Planning Ahead: Buy a Hat and Hire a Venue!

Stepping down the stairs half asleep on a Saturday morning I see an elaborately decorated envelope sticking through the letterbox. Upon opening it I discover that a close friend has finally set the date for her big day – it’s a winter wedding – next year. I usually forget to buy milk when that’s all I’ve gone to the supermarket for, and now I need to prepare myself for an event in the seemingly distant future.

I’ve known Jenny for years, and she’s had a pretty strong idea how she wanted her wedding to go since she was eight years old. Very little has changed over the years. She no longer fancies the bright pink dress and she’s no longer getting married to one of the guys from Blue, but apart from that her plans have remained largely the same.

She knows the flowers she wants, she picked her bridesmaids within weeks of meeting her husband to be! She even figured out table arrangements and the best place to sit Aunty Jean, who enjoys loud banter at inappropriate occasions.

My mind turns to the huge task ahead of the bride and groom. So much planning and I know they will try to make everyone else happy, no doubt spending far too much in the process.

I’ve been to a number of weddings in the last few years, and those that have been the most relaxed have been the ones that were a “package” deal. The couple pick their venue and if they are lucky the wedding team will have a selection of options available to them. Once they have decided what they’d like, the venue takes care of everything leaving the bride and groom time to spend on other things. They haven’t been uniform, out of the box weddings either. Each one was very much tailored to the couple and had its own unique spin on things, from colour schemes to hiring ice cream vans or ponies for children rides.

This sounds like a dream to me – after all why spend months trying to sort everything out when you can have someone who knows their stuff do it for you?

This also opens up the option for last minute weddings. If everything has been sorted out why have the huge build up and everyone throwing their bit in? I’m sure there are some good deals out there and possibly options that couples wouldn’t have been able to afford if they planned years in advance.

Still, Jenny has always known her own mind and at least this time will allow us to cram in lots of wedding and bridesmaid dress shopping. I wonder if we can get a team to help us with that…or at least carry our bags!