A to C of Weddings

A  – Attire

So the search is on for the perfect wedding dress, you may have a
vision of what your wedding dress will be like or you may have a favourite
designer. Although for some, you won’t know where to start, so it’s a quick trip to the newsagents to spend a small fortune on all of the magazines. 
 
If you haven’t got to the purchasing the whole stock of wedding magazines yet, hold fire. Pinterest will become your best friend throughout your
wedding research and images of wedding dresses are just one of the many items you can collect to help you decide what style of dresses you like. You can even invite your bridesmaids to pin dresses onto your boards to help with this quest.

It’s worth considering the time of year and where you are getting married and the style of venue. If you are getting married in a church with a very traditional wedding reception then your dress will be different to what you
would choose if you are getting married abroad on a beach.

 The other big consideration is colour; wedding dresses come in many different colours and different tones. Make sure the colour of your dress compliments your own skin tone. You don’t want to look washed out on your wedding day.

 If there is some designers that you are really interested in, research bridal shops that stock these designers and make an appointment. If you are unsure, then ask friends for recommendations of local bridal shops. You can also check online to see if their dresses fall within your budget, there is no point booking an appointment with a bridal shop that only stocks dresses that are completely out of your budget. You may visit a number of different shops before you find your perfect
  dress. Once you start trying dresses on you may be amazed that your vision of your dream dress doesn’t suit you. So go with an open mind and try different styles on and have fun! Don’t get overwhelmed; you will find the perfect dress.

 If you are just about to start wedding dress shopping, keep an eye out for a guest blog I have coming up later this month by Chelle Shohet who is an amazing personal stylist. Her company is called Chelles Style and she will be talking about body shapes and what styles of wedding dresses will suit.

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B – Budget

 You need to both decide if you want to pay for the whole wedding yourselves or whether you want to ask your families to contribute to the budget. Maybe you are lucky to know that your parents will be paying for all or part of the wedding costs already. If your parents will be covering the cost, find out whether they have friends and neighbours that they want at the wedding, even though you might not know them well. Have these conversations early on, it takes the stress out of this situation and means there are no surprises later on….

 Once you know who is contributing and how much, you should consider how much you can realistically save for your big day. From this information, you will be able to put together a budget. This may need to be adjusted once you have a few costings in, but it gives you a good starting point.

C- Ceremony

You need to have a discussion around the type of ceremony that you both want. Do you want a religious ceremony? Do you want a civil ceremony and a blessing, or just a civil ceremony?

The current UK law means you have to get married in a licensed building. In other words you are not allowed to get married outside unless there is a permanent structure that has been licensed. There are a number of rulings that need to be passed for a building to get licensed. Your local registry office will be able to provide you with a list of all of the places that you can have a civil ceremony in the county they cover.

Maybe you want a ceremony that is not recognised in law, which would mean that you would need to have a civil ceremony first at the registry office, which could be on a separate day with your two witnesses. A lot of people who do this see this part of getting married as a formality or task and even arrive in jeans, deciding not to exchange rings until their ceremony. You can hire an independent celebrant to help you personalise your wedding ceremony; with this, there is no limitation at all.
 
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