Free Advice From Someone Who Has Been In The Business For Years

Just to start and probably annoy loads of people as well, due to my experience, when I organised my own wedding, we were £10 below budget with a £15,000 budget 8 years ago.

Seriously, the budget can go mad. Most brides, given the choice from their fathers would prefer a lavish wedding as opposed to help with a house deposit. A little bit of advice, yes we would all like to have everything, but spend what you can afford. Search "Sarah Balfour Wedding Planner" on YouTube and you will see TV interviews from one of London's top wedding planner's, mostly about the budgets.

If you can afford it, get a wedding planner, and the better ones are worth it, they save you the aggravation and will get as much as is possible that you want on budget. They also look after all of the aggravation and organising aspects.

If you can't afford a wedding planner, get a toastmaster as he will not only announce, but also ensure the smooth running of the evening. If a toastmaster is out of your budget, choose a best man and maid of honour who will stay sober that evening, however most venues today have an event coordinator who will run things to a limited degree on the evening. The last thing the bride needs to be doing is running around looking for a DJ, band member or a caterer.

Wedding planners also help by sourcing things from lighting and sound, to table decorations and cars. You can do this yourself using the power of the internet. The problem with hiring, is that you want local companies, otherwise the transport to collect and return can be more expensive than the hire. There are loads of directory sites that only list a few paid for companies, these are useless. Use a free rental search website like http://www.hirehop.co.uk.

THIS IS IMPORTANT - Invites, do not post them all at once in the same letterbox. I had one client that did and they all got lost in the post. Post them on different days at different locations and make sure you have spares as some will go missing. Or you could email them.

All the best and congratulations, more advice to follow in future posts.