Real Wedding Planning...

Real Wedding Planning… a brief but vital guide to getting started

There are 3 essentials you need to decide in order to begin planning and organising your perfect wedding day:

The budget

The wedding date

The guest list

Once these are sorted, the wedding planning can commence. These 3 essential details all play off each other to start your plans: Without the budget you can’t chose your venue, dress, accessories and so forth; Without the date you can’t plan the venue; Without the guest list you don’t know how big your venue needs to be, how many people you have to cater for or how far you have to stretch your budget!  So get these three organised and your on your way to becoming Mr & Mrs!

The wedding budget can be managed in a number of ways, with savings, cash gifts from generous parents and relatives and salary/ wages in the lead up to your wedding day.  Don’t forget you rarely have to pay for everything all at once or as soon as you decide to get married, you do have time to drip feed the expense of your wedding, but it’s essential to plan…

Here’s a helpful budget-planning checklist to get your exciting wedding plans underway:

Registrar/ church fees

Wedding rings

Bride’s dress

Bride’s accessories

i)     veil

ii)    jewellery

iii)   shoes

iv)   lingerie

Hair & Make-up

Groom’s outfit

Groom’s shoes

Best man/ ushers outfits

Bridesmaid dresses

Wedding photographer

Wedding cars

Stationary

Flowers

Cake

Reception venue hire

Table decorations

Table favours

Chair covers

Catering

Drinks/ bar

Band and DJ

Thank you gifts

Honeymoon

Handy tips:

1) When I was planning my wedding I found that I became dependant on lists, they were indispensable.  It was really helpful having lists from favourite venues and prices, the best wedding dress shops in the area, weekly checklists of things to be sourced and paid for and in season flowers.  As you work on each section of your wedding plan, having the lists to refer back to is invaluable and saves time revisiting (and trying remember) previous ideas.

2) Unless you have a clear idea of theme, or favourite flowers or era it seems it’s a case of going through all available magazines, blogs, wedding fairs and websites for ideas.  This can be not only confusing but also overwhelming! 

I created a digital mood board by copying my favourite photographs, themes and colours from all of the websites I was traipsing through. It didn’t take long for a colour theme and style to emerge through the images of weddings, dresses, table decorations and flowers.

3) There are many resources available for advice and up to date themes.

Just for starters have a look at:

Top wedding bloggers:

http://www.rockmywedding.co.uk/

http://london-bride.com/

www.philippacraddock.com/blog

Top wedding magazine websites:

www.the-weddingplanner.com

www.weddinglink.co.uk/bride

www.theweddingdirectory.co.uk

www.weddingmagazine.co.uk

Top stores to grab a wedding bargain:

www.notonthehighstreet.com

www.etsy.com

http://www.weddingarcade.com/

The true value of wedding photography...

--> As an established photographer making the decision to concentrate on Wedding Photography full time is a brave move, opening oneself up to the minefield of the wedding business.  There are hundreds of established wedding photographers all vying for the attention of the happy bride and groom who’ve seen the perfect wedding photographs in glossy magazines and highlighted in top portrait photographers portfolios…  

But what is real?  According to stats given by Which Magazine 2011, the average wedding cost is around £20,000, so unsurprisingly the happy couple are constantly trying to make savings where-ever possible.  

The bride imagines those dreamy, stylish images of her perfect day, taken by a confident and professional photographer and as a confident and professional photographer I can deliver this dream.  However, it comes at a price, the price of my hourly fee for all of the additional work undertaken after the 5 to 9-hour wedding shoot. 

Photography falls under the “service” category, and yes you may get digital files, prints or an album at the end of the process, but it’s still a service.  The outlay for a wedding photographer, on average between £2,000 and £4,000, may seem a bit hard to swallow, but it still amazes me when clients balk at that expense and yet barley flinch when a venue charges more than double that price.  Why does the venue seem so much better value?  Is it because it’s more tangible? You can see the building, touch the walls and feel the luxurious parquet flooring underfoot…  Why does my photography service and expertise seem less value?

Just to run through some costs that not every bride and groom appreciates, to explain what you get when you hire my services as a wedding photographer:  

My photography experience, education and training.

My professional standard equipment costs; camera, lighting, editing software, printer etc.

My professional insurance and other business costs.

The average 5-hour wedding takes 20 hours to edit.

The average 9-hour wedding takes 35 hours to edit.

To produce a wedding album takes a further 5 to 20 hours.

Not to mention venue visits and first edit show cases.

So to be honest I think to have lifetime keep sakes from the happiest and most important day of your life, the £2k - £4k price tag is more than worth it… The wedding dress you only wear once, the wedding venue you only use once, the flowers you use only once, the pictures are there to remind you for a lifetime. Would you want someone untrained to capture your day with a camera from Argos, even if your favourite Uncle says he can.....! What do you think?