Wedding stylists and hangry suppliers !

Well, hello. Before we begin, Miss Tamir, Tamir

Oh, very demure, very mindful.

trying to keep up with the trend?

Do you know what annoyed me? I, I uploaded that reel and I, so I did a reel like the day before and it got like quite like a lot of view, not, wasn't like loads of anybody. It was, it was, it went viral. I had a hundred people nudging and it did well. And then I uploaded that one and it literally did like really badly. I was like what is going on here?

and also I think sometimes you, like, I spent ages the other day doing this reel, it hasn't gone out yet, but I was, when I was doing it I was thinking to myself, it's always the ones that you spend loads of

Yeah,

this is going to do really well and it doesn't, and then one that takes you like two seconds to throw together and then they do really

it's so annoying.

always the way.

Damn, damn you social media.

But well done. I

Thanks. Thank you.

good. Yeah. Also, guys, just a pre warning, we are recording this very early in the morning and try and fit between babies and holidays and God knows what else we're doing.

Ah, good times. Ha

I can't tell you how well this is going to go,

ha ha. It's all good.

We both look very tired.

Those bags are hangin Let's do it.

oh dear. But yeah, let's get going. Hi, I'm Hannah

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

With a few tips straight in between.

and also just a chat between friends.

And of course, make sure you hit that subscribe button.

And

get started. You win!

excited. Also, it's 7am we've just been, we just straight away got into a conversation about UFPs.

Yeah, that's ultra processed foods for those people that don't know.

UPFs, not UFPs, UPFs. I always get

food process!

Ultra fair pres Yeah, like, what an in depth conversation for 7am.

feel like it's hilarious that I'm sat here talking like I'm some like, fitness I literally haven't exercised for actually

why we got on it, because

I'm in a hat.

saying, because I said, Oh, I've already been in the gym this morning, so I might be a bit like, well,

what I don't work out like I don't do like workouts, but I walk every day I literally walk for an hour. I walk all the time. All I do is walk It's like it's actually funny. My dad's always laughing at me. He's like literally all I do is walk everywhere So

Also, you do like, which probably, I'm stealing a bit of your, what you've been doing this week, but you also actually, people probably don't know

oh, yeah Yeah, yeah,

went back this

I did. Yeah, so

How's it been?

It's been good. It's been, do you know what, it was a bit of a shock to the system, I'm not gonna lie. So,

bet.

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but, so my dad does ground works and civil engineering. So, when I'm not doing flowers, I, I'm actually, you'll find me in a high viz digging sweeping. I'm really good with a broom or driving a digger occasionally as well.

Didn't it? Because obviously you couldn't work, so you went and worked for him,

yeah,

you wanted to have a family, so you thought, well, it's regular income, isn't it? That's the thing with being self employed, you just don't ever know when your next paycheck's going to come in, do you?

yeah, so I, yeah, so I work, yeah, I work with him and it's, it's sort of like, Well, I was doing sort of like four days a week, but obviously then I got pregnant and now I didn't work for him while I was on my maternity. And now I've gone back, so I'm just doing like a couple of days. But yeah, it was a bit of a shock to that. I was so tired. Like, I did two days in a row this week and I'm like, WAH! I am tired.

working,

it's full on. I mean, I'm, I'm just getting back into the swing of things, but it's, it is, it is hard, it is hard work. It's on, you're on your feet all day. It's, it's dusty. It's like,

you're brooming.

brooming, you're shoveling, you know, you gotta be good with that shovel.

I love Hayley's stories because when they send her to like the wholesaler or whatever or somewhere and she walks in as a woman and they're like, Do you know what you're

Yeah,

like, Yeah, I do.

I do, sort of. I do. Yeah, you get a lot of that with being a woman and this is a very male dominated industry, as you can probably imagine. I mean, I had to go and do my I had to like, redo, train, so you get a card so that you can work on sites and things. I had to go, you know, Do the the training and the qualification, again, so renewed,

Yeah.

I'm the only woman there, but like the, the sexist jokes is they, the blokes like cracking these jokes. I'm just sat there like, sorry, I'm, I'm actually here. I'm, I'm, I'm actually a woman. And, and also like, I, I, I'm a bit of like a, I'm also a nerd, but if I know an answer to the question, I'm like, oh.

back in, back into a bit of routine

it's a little bit different

Not that you've really stopped because you've been

no but

florist stuff, but yeah,

yeah

back to even more

Yeah, but it gets, it gets real full on. Well, it, well, it's obviously a bit different now I've obviously got a baby, but normally like Christmas, it'll be, I'll be working like five days a week on site doing like manual labour, but then in the evenings I'll be going out and doing Christmas workshops.

Yeah, that's nuts. But then that works quite well because in the winter that job's really busy, isn't it?

Yeah.

of works. It works quite well, doesn't it, for you?

Yeah.

that's good. What else have you been up to this week?

Oh, I'm freelancing. So, yeah.

doing

Doing free. Yeah. Do you know it's a

She's putting

busy week,

It's a

Oh God. You're on holiday and I'm, you know, you know. No, I feel like I've

you pictures in the pool with my, I must

crying. Yeah.

have missed though your van voice notes, which I had one this

Oh, yeah, she's back.

them. When you're on the way to work with your dad and you're like, Hey, and you can hear she's in the van. She can just hear like

Yeah.

in the background.

Yeah. Oh, no. So yeah, freelance in this weekend. So it's in Northampton. So not too far from me. But,

Whereabouts?

Rushton Hall.

Oh, I love

Yes. Really nice there. Yeah.

it with Izzy.

Yeah. We're busy. Yeah. So, yeah. So freelance of her and I was, I've got to do like a midnight pick up with her, so I was going to, I was going to save the, the moan for here. So obviously being a wedding supplier and everything, you have to go back, collect all your stuff. And generally it has to be early hours of the morning, Ended, or it's early the next day. But to be honest, most of the time it's in the nighttime and it's such a bummer.

we're doing in October together, you're going to have to collect it at 1am.

Yeah, I thought that might be the case.

Oh, sorry.

Oh sorry, I just dropped that one in. Oh,

me on here.

oh, oh dear, that's alright.

are you booking me for?

See, this is what I'll just have to say to Richard is, I need to look after Lily next day, so you'll have to go and pick her up. I've been working all day.

Yeah, bad

So to be fair to him, he's really good like that. He'll go and he will go and do them. But if it's just to collect, he doesn't need to do anything specific. He will go out and do it for me. Like if I'm really tired or whatever, but it's fine. I mean, I'm used to being tired these days.

That is a, that is a, I mean, venues are always great at, like, making you aware of these situations. But, yeah, it is an important thing, if you are booking a venue, to make sure about set down times and stuff.

Yeah.

of venues it is, like, the next day or whatever. But if you're looking at, like, a landmark or a hotel or yeah. It's always end of

Yeah, they want it all gone so that they're all clear for the next day because generally they've got public coming in, haven't they, to view. Well, if it's like, obviously when we're

yeah,

all yeah, so it's, I mean, it's a bit of a nightmare. It's, it's not ideal, but it sort of comes with the territory, doesn't it, I suppose. But I thought, you know, I'd have a little motorbikes, really, you know.

And you can charge for it at the

Well, that's the thing.

what it is. And, and guys that are listening expect to be charged for

Yeah,

yeah, it is time. It's yeah.

late. It's like, it's like unsociable hours, isn't it? At the end of the day. So

So expect that

yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah. How was your week? How is your week going?

Yeah. So I had a wedding at the weekend. I was freelancing as well, actually.

Oh, good old freelancing.

catering management and honestly, like, I've

Oh.

bring up about this guy,

Oh, please do

He was a guitarist, right? And so we, again, it's something to, it's a little tip for everyone. Obviously, you need to think things you need to think about. Probably something you wouldn't think about. If you're asking your caterer for supplier meals, if it's like a musician that's playing during the drinks reception, I mean, you had the same situation, actually.

yeah, yeah, we did.

caterer can't feed them because you're, if you, you generally feed your suppliers when you're served. So you'd serve the main course to all your guests, then you serve the main course to your suppliers. So obviously if they're finishing when you sit down, they're not going to hang around for an

No, no.

to eat. Especially if you've got speeches before or whatever, it could be an hour and a half to wait for their food. So you normally have to buy them something in, which is what we did for your suppliers. We went and

Well,

them some lovely paninis.

oh yeah. Cool. Oh yeah, that's it. Because Richard had gone out and got this platter of sandwiches the night before, had gotten himself into a right. Tears, making sure he'd gone to Waitrose, picked up this platter, and then he'd forgotten, didn't he?

Oh, yes!

Then you had to go out and get some bits,

Oh my god, I forgot

then they were really picky about what they were eating. Do you remember?

No,

yeah, they, they were,

remember.

were really picky about what they wanted to eat and stuff, apparently. I think

I remember one was vegetarian or something. I remember having to make sure. They were good, like, paninis though, from that little bakery opposite your hotel. Oh.

they were really picky, and then I think I can't remember what happened. I feel like What happened? I either thanked them or said something. They were really up their own arse. Stuck up their own arse. Great! Sorry, can I just say, great playing their instruments. You know, no, no shade about that, but Wow, they're actually stunk.

well, it's interesting you say this, right? So

Oh,

again, I think, again, that's a very good tip. It's easy to forget something like that. So you may get somebody

yeah.

about that in the

Yeah, he had worked so much on Richard to be fair to the day before, he had to do a lot of stuff and

yeah,

sandwiches were like, they were like this straw that broke the camel's back.

Oh, bless him. Yeah, and, or, or, speak to your caterer about, maybe like, if they do like a to go bag or something like that, sandwiches, whatever. But anyway, this particular guitarist, I didn't know anything about him. So bass, oh, no, no, actually, the couple had said to the caterer about the food. Oh, we need to feed. They had a musician during their, their ceremony and drink reception about feeding them.

Yeah.

oh yeah, I've got a meal for videographer, which will be later. Oh no, I'm the musician. And I was like, oh, okay. And then the venue lady comes over and she said, oh no, I've got it for you. The couple provided it. we're like, okay, great. Anyway, he goes off, she's given him this food,

Yeah.

him, they bought him a bottle of Coke, a wrap, it was like a meal, it was basically a

Mildew.

deal, and a packet of crisps. And I think there was a chocolate bar

Oh,

there too! And

pushing the boat out.

he comes, I hadn't heard the venue, Have the conversation where they'd said, Oh, it was the couple that brought it for you. Anyway, I'm about to start service. Like it's the most stressful part

Oh no, no, no.

all your team. You've got like 10 members of staff. They're all young. They're all chatting. You're like, guys, you've got the chef asking you how many plates you've got. You sheets about all these colors. Like, yeah, I need this to go out. It was a choice menu as well. So I'm trying to like label them,

Oh,

you're taking that. There's a lot going on. So he comes up to me and he's got the packets in his hands where he's eating it and he's like, Did you guys provide this? And I'm like, what? And he went, because it's insulting. It's actually insulting.

joking

And I was

me?

and I, I looked at it and I said, Oh no, we wouldn't have provided that. I, I don't know, like I'm too bitter. I'm like,

Yeah, yeah. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What? What?

and then like chucks the packets in the bin like this is just like how people think that I can be treated like this I'm a qualified musician and literally and the chefs were like we didn't we didn't give you

Yeah.

but I think then he realized it wasn't us but he was like ranting it was like he expected us to be

Oh yeah, we agree with you.

you've been here for two hours. I've already been here for five hours,

Oh, see.

I haven't even eaten a single

I get really annoyed about this because I've got to say, musicians they can be really like up their own arse about what they're eating. Like, oh, we need to have we need water

that up.

It needs to be water must be sparkly I've not not all of them I don't want to I'm not tiring them all with the same brush Right, but I've done a lot of weddings where there's been like a band and they've requested that they had to have specific watering bottles Has to be a, has to be a nourishing two course meal or something. It's like mate, some people have been here for 12 hours. Some people have been here at like 5 in the morning setting up.

know.

sorry.

it's so

Oh,

And also he was finished. Like, so they were just about sitting down. So it must've been like three, four o'clock. And I'm like, look, I actually had a band this year, like a drink reception band. And they just added like a search, which again is still a bit like, well, if you're only doing like two hours, but they were traveling quite far. So with their travel is probably like six, seven hour day. So they just charge a surcharge. And they said like, after they're finished, they just go.

yeah.

personally, if that was me, I'd just want to get home. And I wonder if they probably did and he just kept the money.

Yeah,

at least we didn't have to worry

yeah.

Like, if, like, you're literally then about to leave. Like, go, my, my line was to the chef, why don't you just fucking go to McDonald's?

Well, yeah, but I'm sorry. What the f I can't I just this has annoyed me. I What's wrong with Emile Dill? Like, who does

Well,

he think he

that, it wasn't like he didn't get fed. That

Yeah, they've

the

still gone and bought him food. Like, why does He was

I mean, I didn't go through the bins to check the packets, but from what he showed me

like, this is insulting. I've eaten the whole thing. I was so hungry.

looked at him. I must have looked at him like a bit of shit. I

I'm not surprised that I would have done as well. I would have been like, what's your problem?

Also, like, we're really nice. Like, we're really nice people.

Yeah

if he would have come up and like, asked if this is some canapes or something, we'd have been like, yeah, sure. Like, help yourself. Like, you know, I just,

I can't believe that. Genuinely. Shocked.

baffled. I just couldn't believe

I would've laughed in his face to be honest. That's probably more than anyone else there's, you know, working away gonna get. What's wrong with the meals? I just can't What's wrong with a sandwich packet across a chocolate bar? What's he expecting? A friggin free course meal?

and we haven't even started like cook. We're literally, literally only about to start serving starter.

they're being pa

haven't,

Sorry, that's just really annoying. He's I'll have to Oh, peasants. That was hilarious. Haha,

excited when there's a bread roll left with a bit of butter, we're like, yes, bread roll. And he's pissed off. I just couldn't

that's funny.

believe it. So I thought, well, I'll bring

Yeah,

to check how fussy your musicians are.

good god.

obviously, and you know what? I'm all about looking after your suppliers.

like, I

percent.

don't get, when we got married, I was happy, I really wanted people to have decent food, like, we, all of our supplies that were there all day, we provided with food, like, part of our meal, they had, like,

yeah.

and it was only,

course

Yeah, and it was only the it was only the sandwiches for the musicians because they were literally there for like two hours So we got on a platter of waitrose. Oh, then we forgot them, but it's still Waitrose, which is you

still got,

know,

an artisan

they got a paninis which apparently they weren't they were They were insulted were they? Maybe, no I'm joking.

them. I can't remember if it was me that gave it to them. I think I did,

I think

think they

weren't they No, I don't remember. I'll have to ask Richard what happened because he remembers better than me. I know it annoyed him because he thought they were really stuck up and I think they may have They didn't eat them or they turned their nose up or something like that.

Oh, I think that they left them there. I think you're right. I think I remember this now. I think

They were insulted

and

by the artisan panini.

And then we were like, why have they not eaten them? Because even if you didn't want to eat it, like sometimes I have that situation, people

Just take it.

and I, yeah, a hundred

Yeah,

it anyway. And then, but yeah, so

Unless it's a UPF, then don't touch it. Don't touch that.

I ain't, no one buy me that,

Xanthan gum!

quite often people bless and they'll buy me booze, that is a

Oh, yeah.

nice, but obviously I don't,

Don't drink.

a bottle of red wine, it will come to use at some

Yeah, it's red wine it'll go, but anything else.

it will go, because I've got a massive stash of

We're coming into red wine season now though.

I mean, I'll drink all year

I love red.

I can't give

Yeah, it's so good.

alternative, I love

I love red wine.

but I will, I'm too, too glass hanner. That's the max I

Yeah.

So yeah, yeah, that's me. But yeah, so yeah, thought I'd just funny story

Yeah, it's funny.

had quite a few conversations lately with people about menu choices. So I thought I'd kind of like have a chat about it on here. So a lot of people are like, do, we do set menu, do we do choice menu, right? So I thought I'd kind of go through the pros and cons really. Obviously, the pros is that you can give your, the only pro is your guests get a choice. They get to choose what they want to eat.

Yeah.

I suppose, you know, and you feel like you're giving a bit more variety to your guests. The thing what I need to like highlight to you guys is that if you're going to do a choice menu you have to get, which is probably a bit obvious, you have to get people's choices. And generally the caterer will want those six to eight weeks before, right? Maybe four weeks before, maybe six, maybe eight's a bit pushing it. Four to six weeks before.

Yeah. It's a bit of a pain.

You probably think, no, no, it's all right. People, no, they don't. It's

know.

the thing that people are

You're always chasing the Yeah.

Also most caterers will stipulate you need to have a, like a personalized menu to that person. So for example, say Kate is having a pate, then chicken, then. she needs to have that. It can't be the full menu because people forget what they've chosen. You have to have a seat and plan without a

Yeah. Yeah.

And also there is an extra cost. A lot of people have been shocked to me about this lately. Couples that I'm working with planning couples you know, working with the, at the caterer that I freelance for, a bit like, what, why is it an extra cost? It is an extra cost in the UK. That is a normal thing that we charge extra. It's also one of those things that you can't really explain. It's a bit like, I suppose it's a surcharge for an extra service.

Yeah. Well, that's it. Yeah. Generally, anything that's gonna take people longer to do or it's more effort or whatever is you're gonna, you should be expecting an extra cost with that because like you say, time is money.

Yeah, and it is more staff, more

Yeah, yeah,

because you're then creating two different dishes or two or three different

that's it.

more waste because you obviously always have to bring a bit extra. So,

Yeah.

other thing with choices is you always get it on the day where someone's like, Oh, actually, can I have that? So, you have to bring extra. So, yeah, I thought I'd just mention that.

Yeah. So that's what I found good thing about having the wedding website was we as people were RSVP and it was like it obviously it sent up questions. So they'd be like, Oh, are you coming? Yes. Then it flag up the next one. I don't know. It could be a question like, And then it was like, your menu choices, so, what were you having, and it was like multiple choice, and then they ticked it all, and then, that was it. Yeah.

Yeah, do you think if you're going to do a choice menu, do a website,

Yeah.

like a, an actual men, like, hard copy invitation with a link on it or QR code that sends you to the website? Yeah, because you had choice, didn't you? Yeah,

As I'm talking, I think I'm, I'm thinking, did I? Well, we had a, do you know what I mean? No, I think I've got confused. When I say choice menu, I feel, I, when getting people to choose the choice, I think I mean the dietary requirements. So we,

is where it's like chicken, beef,

Yeah, sorry. So my bad. So, but, but still would work really well with the website because it just flags up multiple choices. We just had like, do you have any dietary requirements?

I think did have a choice menu, though.

We, we, so me, me and Richard did a tasting and then we chose, oh did we? I don't know. No, we just chose chicken. It was, no, we went for, we chose the menu and then it was basically, people told us if they were vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, whatever, yeah.

Yeah,

that's why I'm getting confused. But I have been to a wedding recently where I did have to choose a choice. So that's why I'm getting confused. But again, it was done on a website. It's really easy and it literally like flagged up as your RSVP and so really there's no excuse for them to do it then and there. So then you've got all of that information collated into like

away. Yeah,

would you call it a spreadsheet or whatever? And you can then just send that straight to your caterer, can't you? Like, if it does that for you. So.

It's easy to pull from the

Yeah.

Yeah. We

Is it? Is it really? Is that something wrong? It's easy to, it's easy to pull from the bucket,

The back end. I always say that to my couples. Yeah. Then I'll put it from the back end,

do you?

your information

No wonder you're so busy.

My popularity has risen due to my terminology and yeah, no, but wait, you know, again, it's the other thing is, is when, as soon as you give people the menu, that's when you start getting people that are like, Oh, I don't like this. I don't eat this. Can you not have it without this? Whereas

yeah.

menu, don't even need to put your menu on, on your invites or your website. Literally just ask people who've got dietary requirements and that's it.

Yeah. Yeah.

that's when you get,

Problems.

it's a difficult one, isn't it? Because then I'm quite a fussy person, and

I'd want to know what I was eating.

be panicking. But I always advise people to not tell people what they're

What the heaven?

you get people like me, like, Oh, don't

Oh I don't eat fish. Exciting!

yeah, yeah, so that's and then I'm just getting ready to go on holiday. I go on holiday as of lunchtime today so yeah excited. Well, I've got a we've got an early morning flight and flying from Norwich because all my friends live in

Yeah.

be a great idea like, yay, don't need to travel far and I'm like, I still

You do?

two and a half hours. But I mean to be fair, I mean, we normally all have to travel to the airport, but normally I'm quite, if we go from like Luton, I'm like an hour and they're like two and a half

Yeah.

back basically. So yeah, so I'm going to go stay at my friend's tonight, which is again, it's a bonus cause you don't have to pay for parking or

Yeah. That's good.

So, yeah, so I need to leave. It's kind of like taking an afternoon out because my head, I'm like, I'm going on holiday on Friday, but actually I need to leave this afternoon because getting to Norwich past 4

Oh the traffic. Yeah. It's

o'clock the latest. Yeah,

exciting though!

yeah, so I need to just I've got a lot still to do to

Oh, I'm me and Richard are looking at going. So basically, he's got no holiday left apart from a half day.

Oh bless

but we're so obviously with Lily, we didn't really want to go, we didn't know what to do this year. So he just took a couple of weeks off and we just did stuff around nearby, whatever, just took some time to get up. But we're thinking of just going away for a weekend in beginning of October, just so he'll because he's got his half day, probably use that Yeah, either we'll do like Friday to like Sunday or or Friday to Monday and he'll take

three of you or just you

all three of us. Yeah Yeah, yeah, so we'll go with Lily. So we're just looking at I really want to go to like somewhere We're going for some nice walks and then like maybe there's a hot tub or something. I don't know. I look to center parks. Yeah I don't do centre parks because there's one really nearby. So we're in Milton Keynes. There's one in Weyburn.

great. You could literally get flights to somewhere

Well, exactly. So,

Go to

so

old Wales, my

I love Wales actually. I was looking at Wales.

We're going in a couple, in a couple months in our, in our van and I've booked this campsite where you park up in your van and then there's like a hot tub next to your

Love that.

They actually do little lodges as

Do they?

I'll send you the information.

Yeah, go on then. Yeah, do.

bad price either.

Nice.

yeah, I'm very excited for

Yeah, that'd be lush. Love a hot tub.

yeah, I'm looking forward to having some time I'm looking forward to having time off But don't you think it takes so much stress and time to get to the time

Yay!

literally working mental hours

Just to get everything finished.

so we can have time

Yeah, it's like that. And then I always end up getting ill because I've like, run myself ragged and then as soon as my body knows that I'm about to like, chill, always get unwell at Christmas because I get so busy, busy, busy and then as soon as it's like, oh, time to clock off, my body's like, yeah, now I'm gonna get ill. Haha.

is crazy, isn't it? Like, what you put yourself through. And also, you come back after a week off and you've got to catch up

Yeah. The joys of being self employed, because there's no one else doing your job for you when you're not there, it all falls down.

thankfully. She

it's true. But, but still, it all hands in the, it's all down to you when you get back or before you go. You've, you've not got other people working on a project, like for example, that you can leave doing it.

of office on

No,

they

and then things carry on while you're away. Yeah.

Yeah, and also, like, you know, there's only certain things that, like, Chloe, for example, does for me. Like, it's not like she does all my accounts

Yeah,

the Social media and blogging and, and stuff like that, you know, and Yeah, that's all very time consuming. And, and even with our couples, there's only certain stuff she does. There'll be certain things that she says, Oh, Hannah will look at that when she's back.

yeah,

So that's exciting. We're working on a very last minute wedding still, which is, I'd be okay, I think, if I didn't have that. But I'm, I'm loving it. Like, they're a great couple. And as you know, because we're working on it

yes, we are

your consultation with them

they seem lovely Yeah, really loving their ideas. That's what I'm excited to do this wedding because it's gonna look really cool very different So yeah, I'm excited for that. Yeah.

Yeah, So talking of like, yeah, she's got like, decor, cool ideas. We wanted to talk a bit about some decor. So we've been having some questions in recently about like, wedding stylists the pros and cons are, what, you know, what they, what they actually do, what they're there for, which actually is quite interesting because a lot of the time, obviously you're a, you're a decor, I suppose you class as

so I've not well Yeah, not depends how heavy people want to go on flowers because sometimes they'll They'll use the like flowers will be like a real main point of the wedding So then I guess all they have as decor is the florals

Well, this is what, this is what majority of my weddings, we never use a decor company because all the tableware comes from the caterer. So things such as charger plates,

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. The candles. Yeah.

the caterer and the florist does all the flowers and any like candles. And other than that, that's generally what most of my couples want. They don't really want. I think when we're talking stylists, we're more talking like. Table runners if you, if you're maybe not going, fresh flowers, do you very often work on weddings where it is both?

no, not, not much anymore. There was a period of time where it was, it was quite popular that they were having both.

Yeah.

but yeah, no, these days I tend to be the only one that's doing the decor when I turn up to do the, like, Or what we've discussed, it's because people are having more things, so like where the ceremony is decorated. I find a lot, if they're having a stylist, they do a lot, tend to work a lot with the ceremony rather than the

Ah,

they'll like decorate this, so they'll have things like lanterns and things down the aisle, like petals sashes as well is a big one. Obviously they do like the different sashes and stuff, yeah,

I hate

on the chairs. But yeah, no, like, honestly, I was thinking about it this year. I've hardly worked with any, I haven't worked with any stylists at all.

masses around anymore either.

No.

I think it depends on the five. Like, I worked with a fab one in Northamptonshire. I mean, I say only worked with her a couple of times. It's normally just for the odd people.

Yeah.

She's got everything you could possibly think of. So I think that is really good. She's called Nerissa Reeve,

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Yeah. So they have everything from like, really like ornate easels,

Yeah.

standard wooden one. So all your candles, your runners on the table, she's got charger plates. So actually if you're working, so there are a lot of caterers. If I do Northamptonshire wedding, I recommend her because there's not many wedding, there's not many wedding caterers in Northamptonshire that provide all the table there.

Yeah.

like a Oxford Cambridge. London kind of vibe where the caterer provides all that stuff. But again, it's not normally that they provide it, they outsource it. So I will always say, right, go to Nadine, get all your charger plates, and then you can add like your runners, your, yeah, your easels, your candles and stuff around your flowers. Because I did a open evening with her the other day, actually. And she works really closely with a stationer and a florist.

Okay.

of all did it

Yeah, yeah. Like, set up a table. Yeah.

Yeah, but I do think as well, if you go in, obviously our good friend Kelly was a stylist, she's just a stationery now, but she was so busy, but with like the barns, I think if you're having a barn venue, a

Well, yeah. If it's like a completely blank canvas, yeah. So, like, a lot of the time, yeah, then you've,

higher.

Because then you could do with the idea of the stylist obviously they give you direction on how you can decorate it and they should give you like ideas and things where like and if you are literally getting married in somewhere that is like like generally is a barn isn't it tends to be like completely blank canvas kind of vibe.

Yeah. Yeah.

it needs. A lot of work.

yeah, I mean, marquees are as

And marquees, yeah.

but I don't tend to find stylists as much in a marquee, but, well, sometimes,

must be,

but I do think it's because with a barn, You probably, it's more of that vibe, like you get the, the, you know, the, the wooden tables that you want runners

yeah,

probably more candles and more flats, you know, I just feel like

more of a rustic kind of,

Yes.

seems to sort of fit.

you know, like your blankets and baskets and, you know, the deco companies do all those kinds of

yeah,

and, you know, like a lot of, I find a lot of like barn weddings want the big cylinder, Candles like all down the aisle like floods of those and

yeah.

know what I

It sort of needs a bit more prettying up, is that the, you know what I mean? Sort of like,

and also I think a lot of barn venues are busy during the winter They run all year round. So when you're going into your winter like this time of year Stylists are great because if you want that candle look they Can bring it.

yeah.

and I love that look. And also for you guys, as we were discussing for the wedding we've got coming up, a lot of stuff is out of season. So I think if you can go more heavy on candle and

Yeah. They definitely look better this time of year because you've got that like lower light in the evening and stuff, so they're definitely worth having, but I think it must be difficult for stylists because they've got to have every kind of theme

that's on trend.

and like, imagine how much stuff they must, it must be difficult to keep that amount of stuff and obviously like they've got to buy it all and keep it and then

why Kelly gave it up

Yeah, it's yeah. Yeah.

went out and bought everything in that burnt orange because that was really on trend last year and then that kind of died it's death a little bit and then it's, it's

Yeah,

something else,

and I feel like yeah, if you're already doing so like for me doing the flowers I already have a lot of containers and a lot of candles and loads of bud vases things like that I already have that I can hire out that people can use it that are Technically used for style or obviously styling like if you're working with a florist you see what like or anyone that's already doing like decor for you like it They will probably be able to provide that anyway rather than sort of outsourcing to a separate

how a lot of my

yeah, like it'd be easier for me to then offer that as a, as a separate service alongside what I do because I've already got a lot of the stuff so it's not costing me a massive outlay to get everything in. Like I'm already, I've already have it.

there because that's the con of doing both, right? If you've got a florist and a deco, unless they do work together and maybe the florist goes and picks the stuff up from the deco company. But the con is that you're paying for the delivery and

yeah.

for two different companies.

Yeah, yeah.

And I'm working on this at the moment. Actually, with the, with our, with our couple coming up is that, you know, they want. Certain cutlery, they want certain linen, but what we're trying to explain is that the same company, these companies that we're looking at don't have both. So you need to then look at two, three

Yeah.

want, but you've then got to pay for your delivery,

That's it. That's where the cuss is. Cuss off.

Whereas if you go to one person and get everything, I mean, I actually, again, going back to Nadine, we did a marquee wedding together in June and she, the florist basically didn't have bud vases and candle holders and

Yeah.

the, the couple bought the candles, the florist provided the flowers and then Nadine just, but it was 10 minute drive for her. So she just dropped off all the bud vases and stuff. We then put them out, the florist put the flowers in them. So, you

Yeah, like working together and.

that is happy in the local area to do it, great, because the pro is, and this is a huge thing for me, and why I massively always say to use a decor company, is I just cannot stand how much stuff is bought and wasted in this country, in the wedding industry.

Yeah.

peak times that I hear all the time. I'll go and buy it from Ikea, which I get, because when you look at the price of hire, it's the same as the price to buy, or sometimes it's more to hire.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It is.

you got to think is it's the ball ache of going and buying it, storing it, taking it to your venue. If you then own it, it's on you. So you then need to have somebody that's going to set it up, right? You then got to think the next day, you've got to clear it down. If it's the end of the night situation, like we talked

Yeah, yeah.

set

You've gotta get it.

got to set it down. You've then got to get them home. What are you going to do with it? Everybody says, Oh, it's all right. I'll sell it on Facebook marketplace. There's no

No.

or hell right now you're selling on Facebook marketplace because everybody is doing it.

Yeah. Yeah. And then it's just more rubbish.

candle holders

Yeah, yeah,

to

totally.

and that's what really bothers me is

Yeah. So I think one thing that I've done lately is I have, so the last couple of weddings ago, I did these like wooden boxes with flowers in that was their centerpiece.

that.

And they actually bought like, I've, Charged them, they bought them, and then they gave them away as gifts to people. So like, sometimes, like, if you've got a load of stuff that you, you, you've maybe, if you have decided that you're gonna go and buy something, like a container from Ikea, and you're doing your own centerpieces or something like that, and you, Think I'm gonna sell them or whatever rather than do that Give them away as a gift to people because people will love that like

a good

and then like you say you're not wasting and it's not gonna end up in the landfill and Unless they don't like it and they love it when they get home, but hopefully they don't

No,

You know

we do like as couples, you need to come to terms with the fact that yes, hire is either the same or more than buying, but think of all the ag

think of it in the long run. You're doing yourself a favor because you will not

they, they bring it, they set it up, they take, or you won't even know, the only

yeah.

when it looks beautiful on your

Yeah, exactly

give you the advice, like, you know, Oh yeah, that'll look nice together. All those colors will work together. So I do think that they a hundred percent are, are very great. And even if it's that you are just going to a local company, just for you, like you say, Haley has Budfiser's candle holders, but some florists

yeah You

But I, you know, give that job to a bridesmaid or a mom or dad. Pick them up, drop them off. But yeah, just the ball ache of having, and I felt, felt that a little bit with my wedding afters. I did even hardly buy anything. I bought a bath and now I'm like, what am I

Yeah, you got a barf hanging around.

I'm like, I need to think about that

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's funny.

you, it will honestly, it will, you think

It'll come back to haunt you.

Yeah, you're like, you think about it getting it to the wedding and, oh yeah that'll be fine, that'll be fine, and then you don't think about the aftermath.

Yeah, totally.

just a lot easier. like I say, you can get all these nice little extra bits, like your nice easels

Yeah, yeah,

I think to me, that's the massive pro. Also another good point that I was thinking about is if you are going to DIY it and go to Ikea and buy it all yourselves is how far in advance you're buying it. Because I also see a lot on my favorite Facebook groups that people get like, I just don't have the time and then it's a few weeks before and they're suddenly stress buying.

yeah. I've seen that sometimes.

organized, bought it eight months in advance, and then now they've changed their mind because trends

Yeah, they've seen something else and they're like, Oh, I don't want to do that anymore. And then they're stuck with all this stuff. Yeah, I've heard of that happening. It's true.

my last view on this matter is, is, If you're gonna do it yourself, the one thing you should ever avoid doing is buying your own faux flowers because

Oh,

over the years I've seen through, like, Timu and

oh,

are the most hideous things

don't even do it. Don't do it.

look Don't When you see people like, Oh, no, from afar, they don't look too

No, they do.

they don't. They look

They look terrible. They look awful. Yeah. Oh my goodness. Yeah, no, I think just work with a florist. Either have fresh or if you don't, if you want to go, if you want to go faux, like there's so many companies that actually provide faux or like, like decent faux rather than these. Awful ones like sheen and it's all, it's all plastic and it's all unnecessary. I would literally just go to a florist and get them to do it because they're,

yeah, because I can imagine, say you go to a deco company, get a load of, say you want like the look on the centre of your tables where there's loads of like pillar candles or something, right? You want to flood your table candles, but you want some like, foliage wrapped around them. I'm imagining that's probably not a huge outlay from a florist. Also, just thinking of that actually.

yeah, yeah,

if you've

so

got a

you might as well utilize that florist. Don't buy rubbish from Sheen. Don't buy rubbish from Timu and get your florist to do some nice florals. You don't have to go mad. Just like I say, like a bit of foliage or something, but if they've done it nicely, you know, it's It's not a big, it wouldn't be a massive cost just to decorate but again your stylist if you are getting a stylist they might have actually got a stock of faux flowers that are decent quality they should be

might use real.

they could use real yeah.

Nadine

Yeah, so

That's that. Shall we go on to the listeners questions and messages?

yes, so someone has asked what happens at a wedding tasting.

Oh, you mentioned yours earlier. There you

Yeah Tasting.

yours? Well, so actually, it depends on your caterer. Because some places, how was yours? Because some places, it's quite rare, but they'll do like a group one where you all come one night. And other places will do individual

Oh Yeah,

slot and then you come in.

so ours is really nice. So it was literally just us It's me Richard and we took my mum my dad and my mother in law and we all sat on this round table that they'd all set up really nicely like as if it was a wedding and Yeah, we got to try all the different we, we got to, we, we chose what we wanted to try, basically, I think it was like of our menu.

basically choose

Yeah.

two or three, start as main

And

idea is

yeah, and I think we've had to pay 25 each for that. And then we, yeah,

included.

yeah. Yeah.

to pay for your Normie's just for two people. You have to pay for your extra guests.

So we, we sat on the mat.

Go hungry to your tasting. So, I go to tastings a lot because I go with my couples. Not to eat, take notes. So when they're sitting, they go, Hmm, yeah, oh, that's great. Oh yeah, I'm literally writing everything they say

Yeah.

sure it's perfect for them. And yeah, so you, the idea is that you, like Haley said, you sit down at a table. A lot of caterers will put out different place settings, so different charger plates, different cutlery, different glasses. So you can see the kind of thing that you can have. And then if you want to like add upgrades to glasses and stuff and then yeah, that'll give you a. Full portion of each dish.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, you get to try it all and

I loved it.

the idea of the tasting is, and the couple I, I went to one about two weeks ago, and for example, they tried two fish main courses, and they loved one of the fish, but they preferred the other sides that came with

Yeah.

the veg, so we swapped it. So that's the idea, is that you, you know, you, you, you tailor your dish. So, oh yeah, well actually we'd like a bit more veg, or no, we wanna, we wanna add, I don't know, some potatoes instead, or we wanna, we prefer that potato to this potato, and that's the idea of the tasting.

Yeah. That's really good. I really enjoyed, honestly, it was a really good evening out. We had a really nice time. It was, and we had got to try all different desserts as well. So they brought out like one of each dessert and then like between us all we like tried it and yeah, it was really good. It was really nice.

actually still did a tasting for ours and we had barbecued, some venue, some venues and caterers will do a barbecue tasting and some won't. So you do need to check that with your caterer or venue. We did get a tasting for ours. Obviously it's not barbecued, it was in the kitchen, but it gave us a really good idea of what the salads and stuff were going to

Yeah,

what we wanted to have. So yeah,

it's fun. Yeah, it's a good, I thought, I thought it was a bit like when you go and try your cake, do a cake tasting as well. I found that really fun too.

Well, yes, of course. These are the

They are the fun bit. These are the bits that you can enjoy.

100%. Okay, cool. So four more photo shots. My photographer has asked for a list and I'm not sure on what I should have. Any suggestions? Don't want to miss any and upset anyone.

Oh, yeah.

are don't freaking

Yeah. Well, this is the thing. Cause you can just start going silly. Like you start writing the list and it's like me with mum, dad, brother, me with dadadadada, me with this, me and Richard with this, just me with these, just them with it, like just Richard.

it's

And before, and I remember my photographer saying like, don't do any more than 10. Like you have 10, that's it. Otherwise it'd take hours. Take hours.

my advice is always it takes between three and five minutes to get those people together, get the shot, and then move on. So if you're doing 10, that's between 30 and 50 minutes. That's the way I always put it to my couples. I mean, if you can, would just say, look, that, that's probably the best advice I can give. We can't obviously advise you on what photos because we don't know your family dynamics, but if you can keep it similar people, so it's bride groom one mom and dad.

Oh,

Don't

a good idea. Yeah. Yeah.

you're going to want them anyway. Get them before and then you haven't got to worry about, yeah, doing them after. Yeah, it's difficult because it depends on your family dynamics, doesn't

Yeah. It does. It totally does. Like you might, but I, I had a few, we did have a few group photos, but we just did a lot of like the, what'd you call it?

Candid.

candid. We had a few candid

I just, I, I'm just, I've never been a fan of the group shots, but I think that's purely from experience because all I ever see on a wedding day is that's the bit that couples hate the most. Like, they don't enjoy it. They just want to be a part of their drinks reception,

Yeah.

speaking to everyone. And I felt like that on my wedding day. And actually what I did was I knew both of our moms would own a picture. So we got a picture with my mom and siblings, and we got a picture with Martin's mom and siblings. We got our coordinator set up, both photos. Literally, they were there, we were, they were there, we moved to that group photo, moved to that group, it literally took two

Yeah, that's good.

minutes, I was like, oh my god, are we done

Yeah.

I was like, I could hear my singer, I could see everyone having a great time, I just wanted to be there. And mine was probably a maximum of five minutes.

Yeah, exactly. You don't realize, you think, oh no, no, I am going to want to do them. I do want to do them. Actually, when you're doing them, they are a real ball ache and they do take a long time. So,

The other thing I'd say is make, my other tip is make sure you pre plan them and do a list, because a lot of people just go,

yeah,

it on the day, no.

no, they need, and also like the, I remember my photographer asking if like we even had like a little headshot photos of people so that they could recognize them in a, in the crowd so that they would know who to ask to come forward for the photo. So like, yeah,

I just shout.

yeah,

someone that will know who people are, and then I find them.

that's it. That's it.

think it helps having a coordinator that works alongside the photographer, because the photographer's busy taking the shot. So if you've got people out there, a photographers say, Oh, assign a bridesmaid or a groomsman. They never do it, because they're too busy off drinking.

they're gone. They've disappeared. They're not there. Yeah.

in that. It's actually quite funny. I just thought of a story that I was doing a wedding the other week and this I think she was like an auntie came up to me and was like, I haven't had a photo with my Was it her god, I think she said godson, my nephew was it her nephew or godson? She was it, I don't know, I think it was her, I think it was his auntie, with my, with my nephew.

Oh, that's awkward.

knew she wasn't, but I didn't say

Oh, yeah.

And I was like, she was like, well, yes, but I haven't had a photo. And I was like, yeah, we'll get into the group shots. Well, it's actually pretty disgusting actually, that it's at

No!

considering we just got to the venue from the church, we're at this point. And I haven't even had a fit picture with my nephew. And I just, in the

Oh my god!

like smile

and walk away!

it's not my

Smile

Like

wave, boys!

out then. Yeah. But grab your

Oh my god! What was that? Your problem anyway? What?

what I,

Come on! Jesus!

If you want that photo to happen, like, it's not my job as a planner to make sure they get a photo with every single guest, it's my job

So,

sure that those group shots happen and that's what I

oh my god.

involved.

This is what I thought you would cut out.

those photos, it wasn't like the photos had happened and she was like angry that she wasn't involved. This was before, this is literally we just got to the venue and I'm like,

Oh my god, wow.

the wedding's only just began. You're here for another

Yeah, don't,

I'm sure

don't worry about it. Oh dear.

Okie dokes. That's us

That's us for today. Thanks for listening.

As always, you know where we are at Let's Get Your Web Podcast at gmail. com. We're also on Instagram, TikTok. Send us your questions, your stories.

We love to hear.

you. Am I the arseholes?

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