Did you, See my Instagram post last week.
I did. I did, yeah, I saw it, I didn't see it until the next day though to be fair, and by which point I was like, you know what, that ship has sailed.
Guys, I'm so sorry. Honestly. So Hayley had messaged me Thursday morning and was like, I'm stacked. Can you possibly edit the podcast? Hey, yeah, that's podcast. I was like, yeah, no worries. I'll do it now. Was literally in my office all day. I must have just got distracted and it just went out. The brain
happens to the best of us.
oh, honestly, I sat in a conference the next day and I'm listening away, and then I just went and I was like, oh my God, it's Thursday today. I kind of think I'd lost track of the days.
so it's still, it's
Yeah, it went out so I literally went straight home after the conference and I think I got home at five and I had it out by six. So
going to be
yeah, considering I don't normally do it, so I was a little bit like, how do I do this?
Work?
yeah, literally. So I apologize Hayley I did tell the Instagrammers, I didn't think you'd see. I would have told you anyway.
it at the time you posted it, because I was, yeah, I'm
Were you like, water numpty?
I was like, well, that's what happens when you're busy. Don't
You were like, it wouldn't happen if it was in my hands.
No, it would, it would this week, trust me. My god.
Shall we get started and you can tell us all about it?
Yeah, let's do it.
Hi, I'm Hannah,
And I'm Hayley,
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 wet!
Woo!
So guys first up, I just need to apologize if my sound isn't as good, but I'm in my van If you see us on TikTok, you'll see my bed in the background
ha ha ha.
Yeah, I'm away this week. We're in the lovely Cornwall. So I'm looking out my window to the side here and I can see the sea. It's very, very nice. So working from the van this week.
window and see the street that I live on.
Lovely. Yeah. I'm actually here for, like, this initially started from work purposes though, because I've got a wedding next year at the Eden Project. So, I need to do a site visit. Obviously, it's like six hours from my house, it's long.
So, I said to Martin, Oh, do you fancy And then he was like, well actually it's my birth it's his birthday tomorrow, so he said, oh well we'll go to Cornwall for my birthday, so we actually came at the weekend, so we're here for a week, so yeah, we like ended up tying a few things in, his friend lives here so we got to catch up with them, so yeah, why not, but how's your crazy week been?
Oh my goodness,
Are you dead? Are you sick of wreaths?
Yeah,
the question. Oh.
I am, yeah.
Yeah. She's done with the wreath.
but it goes from like workshops to making orders now, so it's
Yeah.
work
Yeah. Yeah.
and it's just me. So
on your own,
but yeah,
you're doing it. How, how many, what's the countdown to the amount of days till when you're like, okay, I can survive once I get to this day.
It's
Christmas Day.
yeah, I'm
Because it's not just Christmas. It's not just like work, is it? It's Christmas in general.
Yeah, it's just the general festive season is quite
Yeah.
but yeah, no, I'm busy really until the end of next week.
Okay, okay. She got about a week and a half. Mm hmm.
Yeah People have got their wreaths people have done the workshops I've just got one like late workshop, which is on the 19th, which is quite quite late and then I'm actually freelancing on the 21st at the Savoy with My friends. So yeah, I'm
It's my favourite place in the world. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Because I don't have time. Well, I'm literally that, and we laugh, but I'm literally that person on Christmas Eve, like, Oh no, I'm gonna have to, I've panic bought Richard's son Vulture online once on Christmas Eve because I've just been so busy that I haven't got him a
It's like, what is this?
It's
Yeah, I feel like if you, my kind of year died down a lot from, like, start of October. So, I know what you mean though. Last year we had Christmas weddings and I did a lot of Christmas parties. I am doing a few Christmas parties this year, but I don't have to start until 6pm, so it's not too bad. But I can imagine, like, if you're working right up until, 6pm. You just, you kind of just need to put it to one side, don't you? And you just think, oh yeah, I'll do that, I'll do that, I'll do that.
But, yeah.
Yeah, exactly. And I, I obviously this year is a bit different to last year. I had to cancel a load of
Yeah.
I wasn't too well towards the end of
No.
So, this year's like, it's almost like it seems worse than, not worse, like as in a lot
Yeah. Because you didn't do it last year. Yeah.
was, wasn't so busy.
Yeah.
But it's good though. I'm not moaning.
Good.
it. It's great. Obviously it's, I have to, as I say, make hay while the sun shines.
Yeah.
but it's, it's just full on and it's even more full on when you're like juggling. Well, also weddings. I've got a wedding in January. So I'm like, I'm obviously speaking with the couple
Thinking about that.
then like
Don't you hate a January wedding though? Because you kind of put, you're like, oh, it's not till next year. And then when you actually count it, you're like, oh shit, it's in like five weeks.
like, yeah, literally, and it's right at the beginning of January as well. So, yeah, yeah. But
You'll get there.
our our live podcast is in
Yes. It is.
online. The link is in the show description.
Yep.
so head on over and get those. It's on the 29th of January.
Please come along. 6.
six. Is it six or seven?
I think the door's open. The info's all on the link.
Yeah, follow the link people.
Don't ask us.
I'm too tired to know. My
She's thinking of reefs.
I don't know
She's thinking,
where I am.
She's thinking of reefs, I'm thinking about Cornish pasties. Like,
so jealous. Cornwall is one of my favourite places on earth. I love it so
It is beautiful.
and honestly it was like the best week holiday I've had. It was so good. The weather
It is so nice. I mean, obviously the weather is probably a bit different to when you come, but,
But
even like yesterday morning.
that you can
Yeah. It is nice. Yesterday morning I went out for a run along the seafront and there was like, there was so many people on the beach on like, a Monday morning. It's nice. And the towns and that are still like, fairly, they're not busy busy, but they're still busy ish. So I think people still come.
of me wants to go down between Christmas and New Year.
Do it. It
Okay. It is far to go, but
is far.
I just love it.
We didn't do too bad. We actually left Friday night at like, five o'clock. Sorry, Saturday night at five o'clock. And we did two hours, stopped and got some food, did another two hours. So we got to, I don't even know, we were somewhere in Cornwall at like 10 PM, pulled up, slept, woke up in the morning, did another hour. And then we were in like, we went a bit further than Falmouth to start with. Can't think what it's called now, but yeah. Yeah, so it weren't too bad, to be fair.
That's the good thing about having a van though, like
Oh, it's so good, yeah.
in and stuff
Yeah.
you can just move about
Literally, yeah. And you can just
Yeah.
If you're tired, you can just literally pull up and go to sleep.
yeah,
it's quite It's very good! Oh, well, I'm glad you've had a good but busy week. How, how have the wreaths been, though? Successful? Have
I've
any terrors?
oh.
Ha ha ha! Yes, she has. Ha ha ha.
should say it all. Look, I don't want to ashame nobody. Oh man. Do you know what though? I, I have had, no one's done a rubbish stream. It's just sometimes people, they, even though you tell them what to do, they
Yeah.
They
Right.
do.
Do what they're gonna do. Yeah.
help them, they just, they're just like, no, I actually, this is how I'm going to do it. Do you
Yeah.
enough.
Yeah, you do you. Yeah,
but Yeah, you went to a Reef class as well, didn't you, Hannah,
I did. I was a trier. I did pre-warn Haley that was gonna be a tri.
else. I mean, what
I went, I went someone else, how bad. But I will in, in my defense, I didn't book it. My friend had booked it. She then, her friend couldn't go. She said, do you wanna come? I said, yeah, I'll come with you. And it was only 10 minutes from my house, whereas Haley's like an hour off from my house. So.
I'll,
know,
let you off this time, it's
she'll let me off. But yeah, it was good. She, I, I was a bit thrown because when I did Hayley's class, this was a couple of years ago now though, wasn't it?
like just, just, it was like 2021 you came, I think, because we were doing COVID restrictions,
Yeah.
everyone was separated, weren't they,
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
because last year I didn't do one because we were away. The year before, I can't remember what I did the Where must have been the year before I came? Maybe I did 21, oh I can't remember. But anyway, I've always done the Oasis ones where you just stick and stuff in. Well this one was like, the thing, I messaged Hayley afterwards, I was like, what is this? It was a hoop, and you had to get this wire and just keep wrapping it around it, it was a lot more difficult.
that's how we do them all at my workshops
Why has it changed?
So, the Oasis one's good because you can, like you say, you can just plop it in wherever you like.
Yeah,
Oasis is not as long lasting. The foam does dry out, but
I'm okay.
as good for the environment. So,
Well yeah, I know that bit.
like the moss and wrapping it on is just that it will stay alive for ages.
Oh really? Oh
it's
I thought it would be the opposite. Because I've now gone away for a week and I'm like, I wonder if it'll be dead when I get back. Because I feel like it's not held in securely with the what, I don't know. It just, I'm like, is it all going to have dropped out?
it shouldn't do if you, yeah, like the, see, this is a thing when I demonstrate there's a few tips that I will tell people that they need to remember. There's like a few like top,
Oh tell me I'm, let's see if I did it.
you need to, for a start, you need to be tying it on quite tight. Don't be afraid to pull the wire quite
Right.
around.
Right. Yeah, I feel like I did that. Oh
to make sure at the end of the stem, or the stem is touching the moss, so your foliage is
we didn't get told that.
Yeah, you want to, they want to be, if you can, it needs to be kind of touching the moss or
Yeah.
like
Well, no, no shade to this woman, because I am a terrible listener, like, when it comes to stuff like that, so I probably,
as
she probably did say that.
Also, I'll be demonstrating and I'll remember little things I need to say as
Yeah,
like every time I do what I'm like Oh and don't forget
yeah.
yeah So, I mean there's just a few things you can do to kind of make it last longer and you want to turn it over And water it once a week if you can if you're in a
yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'll do that when I get home.
Yeah, unless your unless your door is like sometimes people have porches so that you wouldn't get the rain wouldn't
Yeah, we have.
it's
Yeah.
you want to be taking it off and watering it like once a week.
Yeah, we've got like a cover so the rain probably wouldn't quite get it. But also my friend told me, which I thought was a good tip, is the wire at the backs, make sure, you know, when you're adding little bits, so we did it, we went all the way round with the foliage, then we were adding little bits on, like little baubles or orange slices or whatever, with, with a single piece, and she was like, make sure you push them into the moss, because otherwise it'll scratch your door.
yeah,
like, that's a very good tip.
you can get this stuff called reef wrap, which you can put on the
Okay.
the wire, but I just
Wow.
get a bin liner and just break it up or a
Oh,
that
that's a good idea. You shouldn't tell us that.
it to the back, to the back, yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
it for a moment. I always say about that because yeah, some people's doors are quite fragile and like if you haven't pushed the wire back on itself enough,
It'll scratch. Yeah, mine's bloody brand new!
yeah, so don't do that.
I just went, I rubbed my hand all over it and it seemed like pretty. They were all, all the spiky bits were in.
obviously it'll
Yeah.
so yeah,
We've also got spare paint for the door, so it's fine. They gave us some.
Just
the parcel men, honestly, they like bash your door.
Yeah.
Very annoying.
our bloody num door number!
Are they?
So we've got like a glass door number. It's kind of
Yeah.
with like 21 on it and When they've put the parcel we've not been in so they've reached down to put it next to our bins Which we keep to the side of our door. They've like cracked the corner off
Cheeky buggers.
like managed to glue it back on.
Yeah.
someone went and did it at the Royal Mailman the other day, cracked it again. I might look at Richard at this point and just get another one
Just buy a new one. Yeah. Yeah.
so.
Buy a slate one or something. A bit more hardware.
Yeah.
no, it was good. I enjoyed it. It was a good, it was a good reef class, but I was like, I had to go off obviously because we were going to Cornwall. But yeah, no, yes. My hands just really hurt at the end. From doing it with the wire.
on! Ah!
lie.
what? My hands, I mean, I've always, had tough hands I
Yeah. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
life a living hell afterwards. Your body just decides to give up. Right? I mean, like, sorry, my life is not a living hell. I love her.
Poor lily bear.
terms of my
Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Yeah. Your body's giving up.
allergic to everything.
Really?
drying and, and,
Oof.
sore and they're all cracked. It's grim. I'm like an old lady.
You need some hemp hand cream. From the body shop.
Is hemp good? Oh, do you
Amazing.
got stuff with CBD in it. That's actually
Yeah. Well, no, hemp, yeah, it's just hemp. I don't know what's in it. I think it's just parts of the leaf, but
not CBD.
yeah. Hemp,
is
well, hemp's like, I don't, I don't really know the difference, but it's from Body Shop. It's really good.
Yeah,
have an almond one as well.
I love anything, I've got a new conditioner. Sorry guys, it's going completely and no one cares, but I've been using Aveeno almond like conditioner. Oh my god, it smells incredible,
Does it. There you go, get you, get you some almond cream then. Treat your fine self. Yeah.
Yeah, well, should we talk about weddings now?
Well, I went to a wedding conference this week. Which was, well, last week now, technically. Yeah, it was Guys for Brides. So, a lot of you listeners might know of Guys for Brides. It's a platform where you It's like, it's a directory platform so you can find your supplies on there. But yeah, it was really good. It was very insightful. I was messaging Hayley loads of bits all day. Like, ooh, this is interesting. Ooh, this is interesting.
Yeah, so you should see some of those bits and bobs coming up soon.
Yeah.
So yeah it was good.
as well, the things that you were hearing like for us with the podcast.
Yeah.
good to know what kind of like you guys are asking,
Yeah.
might want answers to that we can kind of address here. So I
and the stats.
Yeah,
well.
It's interesting. So then we know like how much. basically it gives us an idea of what we need to be covering.
Yeah.
so that we're like answering all your questions and things. But I think the main one was, it was about venues, wasn't it? And, and kind of what questions you should be asking your venue before your book or when you're
Yeah.
a venue.
Yeah. Yeah, basically, the conference was kind of venue focused, actually. They kind of said, I think originally they put it out to just venues, then they kind of opened it up a bit more, and they said to me, obviously it's great for me to be able to network with venues anyway, so it's a benefit for me. But yeah, I did think this was quite interesting, because there's always been something that I'm very, like, You know, I think that I think it's very important.
I worked in vending myself for 10 years and I did used to find when I was doing viewings, you'd either have a really long view and where they're asking you a lot of questions or you had ones where they just asking you nothing. And I'd always think I always made it because they're just not keen, but actually then they'd book and then you'd think, well, they don't know like X, Y and Z, you know, and I also see this a lot.
Yeah, I see this a lot, you know, even with my own couples, where they've already booked, quite often couples have booked a venue before they book a planner because that's when they realise this is really bloody hard.
There's a lot to do here.
Yeah, and then I'll mention to them, I'll know, you know, you can't do that, or you've got UC sat on suppliers, or we need to turn the music off at this time, and they're like, what? And I'm thinking, you booked the venue?
Yeah, you should know. Have you not read the fine print?
Did you not read the note? Yeah. Yeah. But again, sometimes people Venues don't have so one of the first things I do is if a couple's already put their venue is asked for a copy of The contract and sometimes the contract doesn't even have all these stipulations in it because it is more like I don't know It's not contractual stuff. It's like I don't know rules and regs I suppose kind of stuff T's and C's frequently asked questions things like that.
Not every venue has stuff like that So we've got a little list haven't we Hayley?
We have, so we've put together a list of things that I was thinking back to when I was booking my venue
Hmm.
needed to know the answer to and also things that we get brought up quite regularly from listeners questions.
Yeah, and also just things that are important Yeah,
exactly. Things that you need to know. And, I mean, I'm just going to start off with this one. Because I've, I've, I've written it down in capital letters. But basically, can we see the contract? You want to see that contract and actually read it.
100%. And we've said this multiple times on the podcast before, but honestly, especially if you're going to wedding fairs, just, I know it's exciting and you get excited and you're like, Oh my god, I love the venue! But please just like look through things like that before you sign anything, even if you go off for some lunch and do it first and then go back because you know what venues are like, they'll be like, Oh, it's 500 off if you book today at the wedding fair. Like, yeah.
you in.
Yeah. But yeah, make sure you've read that contract before you sign it because most venues won't confirm your date until you've paid a deposit and signed the contract. So yeah, that's really important. Yeah.
Yeah, definitely down and have a read through it. It's not, it's not the most exciting thing, but it's just so important because you
It is.
up. But once you've paid all that money and it was like a non negotiable for you, like some people really, really want, I don't know, fireworks or confetti or something like that or real flames because they want to keep the app, you know, like
Yeah.
Obviously you can have really good LED ones now, but if you're basing, like, your decor, you're really into candles,
Yeah.
no, you can't have that at all, like, then that's going to be a problem for you,
Yeah, definitely.
out
Makes a difference. Yeah.
find that out. So,
Yeah. No, definitely agree with that one. Okay, cool. Next up we've got packages. So, do you have packages? What is included in them? And, for example, you know, your cutlery, your tableware, is that all included? If it is included, what's the colour? What's the style? Same with chairs. Are they included? What do they look like?
Normally they're
think that is quite key
horrendous.
some, sometimes, especially at wedding fairs and stuff, if you've got a decor company that's come in with some chairs or something that have chairs or they have maybe charger plates, like, they've set it all out on the table and you think, oh, that's, that's what it looks like, but not necessarily.
No, so you need to confirm that.
Yeah, you do. I get that a lot, actually, when I, that I've seen at wedding fairs, especially when I was with the catering company. And they, you know, they'd come along and they'd be like, oh, is this, this is what the table looks like? And we'd be like, oh no, like, these are, napkins are an extra cost, or yeah, these charger plates are actually that deck, or ladies over there, or, you know, it's not Actually, what's in the standard package.
And I think even down to like food and stuff, like if you go into a venue that has a package that includes your three course meal, your evening food, like what does that consist of? What is the menu? Is it a set menu? Or can you upgrade to a choice menu? You know, what is the evening food options? Do you get drinks? But what are the drinks, you know?
And also, does it include cutting the cake? Because some
Yeah,
an extra fee to cut the cake.
yeah, yeah. Very true. Very true.
And I was quite surprised when we were getting married that the chairs, because I think I'd been to a wedding fair and they obviously had the, like the Stats, like the Chivari
Yeah.
spindly white ones that you see everywhere. They're nice ones, they go with everything.
Yeah, they're good.
the actual chairs that the venue has and offers with the, with the weddings and their package is the red cushiony ones, you know?
The red terrible.
like, Oh, okay. And a lot of places they're like that. And I didn't want a
Yeah. No.
so then you've got a higher in chair. So
Yeah.
make sure you, you think about that because it is an extra cost.
Yeah, so I'd say for a hundred chairs, five hundred quid. Because they're because of the delivery
So that, see, see, that surprises me. So people, and you know, I'm in the industry, so if you're not, then you're gonna be a bit shocked when you find out you need to find an extra 500 quid to change your
Yeah.
Obviously you can get chair covers. If that's a cheaper option for you and you need to do that, then obviously that's fine. So they're like a white cover that goes on. You can stick a bow on them,
No, don't do it. No, no skip that Don't just don't listen to her guys Just hire the Shabari chairs, but check
you,
but chair covers at the same price So, 500, say,
fee, haven't you? Surely?
yeah, exactly, and wash fees. So, a chair cover is, tends to be, between, depending on the company you go to, between 2. 50 and 4 per chair cover. So, if you've got 100 chairs, it's between 250 and 400, plus then your washing fees and your, it will be similar, it'll be five, probably around 500.
Yeah.
the cheapest. I did a wedding at your venue. We did it together. Those, those chairs cost 500, for 100 chairs.
Glad to hear. Yeah.
So, yeah, definitely important to look at the chairs, yeah.
And speaking of numbers of guests, that's another thing that you should bring up with your venue. What is your guest capacity? So if you are, if you've got a big family, you're expecting a lot of guests and some venues can only hold, you know, a hundred people capacity. And if you're wanting 200 people, then obviously that's not great because even
Yeah,
might look big, they may have, like, there may be fire regulations and things like that. They're stopping
yes.
certain amount of people in this particular room where they offer. But then. For example, some venues might say, well, we can't fit you in this part of the venue, but you can have like a marquee outside and things
Mm hmm.
for bigger numbers. But again, that's an extra cost. So it might be something that you want to bring up if you are looking at bigger than
Yeah,
I would say.
the other thing I would add to that is Venues can be a little bit like they will tell you it fits a hundred But actually when you've got a hundred in there, it is tight as F Like the caterer and staff are struggling to get around. So I would always say what's your guest capacity? Okay, yeah a hundred for a sit down, but what is the comfortable capacity is probably 80
This actually reminds me of the other night I was doing a reef workshop in this farm shop.
Mm
place, loved doing it there. But there was like 20 people,
hmm
but it's only small.
Oh no, is it tight?
but last year I did it, I was really heavily pregnant and round. I'm still quite fat, so I'm there like, excuse me, oh sorry, excuse me, just trying to
They're trying to, yeah, move through.
what it's like when you're trying to
Oh, it's awful. And it gets hot. If it's in the summer and it's hot and it's warm outside, oh it's rank.
Oh,
and it gets smelly. You walk in the room and you just smell food Oh, it's bad, it's bad news. Yeah, so that is definitely an extra little tip that I would add. To kind of say it as a joke on the sly, like, well she gets capacity, but what is your comfortable capacity?
But what is it really?
Yeah, what, what is it actually? Same with the aisle actually, for a ceremony. Because again, like, they can pack it out, but then your aisle might be really narrow. So if you know you've got a big dress, or you want like, you know, like the flower meadows down the aisle that you do Hayley. Like, something like that, and then you Your chairs are too narrow together. It's just, again, you've got to think about those kind of things.
They might think, oh, well, yeah, it's an alright aisle size, but they might not regularly have flower meadows, or, for example.
Yeah, we have to be careful sometimes because the bride's got a big dress and it's like it was all good and best hope in the world. But I always ask that question now I'm like, have you got a particularly big dress?
Oh, I'll never forget that with Brittany's wedding.
you down the aisle?
Yeah, when, when Brittany had Brittany's wedding, and the, and the church aisle was so narrow, and she didn't have a big dress, but by the time we put these massive meadows in that she wanted, They looked insane, but her and her dad, they were like, ehhh, like, ehh, ehh, ehh, ehh. But it was fun. It was fun. It worked out in the end.
And
Okay.
another thing you might want to bring up with your venue Does it
Mm hmm.
like have you got an aisle runner? Sometimes
Yeah.
lanterns and things in the package and
Yeah.
Does it include decor?
it includes a red carpet, tell them to please throw it away in the bin.
That needs to go oh god
I will never forget, I used to work at this venue in Norfolk, right? And it was like a little boutique kind of hotel. And every Saturday, basically in the daytime, they did, they were a really popular carvery place. So they'd do a carvery till like 2 o'clock, then we'd do weddings, so we'd kick everybody out. Every day, every Saturday, I'd be rolling out the red carpet at the entrance. We're trying to get all these cronies out from having their carvery.
Cut
Every week, they'd be like, Oh, you're rolling the red carpet out for me? Every week. And honestly, after two years of it, I was so sick of the joke. Every week, Oh, you're rolling out the red carpet for me? No, actually, Harold, I'm not. Can you leave so we can get the bride in? Thank you. Thank you so much. Oh, God,
That's
was a lot.
Oh my gosh, that is funny.
Okay, next up we've got Do they have accommodation and is this included in the price? And if they, if they do have accommodation but it's not included. So quite a lot of places will do a package with like the honeymoon, like a room for you guys the night of the wedding, but then check, can you do a discounted rate for your guests and how many rooms that you can actually get? So the way it works is, I'll kind of half explain this, is what we call a block booking.
So a lot of places will say, right, you can block book, 20 rooms, your couple need your guests need to say your name or, or a code or whatever. And then they get a discounted rate. Then up to four weeks before the wedding, they then drop that block. So any Joe blogs can then book a room online or whatever, but they don't get them the discounted rates you need to do in advance, essentially, because it stops the hotel then having empty rooms.
And so that's, that's quite common, but always ask because some places don't do it anymore. Sometimes it's just first come first serve basis. So yeah, always make sure you're checking about the accommodation. It's important.
Yeah, it's a good point. It's, it's very handy when a venue's got accommodation
So handy. Yeah.
especially as well if you're getting ready there. And that's
Yeah Yeah
some places don't have accommodation, like there's a venue in Northampton that has Or Northamptonshire. They just have a room at the back so when the bride arrives it's like a bit where they can finish getting ready but they don't like have accommodation there which is fine so you just want to kind of like check is there a room that we can freshen up in and you know just last little bits before
Yeah, yeah Because that is actually something And not a lot of people think about is where you're staying the night before What your check in time is and I get this a lot where it's nearer the time and then they're suddenly like Oh, but we can't check in until X time.
So you need, I would always advise to book for the night before, because if you want to get in at like, Nine in the morning to get ready with your hair and make up artist, like you know They're not gonna, they're not gonna be able to sell that room the night before so you're better off just booking it the night before And you're so right.
There's there's another venue in Northamptonshire that's similar in that They have one like honeymoon suite room with that getting ready area But you need, if they've got a wedding the day before, obviously somebody's already staying in there, so you're going to need to stay locally and then maybe finish off getting ready. But it's the same with the guests. When I worked in hotels, this was my biggest complaint that we used to get all the time.
The guests would come, they'd block book a room from the room block, not read their check in time. The ceremony would be at two o'clock, they'd rock up at 12 and be like, oh yeah, we've just been traveling, want to get changed. You're like, well check in's not till three o'clock.
Yeah,
I used to get that a lot.
I bet, yeah.
Yeah, especially if they've been traveling.
clarify. It might be something that
Yeah.
so if you have a wedding website, that would be one of the things
Yes, it would.
or
Yeah.
know, just don't forget if you're staying, like you're not gonna, you know, might be something you should put on there just so
Yeah. Pay for an earlier check in or check in in the drinks reception or something. Yeah, definitely.
So we did speak about packages and food and things like that. So is catering included? Because it's not always included. They
No. Mm hmm.
that maybe if they do a package that comes part and parcel with that. But if you need to source external catering, obviously that's something else that you're going to have to organize.
Yeah, and also do you have to use certain caterers?
Yes.
more common now that places aren't doing catering or it's an external caterer that then comes in. So you're paying two separate deposits. It's very rare now, unless you're going to a hotel, that you, there's a package with all your, your three course meal and stuff in it. It's very rare now. Most places are dry hire. Especially if you're looking at like stately homes, barns, all those kinds of things. Yeah. Not very normal anymore, but yeah, it's, it's very rare as well.
Don't be annoyed if you can't bring in your own caterer, cause it's very rare. Some places will allow it, but you have to pay an extra fee. But yeah.
caterers though, it's probably a little bit more complex than it is like hiring other
It is, yeah.
in because they've got to know how their kitchen works
Yeah. Yeah.
venues All of their appliances and things like that and they're probably going to need to know that's why I do feel like that's a valid Reason for a venue to
100%.
we use our recommended caterer
also on the venues, like, because if you're eating your food there and you get ill from it,
Yeah,
it's a health and safety thing. Because if, if you, if you're eating a meal in a venue, you're not going to think as a guest, oh, this is an external caterer, you'll just think it's the venue. So I've actually had this situation before, where something. There was something went wrong allergy wise with the caterer and this guest and they then gave the venue a really bad review and they were like, well, it's not us,
Yeah,
external caterer. But you wouldn't know that as a guest. So it's so important for the venue to know they've got trusted people basically. Yeah.
Which
Yeah.
and again, same with supplies list. Some venues have a
Yeah. Yeah.
want to ask ahead, you know, have you got recommended supplies list? And do we have to use the supplies on that list? Sometimes you don't, they just will have sort of like a, you know, a link to a page or say, you know, they recommend,
Yeah
which we've spoken about before, but but yeah, you, you might want to just check that because sometimes, like, I know a venue you're working with this year, they have a, you have to use everyone off the list, don't, don't you?
Yeah, it's very common with like points of interest or like, kind of, I hate the word, but tourist attractions where they open up later after the visitor, visitor attraction. That's a better word. Once the visitors have left but yeah, if they're like for example, we're doing like Kew Gardens, Eden Project, they've already got like, because of the plants and stuff, they're so like, rare and exotic, they've got to be in certain temperatures.
You can't just use any florist, you have to use their People on site because they know if, like, you bring in a certain flower and that, that could react to one of their plants, then, yeah, all those kind of bits and bobs.
So important.
Cool! Next up we've got, do you have a designated coordinator or point of contact? Very important. Because, again, it's very rare now, it's quite, it's quite common now that, you know, It is a dry hire venue, you do everything yourself, you bring in your own caterers and whatever.
you
So you need a coordinator. So important.
do.
Even if they have a coordinator, still get your own.
I've met with a couple of a couple of couples lately
Couple of couples!
who have said to me that they're looking like they need a coordinator because they
Yeah.
themselves because you do otherwise.
Yeah, exactly.
gotta do everything. It's not as easy as people think. There's a lot, there's a lot of things that have to be organised in advance.
There is.
it's worth every penny having a
Thanks, Heidi.
And a florist. A decent
And a florist. Oh yeah.
so I mentioned this before but basically, Can we have naked flames? Can we have nakedness?
Naked Flame.
flames? Or does it need to be LED candles? Like I say, if it's a must for your decor and you really want that, and that's something that you've seen on Pinterest, and it's like your aesthetics are going to be
Yeah.
Candles, candlelight,
Yeah.
would definitely check this.
100%. This would be a must for me.
Yeah,
I wouldn't book a venue that couldn't have candles.
Yeah,
I'm not gonna lie.
I literally didn't even think about it. I just, can you believe?
Oh, you couldn't have them, could ya?
I couldn't have real, I didn't even think they wouldn't let you, because I thought, well it's a massive stone room, like why wouldn't you? But
Yeah.
allowed real flames, so I had LED ones, like floating candles. They looked fine, like you would never know in
Can't remember,
photos.
yeah.
Yeah, but like obviously tapered candles and things like that do not
Oh, I love a taper. Yeah, so I just love taping.
But do you know what, actually, I will kind of half take that back, because I do think it depends on the time of year, because I've got couples next year that are getting married in June, and I've actually said to them, I wouldn't bother, like, because some florists do charge a lot of money to add, like, candle holders on and candles and stuff, it's an extra cost, and I'm like, it's not going to get dark till 10, 10 30, because you're getting married in June, so what's the point?
generally, like, darker, or
Yeah.
not there, then I would, you know, yeah, you
So actually, maybe, maybe I'll have to. But if I was, okay, I'll reword that. If I was having an autumn or winter wedding, it would be a must for me that I could have candles. Because I've got a, yeah, we've got a wedding next, next winter and they can't have candles and I'm just trying to think of all these different things that they can do. We're using a lot of fairy lights and stuff because I just think it's such a shame because Christmas is just about candles.
Okay.
And winter, actually winter in general, like it just adds that ambience. When it's dark by four o'clock, candles just make it look incredible. So yeah, I do think it's important. I think it's an important one that a lot of people do forget, and like you said, you just kind of assume. Like, it's just something you just think, oh well, yeah.
Yeah. Totally.
Cool, next up we've got, can I provisionally book a date while we decide? And also, how long do they provisionally hold it for? Because, again, like, don't Again, I think some people do go down the route where it's like, Oh, well, no, it's first come, first served. And then you kind of just jump into Doing a date whereas if you can say look, can you please just hold the date for us?
Normally, it's 14 days You've then got time to go read that contract and stuff and ask for the contract to be set and on the T's and C's
That's it.
you then confirm.
ask all of these questions that we've
Yeah, exactly Once you once you've settled down from the excitement put a list together and email it over to them, you know
Yeah, exactly. So another thing you might want to ask is what your setup and set down times are.
Yeah.
venue, your suppliers can get in for
Mm hmm.
So it's something that I really need to know when I, for example, when I'm doing a wedding, especially if you want a lot of flowers or a lot of
Mm hmm.
then people are going to need time. Obviously they're going to want to know when they can get in from. So,
This is so important. Key.
Yeah. Also with set down it's quite important that you find that out because sometimes if you're having like a later wedding like if it goes until one then your suppliers may charge you an extra fee for coming out later. Because normally like
Definitely.
of like 12 o'clock so then obviously they're going to come and pick everything up but if it's like 1, 1am, 2am then you're going to get charged obviously an extra fee for like an out of hours kind of service. So it
Yeah.
that you want to, to
Yeah, I had this exact situation recently, actually, because the venue, because you can't get in till a lot later, because it's a visitor attraction, they then go till later, but I just thought that was the standard, and then it's actually that, Oh, no, you can extend but then we had to tell the suppliers they're extended and because it's extra fees because yeah It's it's longer, isn't it? So,
yeah.
know, we had one before though I was it was it fell on the day where the clocks go back and I was like Oh, does that mean that do we need to finish the wedding at midnight? Because obviously at midnight the is music off whatever but that then goes back to 11 o'clock So I was like how does this work?
I've never had that situation before but actually What the suppliers were saying was like the band and stuff were like well no because it's an extra hour Performing then so actually we didn't we left as it was so when the wedding finished at 12. It was actually 11
you. Whose wedding was that?
I think it was Britney's.
Yeah, I remember
and then it was actually 11
yes.
and I was like great for those guys because then they're still getting all night But then they've gained an hour to go and sleep Dear oh dear. But yeah, set up, set down times are like vital. It's one of the first things I look at as a planner, is what time we're going to be able to get out and what time, because some venues will give you the next day to set up, set down, sorry, and again, this, it, it, it depends.
Some venues will say, oh, you need to be set down at the end of the night, but you can leave all your bits and bobs here in this cupboard and pick them up the next day. Some will be like, no, everything needs to be gone. By 1am for example, so you need to check that because that means you need somebody there till the end to make sure they've taken all your stuff away. All your bits and bobs and your guest books and your photos and whatever else you've got. So yeah, definitely vital.
So another thing you need to ask is if it's important to you, can we have an outdoor ceremony? So obviously if you can, that's great. They may have sort of facilities for that. So some people have like pergolas and like little buildings outside and things like, which is really lovely. But also if that's the case, then you want to discuss like your wet weather plan, which is probably something that you will then discuss with like your coordinator or the wedding planner.
But if they have got the facilities for it, then I would just ask how that kind of works.
And also if it's legal, because some places do
That's true.
to have it outside and some places don't, you have to have a blessing if you need to get legally married first, so yeah,
Yep.
We've also got, is confetti allowed? This is really important because a lot of places aren't allowing it anymore or they only allow dried or, you know. Yeah, no paper
by, yeah, exactly. Some places are a bit funny about what you can and can't have, so just make sure you check that.
Yeah, because even nowadays even if the papers biodegradable Which is obviously the one that I always recommend to get some places don't like it because they do so many weddings back to back It's a mare to clean up So if they've got another wedding like the next day you it's still about because it doesn't biodegrade for a few days So yeah, especially if it's not been raining.
That's true, yeah. And then last but not least, is VAT included in the price? Now this is a big one because you might be like, oh yeah, this is a good price, whatever, I can afford that, and then they come and add VAT at the end, and
god, it's driving me insane at the minute. Honestly, with all suppliers quotes and sometimes people don't say or they forget and and, and also what really bugs me is I don't know why so many suppliers and venues do it with the plus. VAT. It's like, just state that it's including VAT because nobody, when you have a budget, say you've got a 10 grand budget for your venue, right? That's the money you have. So I don't understand why venues and suppliers are like, oh, plus VAT.
I think it's because what they're trying to show is that they're not actually charging, I don't know, 12 grand for their services. It is only 10 plus they've got to pay the VAT. But if you write INCVAT, people can see that.
Yeah, that's true, that is true. I don't, I, I've never Yeah, I didn't know whether they had to do that as like a legal thing. They have to put
But.
but you could just put including that.
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
ink.
yeah, INC. So if you're a VATable business, you have to stay if it's excluding or including. But if you're not a VATable business, you just don't write anything. And I
Yeah.
A lot of businesses think, oh, if you do an ex vat, it makes us look more of an established business. I don't know, but it's really annoying because of
It's irritating if anything. Yeah.
ex vat head, but they're not a company. You know, when you're doing business to business, it makes sense because you can claim the vat back, but not a couple. I think that's our list for now, isn't it?
That's it. If there is, yeah, if there's anything else that you would like to ask us and just drop us a message, you know, you can send us your listeners questions.
Yeah, fab. So, cool. So we have got a listener's question here. We've got, What are the trends that you are seeing for 2025?
Well, I mean, we are actually gonna do a special episode on this over Christmas because it's something we get asked a lot and it's something that we do. Certainly coming up a lot on socials at the moment about the wedding trends of 2025 So we're going to do a separate episode to go through them all And get our opinions on those And also look back at the year that's just been and whether we think any of the trends need to stay Stay in this year or if they're going to follow us into next year.
so Make sure you stay tuned for that
Yeah, stay tuned for that. It's gonna be out around like Christmas time, so Yeah
Perfect. Well, thanks for listening as always, guys. You know where you can keep in touch with us. We're on TikTok. We're on Instagram. It's at Let's Get You Ed podcast. And don't forget, you can send us your listeners questions to Let's Get You Ed podcast at gmail. com. We love to hear from you. So do send them in and we will see and speak to you next
Yeah, thanks guys!
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