in food, we've just got a pizza truck. we, keeping it simple. I'm not having favors. We're not doing any like, you know, the flip flops and, you know, all those kind of bits and bobs
flops.
Yeah. Do you know what I mean? And if I'm honest. Inside the room where we're having the tables with the lovely flowers and I'm gonna have charger plates and things like that. That's all for me.
Yeah.
want those for the photos. Like if I wasn't bothered about that, basically having a mini style shoot on my wedding day
I love that
for the photos, just because that's what I do. But I think if you are not bothered about that.
No, you
I wouldn't have even bothered have, I would've just had some plain tables with some flowers in the middle just to make it look a bit nicer because actually majority of our day is gonna be outside anyway. So yeah, that's, that's more for me, I'm not gonna lie.
don't blame you though. Oh, I love that though. Looking back at my photos and I've got those pictures of the room before anyone went in and
Hmm.
was just, I was like,
Yes.
and it all came together and I was like, beautiful. I loved it. It's just
Yes.
was there and I was like, this incredible.
So exciting.
So,
One of the things I have decided to include in my timing plan is a first look of the room. So we did this with you.
Yep.
So I will, so I'm gonna go up to the venue the day before, put on my linen iron. It obviously you are going up to do the flowers, the caterers, or do like the charger plates. I'm got some little like stationary bits and stuff to put out. And I. I'm gonna, I won't then have seen it, so all I'll see is like the linen on the tables. So yeah, definitely gonna, that door's gonna be shut until after the ceremony,
No
and then photographer, videographer will then film our reaction. We'll get to see it for the first time. I just think that's such a nice moment. And sometimes people forget those moments.
I did that. Me and Richard did, and I, well, we both loved it. Like I was, I cried.
Yes.
I had planned everything
You did cry.
I was like, oh my God. It just looked incredible. I couldn't believe that it had all come together and it
Yeah.
beautiful. It was just like, oh my gosh. And all of that. Sort of
All the time
of
and the, yeah.
thinking about
You finally see it.
it was just like, oh, it
Yes.
amazing, I wish you could like bottle up that like feeling
Yeah.
it, but have it in a
Can't wait for that. Yeah, exactly. Or on film. Yeah. So that's one thing we're definitely including. Some other bits we're including I saw this at a wedding this year actually, and I loved it. So I've got some paper napkins. I am obsessed with my cat. She is like, oh, just, just such a huge part of my life. So I've ordered a stamp of a picture of her head,
This
I'm gonna stamp every single napkin for the pizza for the evening with a, with, with her face on it.
love that. So
So she's part of my day. I might even get, if you sit on TikTok, the big cat heads on the, on the,
Yeah,
the posts. I might have to get some of them.
please do.
Got gotta be done, hasn't it? Love it. We've also included, I'm gonna buy on Facebook marketplace just before the wedding. A roll top bath, you can get him for like 50, a hundred pounds. Not bad. And like my other half is obsessed with baths. He probably baths like twice a week. He has the candles, the whiskey, you know, he goes to full shebang. Yeah, the bubbles. He loves it. He loves it. So we're gonna have a bath that's filled with ice and filled with drinks for, for the whole day.
And then at the end,
amazing.
I'm thinking like 10:00 PM vibes. We empty it out and then he gets in it and has some photos like, just 'cause it's so, it's such a Martin thing.
Yeah.
It's like
God, I love that.
as soon as like you see it, people are just gonna laugh and be like, oh, that's so smart. And, and I might even get a rubber duck with like a picture of his face stuck on it or something. And another really nice, like cool personal thing we've got is our lovely friend Kelly from Pink Peony she's doing our order of service, so it's like a lovely big board, but she does all hand
It's all illustrated, isn't it?
Yeah, so she's gonna include like a picture of our cat on there.
Love that.
like little dumbbells. 'cause we love going to the gym, like some mountains. So anything that's like related to us. So love that.
Can't wait
So, yeah, we've got a couple of little surprises in there. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna tell all but some really nice, like, little personal things I've decided to do on the tables, on the place settings instead of menus, I'm gonna do like little, like, welcome cards to say like, thank you for coming. Something like, maybe a little poem or something, but just something a little bit more like personal,
Personal. That's
so, yeah.
actually. I think a lot of your day is very personal and it's very,
Yes.
it's, it is like, it's very suited to you guys as a couple.
Hmm.
a lot about important to you and that's really nice.
Yeah. And we ha we are so also are adding in a breakfast the next day. So all of our guests are gonna come back the next morning. Will, who's doing our pizza, he's gonna be back in his trailer doing like bacon and eggs and sausages and stuff and baps. So yeah,
my
make sure you come and enjoy. Well, you'll be there 'cause you'll be clearing down your flowers.
Exactly.
you'll be there.
I'll be.
Yeah, very excited. So yeah, I thought I'd just do a little rundown just so you could kind of hear about my wedding plans and what I'm including and what I'm not including. Just so yeah, you can kind of get an idea of why
I think it's interesting as well for the listeners, like you say, you've not, you've decided not to do like a seating plan. You've decided
Yeah,
do a sit down meal, and I think that's something that people often think that they have
yeah,
have.
exactly. Yeah.
hear your reasoning and why you don't wanna do it or why you chose not to, I think it's actually really interesting.
Good.
help people out.
Awesome.
if you are engaged, recently engaged, and you are thinking of what the first steps to take are, we sort of briefly
Mm,
on this in the last episode, but I I have a list here of things, so
lovely.
them and see what you think, see if it's if you agree. Yeah. So the first one, announcement. So I think we kind of covered that really,
Yes.
I mean, you can kind of do it however you want. Like you say,
Yeah.
social media,
Mm-Hmm?
obviously tell people personally. I mean, I, I personally rang around my family
Yeah. We did a little FaceTime with the,
Like, oh, look at my ring. Yeah,
yeah. And people are like, what? Oh,
yeah. What's going on. bUt, and also just remembering to enjoy, just taking that time to start with, just to
Yeah,
engaged.
definitely.
So the first kind of thing important I'd say on this list getting your engagement ring resized and
Yes, good shout. Or you can do like what I've done. So I actually had my ring engage my ring, engage my ring resized, and then it came. Fingers. I learned when I got a ring are the weirdest things in the world. So, because I was obviously hot when they resized it. It was still too big. So I got one of these little bad boys from Amazon. They're like,
a little twisty plastic,
yeah, you get a whole strip of them and you just cut it to size and it costs about two quid. I mean, I need to change this bit discolored now, but you, yeah, and it just, it resized it by one ring size, so I've just left that on because at the minute it's winter, but by summer that might be,
fingers will be,
yeah.
me tell you a story actually. about
Oof.
fingers.
Oh yeah. Well, yeah. Pregnancy.
yeah. I literally had to, so I took my wedding. I haven't been able to wear my wedding rings now for like four months.
Yeah.
long gone. But my, I had a ring on my other hand,
Hmm.
and I. Had to literally put my finger in freezing water and then use wash out liquid and pull it off. And I, I, I honestly thought I was gonna pull my finger off. At one point I had to rip it off my finger.
Oh no, because it got stuck.
I hadn't taken this ring off for like seven years. It's a ring that Richard bought me,
yeah.
just a, it's just a plain like cubic Kona like band. It's really the
Yeah.
but it, well, it wouldn't come off.
That's mental, isn't it? So see, if you had one of these, you might have been able to get it off.
it off. Yeah, exactly.
I will highly recommend them. They're very good.
yeah,
But also insurance is such a good point 'cause I didn't even really think of that, if I'm honest.
Yeah. Yeah.
important, especially if you're of a certain value. Definitely.
God. Yeah. Imagine if, oh God, it doesn't bear thinking about you lose that,
Well,
that gets stolen. Oh.
well I dunno if you follow up, but firm and can she her engagement ring was massive. YoU probably, I dunno if you watched that series, but it was huge, this ring. And anyway, about six months later, she wasn't wearing it and she kind of made a reference to it. Like, oh yeah, my engagement ring. Thank, all I can say is thank God for wedding insurance. So she's obviously lost it or something, or it's been stolen. Yeah. Really important.
That's probably worth, that was probably worth 20 grand or something, if not more.
God.
Yeah.
that's
So important and I feel like it's something you do. I'm not gonna lie, when I first got engaged, I was a bit like, oh, this is just, it's one of those things where you're just like, oh, looking for it online. It's just such a, there's so many options and you dunno what to look for. We actually put ours on my house insurance in the end.
I was gonna say, you can put it on your home insurance. Yeah,
Yeah,
what we
yeah.
So,
Yeah.
but that's, that's an important, I think that, I know it's a little bit boring, but it is important getting insured.
It's,
sure
yeah. Yeah.
and then have an engagement party. So, I dunno what your thoughts are on this.
Ah.
that still a thing? People still doing that.
Right. So my thoughts and engagement party, so where I'm, I'm from Norfolk here. None of my friends or family, I don't think I've, I think, don't think I've ever been to an engagement party. Met Martin and in the last 10 years I've been to more engagement parties I've ever been to in my life. So I dunno if it's like an area thing. I'm like, they just, and I feel like if one of your friends or families had one, maybe you feel like. You have to,
Yeah.
So you then do it and it just becomes a thing. But I, and he kind of said to me about an engagement party and I was like, absolutely not. Like I just feel like fair enough if you're gonna wait years or you get engaged and you're not actually planning on setting a wedding date, but if you are about to get engaged, married in the next year or two, like a lot of his friends had engagement parties, then got married like a year later. I just think what a waste of money.
I was gonna say that's gonna cost you like up to a grand, at least like having an
Yeah. At least.
I'm just thinking like, why.
Put that towards the wedding.
that door to the wedding or
Yeah,
or something. I dunno. Not
yeah,
engagement party. Also, was thinking if you have an engagement party, surely you've gotta invite people to that, that you're gonna invite to the wedding because it'd be a bit awkward if
yeah.
them there and then you didn't invite 'em to your wedding.
Such a good point. So, yeah, so we,
anxiety. Stress.
yeah. So if, if you've then got like a hundred people at your engagement party, but you wanna keep your wedding small,
Yeah.
that's weird.
It's awkward.
Yeah, that it, it's, isn't it like, oh, you're invited to my engagement party, but Well, what about if you fall out with people,
Exactly.
I don't, I'm not gonna lie. I don't get it. I, I, I get that you wanna celebrate with people, but I also feel, I feel a little bit like as well, like you, your wedding is a lovely time and people wanna celebrate with you, but do people really care that much that you're engaged?
I.
It's like, it's your thing, isn't it? You are excited about it. Is anyone else excited about it? Probably not.
Woo. And that's it.
Yeah. Great. Congratulations. Lovely. What, what, what? And then you have to buy, do you have to buy a present for these engagement parties? Like,
Yes.
think it's a lot. I just think it's not just fair enough if you just love a party, but, and fair enough, if you wanna do something at home, you know, just had a gathering or have a little dinner
Yeah.
something like that, but
wanna go
I, it's never made sense.
or something like, like
maybe I didn't, but
do, we didn't do anything. We, we,
No.
I didn't even think it was like
Just got engaged. Yeah, I'm engaged. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Wait, wait a year,
Yeah.
Yeah. Not for me. Not for me. But write in and let us know if you feel differently. If you had an engagement pie, tell us why.
Yeah, I'd like to know. And then this one actually I would bring up because love to see your reaction, but this was buy a wedding planning book.
You know what I mean? Great. If you wanna keep organized, but I just think a good old spreadsheet, you can't go wrong because every wedding, and I see people and I see a lot of people in the wedding industry, you try and have, make these as like passive income. But. Every wedding is so different that I look at some of these books and I'm like, but that's not relevant to everybody.
Or that could that, that, that doesn't include X If you needed like no wedding plan and book probably has in it oh six months before you need to book your toilets because if you have a mark e wedding, you need to book toilets.
very generic. They're very like standard and generic. Probably things that, you know, you can just figure out without a like.
Yeah.
Let's be honest, it's, they're not
Yeah.
really
do you know what I think.
are they?
No, and I think they probably would've worked 10 years ago when the, we, the wedding market was a lot smaller and you nine times outta 10 went to like a hotel for your wedding.
it.
But nowadays there's so many different styles of venues. I just don't think check anything's, do your checklists or, or like planning books. I just don't think work because
Yeah,
Yeah. Whereas on an Excel sheet
like when you've got
Yeah. Timelines.
should have done this, this month
Yeah.
You should have done that. It's like, well, it depends because you don't know
Yeah.
wedding is. Like you
Exactly.
what, like it's just, there's too much to,
Or there might be things missing, like I bet they haven't got on their book. Your toilets, have they?
that's an important
which I do still need to book my toilets. Yeah. No, not, I'm not a big fan. I think it's a nice idea, but actually how many people actually Then I just think get an Excel sheet. Like my Excel sheet's got about 10 different tabs on it. It's got like my list of how much wine we need to buy. It's got like my list of all my email addresses of my guests, like stuff like that. Like imagine handwriting all your guests. Email addresses in a book and then what?
And then having to upload them all, like it's just easier to copy and paste. I've got my budget spreadsheet in there. I've got like a to-do list timeline of when I need to do things by, but mine's got like, you know, I wanna go perfume shopping. It's got things like that in there. Like I need to have my dress fit ins, I'm having hair extensions put in. It's got all those kind of things in it that's not gonna be at a wedding planning book.
You can personalize it to you what you need to suit
Yeah.
can't you? I, I had a spreadsheet. It was
Yeah.
It was
Also, you end up duplicating stuff because if you get a wedding planning book and then it doesn't include everything you want, you then have to start a spreadsheet as well, and then you've just got two things. It's just confusing. Also, a spreadsheet, you can share it, so you can then share it with your other half, with your parents, like whoever you need to. Google drive's the way forward.
Yeah, it's love Google Drive,
yes.
And then I think another one here was which is quite interesting, was discuss priorities and non-negotiables with your partner. So
A hundred percent
goes back.
so important.
in same in that like budget and sort of chat and things like that.
Yeah.
sure that you're both on the same page. find out what it is you want, what's important to you in your wedding. Whether that's, like we said like before, like aesthetics, food, entertainment, get that down. Then you sort of gonna get a bit more of an idea of what
Yeah.
And then from there you can start with your budget talk and things. But.
Yeah, and also like, like with me straight away, it was like, I really wanna elope for my legals. Like that was really important to me and I had to really kind of sit down with mine and explain why I wanted to do that. And he, like I say, he came round to it 'cause it made sense to him once I'd explained it to him. But he probably wouldn't have thought about that. And I think there's a lot of people out there that kind of probably think.
About, you know, the thought of walking down the aisle makes 'em really anxious in front of loads of people. So maybe you need to have that conversation to say, oh, can we have a smaller ceremony and a bigger party? Because I'm quite nervous of, you know. All eyes on me, you know? And I think it's really, I think everybody has a perception in their minds of their wedding day, don't they? And I think it's just marrying it up and sitting there. I always say, close your eyes.
Just, just imagine on your wedding day, your yourself in your wedding dress. Where are you? What's happening? Is there a big party? And I think if you both explain how you envisage it. Then you're both on the same page. But I think if you start booking things, then it's suddenly like, oh, well actually I wanna elope for my legals. And then it's like, what? But we just booked a barn, like,
Yeah.
know? Yeah. Yeah.
is key.
Communication.
don't lose track of that. But, and I think the most important thing is to just enjoy doing that together,
Yeah.
that time planning and like I said before, in the previous episode, just like that time where you are. You know, figuring out what you wanna do and all the exciting things, booking things together
Exactly.
it, and
Lovely.
time. That's, that's important to do that.
Cool. Should we go onto the listeners' questions?
Alright, let's do it. Yeah. What
Lovely. So sO these questions are very much tailored to people that just engaged questions for us now they are planning their wedding. So we've got how long to wait before we get married, what kind of timeframe do we need to plan our day?
Oh, well we
Very good question.
last week,
did.
we?
Yeah.
I mean, again, it depends on your budget. It de, and it depends like on your priorities, what's going on in your life, like work-wise, what's coming up this. The following year or years,
Yeah
like you may have already booked things, you just don't, you just don't know. So I think
yeah.
need to take the pressure off and really just figure out what's best for you. I know it's so easy to say, but really it is as simple as simple as that. Like just have
Yeah.
what works for you both.
Exactly, and I've like, I mean, I've planned as short as six weeks.
Yeah,
I planned a wedding from scratch, a hundred people, so it wasn't even small. There's a lot going on six weeks we did it, but yeah, you know, a lot of people go to 12 months, 18 months. It depends if you need to save up money or you know, if you've already got the money, then you can go straight into it. But yeah, like you say, life also, I think you've gotta think about, you know, your age.
If you wanting to start a family and you're thinking, oh, I'd really like to, you know, start a family next year, then you might wanna do it sooner. Or it might be that actually we wanna start a family and get married later down the line. Yeah, You can get married as quick as you, you need, you need to give your notice a marriage four weeks before. So as long as it's, you know, a good six to eight weeks before, so you've got time to do that, it, yeah, it doesn't really matter.
it.
Cool. Next one.
so someone's asked ideas to ask my bridesmaids to be bridesmaids.
Do you know what? I looked at this, I looked at, looked at this a lot online and stuff, but I, in the end I was just like, I don't wanna buy them. Just like some tat so I took them all out for afternoon tea. So I booked it, paid for it, and then they turned up and the lovely Kelly at Pink peony lent me loads of like charge plates and stuff. So I made the table look really pretty and she made me some like cards that said, will you be my bridesmaid with a picture of like them and me on it.
And yeah, so then they came. We had a lovely afternoon tea together. 'cause also they're like. I've got my two best friends, my two nieces, my two sisters. So they didn't really know each other, so it was nice to get for them to like get to know each other. Yeah. What did you do?
So I did like little gift bags basically,
did the TA She never said that. No, they're nice.
the ta, I did little, little boxes.
Yeah.
they weren't ta they were personalized. They were very pretty. And then
Okay.
like things that I know that they liked in there. And then I did like little personalized cards as well that said
Nice.
be my bridesmaid? And I wrote them all, a little message why I wanted them to be.
Ah, that's cute.
So
I do feel like there's a lot of pressure on this now though, because there's so much, like, again, it's all a social media thing, isn't it? Like, oh, look at my gift that I got to ask to be a bridesmaid. And I just think, don't put so much pressure on yourself. Like if you just wanna say to somebody, I'd love you to be a bridesmaid,
ask him.
ask.
Ask
Yeah.
straight
But yeah, you can get, you know, like the bridesmaid glasses and a bottle of Prosecco or, but I do think doing something together is really nice. If you can.
Yeah.
It's possible if you're all in like one area. I know it's sometimes not logistically easy. But yeah, I, I would say like a little trip together or, or something like that.
Yeah.
I actually tied it in with my wedding dress shopping as well, so after we'd done the afternoon tea, we then went straight off to look for wedding dresses, so
Yeah. We did
that worked quite well.
together, went, went and dress
Yeah.
and all met and kind of all the bridesmaids kind of met each other and yeah, it was, that was nice.
Yeah. Cute. But yeah, I, I, I think there's, there's so many ideas out there, but just don't put too much
No,
pressure on yourself. Gift boxes or
think's,
trip out, or just ask them. Yeah, send them a little, if you wanna do like a little e-card or something, you know, but
note,
look, look, voice, Hey will you be my bridesmaid? I always think like a nice ex like time as well. Like, I remember when Martin was best man for his best friend, they we'd gone on like a, a, like a, a trip together. It was like a night out kind of thing. And he asked, he kind of took Martin off and asked him, which I thought was really nice because we'd already had a few drinks. We were all having a good time. And then he asked him then, and it really like buzzed him up for the night.
So I think that's always quite nice.
Yeah, I like that. I think it's like you say, it depends on your group of friends though as well, like and family. Like what they might I. Like you just know them, don't you? You know what
yeah,
Like
yeah,
I suppose I went a bit cr I can't believe it. I went a bit cringe of mine with my little notes like, I love you,
yeah,
No, I'm joking.
you did. That's cringe for you, isn't it?
bit, I dunno what happened to me when I got married. God.
Dunno what happened.
no. But
Cool. I think that's us for the week, isn't it?
I
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