Laura Sellers

In no particular order:

1. Narrowing down your friends a family to a realistic and affordable list is no fun but absolutely necessary. Send out invites in waves so you know how many people are coming. My Dad advised me to only invite people I wanted and who were fun. For the most part I followed this advise but there were a few people we “had to invite” and for the most part they added nothing to the party.

2. There is a lot of admin; get your spreadsheets and address book sorted early. Collecting everyone’s addresses is also really useful for thank you cards and future Christmases/birthdays etc.

3. The day really does fly by. I thought everyone was just saying that but I was genuinely so disappointed when it was over and I hadn’t done enough of anything; eating, drinking, talking, dancing…

4. Most wedding stuff is sold in white or cream. It doesn’t need to be this way. Use the internet and get creative, fabric dye and spray paints are actually fun.

5. Weirdly sometimes its cheaper to buy than to hire. Downside you end up with a shed load of stuff (120 chair bows and 120 multi-coloured napkins anyone?)

6. Fairy lights are often battery powered and don’t come with batteries. You need a bit of a DIY box if you decorate the venue yourself, batteries, scissors, fishing wire, sellotape, blutac and pencils should be included.

7. Flowers can be surprisingly expensive, shop around. Sometimes its cheaper to mix up with fake. And in some places fake are better; we had fake flowers on our cake which my Mum and I made, and Mum decorated.

8. The photobooth was so worth the money and difficulty in organising (no one seems to want to give you the damn price). The photobook and everyone’s messages have made us laugh so much. I do wish we’d put a sign up, some of our guests, especially as they got more and more drunk, couldn’t find it as it was off the main room.

9. People really appreciate the small things; I put emergency toiletries in the bathrooms (every wedding I’ve been too has a whip round for tampax, plasters and pain killers). This seemed to be genuinely appreciated by our guests. Even more than the table wine.

10. Post wedding blues are a thing. So many people had said it was going to be “the best day of my life” and I wasn’t sure what to look forward to next if the best ever day had been and gone. So plan some exciting things to look forward to! Ideally some that involve some planning or creativity as you’ll suddenly have time to fill again.

Bonus:

11. Buying (wearing) coloured shoes made me really happy. Especially as I picked a dress where you could see my feet (this was so I could move/walk/dance with ease).