Inspiration
When making grand plans for the most special day of your life, there’re a number of considerations that will feature at the top of your priority list. Along with the dress, the guest list, personalised wedding invitations, and the bridesmaids, where you get married is equally important.
Pick the wrong venue, and your big day may lose some of its magic and sparkle. An idyllic wedding location helps to set the mood for the main event, and it creates the perfect romantic ambience for the bride, groom, and your guests. So how do you go about choosing the perfect wedding location?
Regardless of whether you’re planning a lavish wedding that is fit for royalty, or an intimate affair for two with witnesses, you’ll need to think about your budget, the location of where you want to tie the knot, and personal taste. Not everyone longs to get wed in the grounds of a sprawling fairy tale castle or mansion.
The wedding venue also doesn’t have to be the same place where you celebrate long into the night. You can choose somewhere functional like a local church or registry office, or you can go for a beautiful manor.
Outdoor wedding venues offer a break from tradition and are a popular choice. For some outdoor wedding inspiration, take a look at visiting the Shropshire wedding fayre or to achieve a festival-inspired wedding.
Choosing a venue that reflects love makes a difference to the whole event, and to the memories that you create.
It’s a good idea to pick the location of your wedding BEFORE you select your perfect wedding dress. A traditional church wedding is generally all about walking down the aisle in a beautiful wedding dress. The grander the venue, the more elaborate and lavish your wedding dress can be.
For a short or informal ceremony, an elegant and understated wedding dress is perfect. But ultimately, pick what you love as well. Consider where you want to get married and then decide on the type of wedding outfit that you’ll feel comfortable wearing. Finally, select the fabrics that complement the season, location, and your budget.
A church or registry office can be transformed with fresh flowers in colours that coordinate with your theme. Then, the wedding reception hall can be decorated to match.
An intimate wedding with few or no guests offers unlimited options because you’re not tied to any particular venue. You can create an authentic experience wherever you choose to get married, and without the need of a theme or matching colour scheme.
For your wedding reception, you need to consider the guest numbers, and the distance they/you have to travel. Having the wedding ceremony and reception in the same place can reduce the expense of your big day, and it also means that guests don’t have to arrange transport.
You should choose a reception venue that includes accommodation if your guests are travelling a distance, or you can suggest a few hotels that are situated close by.
You should book your perfect venue and service providers as soon as you can because you don’t want to be disappointed that they can’t do your chosen date. If you leave it too late, you may have to resort to plan B or C, which isn’t ideal.
You’ll undoubtedly want to have stunning photographs of your wedding day. No matter how professional your wedding photographer may be, some locations are just naturally more beautiful, appealing and photogenic than others. If you dream of browsing through a wedding album that is filled with pictures of you and your beloved (with or without guests) in a gorgeous landscaped environment, then you need to choose wisely.
It’s important to consider the wedding date and the seasonal climate. You’ll need to prepare for whatever weather, including rain, snow, and even it being too hot. Really consider a winter wedding. Exterior shots can look magical in the snow but your guests aren’t going to be happy if they have to stand around in the cold.
Interior photos should incorporate your wedding colours and themes and they should also communicate your personal tastes. Nowadays, fewer brides are going for formal/staged shots and are choosing more natural photographs. Reportage documentary style wedding photography (where images are captured spontaneously) is now thankfully all the rage.
It’s good to daydream about your perfect location as you want it to reflect true love and romance. You can get inspiration from glossy magazines and favourite movies that were filmed in great locations.
Once you’ve ticked off the most important factors on the wedding checklist, you can relax and turn your attention to the extra details. Picking out personalised wedding invitations and Save The Date cards is part of the stress-free fun stuff.
You could even spend some time DIYing aspects, like making confetti, or designing your table plan. You can really put your own personality into the small details and go wild!
Choosing your perfect wedding location is a big decision to make and it can be tricky for brides who don’t know what they want. Do your research, spend lots of time on Pinterest, and figure out what your ‘perfect’ day includes. Then start looking at some venues near you.
Bouquet & Bells / The Magazine is the ultimate paper guide for stylish & fun loving couples. Each and every issue is full-to-bursting with the latest innovative fresh content & hottest trends.
with CLAIRE BOON and SARAH MACKLIN of BOUQUET & BELLS
Browse the latest inspiring content including new wedding trends, your most
asked questions, beautiful shoots and more.
You know that old saying “new year, new me”? Well, ahead of the fast approaching 2025, we’ve decided to switch some things up around here and add a dash more sparkle into Bouquet and Bells.
This shoot was inspired wholly by the vastness and beauty of the venue as well as the unitarians inspiring ethos: Ullet Road Unitarian Church. We chose a beautiful day for the shoot, meaning the light flooding into the building and outside of the building was beautiful. We had a selection of dresses to change into for different parts of the church, and we utilised the late in different rooms and at different windows, as well as the doors for the iconic confetti shots.
Your wedding is a magical day which will stay with you forever. However, it’s unquestionable that with a tag like that, there’s also going to be an element of pressure you need to manage. 84% of brides report feeling some sort of stress about their big day. And while a lot of this comes hand-in-hand with planning a large event, it’s unquestionable that standing in front of anyone as the “star of the show” is going to get the nerves jangling.
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