Questions You Need To Ask Your Venue Before You Book

This article has been kindly contributed by Jo Stewart of Stoke by Nayland Hotel

So, you’ve set the date….it’s all romantic and exciting….but which venue? There is an abundance of choice, which allows you to make the perfect selection for you.

There’s the fairytale castle,
the modern, contemporary and stylish hotel,
the glamour location,
the beautiful countryside,
the list is endless…..

To ensure you consider all options, there are some key points to consider:

Can you have a civil ceremony at the venue?

Majority of venues are now licensed to hold Civil Ceremonies. If you would like to get married at the venue, make sure you ask if they have a licence to conduct the ceremony. They will hold a certificate to prove this licence has been granted.

Do you have any tips to help us plan the perfect day?

1) Set a budget. This little piece of advice is so important and allows you to build a firm foundation for your wedding. Many couples struggle to set a budget because if you’ve never planned a wedding, it’s hard to know what is realistic and how far your money will go. However, most people know how much they can realistically afford and how much they are comfortable spending on one event: it really is worth spending some time researching and getting your budget right at the beginning. Until you have a budget, you can’t begin approaching suppliers and all of your plans become a series of confusing ‘what ifs’. It’s much better to start things off properly with a good idea of what you can spend in each area.

2) Clarify your priorities. Unless you’re on a very large budget, you will have to compromise on some aspects of your day. Identify your top 5 priorities at the outset so that you can concentrate your budget and energy on doing a few things really well rather than spreading yourself too thinly and doing everything badly. We tend to find that for most couples that as they focus on a particular part of the celebrations that aspect becomes THE most important part of everything and that it becomes very tempting to overspend. Formally setting your priorities at the outset helps to guard against this and saves lots of heartache down the line.

3) Get the basics in place first. From the second that engagement ring is on, planning a wedding can be an overwhelming whirlwind of people asking questions and giving their opinion. Rather than allowing yourself to be swallowed up into the insanity of it all, take a couple of weeks to soak up your new status and to slowly chat your ideas through with your partner. Once you have a rough idea of what you want as a couple, you can begin putting the basics into place. You’ll need to start with finding your venue and you’ll be able to narrow down the options by budget, availability and style. Once your venue is confirmed you will have a date and this will allow you to begin approaching the other suppliers. My advice is to focus on those suppliers who can only do one wedding per day e.g. photographers, transport, entertainment, hair and make up artists. After booking these suppliers, you can relax and start thinking about the visual aspects of the day and finding items such as dresses and stationery. Don’t be tempted to do these things before you’ve confirmed your basic suppliers as you will only tie yourself up into stressful knots and end up making little if any progress.

4) View your wedding holistically. It’s easy to view your wedding as one long to do list but it’s vitally important that you don’t make decisions without considering other aspects to ensure there is a thread of continuity running throughout your celebration. For example, it’s easy to rush out and buy a dress before you’ve really thought about items such as your venue or entertainment. However, the style of your dress should be heavily influenced by your venue and how formal your celebration will be. This in turn will affect the type of entertainment you choose, the style of your flowers and even the type of menu you serve. As bizarre as it sounds, it’s really important to consider all of these items together because if you don’t your wedding will lose its sense of flow.

What time can we get married?

This will need to be discussed with the Registrar when setting your date. However, once you have set the date and time, this will assist you in having a timeline for the whole day.

Do I need my own Wedding Planner?

You can choose your own Wedding Planner to support you in all aspects of your Wedding if you wish but in relation to venues, they will have a dedicated Wedding Coordinator to discuss your big day and ensure your day is a special day liaising with you or a Wedding Planner.

Do you provide vegetarian options for our guests?

Any dietary requirements can be catered for including a vegetarian option. This will usually be provided at no additional cost.

What time will the Bar close at the venue?

Venues vary and you will need to check this. Majority of venues are licensed until 12pm in event rooms but they can apply for an extension to their license with their local Council. This will enable your Wedding to continue later but there is a fee payable. Some venues have a 24 hour license so a fee will not apply.

If you have any questions you would like answered, please do not hesitate to contact Heidi or myself, email jo.stewart@stokebynayland.com and we will be happy to answer more questions to help with our special day.

If you are looking for a venue, consider Stoke by Nayland Hotel, Golf and Spa. Check out our website www.stokebynaylandclub.co.uk

We would love to meet you and show you round our fantastic venue.

Hope to see you soon and happy planning!

The Truth About Wedding Planners

This is my very first published wedding planning article and I wanted to share it with my readers

We have all heard a story about the wedding that went wrong. It’s common knowledge that “the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray”, yet we do nothing to plan for it. Every bride wants the most talented photographer to preserve her memories and the most gifted florist to create the most beautiful scene, yet they proceed to put someone like their mother or their maid of honour in charge of running everything. This makes no sense to me. There are so many talented wedding planners out there who can make your special day run seamlessly and help you with every little detail, yet many brides would rather invest in expensive wedding favours that no one will remember instead of a qualified planner. Let me put it this way: It’s like bringing together an all-star football team and then asking your mother to coach them….for free. Are you beginning to see how ridiculous this notion is?

Let me be clear, I am not against DIY. In fact, I often advise brides to do some DIY projects. They can be fun and save you tons of money. However, there are some places where I think it is foolish to try to do things yourself. If you wouldn’t dream of doing your own photography, why would you try to orchestrate the contracts, relationships and schedules of 20+ vendors when you are trying to have fun?

Now I know you’re on a budget, I understand. But, did you know that a wedding planner can actually save you money? We have relationships with vendors that allow us to negotiate discounts for our clients that the general public cannot get. Let’s look at an example. Many of the vendors that I work with offer 10% off of their services for clients that I refer to them. Now, if your wedding budget is £10,000 and you book all of your vendors through me, you will save £1,000. Think about what you could do with an extra £1,000.

Venue coordinators and relatives that want to help with your wedding are great, but they are not there for you to dump the load of planning your entire wedding on. A good venue coordinator can make sure that your reception runs smoothly but will not have relationships with vendors that can save you money. As for relatives, I personally think they deserve to have as much fun at your wedding as you should be having! Leave the stress and the worry to the professionals. You should be preparing to have one of the best days of your life, not worrying about why the cake hasn’t arrived. And did you know that, on average, it takes a couple 250 hours to plan a wedding? Nobody wants to take on such a daunting task alone. Do yourself a favour, just take five minutes and call a local wedding planner to set up a consultation. When you are having the time of your life at your wedding, you’ll thank me.