Author: Sarah Macklin

What you will be writing on your wedding invitations depends on the kind of wedding you’re having and whether your parents are still together.

Below, we’ve written out the most traditional way you can write your invitations if you’re getting married in a church or having a formal ceremony:

“Dear…

Mr & Mrs [Surname of Brides parents] request the pleasure of your company at the marriage of their Daughter, [Bride’s full name] to [Groom’s full name] on [Date] at [Venue]”

This is when it gets a little more complicated. Some people like to include the name of the parents that are putting money into the wedding. Therefore, there’s no reason that you can’t write it as:

“Dear…

Mr & Mrs [Surname of Brides parents] and Mr & Mrs [Surname of Groom’s parents] request the pleasure of your company at the marriage of their Son and Daughter, [Bride’s full name] to [Groom’s full name] on [Date] at [Venue]”

For gay weddings, it’s relatively easy to change the wording.

For separated parents, it can be trickier to word the invitation. I’d recommend going with:

“Dear…

[Father of the Bride’s name] and [Mother of the Bride’s name]  request the pleasure of your company at the marriage of their Daughter…

If you’re hosting a more relaxed wording, you can play about with the wording until you’re happy. You could choose any of the below for your invites:

• invite you to witness the love of…
• would love you to join them for the marriage of…
• invite you to celebrate with them the marriage of…

If you’d rather not mention your parents, and it’s you and your partner that wish to invite your guests, you can swap the parents’ names.

If you’re being traditional, then there is some set ideals to follow. However if you’re after a more informal invitation, don’t limit yourself! Just remember to put the date and the venue on there.

This is one of the most important items you need to bring to your appointment. If you wear the wrong underwear, it could result in the dress not fitting properly or looking all wrong.

If you haven’t yet picked a dress, you should take a selection of bras along to your appointment. Something padded, something non-padded and something strapless might be a good start.

If you’ve bought your dress and the appointment is a fitting, then think about the shape and style of the dress and which bra would look best with it. If your dress is strapless, avoid a standard bra. Instead, try a bandeau style one, or even take your bra off completely for the appointment. Most dresses have built-in padding and wires so you may find that you don’t need extra support at all. This would be extremely beneficial for any backless dresses.

We’d suggest avoiding padded bras. Choose a more natural looking T-shirt bra instead, with minimal padding and wires.

If you can, you should wear the underwear you’re donning on the day. This will result in the ultimate perfect fit, particularly if your dress requires alterations.

Whatever you do, don’t wear black knickers!

Unfortunately, you can’t just pick any church and get married there. There are certain rules and regulations that have to be followed.

Firstly, the church has to somehow be connected to you and your family. You qualify to automatically get married at a church if:

• one of you has lived in the parish for at least six months
• one of you was baptised at that church
• either of you has attended regular church services for at least six months

OR

• one of your parents has lived in the parish for at least six months
• one of your parents has regularly attended church services
• your parents or grandparents were married in the parish

This does give you quite a few options. If you’ve moved home to a different parish, you’re automatically eligible to get married at your new local church.

It also means that even if your parents got married 100 miles away in another church, you are also eligible to get married there.

And if there was a church you really wanted to get married at, but you don’t have any other connection to it, you could attend services once a month for at least six months to make you eligible.

While rice is no longer recommended for your wedding celebrations, switching to confetti, streamers or bunting can quickly add up to produce a large amount of excess waste. If you’re looking to save a little money and avoid the damage that masses of mulch can cause, these can be easily substituted with biodegradable flower petals. You can easily source bags of flower petals online from a number of reliable suppliers at affordable rates.

These are biodegradable, don’t damage animals if they eat them, and look truly fantastic at all events – rain or shine. If you want to add an extra touch, sprinkling dried heather or rosewater through the petals will let your friends scatter you with petals that smell as good as they look.

Avoid using paper cones and set out a decorated box for guests to take a handful of confetti out of as they walk outside.

It’s best if you can be open with your choice of date. Some brides want to get married on a special date like Valentine’s Day or their anniversary. If this is the case, you may need to book your chosen venue in plenty of time to ensure you get the date you want.

Remember, if you’re getting married in a church, you need to check your chosen church can do the same date as your venue.

Don’t let the date be a big deciding factor. If you’ve fallen in love with a venue, it would be silly to not get married there because they don’t have the Saturday in June that you want. Some compromise may be needed.

According to Chums, a large triangle of shirt that’s visible beneath the button when done up means your jacket is too big. A button with wrinkles around it means it’s too small. Your tie shouldn’t be too wide or too skinny, and your trousers shouldn’t be too long or they’ll wrinkle around the ankles. Let’s break some of these points down a little bit.

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.

Research is absolutely key. You need to collect some general figures surrounding the cost of flowers, cakes, decor, food, and go from there.

There are plenty of websites that will tell you what you should put aside to spend on things, but this isn’t necessarily the best thing to listen to. The wedding industry wants you to spend £1000 on flowers, and £1000 on a 5-tier cake adorned with sugar flowers, but this isn’t doable for a lot of people.

This is why it’s better to get in touch with some local suppliers. Wedding fayres are a wonderful place to meet a range of suppliers all under one roof. You can ask them for a price list, or for a quote based on what you think you’ll need. You could ask a local florist for the price of 3 bridesmaids’ bouquets. If you do this at multiple florists in your area, you’ll get an idea of which is the cheapest.

You’d be amazed at the cost of food and drink too; sometimes it can be as expensive as the cost of your venue. This is the point where you want to make certain vague decisions: do you want to spend £5k on a sit down meal, or is a casual buffet more your style? Do you want two meals, or to get married at 4pm and just have one evening buffet?

There are a lot of decisions to make, and you shouldn’t rush them. Think carefully about how you want your day to go, as well as if you can afford it.