Wedding transport, intimate ceremonies and supplier pet hates!

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Yeah. So big news. I had a baby.

Ah, had the baby. She's also on the shortest maternity leave ever. What

I'm bad bitches.

She gave birth like nine days ago and then has messaged me like, and yeah, I could record a podcast. Like we, we had stand-ins planned and all

Oh, know what? It's a welcome break.

do

I'm just always awake, you see? So before I fill my time wisely,

if she falls asleep. If you hear her silence, she's fallen asleep.

am in a pajama top, but it's fashionable. So

I like

fashion

Are they zebras?

Then my mother-in-law got me these actually, so we've all, all got like matching pants.

Cute

Should be pleased I'm wearing them. Yes.

tell me about your week.

so yeah, my week. Oh yeah, just.

wedding related?

didn't, I received emails unbelievably, I, I sort of, and someone tried to, to be fair, like I put on my, like that was on maternity leave and someone tried to ring me to order flowers and I was like I, I, I did answer and I was like, sorry, I can't, I, I've just had a ba. I said, I've just had a baby. And they were like, so does that mean that you can't? I was like I'm actually in hospital, so yeah, that mean I can't.

The baby's currently coming out of me. I

I cannot do that. Yeah. Sorry. I'm, I'm, I'm a woman of many talents, but that's not one of them. Yeah, so we had a little girl, we called her Lily Ren yes,

love her name. I love that. She's called Lily.

yes. Flower name.

so my niece is called Lily, but she's L-L-L-L-Y.

okay.

your Lily's, L-L-I-L-Y.

With one L,

So is that how you spell Lily the

yeah. Yeah.

Right.

so just one L.

route you

That's it. So, yeah.

I love Ren. I love

Oh, thank you.

is it her middle name or is it part

Well, we're doing it as a middle name, but we kind of calling her Lily Ren and, but it is, it is a, it is a middle name so she can, we just thought when she's older she can kind of choose if she wants to like double barrel her name or,

yeah.

But yeah, we've gotta register her. So actually like. You register, sorry. When you go and do your notice of marriage, we have to go to the same place to register her.

Oh,

So I was like, oh, throw back. But

twice.

hey, it's us again. Gotta do that. But yeah, it's been a, it's been a mad week really. It's

It was a long one,

it was long. I don't wanna give anyone

stuck up

the story.

a long

I was, I finally made it out though. But yeah, we're just so pleased to be home, to be honest.

Was it? You went in on the Tuesday,

a and returned home on a Wednesday the following week. So yeah, it's a long time.

you had her on the Friday, but

Yeah.

that. Then you had to stay in, that was

Yeah. So I was induced on the Tuesday, so that's, and it can take, it can take time as I found out.

Yeah.

So,

thought I That

yeah, I was like, well I wasn't told about this. 'cause your body's not ready when you're induced, basically is what it is. So it takes longer and, you know, I won't bore everyone with the details, but I was in there for a while and, yeah, so had her on the, so went in on the Monday

Mm.

her on the Friday and didn't return home until the Wednesday,

Jesus. That's a lot. That's a lot of time to stay in hot. 'cause normally it's like, oh, baby's here home. Bye-Bye.

exactly. And I was so sad. 'cause there's so many women like come in there like in the ward and they're like just staring for like, I dunno, six hours and then they leave and I'm like, whoa,

Ah. Was it like a Rachel Green in friend situation where you just, people see people coming in, have their baby and

Yeah.

before you've even had your

Literally that was happening. I was like, oh my God, what is going on? And you get us just cabin fever in there as well. Like me and my husband, like, yeah, it was pretty rough. But we'd go through it and we're,

got

yeah, home now. Now we're just.

And what's your plan now? You're just gonna see how you go before you start taking these orders for your

Yeah, so won't be doing Valentine's Day flowers. I've been asked very many times if I will be, but don't really feel like doing that,

that.

to be honest. Mother's Day, question mark. That is in March, but

Yeah,

this year, I dunno.

it

I might do. Yeah. It depends how I feel. You know, like I'm, like, I've always been someone that loves to work. Like I, I'm confident when I'm at work and I feel good, like obviously this is such a big change for me and it's something I'm not confident about. I know it'll come with time, but I feel like work's like my comfort blanket, but, so I'm kind of like, oh, it's a bit weird, not. Not working,

Yeah.

I know I need to take that time. Yeah, like get me on the podcast. I need to talk. But yeah, so I think, but my weddings start in April, so I've got until April to kind of like actually have like a chunk of time off.

Nice.

and then in that time I can make sure I'm probably organized, which is another thing. I'm not very good. No, I.

Which sounds like forever away. April sounds like ages

It's not, it's like

it's really

six weeks or something.

Yeah. Like how

many weeks away is your wedding now?

I don't wanna think about it.

Oh,

I haven't counted.

not long. It's not like,

No,

I can't believe it.

like, it must be about 10 weeks till the hendu

Yeah.

I dunno. Like two and a half months. So,

It's mental. It's just going so fast. But

craziness.

I mean, my week was fully jam packed, but How was your week? Because I know yours was very busy as well. You have exciting.

Yeah. Like,

Was exciting too.

got big announcements. Well, mine is, I moved, moved

Yeah, it's big, big deal. Well,

It's a milestone, but not as big as your milestone. Yeah, it's been it's been a lot. I feel like I've been like out of, so the first week of Jan I was away. And then and then literally mid Jan, we got given our date to move, which gave us like 10 days. To pack or pack up our whole house.

Wow.

I feel like I've just been out of like the loop

Yeah.

going on. I've just been focusing on, and then we ended up moving the week, that was my sister's 40th birthday, so we had already planned to go away. then this weekend just gone, me and my best friends every year, we always go to a lodge in Norfolk. We

Lush.

month. We've booked it months ago. So that ended up being, so we literally moved. So it was like I was away from my sister's birthday, moved away with my friends. So it's just been a

Yes. Full on.

up and down, like amazing, lovely things happening. And then also, like, you know, we've moved to somewhere. It's a big change. We went from like a new build house to a renovation project

that's a big, yeah. Big jump.

Yeah, bathroom seats like, you know, one of those green ones from like the seventies or

I love those. I'm into that.

want.

I love a bit seventies dicker.

Yeah. And there's, there's no point in unpacking those stuff because like we are gonna be ripping the house apart, so there's like nowhere to put things and yeah, it's a lot, it's a big change. It's a lot to get

Yeah,

have a lovely cream background

I love it. A lot of magnolia? I got a lot of Magnolia paint.

actually, yeah, it used to be a rental property, so it's all mag. Literally the whole thing's Magnolia.

I remember when

Magnolia.

our house and the man that had lived here had smoked in every single, even the bathroom. So the, the walls were cream, but it wasn't 'cause of magnolia paint, and he just literally smoked everywhere.

that's the

It was gr

like.

it was grim. We had to wash all the walls. Then I re plaster and, ugh.

Oh

Stunk. Stunk.

the other thing of ours when we moved in and no one had lived here for six months and it had not been cleaned.

Well.

Which I think is pretty ridiculous. Like, come on

Yeah,

our spotless,

Yeah.

and there's still like dead bugs

Oh,

the floor and you're like having to put your boxes down. I'm like, no, don't put anything on that. Like

oh God.

honeymoon cleaned is, yeah, pre

Oh, dear.

took some getting, I'm not gonna lie. The

Yeah.

was like,

What have I done?

to my house now.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, but I'm getting used to it. I'm not a, I don't like a lot of change,

not. Do you know what? I'm the same. See, I, I don't deal with change. Well, so I'm, I'm, go with me and you are like going through some big changes in our lives and it's like I'm unstable.

Do you know, it's weird though because I love change in, in business. So like I love like how everything, you know, things are moving. Like you have a wedding, then you move on to a

yeah,

and you know, I quite like that change. I can handle that well. I dunno if that's maybe just 'cause I'm used to being in the

yeah. True.

but in my personal life,

it's nice to have something that keeps you grounded though, isn't it? And if your personal life is like not changing and things and you kind of feel comfortable, I think 'cause our jobs are very like, like you say, things can change like a

Yeah,

So I think yeah, it's nice to have something to keep you like, and then when that's like all changes, like, oh my God, my life is upside down.

It is. It is. And now I'm like a very different person in work to what I am in

Yeah.

at, like if you ask any of my friends, I like Hannah's so unorganized.

Yeah. Yeah. And you're like,

in my business I'm so uber organized. I am the organized

are the organizer.

that. Yeah,

Hannah Rose, the organizer.

bad because like I forget things like my people's birthdays, but then I will never forget anything when it comes to like somebody else's wedding, which is quite

Oh, well, nevermind.

But yeah, I think, I think it's just 'cause you have to be so organized when you're

Yeah. You wanna like let loose.

what I do that, yeah. In my other life,

My other life.

got enough brain capacity in

No.

life. It's like I'm two different people. Like, yeah.

get it. I do get it.

fun and games. So yeah, a lot going on. We've also been in, obviously it's that time of year, so I've been doing a lot of consultations,

Yeah.

people inquiring, and it's that time of year where everybody's kind of inquiring, but they're inquiring with other people,

Getting like a lot.

with them, then you went back off them, and then it's, you know, yeah, there's a lot going on. Quotes. One thing I would say again, I've mentioned it before, but. Anyone new that's listening is please, like, really understand your budget before already starting

So important.

Yeah. Booking venues or going to look at venues. You know, I've had chats with couples where they're, you know, they've, they need me as like an on the day manager, or they want like a partial planner to come and help the communication and, you know, they're, they're saying, you know, we've been looking at X venue and X venue. And I'm like, okay, cool. Great. What's your overall budget? Oh, we're not sure. You know

Oh yeah.

really know what it's gonna cost. And I'm like, okay, well the venue that you're looking at is, I don't know, let's say 10 grand. You've got a hundred guests, so your food's gonna be another 10 grand, so that's 20 grand. You

It's, yeah,

K. You know,

be realistic.

like, what?

Yeah.

really? Realize they need that much. Or they'll tell me their budget. And I'm like, okay, well the venue you're looking at, I know for a fact is

Yeah. So you've gotta kind of like

Yeah, so I'm

be.

that. I'm seeing the, and I know it's hard 'cause you're excited, you wanna get out there and you wanna start looking at venues and, and all these things, but you need to sit down

It's that important budget chat.

out.

it so many times. We even did a special episode and it's very important.

episode

Yeah.

Go

Go back and listen.

it is, and I, and I think as well that maybe I don't, I mean, I don't know because I get a, I always know to ask for

Yeah.

I automatically get rates for venues. But I don't know if it's that maybe you venues are trying to get you in for view ins before they give prices. But just make sure you're knowing that cost before you go and look at it. 'cause the worst thing that can happen is you go in, you fall in love with it, and then you're like,

Yeah. And then you're having to compromise on what you actually really like, which is not what you wanna do. But

no.

it is hard, isn't it? When you're sort of going around looking. It's, and it also goes back to what we were saying about people being transparent with pricing. Like you say, if they're not, if the venue's not kind of got you in for a view in, you know, showed you all the good stuff and then, you know, got 'em interested and then

them the

showed them the good stuff. And then they obviously then they're like, oh, and this is the prize. But they've already like, like you say, fallen in love with it. It's quite difficult. I think if you can.

you might not think that when you're first looking at venues, you might think, I dunno, maybe you would think, oh, I need to

Yeah, I,

I.

I remember when we were looking, I kind of, I just went round like any, any of the sort of venues that we were kind of interested in the look of. I would download, like, almost always, they have an online brochure that you can download and it has the cost of different packages and things in there, which is really good. 'cause you don't have to then contact them directly. You can just download it off the internet.

Know what it's

Yeah, and then you can kind of build up a, like a, you know, your budget from there as well.

It's super

but yes.

that, that, that's definitely an important one. We've had quite a few final meetings coming up, so we've got two weddings in February.

Wow.

So yeah, final meetings for them doing final details. We've got another one tonight, so Yeah. Lots going on.

busy.

Yeah.

had quite a lot of,

february.

Yeah, I know. I keep thinking it's January still. January felt like the longest month.

Do you think,

Oh,

so

do you think Oh, just seem to, I suppose, yeah.

yeah, that it

I keep, I keep forgetting it's February.

give

True. Yeah. Then I was in hospital for like, forever. So,

Yeah.

But yeah, I've had like quite a few inquiries come through though on my like website. Recently. So I think, like you say, people are kind of like looking around and getting costs and things, but yeah, it's, it is exciting though because I think like you have a bit of a panic, don't you, beginning of the year, like, oh, I'm gonna get inquiries and is it gonna be busy this year? And, and then they do, they do start to come in. They're coming in now. So yeah, it's good.

It's exciting. Exciting. Yeah. So I also, this week I have a bit, I've always absolutely loved Maller. I've followed his story

Oh yeah.

Small business owner. Well, he is not, he is a large

He is like multimillionaire.

a businessman. Always looked up to him watching their series and their wedding

Yes.

shown, which is exciting. And we kind of touched on it actually at Christmas. So we were talking about like people that go to a registry office and just get married. to touch on it because I thought anyone that is out there right now who's engaged and is like, oh, I'm really like, you know, we don't wanna spend loads of money.

Oh, it's really sad.

like, do you know what? I don't know when I'm going. I think the plan was, you know, she'd got pregnant, was gonna have the baby a year later. She would then be married. So we were gonna get married September, 2024 in Spain. So it kind of ch all changed for them so they had to then push back the wedding because it was kind of stressing her out because then it's a bit like, well you dunno when you're gonna get pregnant again. So you don't know when you're gonna be able to have your wedding.

Yeah tough.

Yeah, all those things. So they, they decided to just kind of like put the wedding off and then go, but then she decided, no, you know what? I wanna end this year on a hire. I wanna go and get married. And I think it just proved, and actually Tommy even said himself, he would've been happy with that day to. Just be their

Yeah,

bothered about

about the big,

Like

the big.

like Georgia wants to do it, so they're gonna do it. But actually go and watch that episode because I think anyone that is in that situation or doesn't wanna spend a lot of money that day was so lovely. Honestly, I don't know them and I got emotional

Yeah

cause it was so lovely. They basically, what they decided to do was. They got ready in the morning. They're at their own house. They had like their, their moms

that's

They were there together. Yeah, she was having her hair and makeup done. No, like bridesmaids or anything like that. She had her hair and makeup done. She went off to her bedroom, put on her dress, come down the stairs into the kitchen. He's like, wow. Oh my God, you look beautiful.

Oh

my God, you look insane. They all got in taxis, went to Central London to Islington Town Hall which is where he's from. So it's like a personal kind of tie there. Got married. Came out, had photos, and then they went back home. They got, she got into her pajamas, which she had like wifey

Oh

And they had, they'd set up a table, it was almost like a T shape in their

yeah.

were at like the top and then everybody else was down all around the table and must have been probably about 20 of them.

That's nice actually.

just immediate

Yeah.

just like their parents, brothers, sisters, you know, that kind of thing. And they added Chinese.

Oh my God. Yes. What a way to end your day with a Chinese.

And

Oh.

around this table and you could see it all dotted down the table, like the prawn crackers, spring rolls, bit of this bit of

Oh,

Lovely. And then they all went round and they all did a little mini speech a couple of minutes, you know, each just to say, you

that's lovely. That sounds so nice, actually, to be honest with you.

like so nice. And then they just stayed at that, that was at their house. And then they must have just, then everybody went off and they stayed at home. And I just thought like. For two people, especially, you know, for him to say, do you know what, we had the best day and I'd be happy to just

Just,

that day. I just thought, how amazing that they've shown that on tv. 'cause I think so, often

yeah. These huge weddings.

in 12 to 18 months their big,

Yeah.

expensive Spanish wedding. But they've shown something that isn't, they could have to be honest, still gone to somewhere in central London and spent those

Yep.

in a hotel and had a a three called slap up dinner at the Savoy or something. Thing, but they didn't, they went home and they had a

Chinese.

yeah, and it just shows to you that you don't need to spend a lot of money 'cause they had a lovely day. You don't need to spend all that money if you can't it,

Yeah.

Amazing. But it's just another show in another.

another side of things, isn't it?

Yeah.

I do think it's, it is always like with the celebrity weddings and things, obviously it's always seems to be the bigger and the better and they get, they get more and more sort of like, I don't wanna say outrageous, but people spend more money and they have all these. These bits and pieces, and I think it does leave obviously the rest of us, the general public, kind of like, oh, you know, you want this and that, and you just kind of feel a bit, oh, I can't.

Exactly, and

having.

had a great

Yeah.

I thought it was a really good example as well for couples that quite a lot of couples I work with, you know, they still want the, the big

Yeah.

Just like these

Yeah.

in, you know, 12 to 18 months. But they wanna have a celebrants, they legally need to get married. So I thought sometimes I think people struggle with that part. One of the couples I'm working with at the moment have gone a little bit crazy with their, you know, London. I was like, go and get, you know, go sign the paper in London. It's gone a little bit crazy.

Oh.

they've added all the dinner and then the flowers and, and they're like, whoa,

Yeah,

we are now actually spending a lot of money. So I thought it was a really good example as well for people who do just wanna go and do that

yeah,

like how you can keep it a lower cost, because technically all you are doing is signing a bit of paper

yeah, exactly.

So. Yeah, I thought, I thought it was a really good example for people who don't wanna spend the money and a really good example for people who do wanna spend the money, but they wanna have you know, either get married abroad or have a celebrant and they

I just want like a small gathering. Yeah. Yeah. I just love that. I really do. I thought coming back and getting in pajamas and having a Chinese, that's amazing.

sounds great. Don't

It does.

I wanna do is get my pajamas and the

Yeah. Me too. Oh, I'm already in my pajamas.

Yeah,

That's

all of the Chinese, now she's gonna be again, one late. She'll be sending me a photo like, here's the baby, here's the Chinese.

exactly.

Also, when you're getting married, like in London, obviously you say about like the town halls and things like that, they're not like your sort of bog standard registry office. Are they? Not that, there's nothing wrong with that, but they're very decorative I think. I guess some really cool like photos and stuff. Quite quirky. Kind of like city shoots and

Yeah. And the town halls are beau, like Islington Town

There's so lush.

Like the

Yeah. So.

I mean, they're old inside, but you know, you've

Yeah.

nice spots for your

Get that. Yeah, exactly. So I was gonna touch on wedding transport. So obviously there is a lot of ways that you can get to and from your wedding some more traditional than others. But I think it's important support, an important part of the wedding planning and your day is obviously figuring out how you're actually gonna get to your venue or from your, from your home to where you're getting ready or whatever and getting everyone else there as well also can fall down to you.

Mm-Hmm.

Obviously sometimes you can sort of say it's like bridesmaids and family obviously get your own way there. I mean, there's absolutely nothing wrong with getting a taxi obviously, but you can get like these taxis, like the wedding taxis, they're like white.

you can,

quite cool. So a little bit different, but I know so for our wedding we actually had a Volkswagen camper van, which was really cool. Yeah. And then.

as well.

They're so popular. Yeah. So I mean, we kind of so we like incorporated it into the day, so we used, so basically they took bridesmaids there and my mom, and then they came back and got me and my dad. And then they, they waited until after the ceremony. So obviously we sort of walked back out after we'd done our vows and everything and hooray, congrats went back out into the.

We had them a

really good for,

Yeah.

yeah, really good for like, if you've got like a lot of guests that you need to get from one place to another. So if you've got like a church and then you off to a venue and you wanna get everybody there in one piece.

It's de and it's definitely easier if your guests aren't local. If they're coming from abroad or they're not from the area, and they'll stand in a hotel, just

Yeah.

all up, take 'em to the church, and then take them to the venue. And then at the end of the night, you can either put on like shuttle service with taxis or put on a bus. It's

Yeah.

what I tend to find a lot is that churches don't have parking. So

No they don't. Terrible for parking.

you wanna, and I think the best way to do that, if you have got guests that are local but there's no car park or fairly local-ish or people are staying at different places, is just set a a pickup point. The easiest

Yeah.

a pickup point. Everybody meet there, they get there however they want, and then they get on the bus.

Yeah, that's a good idea because, oh yeah. Oh my god. Church is so bad. Like we struggle terribly, like when we've gotta go and decorate a vent like a church with an archway. It's like, where do you park everywhere's, double yellow lines. And then you've got this great big van you've got find somewhere to go.

did, there was no parking at all, was it was on street

No, it is just on the street. Yeah.

at the

Just have to hope and pray that there's somewhere to go. But another thing, you know, going back to what we were saying about going and scouting at the venue before you turn up, obviously to do a job, it's like, turn up and see if they got parking.

It's always a

So definitely a question,

Definitely.

but especially with churches, 'cause they tend to be quite like in the middle, well not in the middle of nowhere, but they, they just never have good parking, do they?

I think it is To be able to, you know, give your guests things like that, that they haven't got a worry. Especially if they're like, say they're not from the area where all the country is even worse. Like, you know that they haven't got a worry about how they're gonna get somewhere.

And you can also get your transport to kind of match in with your aesthetics. Obviously, if you're going for something that's quite classic timeless, you can get that vintage car, you get Rolls Royce, Bentley. I mean, it really makes me laugh though, you know, you see some of these like sports cars, like Ferrari's. You remember when you went to your prom and it's like Yeah. Like those sorts of like, oh no.

Yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

now. So

my God. A limo throwback.

Yeah. You can still get a limo. Yeah.

You do. Or a Hummer.

last year, they were Americans. They wanted like the British

Yeah.

just so everybody had that experience as well

That's cute.

they got to go on a

Yeah, exactly. Big Bang bus.

love those, the old route masters, but they're not easy to

Yeah, they're cool.

depends where you are as well. Like there's a lot of, quite

Oh really? You'd think, I always seem to think that you'd, they'd be quite easy to book. I dunno why, but,

I mean, if you get married in London, it's not too bad, but they can't drive. Like say you wanna get married up north, like someone from

ah, yeah.

buses driving all that way. Like that's

It's gotta come from somewhere, I suppose. Yeah, I see what you're saying. Yeah. I mean like, yeah, so just checking access and things like that for your venue and your, wherever you're getting married is obviously a good shout. Must do that. But generally I think if you're gonna book with one of these suppliers with the transport, they should sort of ask you that anyway.

Yeah.

and I know I'd say sort of allow, I mean, I'm just ballpark here, so like 400 to thousand pounds for you of transport I think is a good kind of range.

those buses, the old route masters, they normally see about 70 people. So say you've

Yeah,

you need two of them and they are about a thousand pound each for

yeah, yeah.

it can add up. This is the only thing with transport. I think it's great. And I saying I. I think it's very important. I think especially if people aren't living in the area and especially if they're

Yep.

a

To put that on for them.

you should a hundred percent. So they haven't gotta worry about it. But it is a huge cost and I do think that if you, so many of my couples are like, you know, will, will guess, guess the local, so they'll make their own way there. They'll either

Yeah.

especially if there's not a church involved, you know, you just

Yeah.

they get taxis or whatever.

I think that's the benefit, isn't it? If you have a, if your wedding is in, if your, sorry, your ceremony is in the same place as obviously your reception bonus. That's if you are having a separate, yeah. If you're going from like a church to then your venue, obviously a big thing you need to consider is how people, again, from one place to the other, including yourself, obviously.

But I, but I would say a lot of my couples now are moving towards like, do you know what it, it was like when you arrived for your, for your ceremony? Yeah.

Yeah.

saw your arrive. Like,

Yeah.

genuinely on my wedding day just getting a taxi to the venue because

Yeah. Well, no one would know, would they? No one. See,

arriving, they're all gonna be sat down for the ceremony, and then I am, and then I'll go into the ceremony like it's not. And I, I just think

it's not essential is it? It

unless

It depends what you want.

I think as a couple, if you've just got married and

Yeah.

want a nice car from the church to the

And then you turn up and it's like confetti when you get out and everyone sees you. Yeah,

you don't wanna be rocking up in a bog standard

yeah.

people are then gonna

No,

at the venue and you're gonna see you arrive and you've just got married. Also, a car is really nice at that point if you get married at, at a different place to where your reception is, because you can go off for a little while and have

yeah. You get that time, don't you? Yeah.

nice. But I would really say like, do you think about that? Some, some grooms are really into cars, so they might wanna

Yeah.

car. But yeah, I would realize that it is a big cost. I think some, that is

Yes. A separate

my couples is like how much

how much it is. Yeah.

exactly like you said earlier, you know, be, you know, think about it logistically, like if you've got like one car and it can take your bridesmaids and then go back and get, you do that as opposed to like hiring a couple of cars.

was a couple of them. Yeah. So that's what we did.

but just make

You just gotta factor it into your plan. Yeah.

sure you

Make sure that you're on time.

exactly that. But get them to pick up the mase first and then pick

Yeah. Yeah. 'cause I was just going back to our weddings. They came, they came, picked up my bridesmaids and my mom took them, come back on me and my dad. But no one saw us turn out. But it was just nice that I think, like you say, it depends. On what you want. Like we had some really lovely photos. So we had Morris was the camper van we had and he was, he's a white camper van, so it kind of went with all of our

exactly. And if

photos. But we got some epic pictures.

a

Yeah.

got the budget to do it

Get glass of champagne each when you come back out as well. It was,

And you do, like I

it was,

opportunity to then go off as well.

And I just think it's nice to have that time though, just gen, like, like I say, we came, we came out of our ceremony, we walked back out, and then everybody got, well, so while we went down and had our photos with the camper van and our little glass of champagne,

Woo.

everyone got ready for the confetti shot.

Yeah,

up guests for the confetti shot while we went out and had pictures, so

Yeah, it's a

it was really good.

So I think

Yeah.

pros and cons isn't there? At the end of the

Yeah.

are

You'll weigh it up.

If you've

Yep.

do it. But if you are

It might be a last thing.

then

Yeah, it might be like one of these extra things at the end that you think of, like, if you are all right, just like you say, you can get taxi, it's practical just to jump in a, in a cab and get there, whatever. It's absolutely fine. Like there's no, there's no judgment or whatever. Who, who cares? As long as you get there.

But equally I would advise that if you've got guests outta town get,

If you've got, yeah.

and you get, especially if you're at a church, arrange them transport and if you've got a church or a different ceremony location, get transport for you and your other half to then go to the reception.

exactly.

Cool. Should we go on to the listeners questions and messages?

Let's do it.

Okay, cool. So we've got a message from Sarah.

Hey Sarah thanks. Writing in.

we attended a wedding in 2018 as a foursome. My husband and me, my best friend and our husband, it was lovely. The invitation has a spendy gift listing, so we

Oh.

something from it, and that was that The marriage broke down the following year as both had affairs.

Oh my God.

social media. Very dirty laundry esque. Oh, in 2021,

love that.

Yeah. In 2021, imagine our surprise to receive a vow renewal invitation at they had reconciled having never divorced.

What?

in fair play to get back together. Good.

Oh yeah. Everyone loves a hobby editing, I suppose.

they wanted a fresh start. Fresh bs. Fair enough. Apart from the fact that the renewal invitation contained another gift list,

Oh, come on.

husband, who is friends of the

But I mean, I, I do the same.

Well, that's probably why they did it. They were like,

Yeah.

split it

need some more gifts.

we need, we need

We just want more presents.

should have

Yeah.

I'm getting

You shoulda done. Yeah.

and my husband, whose friend of the groom just bought something from it. My best mate accepted the invitation with a note on the gift list in the RSVP, which said I quarterly refer you back to the 120 pound rice cooker of 2018. My hero.

What

basically RSVP'd and just said.

that jokes.

I ain't getting you nothing. 'cause

I've already got you something. Yeah. Off your expensive list.

it really? Like six years? Well, they go, oh no, 2021.

3, 3 years.

gly. I do think, actually,

And that's after Covid as well, so people wouldn't have had a little money. Cheeky,

also, I don't, just don't really far. And you'll, okay, lovely. If you wanna do a

I don't get it. I'll be honest with you, I've never understood why people do that because I just, I do. I mean, like, don't get me wrong, okay. I absolutely love any excuse for a party. Any excuse for a celebration, I'm there. I won't do anything. Not,

yeah, of course.

But I just, I just, I do kind of feel that's what it is. It's like people get to like 10 years. It's like,

And I

I can understand when you've done like 50.

Yeah. And I completely get it and do a lovely, so, you know, if you wanna do the ceremony park call and have

Yeah. But

celebrate.

list.

been together like 20 years, like a hundred

Yeah.

and a celebration, but you would sending out for another G gift list. Like it's, it's almost like it's another wedding is how that kind of words

that's, that's how it's come across to me. Yeah.

of the gift list is, you know, people buy you something to, you know, help you start your married life together,

Start off. That's it. Yeah.

your home or you to have a lovely honeymoon. But if you are

Yeah,

renewal,

renewal. You don't need that. I mean, a card, you can have a card. Like,

I don't, but

congrats again, I think.

card? They'd have been better off getting divorced and getting married again.

Yeah, exactly. Sorry to hear about your affairs. Congratulations on your file renewal.

I felt that, I agree with the, with

I love what they've done that though.

for doing that

Yeah, that is.

a lot to ask, especially putting a gif list together. Also, something that I've noticed in there was that she said with a note on the gif list in the RSV piece was almost like they've, when you are as VP, you have to kind of almost

You have to get a gift.

Yeah,

Yeah. Well,

a lot in it.

play.

That is a lot.

They've got some balls. I'll give them that.

have. They have

That would've been a good one for them to write in. Like, am I the ars of, you know.

Am I the asshole for asking for a gift three years later? That's a, that's a, thinking about this again. Right? So they got married in 2018, then 2021, they did a VA renewal. That's a lot of expenditure on events in a short space

Also, can I just say, I wanna know what the speeches were like I, I wanna know what they, you know. Oh, you know, it's been such a tough time. We both had a marital affairs.

Yeah. I dunno, would you

It's weird. I don't get it. Like, can you imagine the chat, like around the, around the renewal, this wedding renewal, whatever, like, what are they talking about? People like discussing their affair, like, I just feel like it's all a bit.

It's

It's all a bit weird.

it? Like they've got

Three years is nothing. Yeah.

got back

Like

then they're doing the vow and you're like, wait till you've been married 10 years or something Maybe.

exactly.

Hmm.

Exactly. Very strange. I, but I love, I love her.

We want more

comment.

this. We want messages.

Yeah.

what you think is ridiculous?

We are here for them.

Do you wanna do

Yes. So we've had another question. So what are the things suppliers do to annoy you?

I love this.

well.

from a supplier, actually.

Oh, did it?

go

I'm surprised. No, you go. Go on. You go. Well, it's too long now. I'm joking.

list is so not, no, I think I've talked about

No, it's not.

that are kind of like you scaremonger in to get people to book. We've seen

That's annoying.

Like you must book no or you're never gonna have a wedding. people who don't read the information as a planner as a planner, I send out the wedding plan a few weeks before the wedding. Everybody's got the info.

Read that.

it because then I'll get responses asking me questions. I'm like, it's in the wedding plan. Read it.

Refer to the plan that I sent you.

And also I think people, suppliers who I don't, who don't respond really bugs me or people that take

Yeah.

long,

Ages. Like do you want the work or not?

literally. And I get that a lot as a planner. 'cause obviously I'm putting in a lot of inquiries. But I hear a lot as well through the grapevine, people that are just like. Aren't in it to love. I feel like if you're gonna work in the wedding industry, you've gotta really love the wedding industry. 'cause it is bloody

yeah.

know there's a lot of careers out there that are hard work, but it's un really unsociable hours, like ridiculously unsociable.

full on, isn't it? Like it's constant and it's full on and it's, yeah.

are gonna be every Saturday working when all your mates are having barbecues in the

Yeah.

things like that. And I think sometimes people resent work in the new editing industry and they almost resent what they do. And then when they

Yeah.

they let people down. So any suppliers that let people down really infuriates me. Like I'd have to actually have

Yeah. That's annoying.

fall off before

Yeah.

I would

Before you do that,

you know, and I would sort it out. But yeah, that people being let down and scammers, there's so many scammers out

oh God. Yeah.

me.

terrible.

one recently come back around again where there's a photographer who must have gone by about 10 different names in the last few years where. They're taking people's deposits and then people just aren't hearing back from them.

That's terrible.

and then they just, they do that for a year, get all the deposits, and then they they then go bust and then they call themselves something else. So people don't realize, yeah,

Oh, what's wrong with people? Like, why would you do that? Especially with people's, like when, like we're saying, obviously you're budgeting for a wedding that's people's hard earned, like saved money. They're taking it. It makes me so mad.

does. Yeah. It makes me mad Yeah, it is, it is sad and yeah, it's something that is very infuriating. But yeah, I'd say

Yeah.

the, they're the main things really. I think as

I mean,

there is a little bit of like. Oh, that person does more than me. Or a child that

oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

a hair and

yeah.

So many there until like midday and then they get to go

Oh, like compare. Yeah.

it's different. Everybody's

working hard in their own way though. I think you've got, yeah, you can't comment on someone else just, even if they're there for 10 minutes, you dunno what they've done in the background.

Nobody really truly understands.

yeah.

thing I've just remembered. I think I've

Oh

this before, but. Stay in your lane almost, because I was literally about to say, obviously nobody knows what each other does, so I would never go on TikTok for example, and a video where I'm recommending tips on like how you know how to pose for your wedding photographs, or I would

Oh, okay.

a wedding photographer's. Post that someone's commented on and start answering the questions. Because I'm not a photographer, so I don't know, or a caterer, I would never go on as a caterer and recommend like what wine to pair with the food, for example. So it

No, because you don't know.

me when other wedding suppliers, for example, florists, no fence

Wow.

go

on then.

on tips about the evening reception. Like you're not even there, like you don't know. And it

What? Like, like what? What do you mean by tips? What, like, actually, like, like planning tips or? Oh, well, I'm literally on a wedding planning podcast.

Yeah, there she is. She's, she's on the phone,

You better take that back. Don't you Come for the florist, mate.

But you know what I mean, like stuff that like me and you actually chat about

Yeah. To be fair though,

from it, the point of view of

yeah.

wedding as well. But when you are going

Yes.

like, things that

I wouldn't, I wouldn't give tips.

you're a florist, and then it's like, oh x about the evening reception, and you're like. Or even if you

You there?

that route, fine. But then I've actually had suppliers in the past comment on my, so if Pee somebody's commented on my post, asked me a question, and then somebody's hopped on to reply to it, and I'm like, no, no, no.

Who are you?

disagreed

off my post

given

that you've given.

You're not even there at that part of the day. You don't

Yeah, no, that's a bit annoying.

the speeches when they should be like, I've worked in the

Yeah.

time. I've seen it from a catering point of view, a venue point of view, a planner's point of view, a photographer's point of view. So when people jump in, aren't even involved in that point of the day and like, oh, you should do your speeches then. And you're like, no, logistically that doesn't work. But you don't know that because you're

Yeah,

part of the

because you're not there.

hair and makeup

No.

advising on when you should have your speeches, things like that that I see. And it

Yeah. That, that's so far removed from that part of the day. Yeah, I see what you're saying. Yeah. That is annoying. I, I mean, to be honest, you know, one, one of the things that annoys me and has been annoying me lately, I think it's from maybe 'cause I'm a little bit in the background a bit at the moment, so I'm kind of like looking from a, maybe I'm not so involved in, I'm not so full on. So I've had a bit of time. Yeah. Is people making out other, so the, I hate this right?

like trying to scare people, doesn't it?

Yeah, trying to scare people, trying to make out that you're busy. I mean, fair. Do you know what? If you are fully booked, mate? Fair enough. Good for you. But why do you need to make an Instagram post to, to tell your customers? Like, quickly, book me. 'cause it's not gonna work.

really

That doesn't work. That if I was a customer and I saw that you were fully booked, I'd be like, well still obviously I haven't got the time for me, so why would I want to quickly book in with you? People just, I think they wanna make out that they're busier than they are on social media. And I think it's, especially like for us, like you say, it's such a, a saturated industry it's hard not to compare yourself to other people. And I think posts like that really just rub me up the wrong way.

yeah. As a You, we do get like compara, is that

yeah.

tinnitus.

I dunno, I've never heard that before. Sounds like a bad disease.

we compare ourselves and

Yeah.

always, it's all smoke and mirrors as our lovely Becca says.

That's so true though. It is.

But For people planning their weddings It is, it does. Cause that kind of like, well

yeah.

picked up for 2026 and I wanna get

Yeah. Oh, I need to,

then I need to start

yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And another one I'm just gonna drop in here is so it's another little pet hay of mine.

Pet hate.

I'm just gonna go for it. Yeah, so obviously being a florist is, it's hard work and I had to train for a long time to get to where I, I didn't just pick this up, right, okay. I didn't just pick this up and, you know, I mean, maybe I'm naturally talented, you know, but I didn't, I went and I spent years at college, like.

Yeah,

Perfecting my craft or whatever, you know, working with other people getting the experience and, and you know, really working hard at it. So it's not something that just comes to you. You just become a florist like that. And I think all forests will appreciate this, and it's, it's a really, it's a hard job. It's hard work.

Yeah.

And then you get, you know, these people, people that do. I don't wanna, I'm not gonna name names

their hobby.

or, but

Let's

yeah, it's like a hobby. And then they start saying they're gonna do flowers with their services. Oh, we do centerpieces now and we do this now and we do, we are florists now. And it's like,

That's a

you're not though because you are not trained, but also you don't have the knowledge of the, like the flower knowledge. So you don't know how, and I've seen it, like I've seen these people's work and I'm like, you are taking work away from some someone that is actually. You are, you are almost lying to your customer because you're not a floor. You, you can't,

That is a

you can't give the advice.

you're not a police

Yeah.

where they, yeah, they might be good at putting some flowers

they let people down

But, but they

and it gives us a bad name.

You know, they go, they, they might be good at putting some flowers together. They go into a styled shoot, but what you

Yeah,

flowers two hours later. 'cause they don't know how to handle the flowers

no they don't.

they've died.

And you will end up paying more money. You will pay more money because they don't know what they, I mean, it sounds harsh, but they, they just don't know the advice to give and they, they're not gonna give you, I. The service that you deserve from a florist. If you're gonna get wet in flowers, go to a florist.

professional

to like a venue decor company that does flowers as well, unless they are a florist. I just think like stick. It's the same thing. Stay in your lane. Like,

check people's experience. 'cause we have exactly the

yeah,

the amount of wedding planners that pop up because they've planned their own wedding, they think, oh, this is lovely, but they have no experience.

no,

is that

they haven't got that.

gonna plan your day and B,

Yeah,

say it works backwards. So if you can manage a wedding, don't take rocket scientists, you can. You can pretty much plan a wedding. But

yeah,

to have that experience of planning, a lot of managing, sorry, a lot of weddings because unless you know what ha can go wrong, you cannot plan a wedding because you need

exactly.

you know, options

Yeah.

You need to make

If a problem arises,

Exactly.

know how to solve it.

and you've gotta know in your planning how you're gonna ha be able to avoid those things if they, if they come up and

Yeah.

a plan in place. So yeah, it, it's the same thing. You even if you go into a direct florist, ask them like, what is your

Absolutely.

your

I think you are well within your rights to ask a supplier what their experience is. I always, if I go and meet a couple, I always start off with introducing myself a little bit and explain to them like the experience I've got. But I was just taught that from when I've worked in shops you always open a conversation, but just saying like, you know, I've been doing this for how many years.

you're

definitely.

really good one, because I think that it is so easy in the wedding industry to just be like, oh yeah, like Stationers as well. Like you

Yeah. Like I feel like you,

our

it's all hobby peoples

Now

or like, you know

to do theirs, but

Yeah. Like.

Like you're not a professional designer. They might not, and exactly like you say, give that same service. You know? What if some, it's same with like a florist as well, it's like with catering as well. Like unless you understand the costs of the market, things going up and down. If they

Yeah, exactly.

then suddenly they're not charging enough money. 'cause this is a typical thing that people do and they're a hobbyist, is they don't charge enough money.

No.

go bust, and then you're gonna have to let down all those people that have

Yep.

they've gone, oh, they're cheap, they're great. If you

Yep. So true.

We

I've seen it so many times.

Yeah,

Yeah. I've seen it so many times. you see that they're charging not a lot at all. And obviously then it makes us look like we are charging extortion prices or well, why are florists charging that much? It's like, well, 'cause you're paying for my experience as well

And

and everything else.

I need to be able to take a

Yes. My job. It's not like a hobby.

exactly.

Yeah, totally ran over. Thank you for that question. I feel like that was a good therapy session for me.

We got it out.

Oh dear.

week we're gonna be doing another engagement special. 'cause it's gonna be Valentine's,

Yes. Valentine's.

engagements. So we're gonna be talking about our tips for newly engaged people. So yeah, join us then.

Yeah, make sure you listen in.

What else can they do? Rate us,

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See you next week. Bye.