By Georgina Clatworthy

Wedding planning can be an exhausting and stressful experience, as well as being an exciting one!  But there will come times when you wish you had never started, when you just want to give it all up and elope and when you begin to wonder – ‘is it worth it?’  Well, the short answer is yes, but you will need to learn to hold your nerve, to focus on what is important and to learn to compromise – sometimes! Here is my wedding planning guide to surviving one of the most important phases of your life.

Most brides will have already planned their wedding long before they have even found a potential husband!  Once the engagement is announced it is a matter of putting all those plans and ideas into action and to create the wedding they have always dreamed about.  This is the time when reality kicks in!  Your budget will dictate the style and size of your wedding, your location will also have an impact and your own ability to bring together all your ideas and dreams.

Don’t give up on those dreams, but be practical about them.  Don’t spend months looking for a venue which may only exist in your head, and likewise avoid spending many hours searching for a particular type of ribbon you once saw ten years ago in a wedding guide – chances are it is no longer available!  Perspective and prioritizing are the key to good wedding planning success, be realistic with every aspect of your day and be prepared to compromise where necessary.

Do you involve the groom?  Well in my experience groom’s who do immerse themselves in the wedding planning end up causing more trouble and strife than most brides can handle.  Most groom’s will give the bride cart blanche when it comes to selecting color schemes, flowers and wedding favors, but it is his wedding too, so allow him some input.  It is important that both of you make the decision on the venue, the catering, the entertainment and the ceremony format.  He also needs to have an input in the guest list.  Delegate some tasks to him such as booking the entertainment and organizing the wedding transport.

There will be many other people who will all want to help you with your wedding planning, and in many cases this help is much appreciated.  Problems can arise when close family members or even friends try to muscle their way into your plans and turn guide you into their idea of a dream day.  Don’t allow this to happen, weddings are a personal statement of the couple who are getting married and should be full of details which are unique to the taste and character of you both. 

There is a fine line here though over people offering you ideas and advice and those who simply want to do it all for you to their own ideas.  Should this happen, try to stay calm, take on board what they have to say and then tell them what you want.  Make it clear that this is your wedding not theirs and you will do it your way.  The best way to avoid conflict is to delegate tasks to those who want to help.  It will keep them busy, out of your way and at the same time make them feel like they are contributing.  Ask them to find you brochures, phone numbers for vendors and suppliers and help to make the wedding favors.

Every bride will have a little wobble at some point during their wedding planning.  The stress of planning such as big occasion coupled with nerves and possible doubts about getting married at all, will all take their toll at some time.  The best way of dealing with this is to forget about the wedding completely for 24 hours.  Put all your wedding planning stuff out of sight and do something completely different – go shopping, visit a spa or beauty center.  Your groom could be feeling the pressure too, so arrange a romantic lunch or dinner, or even have a weekend break away together.  Ban all talk of the wedding and instead talk about your lives together after the wedding and your hopes and dreams for the future.

By Georgina Clatworthy

Your wedding will be the biggest party you will ever organize and probably one of the most expensive!  So when it comes to planning your big day use our 5 step wedding planning guide to help you get started.

1. Set the date – you can’t do anything without setting your wedding date.  As a guide most couples will take between 18 and 12 months to plan their wedding, but it is entirely up to you how long you take.  Try not to choose a day that has meaning to someone else, such as a birthday, anniversary or graduation for instance, whilst it may not be possible to avoid this for all your guests, make sure you take note of any special days for your close family and friends.  Think carefully about the time of year as well, a wedding in the months between may and September will cost you more than one outside of these months.  Also a weekend wedding will be more expensive than a mid-week one.
2. Choose your wedding style – do you want a traditional religious wedding or a formal civil wedding? Do you want a small intimate wedding or a large wedding? Would a destination wedding be more your style or a casual, relaxed wedding in the garden?
3. Set the budget – firstly you will need to ascertain where the money is coming from.  Will you fund the entire wedding yourselves? Will the brides parents, as is tradition? Or will the money come from various sources such as yourselves and both sets of parents?  Use a budget planning sheet to set out figures for every element of your wedding day, it can be helpful here to ring around some vendors – venues, florists, caterers etc to give you some guide prices, these can help you to determine a figure best suited to your wedding.  If the end figure is too high then you will need to trim back on some elements, this will help you to both realize what is most important to you for your wedding.  Finally find out how much each party will be donating to the wedding fund and assign that money to various elements of the day so that everyone knows what they are paying for.
4. Open a high interest account – this is for your wedding fund and to make sure it is kept separate from your everyday bills.  Having a high rate of interest applied will help to top up your fund and perhaps help you to bring back in some of those things that you had to take out of your budget initially.
5. The guest list – this can be one of the biggest headaches for couples particularly when close family insist on inviting every family member and close family friend.  If your parents are contributing towards costs then you should allow them to invite a few guests of their choosing.  When you begin your guest list write down those people who are most important to you first, then add in other people in order of importance.  People you haven’t seen or spoken to in more than six months, work colleagues and distant relatives are probably best invited to the evening party rather than the wedding proper.   Keep your budget in mind also, remember each additional person is an additional cost, think about all those plus ones and if you want children at your wedding.

This guide is of course just the start, but it is enough to give you the foundations on which to build every other element of your special day.  From here you can go onto choose your wedding theme and colors, vet potential venues and vendors, find your wedding dress and book your honeymoon.

By Jason Hennessey

Some people will not believe it if you chose a zoo for a wedding venue, reason being the immediate picture they see is that of wild animals that are dangerous to humans. But recently, the wild-hearted and the daring in the community have enjoyed their weddings in the zoo, reason being that it is a unique and exotic place to hold a special memorable function.

Zoos can be fun to be in. You can enjoy the site of a variety of wild animals, different species of birds, insects, and trees, crowned with the beautiful scenery. A number of them are now offering such services as hosting special events in their staging and attraction areas. Depending on the size of these areas, zoos can now accommodate a number of guests for such purposes as weddings, picnics and parties.

The challenges of planning a zoo wedding are space and time. One has to ensure that the space available in the zoo can accommodate all guests invited. The couple is advised to visit the zoo so as to assess the available space for their event, know which part of the zoo may be accessed by their guests and the other parts that are out of bounds. Special stages attraction areas and of the zoo may be appropriate to hold your wedding as they are specially made for zoo visitors.

Time is also a crucial factor to consider as management may not allow such events during the normal opening hours. This means that the wedding may have to take place at late hours or at night. There is no problem though with holding a wedding at these late hours as management can organize for sufficient lighting. Trees can be decorated with twinkling lights, passages well lit and the main weddings tent decorated to give it a natural wild look. This is sure to blow up your guests’ expectations as it will bring them closer to nature itself.  Zoo staff members and guides may however be needed to keep any straying wild animals at bay to ensure a secure and peaceful environment.

The zoo’s scenic view can be eye-catching especially on photographs. The couple can take their photos here giving them a natural backdrop. They can also take advantage of the various major attractions of the zoo, poses with the human friendly animals and even get to be at close proximity with other wild animals.

Entertainment can be provided so as to avoid moving guests to a different spot for the same. The host staff can also show the guests around as a special offer or at an extra cost. The couple, with permission from the zoo’s management, can hire entertainment from outside to keep the guests in a festive mood.

Great care should be taken by the guests and the wedding couple to ensure all regulation and rules of the zoo are followed to the letter. Areas out of bound to guests should be clearly marked to avoid human-animal conflicts. This will ensure that the ceremony runs smoothly and its good memories remain in the minds of all guests.