Top 20 time saving tips - Part 2

Further to our recent top ten tips on saving time when planning your wedding, here are another ten suggestions:

11. High street bridesmaids

There are lots of dresses in high street shops such as Debenhams, Coast and House of Fraser that are just as gorgeous as any bridal shop ones, but without the time delay of ordering the dresses in.

12. Use a Wedding Planner

Ask an expert to create shortlists for suppliers you are having specific trouble sourcing. They will know of reputable local companies and may even be able to negotiate you a better rate.

13. Manage your RSVPs

Send a stamped self addressed envelope if you are mailing RSVP cards with your invites to speed up the replies. Or quicker still use an online RSVP option on a wedding website.

14. Back to basics

Skip some of the unnecessary tasks, such as having wedding favours, that can take a lot of hours to find and you may not feel are critical.

15. Thank you notes

Write your thank you notes as you receive gifts to save having a long list to complete when you return from your honeymoon.

16. Venue styling

Save time on the day by using wedding decorators to set-up and remove the decorations for you.

17. Pre ceremony photo shoot

Meet with your husband-to-be before the wedding ceremony for a photo shoot to save time after the ceremony, leaving you to relax and enjoy the arrival drinks with your guests.

18. Cheat with the cake cutting

Have an extra cake in the kitchen that your caterers can pre-cut so after your cake cutting ceremony is complete they can serve the cake much faster.

19. Skip a receiving line

Depending on how many guest you have these can take a huge amount of time, a less formal way would be to visit each table between courses during the meal.

20. Keep storage simple

Have a room aside to keep everything related to your wedding in- so everyone know where to put things after they have been used and most importantly where to go to pack everything up swiftly at the end of the day.

Photo credit: A SugarBlossom wedding at Brockhurst School, Newbury by Francis Beaumont

Top 20 time-saving options- Part 1

Time-saving options to help you plan your wedding if time is tight.

Are you struggling to find the time to fit planning your wedding into a busy lifestyle?

1. A focused checklist
   Work out what needs to be done in what order to prioritise your time, always start by finding your venue and booking the registrar/church to get a date confirmed.
   
   
   


2. Know your budget
   Before you start looking for the perfect wedding dress, flowers etc.. make sure you know what your budget is to save time further down the line having to rethink what you can afford.
   
   
   


3. Decide on your guest list
   Scribble down a rough idea of numbers to invite for the day and even to help direct you when making your venue choice, this may rule some options out straight away.
   
   
   


4. Wedding fairs
   Local wedding fairs can be a great inspiration at the start of your planning. Wear 'comfy' shoes and bring friendly support to help collect all the information to browse through at home.
   
   
   


5. Surf the web
   Visit supplier websites to find pricing, see portfolios of work, and read testimonials to build a shortlist before spending time calling or meeting with lots of different suppliers.
   
   
   


6. Wedding chat rooms
   Sites such as www.youandyourwedding.co.uk are a great place to meet with other likeminded brides to ask questions for quick answers or pick up new ideas.
   
   
   


7. One email fits all
   Once you have found a selection of suppliers online you can draft an email with all your questions to copy and email to multiple companies. This approach will save time calling each person and help get consistent replies to compare.
   
   
   


8. Let your friends and family help
   Make a list of things that need to be done (but not necessarily by you) and delegate! Your bridal party can help make phone calls, prepare invitations, do odd jobs when you need them.
   
   
   


9. Meetings at your house
   Most suppliers will be more than happy to come to you to meet to save you time driving between locations.
   
   
   


10. Referrals
    Sharing tips on excellent service providers with recently married friends will give you piece of mind that everything will run smoothly on your special day.

Look out for the next 10 time saving tips!

Photo credit: A SugarBlossom wedding at Englemere, Ascot by Neale James at www.breathepictures.com

Easy tool to create your seating plan

Simply register with www.marthastewartweddings.com to access the online seating chart tool, you add your room dimensions then start populating with tables and names to drag and move around to get the ideal arrangement. Easy peasy!

I'm engaged! Now what do I do?

Firstly congratulations on your engagement! Enjoy this exciting and happy time with your fiancé. The important initial wedding considerations are when you would like to get married, what your budget is and the venue.






When



Is there a particular season you would prefer, is it important to have a summer or winter wedding? Are you inclined to opt for a traditional Saturday over weekdays? These considerations can affect the cost, out of peak times can mean venue hire and many suppliers are less expensive.





Budget



Do you know how much you want to spend on your wedding? Are you planning a long engagement to give you time to save, have your family been able to offer to contribute towards the day? Be honest with yourselves to eliminate any anxiety further in the planning and use this budget as a guideline when choosing your suppliers.





Venue



Will you have your ceremony and reception in one venue, or is there a church’s alter you have dreamt of walking up? Is it an urban city wedding, a sandy sunny destination wedding, a marquee in the countryside or a grand stately home celebration?
Regardless of where it is held, the venue must be one of your first decisions to book and set the date. When you walk around take a check list with you to help compare against other options, does it match your vision for the day, is it easy for guests to reach, is there accommodation, is there parking etc





Once you have decided on when, your budget and the venue, you should start selecting the team that make your special day happen. It really is crucial to take the time to find suppliers that match your requirements and that you like. This may be when you decide to hire a wedding planner who can help source options that fit your style and budget.






Photo credit: www.stylemepretty.com

DIY: Sparklers, Straw and Matchbox Wedding Projects

Are you getting married close to Guy Fawkes night and looking for some final DIY projects to personalise your evening celebrations? Or you may not be celebrating on Bonfire night, but you are having fireworks and would love to add some more fun into the mix?

I saw these 4th July pieces a couple of months ago and have been saving them to share for the approaching Autumn brides. Click here to visit the post from Twig and Thistle with instructions and a pdf to download- they are so simple and cheap to make, but brilliantly effective.

Twig and Thistle Via Wedding Caberat

Picture credit: All images from www.twigandthistle.com

Colour Schemes and Details of Your Wedding

We recently stumbled upon http://www.tiethatbindsweddings.com/ and loved the way they share our passion for a consistent beautiful theme featuring in lots of unique ways throughout your wedding. All the images in this blog entry are from the delightfully talented Mekala from Tie That Binds, for this wedding they produced a range of stunning blue and yellow co-ordinated pieces.




Firstly picking your theme and planning your wedding starts with the colours. Your colour scheme says a lot about you as a couple and gives you the chance to make a statement.

However, as Mekala comments, don't be closed-minded about where to find your colour scheme. You can find inspiration in anything- from the location of your first date, to your great grandfathers favorite vintage tie.


The biggest fad of the season is to skip a colour theme and go with an overall look instead! This look can be inspired by fashion, an era of time, a childhood story, or even a piece of fabric. These invitations were inspired by fabric purchased at £1 a metre!







Dig around in your and your groom's history to find a theme that works best for you. In this wedding the colours were inspired by the groom's formal military uniform. The story of the couple surviving 4 years of being apart while he attended West Point Military Academy was a huge part of bringing the wedding together.


This brings me to the next big part of planning a wedding: the details. As a frequent attendee of weddings, it's easy for them to blur together. White dress, flower girls, a big kiss, a dance, the end. Tie That Binds strive to find ways to make the wedding unique. For this wedding, the love story of the bride and groom was so significant that they crafted two books - one at each table.

The first book had his version of their love story, and another with hers. These books not only caused the tables to talk amongst themselves and trade books, but also gave those out-of-towners an inside view into how their romance came to be. These types of details were used throughout the rest of the wedding- on the napkins, sweet bags, a vintage pin, handcrafted jewelry gifts- each detail made the wedding unique to the couple and their love.


Thank you Mekala for sharing these gorgeous images and the couples story with us. If you are looking for ideas on how to use your theme across your wedding day visit http://www.tiethatbindsweddings.com/ for some fantastic ideas- and the most important and best bit is that the Tie that Binds ship to the UK!

Picture credit: All images from the Tie That Binds, http://www.tiethatbindsweddings.com/

Spring 2010 Colour Palette

The 2010 Spring colours are here!

Direct from the New York fashion week is a selection of colours put together by top designers that would work perfectly for weddings- mix and match the vibrant brights with classy neutrals to find your colour scheme.

My favourite is the fusion coral with the eucalyptus- such delicate colours. Click here for more details.

Picture credits: http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/Pantone.aspx?pg=20694&ca=4

Top 10 Wedding Day Trends

I was recently asked what 10 wedding trends SugarBlossom was seeing, below is a summary of my reply, although narrowing it down to just ten was a challenge!...




1. Role Reversals where new style wedding parties can feature a Man of Honour or a Best Woman.



2. Cigar bars and candy bars arranging different types of cigars on a table with personalised matchboxes or paper bags with retro style sweets.



3. Fun colour combinations like lemon and grey and poppy teamed with aqua.



4. Humanist ceremonies allowing couples the flexibility over locations and greater outdoor options.



5. Photos before the ceremony giving the bride and groom more time to enjoy celebrating after the ceremony with guests.



6. Alternative wedding breakfasts from afternoon tea parties or BBQs to evening ceremonies with black tie receptions.



7. Decorating the outside as well as the inside, such as hanging lights in trees or reindeers hired to pose for winter weddings!



8. Eco Chic Weddings, from earth friendly invites to nature loving honeymoons, going green no longer means a compromise on the style of the big day.



9. Hiring wedding items saving on the cost of buying, but adding style with a range of options such as vintage crockery, garden games or chairs (rather than covers).



10. Making it your day by putting a unique mark on all the design elements like quotes in the wedding programmes or pictures as name settings.

Photo credit: pinkfrosting.com.au

5 Ways to Make Your Wedding Individual

Almost every element of your wedding day can be personalised to suit you as a couple, but below are my favourite five ideas that are all easy and inexpensive too:





1. Creative cakes



From colourful cupcakes to towering tiered cakes there is so much choice to pick from that can reflect your style.





2. Artistic table plans



Using escort cards instead can provide so many more interesting display options and help build a theme, from hanging them on branches to writing on pebbles. Click here to take a look at our blog entry dedicated to this.






3. Serve a signature cocktail



Giving guests something unique to sip on is far more memorable than the standard drink list, design your own cocktail that is in your colour scheme and give it a fun name!






4. Bridal Thrones



Well maybe not quite thrones, but dressing the bride and groom’s chair up to stand out from the rest with real flower decorations, sashes embroidered with your initials or hire two unique style chairs.






5. Wedding programmes



You can fill your programme with lots of interesting details for guests to read as they await your arrival. Feature your favourite love quotes, include Martha Stweart's "What Tree Did You Fall From?" page or have a timeline with key dates and events through your relationship

Photo credits:

Cake by www.ericaobrien.com

Programme from www.marthastewartweddings.com

Ten Ways to Have an Eco Chic Wedding

From earth friendly invites to nature loving honeymoons, going green no longer means you have to compromise on the style of your big day.

The average UK wedding can produce 14.5 tonnes of CO2 emissions (Findings from the offset company Climate Care). By incorporating SugarBlossom's green ideas into your wedding planning you can help reduce the size of your wedding's carbon footprint on the environment.


1. Pick your venue
Choosing a location that is as close to as many of your guests as possible will reduce your wedding’s impact in a big way. Also research locations where the proceeds support eco-friendly causes, the National Trust is worth investigating.

2. Greener transportation
You’ve picked the venue, now how will you and your guests get there- try to provide as much information on local transport options as possible. Also why not arrive at the reception with your groom on a romantic tandem bicycle?

3. Source locally
Almost anything can be found locally, but some things are more important than others. Food and drinks are a great place to start and to show off your region’s best. To find local food producers, visit www.bigbarn.co.uk

4. Ideal invites
There is an increasing number of suppliers of recycled, handmade, or tree-free invitations out there, Cherry Gorgeous is one of my favourites- their cards are both ethical and stylish.

5. Dress the part
Recycle a dress—whether it's your mother's gown or a gorgeous find from a vintage shop. Borrowing jewellery also makes a great "something borrowed”.

6. With this ring…
Pledge your commitment to the earth and each other by choosing a ring made with environmentally conscious precious metals and conflict-free diamonds.

7. Flower power
Before choosing your bouquet, look for a florist that supports organic flower farms and uses seasonal wildflowers- you could cut the emissions that would be generated by shipping flowers from far away.

8. Do the environment a favour
When it comes to wedding favours, why not share a living gift, like a small potted plant, with each guest. Packets of seeds and soy soap also make great green favours.

9. Gifts of conscience
Ethical gift lists are on the rise; the Oxfam Unwrapped service has tripled in the last year and By Nature’s unique wedding list service have a selection of green, organic and ethical products. If you have all you need, why not create an online donation list to a worthy cause or ask guests to dedicate trees to you both in the MarryMeWood (www.carbonneutral.com/weddings).

10. Enjoy an all-natural honeymoon
Plan a honeymoon where you can commune with nature at an eco-resort that preserves the environment. Both Responsible Travel and Ecoescape have lots of dream destinations.


A wedding planner can assist you in designing a wedding to your unique specifications, even more helpful when you wish to infuse eco-chic elements into the celebration. Working with an expert, such as SugarBlossom is the best possible way to cut through the clutter to discover the things you believe in, and will love.