Top 10 Tips For Bride And Groom To Be
Being an experienced venue running weddings on a daily basis, we’ll admit that it is often too easy to forget how you new brides and grooms walking through our doors for the first time may feel.
After all, for most of you this is the first and – hopefully – last time you will go through this experience. So here at Colwick Hall we have been thinking up some top tips to help you sail through!
1. If you’ve got a dream venue in mind – don’t leave it too late to book! Diaries get booked up fast! – we can certainly vouch for that with bookings up to 2020! The most important first to do’s are to source the venue and get your church or civil ceremony booked in – the rest of the wedding will build around this – so sorry ladies the dress shopping will have to wait for just a little while! Come armed with questions, and rest assured there is no question too silly to ask!
2. Plan your finances in advance. It can be so easy to get carried away with planning a wedding. A few wedding fayres later and your budget for the essentials has been swallowed up by candy floss machines and ponies for ring bearers! We’re not saying don’t splash out for THE biggest day of your lives, but there is a reality to face at the other side, and sometimes we just need someone to remind us of this!
3. Take our supplier recommendations on board. It can be hard to know who to book, who to trust, if you’re being over quoted or if the quality is what it should be when this is something you’ve never done before. Don’t forget – as a venue we are here to help you through the journey – use our expertise!
4. Be organised. You could have booked the world’s best venue but without your cooperation we are all at a fail before we have even started! It’s very important the venue knows exactly what’s happening – table plans, timings, menu choices, numbers, special dietary requirements…. The list goes on! Don’t be last minute!
5. Delegate a trusted family member or friend to get things done on your behalf! You want to spend your day enjoying the company of your guests and not having to worry about everything else going on behind the scenes. It’s always handy to have someone to keep the wedding party on the ball, take your gifts to a safe place, maybe even just to refill your sweetie jars or keep an eye on the kids, and to do all the jobs you just really don’t want to at your wedding! That’s the beauty of it being your day – whatever you say goes!
6. Food! Weddings are always that awkward time when no one arrives having had lunch but your wedding breakfast (called breakfast as it’s the first meal you’ll have as husband and wife) isn’t approaching till late in the afternoon, and well basically everyone’s starving!! Keep your guests going with canapés, bar nibbles or maybe hire in a sweetie cart – and remember… full tummies = happy guests!
7. It’s all in the little touches. Our 1776 Grand Ballroom here at Colwick Hall is the perfect example of a room that on its own (even without décor) exerts natural beauty. Sometimes less is more and it is just about making something feel individual to you. Great simplistic ideas include beauty boxes in the ladies loos, disposable cameras on the tables, table names that relate to the favours (chocolate bars are a good one!), and of course remember the right lighting is like taking a magic wand to a room!
8. We’re all for a good party and quite frankly we are happy for you to drink our bar dry but pace that alcohol intake on the day! We don’t want a repeat of those messy hen and stag weekends! Nerves make it so easy just to grab a drink (*cough cough* grooms whilst waiting for the bride to arrive) and by all means do – but avoid day 1 of the honeymoon being like an episode from ‘The Hangover’!
9. Keep your guests entertained! Weddings can be a long day so be sure to prepare for this. Particularly when photos are being taken or rooms are being turned over – be sure to think up some ideas. This could be as simple as a few garden games or activity packs for the kids – or if budget allows perhaps some live music, a caricature or maybe a magician going around doing some close up tricks.
10. And finally before you know it you will be stood side by side saying your vows so don’t forget to enjoy the experience!! Cherish every moment – something to tell the grandkids ayy? Do not let the stress take over – this will be the most precious day of your life! As much as you are putting on a day for your guests, it is all about you so make the choices for yourself and not to please others!
So that’s it – top 10 complete!
We hope you have been inspired!
As normal we look forward to welcoming all of our future brides and grooms.
Forever working with the client in mind,
The Colwick Hall Team .x