5 Real Brides,

10 Pieces of Crucial Wedding Advice

Once you’re engaged, the wedding planning begins! In addition to our Wedding Stationary Timeline to guide you along your wedding way, there are plenty of other lessons to be learnt to ensure that you enjoy your wedding journey from start to finish!

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We caught up with five real brides to find out what their top tips would be for every bride-to-be planning her own wedding day based on what they learned through their own wedding experience.

In addition to having planned their own weddings, these pretty ladies were also featured in a fab photo shoot captured by Beki Young for A Lovely and Vintage Wedding Fair, A Glamorous Vintage Extravaganza to be held at Victoria House, Hampshire in Southampton on the 10^th February 2013.  

Read further to find out what the brides had to say:

{Real Bride} Jenni

Bride & Groom: Jenni & Jon Norfolk Wedding date: 14 April 2012

The Biggest Lesson:

“The one place to make sure you never scrimp is on the photographer. We had a ‘friend of a friend’ take our pictures and they lost half of them. I would spend thousands of pounds to get them back!”– Real Bride, Jenni Norfolk

Jenni’s top three tips for new brides:

1. Don’t be afraid to make your wedding day stand out. Try to do as many personal “DIY” projects as possible. Not only does this make the day really reflect you as a couple, but you will reap such a reward from seeing your hard work pay off and your guest’s compliments will lift you for months afterwards.

2. Don’t blab before the Big Day. Try to keep a few things secret from everyone – it makes for a fun day when you get to surprise your guests and new husband. I had planned a secret candy floss cart for the day and secret fireworks for the evening

3. Don’t scrimp on your photographer. There are some excellent ways to save money when planning your wedding, but the one place to make sure you never scrimp is on the photographer. We had a ‘friend of a friend’ take our pictures and they lost half of them. I would spend thousands of pounds to get them back. Luckily, we got to spend the day with Lovely & Vintage Wedding Fayres and photographer, Beki Young, who took these amazing photos to make up for the ones that are missing!

{Real Bride} Emily

Bride & Groom: Emily & Alan Braithwaite Wedding date:15 September 2012

Emily’s top tips for future brides:

4. Don’t be afraid to rope in your loved ones/ ask for help. Utilise any skills and talents your friends and family might have. You may be worried about burdening people, but trust me, people want to help and it can really help pull in the purse strings if your budget is getting tight. We had our cake, my hair and make-up, our wedding car and flowers all donated as wedding gifts from some of our talented friends.

5. Don’t let anyone else cloud your wedding vision! Make sure your day is exactly what you want and not what your parents, friends or colleagues think it should be. We had a marquee in a field with no onsite facilities so had to do everything from scratch. We always knew our reception would be fab and elegant, but we had so many comments from worried family members thinking we were going to re-enact Glastonbury!!

{Real Bride} Vicki

Bride & Groom: Vicki & Callum Loizides Wedding date: 26 May 2012

According to Vicki, an important piece of advice that every bride-to-be should know is:

6. Don’t buy off the rail if you don’t have to. Instead get something one-of-a-kind made for you. There are plenty of people who can create something bespoke for the price of an off-the-peg wedding gown and you’ll have more of a say on the style, colour and fit that you want.

{Real Bride} Melissa

Bride & Groom: Melissa & Simon Ross

Wedding date: 22 October 2011

Melissa’s top tips for the bride-to-be:

7. Don’t try to remember everything that needs to be done. Instead, make a list for everything.

8. Don’t say yes if you’re not happy. Only agree to something if it makes you happy, because you shouldn’t settle for something you don’t want.

{Real Bride} Louise

Bride & Groom: Louise & Scott J. Wootten 

Wedding date: 12 June 2012

Louise’s top tips for the bride-to-be:

9. Don’t get started without  your husband-to-be. Before you do ANYTHING, agree with your husband on the 3 most important things to happen or have on the day. Revert back to this list all the time as it’s easy to get carried away.

10. Don’t forget to have a ball! Enjoy every part of your day (it goes by so quickly!) so that you, your husband and loved ones can look back in 20 years time and laugh at the wonderful time that you had!

And there you have it! Real brides sharing real life lessons from their own roller-coaster wedding experiences. We hope that you have gathered a few pearls of wisdom to ensure that you have your dream wedding day! To peek further at the Lovely and Vintage Photo Shoot, click over to A Lovely and Vintage Wedding Fair.  

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