When couples get engaged some people want time to be engaged before they think about planning their wedding. and others want to jump straight in either way you will be having so much going through your minds and people offering their advice and something which will then lead you to asking questions.
I have pulled together the 7 most asked questions by newly engaged couples and couples while they are planning their wedding.
How much does a wedding cost
This is such an open question and you should probably be asking yourselves how much do you want to spend first. As much as you cannot make a true budget without knowing the costs of certain elements of your wedding, I always say I can fit someones budget as long as they are open to compromising and are clear on what is most important to them.
Weddings obviously haven't happened for a few years so I imagine this average will go up, as people had more time to save and wanted to throw a bigger party. but in 2019 the average is £30k in the UK. Which based on my couples this is probably the middle budget and also the most common amount of money people have to spend but I plan weddings from £18k-€70k at the moment and we all know that there are people spending millions on weddings. So really a wedding can cost as much or as little as you want to spend there are so many factors which influence the final cost.
Number of guests
Style of wedding
Entertainment
Food and drinks served etc
How to plan a destination wedding.
This is a great question as planning a destination wedding is always harder than planning a wedding in your home county. Not only can you not just quickly pop in and visit if you have any question but you also cannot always speak the same langue as the people working at your wedding.
Firstly start with a venue once you have a venue secured you will be able to build the perfect wedding team as most venues have a recommended supplier list and also each time you book a supplier ask them for recommendation for other suppliers this way your wedding team have probably worked together before and will know how each other works.
But of course the best way to plan a destination wedding is to hire a wedding planner as they know the venues they can pop in to check details they know the suppliers can generally speak the langue.
What finger do you wear a wedding ring on
I love that this question is ask as for me it has always been obvious until I meant some people from Poland and noticed they had their weddings ring on their right hand.
In many northern and eastern European countries including Denmark, Norway, Russia, Poland, and even Spain, Portugal and Greece use the Right hand however in USA, England Italy France and many Asian countries wear it on their left. There is also many religious and cultural reasons for wear the wedding ring on a certain hand or moving between both hands between engagement and after they are married.
How do you ask for money as a gift
Asking for money as a gift is always difficult, but with so many couples living together before getting married they do not really need a toasted and a slow cooker anymore. Often people just ask for no gifts which generally leads people to understand you would prefer money as the standard tradition is to buy a gift to the follow of your meal so if you have asked for no gift people will provide you with cash to this rough value.
The best way to ask for money is via a honeymoon website this way your guests are paying towards your Honeymoon so feel like they are giving you an actually gift and you are also getting money you do not need to spend on your honeymoon. On these honeymoon funds pages your guests can give you a set amount of can pay towards an item for example, a bottle of champagne, spa treatments or a day trip.
However if you are having a destination weddings guests might not be so inclined to give you anything as they are already spending money to attend your wedding with the costs of travel and accommodation. but put a card box out anyway as everyone will write you a lovely card.
Whats songs do you play at a wedding
I can see why this one is asked so often as there are many traditional song which could be played but really you should try and choose songs which mean something to you as a couple. There are 4 key songs you need during your day, Ceremony entrance song, Ceremony exit song, Entrance to wedding breakfast, First dance.
I completely understand that now everyone has 4 songs which remind them of each other, which is normal as unless you are musical and sit listen to music together or go in big road trips you generally wouldn't have these song's. but always try this first before following the traditional songs.
This site has loads of blogs about wedding songs if you do need some help
How do you make a seating chart
I have written a whole different blog about allocated seating vs free seating and I will honestly only ever do Allocated seating for the wedding breakfast, yes you might upset one or two people but with free seat you could upset a lot of people and have last minute tables and chairs moving so that people can sit with the people they want to and leave some tables empty.
The first place to start is find out how many people can sit on each table as a maximum and how many people is comfortable always work to the comfortable number as then when you need 1 extra person there is still space.
Then start with the top table once that is done decide what groups of friends and family you have and team them together and final in fill with your extra guests always put people with people you think will get on or if you have people that do not know the other guests put them together so they have that in common.
I have seating plan charts which I use to help couples allocate their guests seating, as you also need to consider who is facing the bride and groom and who has their back to them.
What is the purpose of a garter
When ever I mention a garter most of my brides have the same face, it is clearly a tradition which isn't moving forward how ever apparently 85% of brides in UK and USA still wear one.
Traditionally it was used to prove the wedding had been consummated as the groom would give the garter to the brides parents the following morning, I mean can you think of anything more awkward!! Then it moved on to be see as lucky for unmarried men and women if they got the garter which they would try and remove from the bride.
I am so glad this has moved on in modern times that the groom now take the garter off and throws to the unmarried men to see who will marry next. Matching this with the bouquet toss you will have a man and women next to marry, nothing says they have to marry each other but that could be cute.
If you need help with anything of these things do get in touch I offer WEDMIN HOURS which give you the chance to ask your questions and get a professional response.