Wedding Venues...How do you know you've found THE ONE?!

you got 30 seconds. if you can only have three things to take in your wedding kit, what would they be? Go! Nice. That was quick.

Am I not NUMBER ONE! HAHAHA

and then this, and that.

I have a whole toolkit that's ready to go. It's got everything in it. So.

nice,

Yeah.

That was my TikTok video idea

Oh.

week.

Oh dear. Run!

and record at

That's funny.

Anyway, should we get started?

Let's do it!

Hi, I'm Hannah,

I'm Hayley.

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 thrown in between.

and also just a chat between friends.

And of course, make sure you hit that subscribe button. And let's get you wed!

Woo! Exciting!

first we just want to make a little announcement. I don't know if you've the, uh, the little ad between uh, in the break, um, we've

added it.

uh, come up. So basically we are now doing on the 29th. So our live podcast, we are going to be um, basically tickets are free and there will be a link and we're going to be doing a Like a live zoom podcast.

area

Yeah, so so we decided just to stick it on You Basically on Zoom, so yeah. So hopefully people can join.

the same concept,

Yeah.

can be at live asking your questions 'cause there's like a chat box and whatever. And if you wanna come, come to the floor and you know, we can unmute, unmute,

I'll unmute you.

they can read

uh, unmute you, yeah.

need to. You can stay with camera off. It's up to you. Yeah.

Nah, I'm joking.

Yeah, so we'll put the link to, cause you're still going to need to subscribe. So tell us that you're coming so we can send you a zoom link. So yeah, we'll put the link in our show description to do that.

And then come along. Yeah. Yeah. Perfect.

exciting stuff. And we can also email you like information, what time is starting and blah, blah,

Yeah. Awesome.

yeah, yeah, yeah. Exciting. I'm looking

Yeah, me too. I am as well. It's gonna be fun.

don't you think like January, right. This is classic me. So six months ago, six months ago, Hannah was like, Oh, I made like a. A pledge? Is that the

Yeah.

don't know. To

promise. Yeah, I know what you mean.

promised myself. I think it was a new year's resolution a couple years ago to go to the theatre more. So sometimes I just buy tickets and I just go on my own because you can get like last let seats in like Northampton, Milton

Yeah.

for like really cheap. If there's only one seat on its own you can get it really cheap and they're always really good seats. I bought this one to see this show tonight and now

Oh.

I'm like, I can't be arsed.

Do you know what, that's like me when I make plans in the evening, so I'm, I'm, I don't know about you, but I, I get up fairly early, but I'm, I'm, I'm busy, always busy in the day, so my evenings, I normally don't do a lot in the evening. I like, unless it's a weekend, yeah I like to, that's when I'm like on my wind down. So then what I do is I book loads of stuff in and try and get all social and then I regret it.

Yeah, I don't like doing something more than like once or twice a

Yeah.

of those is like working. Cause I have like evening meetings and

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Yeah, I'm just like, and it's not a show that I've seen before. So it's not

What is it? Yeah. Yeah.

Have you heard of it? Yeah, so apparently it's a really, really good show, but I am really into like the, like I was a big musical theater girl when I was younger, so I'm into like the classics and I know all the songs and I love it when I can go and know all the songs

Yeah.

because I don't like know it. I'm a bit like can't

Not really into it.

it was only like 20 quid. I'm like,

I just don't go. Meh, I'll lose out on that one.

on moving it. 'cause I was like, if I don't wanna go out on a Wednesday evening. To do,

To do stuff. No one else is gonna want to.

want to come and see us on a

Yeah.

January. It's just too cold and rainy, isn't

It has been so cold.

Yeah, if

has been frozen.

I'd probably happily go.

Yeah.

But it's

Nah, don't you mean.

where

really want to go and see the girl. On the train.

Oh,

Um, with Giovanna Fletcher. It's new, it's coming out. It's not out yet but when it comes out she's, she's doing it now and I just really want to see it.

was that one? It was like a scary

Oh, Ghost at 222. 222? Yeah.

what I was thinking

Have you seen that? I've not seen it.

stuff. into like jazz hands

Defying gravity!

literally, which I still haven't seen that either.

you not, oh yeah, sorry, it's a still subject.

I saw the subject. Yeah,

Sorry,

actually haven't

sorry, sorry, sorry. Oh,

day off

yeah.

so

Do you know what, to be fair, I would actually go and watch it again with you if you want to go together. But you said you'd go on your own, so.

now previewing on you can now buy it

Yeah, I see that, yeah.

I probably would rather do that

Yeah, I'm a bit like that. uh, to be fair, actually, I went to the cinema the other night and I um, We Live in Time with Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield.

I've not

Oh, man, it's, it's really good, but it's sad. It's a bit sad. Yeah, I, I was crying like into my nachos. I was like,

Well, Martin's actually away one of the days this week for work, so maybe I'll download that. I'm going to see how much it is.

it's probably like, yeah, it's probably more than that. You'd be surprised now. Things are like 20 quid on like, on telly.

Yeah, I'm not paying that. I'd rather go cinema. It's probably cheap now. And I did say I'd probably go when it's a bit quieter because

I've got me a cat movie so you could always you I could you know If you want to go someone else's I'll get two for one tickets

Can you remember, is that still a thing? Where you used to buy

Two for what? Oh

1

I know someone that does that still gets insurance for I Don't know if it's 99p. Yes. I mean, yeah.

for

Yeah and get them

cheap Like a day's holiday

Yeah, that's it. That's a hack, guys. You've heard it here first. So basically,

old hack

I

15 year

mean, I only heard about it like a couple of months ago.

I used to do it when I was like 20

Do you remember Orange Wednesdays?

Oh

Oh my God,

I

texting two for one to

Yeah,

it was when you're on. I'm just mad how time flies.

How's your week

My week's been good. um, so I had the wedding at the weekend.

You've been a busy

Yeah, I've been busy. So I tell you what, busy January and it was so cold, but it was really nice. It was like, there was not a cloud in the sky. It was really like crisp and fresh, but it was freezing.

that last

Yeah, it was so nice.

that though? I'd rather it

I would honestly,

four, but bright.

what I really, so when I chose September, I chose that because sometimes in September you get it where it's cool. It's not too warm and you get like that blue sky and it's kind of like, yeah. But it's not too hot. I hate, I honestly like, I, I, I'm just not into the summer anymore. I used to love it and I just don't like it. It's got so hot now, it's too much, it's humid, it's gross and the flowers don't like it. So it's not.

Yeah.

It's not ideal. Um, But yeah, no, it was a beautiful day um, so the venue was Holm, Holm, Holmwood Hall.

Hall?

Yeah, so near Peterborough um, but the views there are stunning, it like looks over the gardens and stuff, so uh, but yeah, it was really, really lovely bride and everything, they were really happy. It was just funny because I had to, obviously, I normally deliver like bridal stuff, like so their bouquets, bridesmaids, whatever. Then I do a separate delivery to like the groom with his groomsmen, so with their buttonholes.

Yeah.

quite a few buttonholes for this delivery to the groom. I walked in and they were like, can you do our buttonholes for us? We were told you'd put them on and I was like, oh no, I hate doing this. I hate doing it. I don't know why, but it makes me really nervous.

get up close or pi or

and I'm just there like, shaking, trying to put them on, like, oh, sorry,

you

oh dear, but it was fine.

jewel tones? I

tones went well. Do you know what, I was, I was so impressed with the colours I chose. They just looked really good. Sometimes you like, order stuff and you think, Oh I do hope it goes like, together well. Or the colours come as you order them. Because obviously, you're ordering off of a photo that the wholesaler's taken of the, of the stock.

isn't

Exactly, but they all just looked amazing. And I used flowers called scabious and they were like, honestly they were like a really, really dark burgundy purple. Purple like almost black.

Yeah,

they were so nice. They just added like something special to it. So I was really pleased

linen did they go for?

They just had like white linen, yeah, but their bridesmaid yeah Bridesmaids all in emerald green though, and they looked insane

their emerald green linen as well, or like a

Yeah Yeah, that would have been nice. Yeah, cuz they wanted to include all of their suits were navy like a tweed like a tweed navy

would have looked so

and Yeah

have had the green dresses, the blue suits, and then like a deep plum cloth.

Oh,

honestly, guys, if you're listening, linen to upgrade is probably if you want to really make your wedding stand out and look amazing, especially if it's a winter wedding because dark linen on a winter wedding looks. Insane. It's one of the

Nice.

to, like, up,

Yeah, upscale it.

decor,

totally.

look of your day.

for a coloured linen.

cutlery and glass, glasses, yeah. But your linen, that will literally just make such a diff and it will just make it stand out from you know sometimes I think with a when you get a marriage and you look at the venue and you just look at all the pictures and all the weddings look quite samey? Because they've all got the white linen, they've all got the silver cutlery, they've all got the standard glassware. If you want to make yours look the same,

Change the linen colour.

the linen. It's the way,

No, that's true, that's right.

like a pale pink,

Yeah, it was like an off, really, really pale. Yeah. Yeah.

of difference. And it's such a minor cost. Especially if you get it, if your caterer can get coloured linen. Because they normally just charge a little

Yeah.

a little

I agree. I really, I really feel that it just changes it. It just adds like a, it's a bit more luxurious. I just, it's, it's, it's not, I really, I, I rate that. Yeah, I really, I love a colored linen. I just,

had it for my wedding. We had the forest

yeah, lovely. Love that. It looks stunning because you had, you had like really deep tone flowers as well, like the burgundies and the really deep And I just think with that colored linen, it just

just made

Oh, it was just so good. Yeah.

and the room was so light.

Yeah.

like deepen it down a bit, but that linen. So we had 50 guests, so five tables and it cost me a hundred pound

Yeah.

the delivery charge. And you, it literally delivers by from like a delivery company in a massive box. You put it back in the day after the wedding.

No, we're sure.

it up. They normally send like a pre return

Like, yeah. Yeah, exactly.

easiest thing in the world as

Yeah, I went and picked tiles up from, I actually drove to London and got it because,

your company only offered their own courier

Yeah.

expensive. But

got expensive taste, what can I say? Yeah.

these two companies I use now weren't about.

Ah, yeah.

they offer it like delivered to

But I actually didn't mind because I had to go and pick up some other bits anyway, so, but,

It weren't

but it was, nah, it was fine.

yeah,

so that was my week well my weekend and then to be honest I've had a little bit of an influx of inquiries for 2026 weddings

Nice.

2025 at 2026 and

Yeah,

Which has been which has been quite nice and I've had had a few more followers online So I think it's just definitely that time of year people

it?

we're engaged. We're gonna start especially I feel like with when it gets to January or after Christmas if you're getting married anything like Like early, like springtime, if you've got a wedding in springtime, it's like, Oh my god, I need to crack on now, it's like, it's months away. Cause it just feels like, once Christmas is gone, it's cl Yeah, cause I remember when you were getting married, and it was like, after Christmas and that, you were like, Ah!

I was like, oh my

It's coming up fast!

year was stressing.

Heh,

No, it

was about the size of a beach ball.

Yeah, he

Oh my god, about this time last year, I was Very swell. Oh my

just get around

Yeah, yeah, yeah, but hey good times. Anyway, yeah, so how was your week?

Firstly, can I just say, I feel really bad because a woman that listens to the podcast messaged me on Instagram to ask for my budgeting sheet,

Oh, yeah,

like this time last

yeah, yeah

send it to her, I said, do you have anywhere to send me your email? But my Instagram's gone all weird and it's

Oh no

yeah, all I can see now is Messages from like six months ago I'd left it in my inbox unread because I hadn't been in the

Yeah Yeah, that's what I do

and it's just gone

Oh

please if you're listening Email me your best bets to email me Email us at letsgetyouwedpodcast at gmail. com and I'll ping you over. Because Instagram, I'm terrible with Instagram Messenger. And you know when it's like, you know when you get tagged in stuff?

Yeah Yeah

10 suppliers in a, in a story, it sends me 10 messages. me that each one

Oh,

been yeah so it like pushes people right down. So i'm just I hate instagram

So annoying. Yeah. I don't know. I don't rate it.

So never

Oh God, no.

either.

That's also rubbish.

me as your best because if it's in my inbox, i'll do it

yeah

but yeah, no, but good week, obviously no weddings for us. But lots of me

yeah.

we took on another new couple over Christmas. So we had their initial meeting. And then one of my couples knew another new couple that we took on over Christmas, we're doing, they're a 2026 couple actually, which normally most of my couples are like the year. So it'd be like nine to 12 months before they hire us. But yeah, no, these guys hired us. They're American.

Yep.

Get married in 2026. So we're doing all their venue searches at the minute, which is really exciting because there's some immense places that really fit

Oh, that's exciting. What are their, what are their, oh, what's the word? Hang on.

Yeah, they,

Oh dear.

like British, like

Okay.

are like, you know when it's like the moulded ceilings and the gold and the, and the, the patterned carpets and very like British, old British heritage, like castle vibes, castle manor house. They want, they really want a big like staircase, feature staircase, um, and

Nice.

like pictures of marble and they, marble floors, a lot of the pictures they put on were black and white but they want like black white with the pops of red

Oh.

for their flower, the red flowers.

Interesting.

Yeah. Beautiful.

quite cool. Yeah. Exciting.

mood board that I sent

Yeah. Okay. Okay.

reds, but with the deep

Just really dark, yeah.

one tier, you know, the big heart

Because, yeah, I know what you mean, yeah.

yeah, so Yeah, I'm

It's exciting.

this is so beautiful. And they're really like chilled on where they have it because, you know, obviously people are flying in and they're happy to travel,

Yeah,

set to a

I guess that's a good thing if you're going to a separate country, like, say if you're coming from America to the UK, because everyone you're inviting's got to travel there, it doesn't matter where in that country you kind of go, so you actually got a lot of choice there.

yeah, some people are a bit like, oh they want it near the airport,

Okay.

to travel then too far. But then I'm not sure, I think you can probably fly to Manchester and stuff or

I was going to say, there's airports scattered all over it, isn't there really?

but, but even then I think especially from people in America, for them to get off a flight and then drive three hours is like, that's normal to them. Because,

were talking about earlier, wasn't it? Like, going from state to state is like, like a 20 hour drive.

literally. So, yes, I'm very excited about that. And then we're also currently in the process of hiring a social media manager content creator person. So,

Oh, a content creator, you say?

yeah, I've been interviewing for that. And it's just like, you know, when it's like something that you just don't really know about.

Yeah. Okay.

this as far as my lunch goes. So that's all a bit of a minefield.

Yeah, know

also,

mean.

personal life, I've started my Zoe testing.

Oh,

you

okay, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's interesting. So how are you getting on with this? Yeah, explain what it is, explain what it is.

Yeah, so it's like a gut te I wanna say it's gut, but I would say it's like a body testing analysis. It's about, like, how your body processes food and stuff, and you do So I've got, like, my little blunt thing

is it a little patch? Is it similar to the diabetes patch?

Yeah,

is that the same thing? Yeah, it's like a little disc. Yeah.

for two weeks, so it sees like, how it affects your blood, like different foods affect your your blood

Yeah.

whatever, your, I can't think of the word, blood sugar,

yeah. yeah.

yeah, so those bits and bobs, and then you do like, blood samples, so I had to like, literally take my own blood, it sounds really bad, but it's

How did you, did you put it on yourself, the little disc thing? Did you just stamp, it's like a stamp, kind of like.

yeah, on the back of your

Yeah.

Yeah,

Oh, okay.

is similar, but you push it and it obviously gives you a slight little cut,

Yeah.

the blood drips into the

Uh.

then you send that off, and yeah. So they do basically do all these gut tests and stuff with you, and it's really cool. So you have to like, eat this like, bright blue cookie, and

What?

Like, when you, the next time you see it, when it comes out, you have to basically make the app aware so it knows, like, how quick your body's working and

Oh, I see.

clever science. And then eventually, after you've done all these tests and you get all the results back, they then analyze what food works for

Yeah.

doesn't.

That's good, that's actually really interesting.

I know, yeah,

Modern science, people, modern science.

I've wanted to do it for years to be fair, but it's, it's, it's a fair investment. It's not a huge investment, but I'd kind of put it off and then Martin got it for me for Christmas. So

Oh, that's good actually, that's a good present.

quite glad I left it till now because you know like how things evolve, like when they started

Yeah, takes a few years to kind of, yeah. What, these blue ones?

So you eat two

Oh.

like, not stand, they send them to you. I don't know what's in them, there's different but they're like big fat, like this size, white chocolate

Woah.

And then you have to fast for four hours and then you eat two bright blue ones for lunch.

that's interesting.

I know, but they, I was like stuffed. They're like 500 calories for two cookies. So they like it. calories and then it's like a thousand

The Justin cookie, yeah.

I'm stuffed.

Yeah, oh I'll be like, oh yeah, yeah, maybe I'll

I

be like, I'll

I know,

eat cookie.

seeing loads of people say like, Oh, I really struggle to eat the cookies and the tarts. You have to eat them within 20 minutes. I like, took me

Yeah, I was gonna say, like, that doesn't sound like a problem I'd have.

People are like, I felt really sick because I was too full. I'm like, pfft, couldn't have eaten another two.

Yeah.

I'll see you.

That's jokes.

Bit of a all round week, just a typical kind of January week. We've got our couple coming from America this weekend. So like I was saying last weekend, we're getting ready for that. So yeah, it's gonna be busy, busy because I'm gonna be with them for like four days straight,

Wow, that's cool. Yeah, I was gonna say.

which I'm not looking forward to, but that's fine.

It's all good.

Yeah, I'm not, I hate, I hate driving back and forth, back and

Yeah, it's a bit annoying.

It's what it is, yeah. I had to bring up I sent this to

Oh yeah, yes, yeah.

I love a little Do you know what, don't you, do you find this now though that people send you like TikTok videos and stuff all the

Oh yeah, massively, all the time.

like, oh, this would be funny for the

Yeah,

yeah, so we basically saw, this is actually not even funny It's actually quite sad.

Uh,

sad?

I mean, meh. Yeah.

the video starts that there's a bride in her bathroom washing off her wedding

Yeah,

ever. Anyway, the makeup artist hadn't seen the video is not on TikTok. Some, obviously loads of people have been sending it to her, and

sad innit.

with a response, which was quite, she looked really, you could tell she was really nervous recording

it was like a genuine Reaction, wasn't it? Yeah

was what I was gonna ask you, because I, I basically sent it to Hayley yesterday, haven't spoke to her about it

yeah,

do you think, was it, because there was part of me that's like,

I have

trying to start her TikTok? Has she

Yeah, I mean either it's a really good like way of basically they've both done it together so that there was never a wedding

maybe.

in that. Oh, you know you say you've washed off the mate. It's like this

shoot.

great uh ploy there because it's clickbait. So everyone's clicking it. I mean, it's got like millions of views. So

Yeah.

I mean, so yeah, I, I did feel that there could be that, but that was like the cynic in me, you know? I like to think that it's not that this woman genuinely was like, oh, I don't use TikTok and I've just come on here.

I just think, right, that original video the bride did, she didn't tag anyone. So, like, A, how did people know that she was

But why did, why,

like,

would you

suppliers.

If you had, I'm gonna use my own experience here. Right? Okay.

for

So I had my makeup trial with my makeup artist, and I. Was like, yeah. Oh, that's nice or whatever because I felt awkward when I was there Anyway, I got home and I actually really didn't like I really didn't like it.

the

You'd be panicking in that moment. You wouldn't have time. Also, who's 20 minutes before their wedding washing their makeup and got time to do it?

Yeah,

on, have some grace and decorum.

yeah,

you know.

if your timings were planned correctly, you'd have longer than that.

But. I just found that insane, it's kind of the way the world is now, is like everything goes on social media doesn't it? Like, if you didn't, if you didn't put it online did it really happen? And stuff like that, I just feel like, but I just, I do feel like she's, how's she got time to get her phone out, get it in the right position to film herself washing her makeup off? I feel like it'd be a Nah, nobody.

getting all your hair wet

Yeah, and she like scraped her hair back with her thing and I just thought, no,

You'd also, you wouldn't take it all off, you'd just tone it

Yeah.

try and get a bit of it off, or, you know, you wouldn't

Cause I thought,

it all

cause I think in the video she's like, I'm, watch me take my makeup off and redo it myself because I didn't like it. Like I do it myself sort of thing. And I just think like, by this point you've had a trial. Yeah. Right. Surely.

saying. She's like, she, I've looked back through all my notes, she had her

Yeah, and she said she loved it. Just a couple of things she wanted to change, which is normal. But, like, I went away from my trial thinking I think I might just do my own makeup because I don't wear a lot and I might be more comfortable.

Yeah, a hundred

so I don't know why you'd then wait till your wedding day have your makeup done

Yeah,

And then and it didn't look and I mean you can see in the in the video. It looks fine So that's why I didn't

Yeah,

but I mean the whole thing Yeah.

that the woman, the bride, was doing it for TikTok and maybe it was,

Yeah.

maybe it wasn't actually, I don't, I don't actually know, I haven't looked into the in depth of what she does, like, is she an influencer? Is she, was she even into TikTok? Like, what, what benefit does it do her from getting clicks? Or, that hair and makeup artist is a very good actress and she should be on The Traitors, because

Oh my god, don't get me started, I love it, Triton.

I'm sorry. really believe her,

Yeah. She was pulling at my heart. Yeah.

Like, yeah, that all, it was very

I'm so excited. Yeah.

not the normal kind of person to do a TikTok. It was her first TikTok.

And when she was like talking about how she'd met the bride, she said she was, it wasn't even the fact that she'd done it, it was the bride, who the bride was. She was saying like the bride was someone that was really nice and she'd got on well with and had said, like, been really like, like good to work with and it was more that had hurt her feelings and I think that she could tell, well, unless it was fake, like you say, that she was quite upset about that.

like there's not something 100 percent genuine about it. I don't know on whose side it isn't genuine, but

no, I

sure.

No, I feel the same.

legit thing.

Yeah.

the makeup off on the wedding

I mean, it's

think

It's, it's online. It's

that's that's what I was

I'd be like, oh my god, don't want anyone to know that's me.

yeah, because the bride hadn't tagged her So why? Yeah, why would you then do like a comeback almost?

Oh, I want to question that one, but look, we've got this podcast.

Yeah Yes

employee, like, fair play to you.

Yeah message

how you did it.

not

No, of course not.

why

But I just thought that is so, that is so 2025, innit? Heh.

I see these TikTok, like some of them are really, really cool, right? And I was, I saw a couple yesterday where, you know, the bride's not ready and then she's ready and

Yeah.

And there was part of me on my wedding that was like, oh, I really want to do this video. Who the hell has the

I'm on the

remembers?

Yeah.

wasn't even rushed in the slightest, but I did not even,

think about it.

just, don't, you just forget. But I'm like, there is people out there that genuinely probably have a list of TikTok videos that they want to get

Totally. Yep.

That's the word.

Definitely. They definitely do.

to you, make sure you do do a list because you will forget.

Yeah, exactly. Lists are your best friend at a wedding.

It is, yeah. I mean, not, that's not probably for us, but you, maybe that is for

Yeah, maybe that's you. Yeah,

other thing I've really seen this week is I was saying to you wasn't I, I've seen quite a few people that it's that very much that time of year, there's loads of open days going on,

I've seen so many.

yeah, fairs and whatever, and I've seen quite a few people who are getting a little bit stressed about choosing the right venue for them.

yeah.

They're a little bit like, oh you know, they've got to the point where they got the contract. Am I making the right decision? Am I spending

Pressure, pressure.

And I think actually out of all your suppliers, that is probably the biggest

It's the biggest, it's the biggest pressure and it's the biggest outlay, isn't it? So I feel like, Yeah.

day,

Yeah.

if you're picking a barn, that's your vibe.

Yep.

a stadium, that's your vibe. Like it kind of is the basis of the day,

Yeah, totally.

Obviously you can change, edit your vibe slightly, but

It's like your canvas, isn't it?

yeah,

So.

yeah, yeah, like, or if you're going into like a, well, you could do rustic still in a stately home, but you know what I mean, it's like, you know, if there's certain things that you want to be able to do, that it might be that your venue then can't do it, and yeah, it is, it's a bit, it's a big investment, and once you've confirmed it, it's done,

It's done.

location wise,

Yeah.

to, so if people then start saying, Oh, actually, I can't make it

It's a bit far. Yeah.

anxiety one, isn't

I think so, yeah. I definitely feel like as well, you don't just think about yourself in these situations, you're thinking about the guests and whether they're going to want to aid, like you say, travel there, like the access and just is it, yeah, like stuff like that. So I feel like it's kind of, you're getting pressure from all angles is where I'm getting at, but

we wanted to try and like give you some little tips

yeah. Yeah.

what you can do to make sure that your venue Is the

the one and we've drawn from our own experiences because

Yeah.

Hannah got married very recently I got married two years ago. She's not not long ago. I don't think

yeah, pretty recent.

pretty recent so we uh, yeah, we come together and put some put a little list together to help you out

Yeah so first up, we've got visit more than once and various times of the day. I always think that's really

Yeah

well, because you know when you, I actually spoke to one of my couples the other day, and they were like, Oh, I'm actually quite looking forward to seeing the venue in the summer, because every time we've seen it, it's like, not look like crap,

Yeah, it's just

of season, so

Drab.

flowers or anything. Yeah, you know,

Yeah

it's all a bit like dull and my wedding venue is a little bit like that if you look at it out of season and it's all wet and like it's just a bit, you know, the beautiful flowers aren't out in the

I know what you mean, yeah.

a bit dull and drab

Whereas, yeah, in the summer it's like everything's in bloom and it's, yeah, totally.

bit brighter and the grass is green, I think especially for outdoor venues.

Yeah, that's true. I feel like you're probably gonna wanna, if you're, it depends on your timescale as well though, because say if you wanted to get married in the when you're, I don't know, if you get engaged,

you're not gonna be

And you get engaged, say you got engaged this Christmas

Yeah,

going to plan your wedding for this summer coming, you're not going to have seen it so you're going to have to rely on like photos and things but that's another thing I would actually, if you found a venue you really like and you really love it, I would use like obviously socials, Instagram, have a look when they've been tagged in, so you obviously go on Instagram and there's photos where they've been tagged and then Obviously there'll be photographers photos and things and you should be able to

That's a good tip actually, because if you go on like, website galleries, they're always going to show you the best of the best

totally. Yeah.

I always do that with like, hotels. I go on TripAdvisor and look at

Look at the guests photos. Yeah. Sometimes you wish you hadn't.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

them in, yeah, definitely.

It's a good way of finding suppliers that as well.

But I also think various times of the day is good,

Yeah.

I always advise this in terms of the sun, like, where

Yeah, good point.

certain spots, and, Yeah,

Yeah, that's I guess a good idea.

visit, go more, it's a big investment, we always say this about houses as well, you

Yeah.

house, you literally go there like once for like 10 minutes, maybe twice for another

and then you're like, I'm gonna live here forever. Yeah. Ever. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

the same with, similar to wedding venues really, and I also think if you can go like to a private viewing and then go to like an open day or something as well, you get a bit more of a different vibe. That way as well.

Yeah, that's a true, that's a good point. And also with the open days is that you can probably see it sort of dressed up.

Yeah, true.

you'll get some ideas of how people have styled the venue. Obviously, it might not be to your taste, but you can kind of get an idea of how it looks when it is decorated. So,

And also the suppliers that they work with. I think if you're wandering around and all the suppliers that are there at the Wed, the Open Day or Wedding Fair or whatever they call it aren't to your taste, the venue probably isn't to your

yeah,

Yeah,

Because sometimes they'll make you use their suppliers list, certain venues, won't they? Um, So you kind of want to be Investigating that, I think.

yeah, Next up, we've got look at more than one venue. So, this is always like my biggest tip when it comes to venue. I feel like this in life, right? So, looking at more than one venue for comparison. So, I think this with dresses, I think this with houses, I think this with holidays, when you're looking where to

Yeah.

always think you've got to, when you find what you think is the one, keep looking and if you keep comparing it to that one you think is the one.

That's the one. It's the one. Yeah, definitely, I agree. I think as well, just like you say, you can compare, you need, you need to have comparisons. You need to, to either highlight the things that you really love about the venue you want, or to, Kind of figure out things where perhaps it's not meeting your expectations. So

Yeah.

I think it's I think it's really good to kind of to do that So at least at least go and see one other venue I think so you can kind of get a or even a difference so say if you've gone Say if the venue you really love is a barn or a stately home I would then go and see the complete opposite. So just to check that you like so say Yeah, so if you go into stately home then go and have a look at a barn venue just to check the vibe is right

And I do think open days and stuff are good if you don't want to feel that pressure of like, it being one to one and feeling I don't think, I've never really been to a wedding venue where there is like, a pressure to book.

No.

good at that. I think the wedding industry as a whole is quite good at

Yeah, yeah, it's not like a hard sale kind of thing. It's just,

a car

no, no.

But yeah, I I think it's yeah if you feel like you don't want to be just like one to one just go have a little wander around an open day

Yeah,

a feel for it. I do find a lot of people of my couples they book venues based on friends getting married somewhere and they've Experienced a wedding there. the ultimate

that is, yeah, because you see it for the whole day for what it, yeah, exactly, exactly.

never want to get married somewhere where my

Someone else has.

yeah.

yeah.

enough to have gone to

I know what you mean. I wouldn't either. That's not my kind of thing.

No, I like to be different. Cool. And we've got a make a list of must haves. Does it meet all your expectations? So important,

We love a list, and I feel like this is very important, but yeah, it uh, definitely, I feel like there's certain things that we've sort of spoke about before that if you really want, like, a really good example would be, like, real flames. I mean, it doesn't matter these days, you can get really good, but, but real flame rather than having the because some venues don't allow naked, like, real flames, nakedness. Naked flame.

very

Yeah.

And like, personally, I would not, I know, yeah, you're right, LED candles could look really good, but not my vibe at

No.

Wouldn't, yeah.

Yeah.

that would be a huge no no for

Yeah, especially if you're wanting a tapered candle. You can get really good ones now that are like, look like they're flickering and they actually look like a real flame. To be fair, but they're really expensive.

Yeah.

if you're wanting a lot, that's going to cost you a lot of money, even if you're hiring it. So I feel like if it's a big thing for you, then there's definitely something you need to pop on that list. There's got to be like, you must have. So non negotiables, you need to do a list of those. So,

Yeah, And fireworks

And for, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's a good point.

the night I've had couples before that have booked venues before they've booked me and then i'm like talking through the times They're like, oh, no, we really want to extend the night and i'm like,

You can't. Yeah.

The, council, but if it's a residential area, it's, it's

It's unlikely.

probably, Yeah. or the venue might just have a hard no,

Hard no.

extra cost because they've got to persuade all their staff to stay later,

Yeah.

yeah, I would always get. If things like that are important to you. Yeah, you're right. Make a list because you know they're the kind of things that you think when you get or someone says to you, Oh, do they do this? Or do they let you do this? And you're like, Oh bugger, didn't ask

Yeah.

Corkage is a good

Yeah.

they allow you to bring in your own drinks or do you have to use their drinks packages? There's a lot of venues. feel like a lot of barn venues were Corkage and then in COVID when they first opened. They were like, come to us, you can bring your own

Yeah. Yeah. But they could do it, yeah.

oh, you now have to use our drinks package.

Clever, clever.

important to you, like you want specific wines, Quite a lot of my couples, their parents gift them wine and things like that. so,

I have to say, the one thing about our venue that was really nice was they let us, they, like we chose their pack, like their package or whatever. But then we could choose what wine, like they literally went out and bought a specific brand of wine.

really

They were like, let us know if there's anything in particular you like and we'll make sure we get it. Like for the tables.

because you had your Riesling, didn't you?

it. Yeah. So yeah, so my, my dad and also my groom

My groom.

Richard likes it. So we had that on the top table,

Yeah.

was nice actually.

Yeah.

It was a little, but yeah, nice little touch there.

biggest thing is, is that you, you know from your gut, your gut tells

yeah, that's a really good point, yeah.

but also on the flip side, and I've mentioned this before, and I always say it, don't go gung ho and go in and be like, Oh my God, I

I'm sold!

Sign, give me the contract without checking those list of

Yeah.

and without doing your

What do you think about bringing other people to come and see it? So obviously you and your partner would go and see it. But what do you think about getting like, your bride or party or family to come with you for a second viewing or something?

suppose it depends how like unsure you

Yeah.

to get a second opinion, but I personally I like to

Think it should just be you guys.

Yeah. 'cause I just think sometimes there's too many voices, too

Too many opinions.

that before. God, when

Totally.

you'd have the people that bring like 10

Yeah.

yeah, this is mom and Nan and blah. blah,

Yeah.

then they've all got different opinions. They all wanna, and they all wanna voice. Especially if there's two different families and yes. Like, I wouldn't want

No.

quite like, I know what I want,

Yeah.

person. So

yeah, I'm a bit like that, I'm quite headstrong. So like, if I've made a decision, I don't think even if someone came with me and said, I don't think It was a bit like with my dress actually, when I got my wedding dress, because I did take everyone with me, and a couple of people were like, Decided because I had basically two dresses and they were like, oh, no, we prefer that one or whatever but I was like no, I like that one

really that That's good though, because I think that I would be a little bit swayed if people were saying to me like, oh no, you look so much better now. That's That's some good headstrong

was like, I I just know I'm my own worst like critic you see so if I thought if I like it then it's

you

Then i'm happy But yeah

Whereas I probably could be a bit more, I dunno, because yeah, I know what I want, but then at the same time, I probably can be swayed. So that's why I just think it's easier to just go pick what you two want and then. Yeah, but I also think the numbers thing is so important like if they have an external caterer get your catering quote before you Sign the contract for the venue because

Oh gosh, yeah. Oh my god.

well I've literally seen that where they've signed the venue contract and then they're like we've signed the, we've signed our venue, penal deposit So excited, but we just got a quote from the caterer and it's huge The bill is

Oh dear.

probably should have done that before you said, not that I said that, but.

Oh dear.

what? All I keep

Yeah.

is people that are like, Hi, I'm a 2026 bride. August just wondering where everyone's at because I'm stressing that I've not done enough and I'm like and people literally reply like yeah, I've they're basically like planned the whole I've done dj dance floor,

Oh.

wine they've done all these hair makeup flowers all sorted all booked and then the person comes back like oh my god I've only done half of that now. I'm panicking

for next August? Oh, come on. Come on, people. Get a grip.

know.

We've got loads

the other

of time.

I knew that, because I could see what she was getting. I literally replied and was like, I've been applying to a bit of the industry for 15 years. Honestly, do not panic.

Wait till next year. Yeah. Yeah.

if you are, I never really understand that concept of writing that kind of thing on Facebook. So you must have friends or something that have got married to kind of ask them if you're not sure.

Yeah.

good old Google or AI to ask when you need to be booking stuff. Or just ring the suppliers. Just ring your venue and be like, I'm panicking a bit up behind and they will put your

They'll tell you. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

say things like, oh, we'll go to this open day. That could really help you speak to this supplier. They could really help

Yeah.

But when you're just getting people on Facebook responding who haven't got a Scooby Doo just because they're uber organized, then you're just going to panic and then you're just going to ring up the next florist you can see. I was about to say the yellow pages.

Bloody hell, were you in 2005? And the yellow pages?

that era. You're going to go straight on Google. You're going to find the first one. You're going to book them.

Yeah. No, it's not. That's when you're going to get ripped off.

Anyway, you should go on to listen to questions and messages. This

so we have a long one here. um, hi ladies. Myself and my fiancee have recently booked our August 2027 wedding. Please don't hate us for booking it so early. No, as long as you're not panicking because you got loads of time.

long as you're not writing on a Facebook group, I'm getting married in August 2027, I'm really worried I'm behind. Then

And we're fine, we're fine.

Yeah,

am doing as much as I can myself, for example, stationery, and was wondering when you recommend we send out, say, the dates and invitations. Online it suggests one year for, this is funny, STDs, and six months for invitations. But that seems so late.

Yeah.

Thanks in advance. P. S. Since booking at the end of November, I have listened to every episode, apart from the two most recent ones, so consider myself a top fan. I've learned so much already and would be lost about it, so thank you.

Aw, that's so

Aw, thank you.

I love that, it makes me feel the most.

Oh my God. Shit. A little tear.

No,

Aw

appreciate that, like genuinely,

Thank you.

yes, it's nice to know we're helping

exactly. That's it.

do

That's

But yeah happy to help you on this one that you are right exactly That's exactly what I would suggest one year before

Yeah,

months before But I mean, well one year before But I also tend to say once you've booked the venue send out the save the date

yeah,

would say August 20 27 you are a bit too early to

yeah. I wouldn't be sending them out now 'cause people are gonna No, no people, people are gonna lose it. They're gonna lose that. Save the date between.

even has a calendar For

For 2027, exactly.

2026, like.

be thinking like, when do people start filling out their calendars, get it out for then, you know what I mean? Like January, maybe like January 2026 or something. Yeah.

next year I do

Yeah.

But yeah, wedding website, I suppose it depends. It depends how much you've got in order. Like, so for example, you're catering, genuinely, I think we've mentioned this before, but genuinely, you don't, Genuinely?

generally.

Ha ha! you don't do your tasting until six months

Yeah.

So, if you're having a choice menu, you need to know your choices to put them on your wedding website for your RSVP. So, you'd normally, literally, a lot of my couples will have all the wedding website ready to go, will do the tasting six, seven months before the day they've done the tasting the next day, will add on those options. send

Yeah.

invites. But I suppose there's nothing stopping her doing the invites earlier if she's having set menu, is there? If you want people to have accommodation options and

Yeah. If you've got people all over, I just feel like it's too early now though.

Oh,

Like, but,

definitely. So if it's August 2027, maybe January 2027. would be a good time. Because I always say don't send them out around Christmas time, like before, like November, December, because people lose them or forget. January is like a nice time to send a, to receive a wedding invitation, isn't

Yeah.

exciting.

the invitations would be, say the dates would come January 2026. And then you'd send your invites 2027.

January

Right.

That's what I would do if you want to be organized. That's eight months

Yeah.

The thing is, and again, I think we've spoke about this before, but like things change, don't they?

Oh, totally.

Themes change, decor changes, color changes,

change how you want your invites to look at everything. Like, they might not go with your theme. Like, you might do a theme on an invite that you think is going to match how you're having the rest of your day. Sounds like a minor detail, but it isn't.

My timings might

Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

out, your timings ain't

Yeah. The future is unpredictable. As, you know, you just don't know what's going to happen. So,

exactly.

yeah, leave it with invites, especially. Yeah. Only need to be.

feel better, but honestly, I really wouldn't panic. I've still got couples for June that haven't got invitations out yet.

Well, we actually, me and Richard just got an in well, we got to save the date for a wedding in May.

There you

So, that's just not an invite, it's a save the date.

Yeah.

All the, info is TBC, but

is as well, like she said, a lot of families spread out across, so we need to arrange staying over, on your save the date, you can put the dates and the location, so they're then going to know that they need to put, that's exactly what I did for mine, because mine were coming from all

yeah, so then they, they can book their accommodation near the area, can't they?

and I actually, I did e invites and I actually pinged out an email to everyone and just said, because you couldn't, that's the other thing, you couldn't actually physically book the accommodation, mine was May, you couldn't actually book the accommodation until like six months before. So I just sent out an email and said, look guys, this is where I'm staying, this is where we recommend you can book from, this is how you book.

But that's, that's a good point, yeah. They might not have, yeah, availability. Like, you won't be able to actually book that far in advance, so actually it's, it's just useless. Like, no, you know what I mean? It's sending an invite out too early, it's not actually helping anybody.

No,

Because it's, yeah, totally.

I didn't put that

Because I feel like with a save the date a printed one that you send out, like a physical invite, you put it on your fridge or whatever, but, This far in advance, what, it's just gonna get lost in there. It's gonna get

The only thing I would say is it depends as well on your location. So like, for example, I've got a couple getting married in Cornwall this August. Well, you imagine Cornwall in August. even right,

Busy, busy.

they pre held like block booked rooms. So they've got, say for example, you block book 30 rooms, you have an agreement with the hotel on rates, and then six weeks before or whatever, they then release those rooms if people haven't called up and booked

Oh, okay.

stuff like that if you're worried about rooms, but yeah, if you're getting married somewhere really popular, so say you're getting married in Cornwall, for example, some other people go on holiday in the school holidays, so send them out. The start of January, because January is when start booking their holiday,

That's true.

February, when people got paid, and January is

They're like, oh, thinking of holidays. Yeah.

So get them out

It's a good point.

then people can get their, send on your,

Yeah.

but again, like, we're still booking accommodation now, and we're not having an issue

No.

doing that, so,

No, so much choice these days as well of accommodation you've got Airbnb and everything and I feel like you don't need to panic

No, Airbnbs definitely, I feel like I've realised that in my wedding planning experiences. They go a lot quicker than the hotels nowadays in the

Yeah,

Cornwall wedding, Airbnbs, like, non existent. It's like impossible to get one. Hotels are all available.

yeah, we went and we often do Airbnbs over a hotel

Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, hope that

Yeah, hopefully that is helpful for you

and let us know if you've got any other questions. We actually love a long one as well, don't We I

We do. We've had a few lately and I like it. So please, don't worry about it if it's long. Send it in.

us your

We love it.

note if

Oh my god, we love a voice note.

We love a voice note. Send it on Insta. Nice.

Well, thanks for listening guys. You know where we are. You uh, follow us on socials. It's at Let At Let's get You Word podcast and email us with your listener questions. Let's get you Word [email protected]. We love to hear from you. Um, And you can also sit for, have a look at us on TikTok. 'cause we do, we do little snippets of our videos every week So, yeah, thanks for listening uh, new episodes every Thursday and, yeah, speak to you next week.

Thanks guys.

Bye!

Bye.