HOW TO PLAN A WEDDING IN 7 WEEKS!

It is not an ideal situation, but you can plan a wedding in 7 weeks. Like with any wedding, you must have a plan of action. Otherwise it’s a recipe for disaster. The earlier you start planning your wedding the better, however we do sometimes get caught up in the romance and want to get married sooner rather than later. That is what my husband and I did. I enjoyed not having all the stress and the long build up to our big day, and our day turned out great.

Back in the summer, a friend of mine told me of her flatmate that was getting married. The problem was, she was getting married in 7 weeks! And she had nothing arranged, but the church and the reception venue. Luckily a family member of hers agreed to do the catering, so we almost had a reception planned… well not quite. Now it was time to concentrate on the smaller things.

I decided to offer my services as it would be great experience to help out at such short notice. Another challenge was the budget. The whole wedding had to be done for under £3000! This is not an easy task. After talking with the bride, there was very little that had been done. She had found a place to do her invitations in her theme colour’s of red and gold, and they looked really lovely. So I set about looking for suppliers for her and every few days I would e-mail her with the cheapest but best value suppliers I could find.

A friend of the couple agreed to DJ at the reception, and also the photography was done by a friend of theirs, who stayed for the whole day, and offered his services at a heavily discounted price.

About a month before the big day, the bride was still without a dress! This was a huge worry for me, as you can’t get married if you do not have a dress! So one weekend she went into a store which I suggested she tried in the centre of Manchester. If you walked past it, it really is one of those places which doesn’t look all that nice, and I can understand why people would think that. But when you walk inside, and walk to the back of the store, you will see where they keep all the nice dresses. I don’t know why you wouldn’t show off your nicest dresses as the front, though? In the end she picked a dress from here and she looked beautiful.

As the bride and groom were both French, their family and friends were flying over, so accomadation needed to be arranged. However, the only downside is that, they were not willing to negotiate the room rates any lower unless we could book a block of 10 rooms. So a tip for the future, if you do have a lot of family and friends coming up for the wedding, if you need more than 10 rooms, more than likely they will organize a discount. However, if you go through an event planner you might get an even  bigger discount.  

On the day of the wedding, the bride had her hair done by her make-up artist, but she hated it! This is a very risky mistake. You should always practice with your hair and make-up stylist first before the big day, as if you don’t like it, then you are not going to feel or look your best on the day, and that is not how you want to feel on your wedding day, is it? To make matters worse the make-up artist arrived late and as a result mean the bride got ready late. So they arrived at the registry office late and missed their slot, which was at 1:30pm. They were devastated, and were very upset. Though luckily, they were able to get married but they had to wait around for 3 hours, until 4:30pm to get married.

The reception was held at the Christ family church in Hulme, Manchester. The church itself is small but has a modern interior with wooden flooring and white walls. There was also a dressing room area, and a smaller room, which if you were to get married there also, you could use this room for your ceremony. The room was done up to look really beautiful. To keep within budget, white spandex chair covers were used and I have to admit they looked lovely. They had burgundy bows tied on the side, which looked very stylish. I wasn’t too keen about the spandex covers at first, but after seeing pictures of them and especially if you are on a budget, throw on a sash, and they are actually really pretty, not to mention cost effective. Also the rectangular tables were covered with matching white table cloths and burgundy table runners, and jewels and silk petals scattered across the table. The centerpieces consisted of tall thin vases with white roses, foliage and a red ribbon tied around the top.

At the back of the room the wall was covered starlight backdrop cloth, and the top table had beautiful gold and burgundy swagging. As the room was in an ‘L’ shape, the smaller are of the room was set up as the catering area. Later on, the bride went to get changed into her evening dress and made a grand entrance with her 6 or 7 bridesmaids, who all adorned different floor length dresses.

Regardless of how close your wedding day is, you can still have an amazing and personal celebration. The only downside is that certain venue’s and suppliers may not be available. Remember you will have plenty and family and friends who will be willing to lend a hand.Start delegating tasks for them to do and make it and family affair! If your aunt is great at making cakes, I am sure she would over to bake your wedding cake. Is your sibling or friend a graphic designer? Get them to design the stationary and seating plan. 

If you set yourself a timeline and stick to it you will be on track to have a great wedding or celebration. If you are getting married and need help with planning your big day, don’t hesitate to get in touch. Check out our prices and see how we can help you.