Impress for Less, Part 2

Wow Your Guests, Don’t Break the Budget

In the current economic climate, making a big impression at your wedding is becoming more and more difficult. Tips for saving money while at the same time creating a big impact are invaluable!

Bathroom Basket

A small basket of toiletries placed in the loo at your reception venue will be priceless! For the ladies, some freshening wipes, plasters, deodorant, perfume and if your budget stretches that far, some disposable flip flops for when guests feet start to hurt. Hair pins and hair spray would also be useful!

My mum would say this is a waste of money but I think your guests will find this really useful and it’s a nice touch to show you’re thinking of your guests.

Less is More

When decorating your wedding, remember it’s the special little touches that make the biggest impact. If you put a sprig of rosemary or lavender on your napkins, or use photos of your guests as children for their place settings, these little touches can create a huge impact.

I’m making some of my own table confetti. My h2b is Chinese and it’s traditional to use double happiness 囍 to decorate Chinese weddings. This is a very subtle touch to the wedding, but I think that it’s one which will make h2b’s parents smile.

An Amazing Day

Maximise Your Impact (Part One)

While planning a wedding, couples are always looking for ways to save money and at the same time creating a memorable day. Below are some suggestions on how to make it memorable, cut costs and create style!

Get Organised

I have had two and a half years to plan my wedding, thanks to me being a student, and that has spread the cost across the time. It has also given us a long time to save up and pay for things gradually. While I’m a bit fed up of waiting for the wedding (270 days to go!!), it does mean that we are now in a position where everything is booked!

Any problems that arise can be easily sorted out because of all the time we have to sort things! I would completely recommend brides to have a long engagement, but perhaps not as long as mine!

Copy Wills and Kate

One of the main talking points of the Wills and Kate engagement was the ring.

Using a family heirloom will mean much more to you than a new gem and it will remind you of the family that couldn’t be there with you.

Wait for the Sale

In this economic climate, sales are more than once a year. If you keep your eyes peeled for the bridal shop sales, you might be able to pick up a fantastic dress for a bit less.

I started looking for my dress in April which just happened to be sale time at Francesca’s and I was able to buy my dress for 20% less than in another bridal shop! Bonus!

A Little DIY

You could make your own invitations! My sister-in-law took a week off work to make all their invitations for their wedding, plus matching stationary. I thought they looked fantastic and really followed the theme of their wedding.

Home made wedding invitations add a personal touch to your wedding, and your guests will appreciate the time and care it took to make them.

Hackney Carriage

Traditional black cabs are available in most cities and are classic ways to travel. Instead of fancy classic cars or an overpriced limousine, consider hiring several black cabs for you and your guests.

Settle Your Debts!

If you are able to pay off the big costs (the dress, the venue, the church/ceremony venue) early then you will have a better idea of how much money you have left for the smaller items, such as gifts or favours.

Keep a spread sheet (how unromantic but really useful) to keep track of all your out goings. I’m useless with money but I’m maintaining the spread sheet for our wedding and I’m keeping a good eye on what we’re spending.

Savvy Brides

More posts will follow soon!

Honeymoon

Planning our Honeymoon!

Today, we went to Thomas Cook to talk about our honeymoon!!!

I am so completely excited! H2b and I haven’t been on holiday for years, except a few weekends staying in the UK, so I am really looking forward to this.

But it is a difficult choice! The location of your honeymoon, the duration of stay, the activities you do: there are so many choices it’s difficult to know which is the right one.

To help us, we made a list of our honeymoon requirements, what we both want for our honeymoon.

My Wants	H2b Wants
1. Lots of things to do and see 2. Warm sunny weather 3. Old things to visit, like ancient things 4. Relaxing fun activities 5. Clean, nice hotel 6. Something we’ll remember for the rest of our lives as a fantastic holiday 7. Good views	1. Beach walks 2. Spa 3. Active night life 4. Views 5. Cultural things 6. Historical things to learn about 7. A variety of activities such as   - snorkelling   - diving   - motorised water sports

With these ideas in mind, we headed to Thomas Cook.  H2b wanted to try Thomas Cook as he’d had recommendations from colleagues. I watch Watchdog, like a lot of British people, and it seems as if most of the British holiday companies have featured on it from time to time, but we wanted to give Thomas Cook a try regardless.

The lady at Thomas Cook was actually really helpful. Unfortunately, we weren’t. We had no idea where we wanted to go and no idea of what we really wanted.

We knew we wanted all inclusive.

The last thing we wanted to worry about on our honeymoon was where we’d go to eat. There were a number of places that we could go to which offered an all inclusive package. One I liked was a cruise, we could travel around different places and see lots of amazing things. I wouldn’t be able to go to one place and lie around. I’m someone who likes lots of things to do.

I’d probably blog about it if I was stuck doing nothing.

Luckily, h2b likes taking photos of lots of different things so we will be out doing things.

Well, in the end I think we did settle on an interesting honeymoon (although not sure about booking!). Something that will both be relaxing but with lots of activities to keep us entertained. We chose something that would be all inclusive so that all we had to think about is having a good time! We’re seeing as much as we can of the area and learning about the culture.

An experience that will stay with us for the rest of our lives.

KT Bridal

I Went to…. KT Bridal

I cannot recommend KT Bridal enough! The level of service we received was outstanding and the lady who helped us was fantastic! 

They have a lovely range of dresses and a range of bridesmaid dresses and the people who work there are fantastic.

There are no hidden costs. They are happy to store your dress for you until the day before your wedding free of charge. Any alterations are extra but there are no surprise costs. The price you pay is the whole and complete price.

The show rooms are luxurious and comfortable with a thick red carpet and a beautiful room to get changed in.

This bridal shop was by far my favourite however the dress I liked the most isn’t the one for me. However, it is worth asking a favourite bridal shop if they can order the dress you do like so  that you can buy it from them. It can’t hurt to ask.

I had a fantastic time at KT Bridal. They also own Balloon Expressions who offer chair covers and balloons for weddings, who are fantastic as well! KT Bridal and Balloon Expressions are featuring at a wedding fayre at Buckatree Hall Hotel, The Wrekin, Wellington, Telford, Shropshire. TF6 5AL on Wednesday, 4th May, 6pm until 9pm - Free Entry to the Fayre.

I would strongly suggest visiting KT Bridal to feel like a princess while trying on dresses!

Another Item Booked!

Wedding Cars for Bride, Father-of-the-Bride and Bridesmaids!

We have booked our wedding cars! We went this morning, which was a struggle because I have an awful cold! This is dedication to the wedding, dragging myself out of bed to book wedding cars!

We went with The Wedding Car Company, who provide a mixture of vintage cars that are just absolutely gorgeous.

I would also completely recommend Platinum Wedding Cars. Without a doubt, the best wedding cars I have ever seen! The cars we saw at a Moat House wedding fayre were just beautiful. They had been lovingly restored to an outstanding quality, and the chaps who drove the cars were friendly and chatty. This picture to the right, from the Platinum Wedding Car website, shows the stunning quality that the cars have been restored to. The chair coverings felt like leather, I’m not sure if they were but that’s what they felt like, with lush carpets on the floors.

The drivers will do a trial drive from your start location and will trial run the entire route that the cars would take for your wedding, just to check for any problems. Their thorough, professional and outstanding service really blew me away! I would have booked them like a shot but they were already booked for my wedding date. 

You may think I’m on commission but this is my honest opinion. I’m really disappointed that I couldn’t book them because they were absolutely outstanding!

The cars we have booked from The Wedding Car Company are really lovely too! Another Austin Princess and a Daimler, beautiful cars. The lady we booked with was happy to let us look around as often and for as long as we needed to make a decision. As soon as we decided to book (they had the date available – yay!) it was as simple as leaving a 20% deposit. We filled in the details for where the wedding is and the colours for the wedding before we left.

As soon as we saw the cars, I knew the ones I wanted and that they would look stunning on our wedding day adorned in our wedding colours. They will look stunning in contrast with the bridesmaid dresses, not that they are booked or even measured yet! I know people are thinking we must be mad to be booking cars to early, but with the price of petrol rising every day, I wish we’d booked them earlier!

To Film or Not to Film, That is the Question

To Film or Not to Film, That is the Question

Hiring a videographer is becoming more and more popular, however, does your budget stretch that far? With some videographers charging upwards of £300 is it financially viable? A hefty chunk out of any budget… at my wedding £300 equates to 6 meals, or a wedding car and a half, or 30 pairs of wedding shoes! (I had them made to order in China, soooo comfortable!)

And think about it, really, as much as your friends and family love you, how many of them will sit for 2 hours and watch your lovely but long wedding video? I love weddings (could you guess) and I could sit to watch wedding videos but with the best will in the world, I couldn’t last 2 hours! And if it does cost £300 I would want it to last 2 hours at least!

An alternative is to ask a guest to video your wedding. At my bessie mate’s wedding, her sister who was a bridesmaid videoed a lot of the wedding. A cousin later used the footage to mix in with still pictures when creating a wedding video. That video was a very manageable 30 minutes, just perfect! The video clips added a very personal touch to the still photos and brought the video to life. I do think there is a lot of merit in videoing a wedding.

Most cameras these days have a video option. My camera does, as does my phone!   (I wouldn’t suggest using a phone camera as the image quality isn’t suitable for TV standard.)  With this option on most cameras, any of your guests could be a potential videographers, and so many easy to use video editors available such as Windows Video Maker which is free with windows, or iMovie which is free on Apple Macs (and better than Windows Video Maker, if only it worked on PC’s) then anyone can make a wedding video.

I recently made a video for my niece and nephew’s christening, and I also made a video for my friend’s wedding before that. Even people who aren’t that good with a computer could put together a very effective and meaningful wedding video using these simple to use editing programs.

For top tips on videoing your friend’s wedding, see Jake McMillian’s blog.

However, if you do decide to hire a wedding videographer, there are some very professional videos out there. Some photographers offer videography as part of their service. That would mean that your photographer and videographer would be working in sync and produce a much better product. Alternatively, your photographer might be able to recommend a videographer they have worked with before, or your venue may be able to recommend someone who has impressed them in the past. Often, if a service has been recommended through another person, you may receive a discount on their services.

To answer the question of ‘to film or not to film’… I think you should film, but not hours and hours of footage. Think of your audience, who will watch the video? Film key moments in the wedding, touching moments that you will want to remember for the rest of your marriage: walking up the aisle, exchanging the rings, walking down the aisle, some moments outside the church, the speeches, cutting the cake and the first dance.

If you do know any good videographers to recommend, please post them as a comment in my blog. Alternatively, if you know any good tips for videoing a wedding, post those in the comment box too!

Photo Albums

I have already posted that I believe photos are one of the most important aspects of a wedding. This is why my h2b and I chose Clive Blair to be our photographer. I may have mentioned that h2b and I were absolutely inspired by all his pictures. I honestly cannot recommend Clive enough but this post is about wedding albums.

Since we booked Clive he’s introduced Queensbury albums. They look spectacular! They appear similar to photo books but with the quality of a traditional album. My sister-in-law and my brother have this tome, I call it, a huge wedding album in a traditional style. I wanted a tome, but I like the style of the photo books. It appears that Queensbury albums combine the quality of a traditional album with the modern chic of a photo book. This is what I want for my wedding album, something that we could keep for the rest of our lives as a reflection of the most wonderful day we spent together, and the start of our married life.

However, that’s just the one album for you and your hubby to keep, what about the rest of your family who want an album. Clive does offer parent albums, but perhaps your sister would like a picture because your niece was a bridesmaid.  Many photographers out there offer a CD only service, where they take a lot of photos and put them on a disk for you to order your own wedding album. This is a cheaper and quicker way of seeing your wedding photos but which photo album should you choose?

There are so many websites out there that offer photo books by uploading your own photos and making a book, printed with a hard cover. As I’m a bit obsessed with photos, I do make quite a few photo books. My h2b takes some brilliant photos and I make them up into books so I have used a few of the photo book websites.

Photobox
User friendly, easy to use, fantastic templates and plenty of choice, Photobox was the first photo book making company that I started to use. This picture here is of me holding the first photo book that I made for my fiancé and I to celebrate seven years together.

There are a variety of covers available in a variety of colours. I chose a black cover because I thought that would be more manly for my h2b. I would have liked a pink cover!

Photobox offers a variety of different products. My friends bought their thank you cards from Photobox, they looked fantastic and they’re a memento from the day. I will be doing the same. Other products include calendars and diaries, wall decor, photo mugs, prints and home gifts. The photo book I received was very high quality. One of the pictures I used was from the camera I had in 2003 which was barely 3 mega pixels, when I put that photo into the album they told me that the photo wasn’t print quality. That kind of help is invaluable! (I used it anyway, it was an important picture!)

The photo books come in different sizes and shapes. It depends on which photo album you’d like. It’s completely online, there’s nothing to download and it’s all easy to use. You can even preview your creation online before you print. My dad so loved the album I had from Photobox that we made a funeral album for my Granddad’s funeral. It was filled with photos from my Granddad’s life and everyone at the funeral said it was lovely and deeply touching. See, photos are for any occasion.

Blurb
Blurb is a website I’ve only just started using and I like the look of it. They have a variety of methods for creating a photo book.  You can use a pdf book, if you’ve taken the time to make one, download their book making program, or make a book online. I have tried both in the interest of giving you a full review – and wow!

I first tried making a book using the BookSmart program that is downloadable from the Blurb website. There is a fairly clear user guide, some interesting templates and the option to edit layout. To me, an amateur, I think this is amazing! I get the feeling that some of the elements of BookSmart are aimed at marketing or advertising companies, as they are very customisable. You can add photo boxes, text boxes, resize these boxes and move them around the page in any layout that you’d like. Imagine working on your wedding pictures, creating an album for a friend and you can design the layout into any format you like.
I am fairly computer savvy but I did find this program very easy and simple to use. I was just bashing about pressing buttons to see what happens but I achieved a fairly nice effect using this program.

I’ve added a photo here to show what the photos looked like when I added them to the template. Pretty nifty if I do say so myself. I just quickly added some photos from my computer (there’s also the option to add from online albums) and messed about slotting the pictures into the spaces.

It really depends how much time you would like to put into your photo album. If this was the only option I had for my wedding album I might spend a bit more time making it. As it stands, this is the kind of thing I would enjoy spending my time making as I’m that sort of person, so I would really use this type of program.

The Bookify option doesn’t seem to have as many templates. I chose a small square album as I would if were making an album for my parents to have and there was a set format that I couldn’t change, although I could alter colours of backgrounds and so forth. This could give the less computer savvy person the option of using a simpler book builder. The BookSmart option does give you a lot more control over what your final book will look like.

Boots
Just to demonstrate how good Photobox is, Boot’s online photo book maker is in partnership with Photobox! I was about to type that I thought the Boots books were very similar to the Photobox ones, and then when I click on the website I see that they are made by the very same company! It goes to show that not only do Photobox provide an excellent professional service, but they are also used by a nation wide chain of shops – a brand that we all visit and use from time to time.

Jessops
Jessops use CEWE to make their photo books. There doesn’t appear to be an online photo book making function, but the program is easy to download and install. However, I didn’t find the program as easy to use as the Photobox and Blurb programs.

I’m not sure if I clicked on anything wrong but the pictures I’d selected (randomly from my pictures folder) filled into the album without me indicating where I wanted them to go. Once you get the hang of it, it is possible to customise the backgrounds, photo layout, and add additional photos to the page. It takes a bit of fiddling and experimentation, but there is a fairly decent customisable element to the program.

Kodak
Kodak’s photo book maker is online, where you can upload your photos to their website and  then edit them into your photo album book. I like the function that you can add yourself as a guest, you don’t necessarily have to sign in or register to use their website. Always a bonus if you’re in a rush.

Depending on the size of your photos and on your internet speed, the uploader is fairly speedy. I uploaded a few pictures from my computer to use with the album and it was fairly speedy.

There is the option to change the layout of the photos if chosen from a set layout, but it seems like the background colours aren’t customisable. It is quick and easy to use, just a drag and drop system, but for me I’d rather use a much more personalised layout than simply using the set layouts.

My Conclusion

Which ever website you decide to use, remember you could always ask your photographer for his or her recommendation. I think it’s important to weigh up cost with the product you receive in the end, and to think about how you want the photos from one of the most important days of your life to be presented. Think about how much time you have, and how much computer know how. Each of the websites have their own positives and negatives, I’ve tried to give you a fair appraisal of all the main ones that I use so that you can decide from a bride’s opinion.