What I Learnt From 2024 Wedding Season...👰🏽‍♀️

HI GUYS! I apologise for this 6 month hiatus in Bridal Diaries. I find writing them so therapeutic and I’ve really missed having the time to do so. This wedding season was amazing but definitely nearly broke me 🫠.

Good news is we are back! ✨ Between the team and myself we will make sure you have a weekly Bridal Diaries to give you all the tips, inspo and advice that you will need to get through your Bridal era! I thought I’d start with a reflective one and share the nuggets of wisdom we learnt from 2024 wedding season.

1) GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING- ESPECIALLY SET UP, SET DOWN & TURNAROUND RESPONSIBILITIES

I cannot stress this point enough. We’ve had so many issues occur with couples who have assumed or not had in writing the clear roles and responsibilities of each supplier. Things to check would be: who is providing chairs and who is setting them up, who is moving them during turnaround, who is providing tables and setting them up, who is providing linen (tablecloths and napkins), who is responsible for cleaning during turnaround (eg confetti, rubbish, spillages), who is setting down everything after. If you are dry hiring a venue, it is not to be assumed that they will do all of the above. Usually it is the caterers or decor companies that will do so, but they may charge additional fees for the staff required to do so. Please discuss this with all of your suppliers in detail and GET IT ALL IN WRITING! This is something we do for our month of management and full planning couples anyway to guarantee everything goes smoothly. But if you’re an on the day coordination couple, don’t just assume that your suppliers will figure it out on the day. We have seen quite a few refuse to help or do anything outside what ‘they’ve been paid to do’ and so we have had to end up pitching in. We are all for helping however it means we are unable to do our actual coordination jobs if we are setting up tables and chairs and so the couple loses out!

2) MOMENTS DON’T JUST HAPPEN, YOU HAVE TO CREATE THEM

Whilst a lot of wedding photos and videos on Insta can appear cute and candid, the reality is, someone had to make that moment happen. Quite often, it’s us! We ensure your items are all out and ready for their flat lay shots, family all get to the Bridal suite on time for family photos, we line up the bridesmaids and ask them to close their eyes for your reveal, we deliver your Bride/Groom presents to each other in the morning, we take you in for a reception room reveal once it’s all set up and before guests go in and we remind you of cute things you wanted to do; whether it’s a private moment, a spin & dip picture or to actually use your photo booth! If you don’t have a coordinator please have a trustworthy person who can time keep for you and tick off these important moments you want to create!

3) ACCOUNT FOR ‘FAFF’ TIME

Brides always wonder why we ask you to be ready 1-2 hours before the ceremony. It’s because not only do you have to have getting ready shots, bridal shots, reveals with family or bridesmaids and time eat, it’s also because you will inevitably faff. You think you won’t but you will, just trust us. You will have forgotten where something is, someone will call you, you’ll change your mind on the lipstick colour you originally picked, may need to keep getting up for a nervous pee and the list goes on. Just factor in AT LEAST 30 minutes of buffer and faff time, you will thank us later.

4) PACK THINGS EFFICIENTLY- ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE LOTS OF PERSONALISED ITEMS

If you haven’t seen our reel on how to pack efficiently, check it out here. This will save you so much stress on the day. Everything should be separated into boxes for different parts of the day (ceremony, drinks reception and reception) and everything should be clearly labelled! If you are having name places per table, PLEASE PUT THEM IN ORDER! Each table should have it’s own envelope with the table number, a layout of how the name places should be and the individual name places (which should be packed in a clockwise order). If you don’t do this, it takes up a lot of our time on the day trying to sort and order them, meaning we can’t be with yourselves or the suppliers. For how to pack your reception stationary, check it out here. 

5) CHECK ALL VENUE RESTRICTIONS CAREFULLY

Double check everything guys! Live candles, confetti (real, dried, biodegradable), use of drones, special effects (haze, dry ice, cold sparks), fireworks- literally anything you are doing, please check with them! There’s nothing worse than them stopping you from doing something on the day that you’ve already paid for! Also, if you cannot stay in the bridal suite overnight (ie if it’s just a room you can get ready in), please check when this needs to be emptied by. Quite often it’s an obscure time like 7pm or 9pm when you are mid way through your reception so if you don’t have a coordinator, you need to delegate emptying this to one of your guests! (Another reason it’s just always easier to have a coordinator!)

6) ALWAYS HAVE AN EMERGENCY KIT ON HAND

The amount of food stains, drink spills and make up stains that I’ve saved with my trusty Tide pen is unreal. If you don’t have anything else with you, have this. However, we would recommend you to pack a thorough emergency kit to help with whatever the situation is on the day (see here for a full list). We keep the majority of these on us and have used everything from a sewing kit to superglue to save the day!

7) MAKE A NOTE OF WHAT NEEDS TO BE KEPT OR PACKED AT THE END AND ALLOCATE THIS ROLE TO SOMEONE

This is something I learnt from my own wedding. I REALLY wish I had someone to pick up all the personalised sentimental favours, stationary, signage and props that we had. I’m so gutted I didn’t think about this before as I would have loved to have this on display in our home now! Again, if you don’t have a coordinator make sure you have a set list of what needs to be collected at the end. These could be things you’ve provided (eg easels, guestbook, cardbox, signage etc) or sentimental items (copies of menu, a favour etc). Delegate this to a trustworthy and ideally sober guest. We do this as part of our Pristine service before we leave and provide photos and a written list of everything that’s been collected and returned.

8) CHECK IN WITH ALL SUPPLIERS THE WEEK OF THE WEDDING & SEND YOUR FINAL PACK OUT

Having been a Bride myself, I get that everything revolves around your wedding. However, the reality is suppliers sometimes have lots of weddings on at the same time and they are also only human. Send them a check in/final plan email on the week of your wedding which includes timings, timelines, access, and any specific requirements. Chances are things like numbers/seating plan/music choices would have changed in this final week anyway so they can work from the most updated version.

9) HAVE A CLEAR FINAL SEATING PLAN WITH ALLERGIES, KIDS MEALS, SPECIAL MEALS, HIGH CHAIRS & NUMBER OF SEATS PER TABLE

Have two types of seating plan. One is the pretty one you get printed. The other is a high level detailed one in a table format. It should include how many settings each table requires, if anyone on that table has allergies/special meals, if they are any kids meals on that table and if there are any high chair or wheelchair set ups on that table to. This allows us to do a quick whizz round with your catering manager and ensure the set up is correct. There is nothing more stressful than guests turning up and not having a seat or not being given the correct meal!

10) YOU WILL NEVER PLEASE EVERY GUEST- SO DON’T WASTE TIME TRYING

I cannot think of a single wedding we have done where there hasn’t been at least one guest who has complained about something. It usually is over the most random things; music being too loud, music not being to their taste, the wrong wine being served, not happy with the orientation of where they are sitting, want the bar to be open during speeches, don’t like the kids meal choices, not happy with the lack of parking, the AC is too strong, the AC isn’t strong enough, you name it, they’ve complained about it. Whilst it’s great for the couple having us there to deal with them, what I’ve learnt is, you can’t please everyone! This is why I always reiterate you have to do your day for YOU and nobody else, please remember this!

Hope that’s given you a few pointers to think about when planning!

Also just a quick update; I’ve released limited consultation slots for the next two weeks as after this I’m away and when I’m back we will only be focussing on my full planning couples as we wind down for Christmas. If you wanted to book in for your consultation to see if we can help with your wedding in some way, whether it be Month of Management & On the day coordination or Full Planning where we are with you from the very start (#moodboardgalore), please fill in the contact form here and I will get back to you with the remaining slots available!

Happy Planning!

Love,

Priya 🤍

Team Pristine 🖤