There have been some brilliant, thought-provoking conversations happening over on our UK Wedding Venues Slack Group. One of the most popular topics people have asked for advice on is virtual tours. Hamish Shephard, Founder of Bridebook & Hedsor House created an educational video on why all venues should be offering virtual tours through the coronavirus pandemic, and how best to create them – here’s a summary of his advice.
Why are we encouraging virtual tours?
Over the last few years here at Hedsor House, we have been doing some amazing things with video tours and have seen great success. To give you an idea of how well they work for us at Hedsor, over the last 10 days we have booked 3 new weddings for 2021 using virtual tours!
Video tours are going to become extremely important for your venue over the coming months, as couples are not going to be able to come to your venue for showrounds. The absolute best way to get ourselves out of the sticky situation we are all in, with not being able to host weddings in the immediate future, is to keep bringing in new business for next year and beyond. You do not want to get through this storm, and then find you have to weather another one due to an empty calendar with no new revenue!
Our experience with virtual tours, and why we love them!
A lot of people think virtual tours will not be an effective sales tool, and that you need to be IN the venue to get a proper feel for it. Believe it or not, I used to be one of these people! Due to our incredibly busy summers at Hedsor, a couple of years ago the team came up with an idea (that I thought was bad at first – they soon proved me wrong) to put a touch screen TV in one of Hedsor’s outbuildings, to host virtual tours.
So, if a couple wants to do a show round when we have an event in the main house, they are still able to enjoy the drive up to the house and are then taken down the hill to a gorgeous room in our old stable block, where they are taken through a virtual show round. We have sold A LOT of weddings this way. We also have many couples from other countries wanting to book with us, so we do a Zoom screen share and take them through the same virtual tour.
Why do virtual tours work so well?
A lot of people think that show rounds are the couple coming to look at the fabric of the building, just to see what it looks like. However, our Bridebook data consistently shows that the number one deciding factor when booking a venue is the team. The couple want to know that you are genuinely nice people, that they can trust you and have confidence you are there to give them the greatest day of their lives.
This is where being able to talk someone through your venue tour with genuine enthusiasm and excitement, really helps the couple to have confidence in you – even if they can’t physically come to your venue and meet you.
Since we are in lock-down, perhaps it’s easier than ever to be doing virtual show rounds – if you have a quiet day you could be doing them back to back! All you need is your laptop / phone. The tours can be as long or short as you and the couple want them to be. There also isn’t that intensity when someone doesn’t turn up – I know this is often the bane of our lives in the industry! Luckily, should this happen on a virtual tour, you can jump straight back into other work at home. Though I am sure this won’t be the case – I hope!
What are the best ways to create a virtual tour?
There are a few different ways you can create a virtual tour, depending on budget, whether you have access to your venue and of course, how confident you are with technology!
The absolute best way is to offer a 360 virtual tour – Matterport is a great software for this, however will cost you £1000 or more and takes some time. Your venue will need dressing, and this likely be possible to do right now if you haven’t done it already.
The next best option, is to do a live ‘facetime’ tour when you’re on a video call with a couple. You’ll only be able to do this in the short term if you are based at your venue.
You walking round the venue, being able to talk into the camera and show the best bits of each room off is a much more natural interaction. This may take a little longer, but will be much more personal.
Do make sure you have a good internet connection if you’re doing this live with a couple!
Simply walking round the venue with an iPhone is great too, especially if you have access to a recent model. If you have an iPhone 11, use the ‘wide angle’ lens, and take a video tour from your point of view!
If you can get someone to be your cameraman and follow you on the tour and record this is great, as it will be much more interactive than just a voiceover
It doesn’t have to be perfect! You can retake clips if you need to
You can edit this on a free software like iMovie for example, which is incredibly simple to use and knit multiple videos together into one.
Put some music over the time / speed up boring bits if you need to (e.g. walking up lots of stairs!)
The most basic option for creating a virtual tour is simply putting a slideshow of photos together. You can do this on Powerpoint, or iMovie again, Google Slides etc.
Just drag and drop photos!
Do this in your ‘tour order’ – you’re doing to be talking to them through these photos, so start outside the front door and work your way through your usual tour.
You can either record your slideshow as a video and then add a voiceover of you talking them through it
If the couple want to do it live on a video call, you can send them the slideshow / share your screen and take them through the virtual tour
Recommended next steps
Record one of these videos, in the manner that most suits you. Whether it’s walking round your venue with your phone, or a photo slideshow, it will be hugely impactful in securing new business during these strange times
Upload this onto your Bridebook profile as a video, and let us know. We will do our best to promote it to our couples and support you as much as we can.
When new couples enquire and interact with your venue over the coming weeks (even if they have only requested a brochure), ensure you ask if they have 15 minutes or less in the next few days, and let them know you’d love to take them through a virtual tour.
Virtual tours really do work and you WILL be able to create a fantastic one. Whilst we are all stuck at home, let’s step outside the box, get creative and secure some amazing sales for 2021 and beyond! Video tours may be something you actually want to keep doing after lock-down is over, we use it very frequently at Hedsor and get lots of bookings as a direct result. Millennials are our new target audience, and they want instant access to everything – whether it’s real estate, fashion…and wedding venue tours!
Virtual tours give couples not only a taste of your venue, but of you and your team’s sparkling personalities. Hopefully this has provided inspiration and helps, we very much look forward to seeing all your wonderful videos. Have a watch of the video I made 8 years ago for Hedsor, using iMovie, here! I have also linked to some great video examples below. GOOD LUCK!
Our surveys show that 22% of couples use 360 tours when finding their dream venue.
We hope this advice has provided you with the confidence you need to create your own virtual tour. If you have any questions for the Bridebook team, please feel free to message us on the UK Wedding Venue Slack group. Have a browse through our other educational articles created to support wedding venues during the pandemic, for example how best to handle postponements. Stay strong everyone – we will get through this together!
We fully understand the impact that COVID-19 is having on the wedding industry and on you, our wedding professionals. That’s why all of us at Bridebook HQ are pulling together to provide you with as much support as possible. We’ve created a series of educational articles and videos to help you and your team navigate these challenging times and hopefully bring some positivity along the way. Make sure you bookmark this guide which we will be continually updating with relevant advice and support.
Recent Updates
9th Nov: Parliament debates Weddings – briefing notes and an email template to send to your MP. Take action in support of our industry now: ABWB supporting documentation.
9th Nov: vaccine update – the news on a new vaccine gives some much-needed hope to the wedding industry.
6th Nov:Law Commission Q&A – the Law Commission discussed their provisional proposal in Getting Married: A Consultation Paper on Weddings Law in a public Q&A session. Read the highlights and answers to questions asked here.
The Association of British Wedding Businesses Articles
The Association of British Wedding Businesses is an association that aims to support members of the British wedding industry during COVID-19. Here’s their latest news and supportive resources.
Providing guidance based on the latest updates and Government advice, these articles will help you make informed business decisions throughout this period of uncertainty.
The actions you can take to support the industry you love:
Join the UK Wedding Venue Slack group where +1000 wedding venues are discussing the fast evolving COVID-19 situation and sharing helpful tips and advice.
Join The Association of British Wedding Businesses – Bridebook recognise an opportunity to create a larger industry-wide network of professionals from which we can all benefit from the exchange of ideas, advice and information. Click here to join us as a founding member.
The CEO and founder of Bridebook.co.uk sends out an urgent call to support and save our community and industry amidst the coronavirus pandemic.Click here to sign the petition.
Curated by Hamish Shephard, Bridebook CEO & owner of Hedsor House, this video series covers some of the most challenging issues that you and your wedding venue might be facing now and over the coming weeks.
The health and wellbeing of you and your team is paramount. Have a read of our top tips and advice, from how to work effectively as a remote team to fun ideas for quarantine!
If you need any further help then please do reach out to anyone in the Bridebook team at business@bridebook.co.uk.
Don’t forget, you can also join the UK Wedding Venue Slack group where +1000 wedding venues are discussing the fast evolving COVID-19 situation and sharing helpful tips and advice. If you have any thoughts or tips yourself then please do join in and share – we are in this together!
While we all continue to do our bit for the NHS by staying indoors, a lot of us are finding ourselves with a lot of spare time on our hands and with spirits that need some lifting.
If you’re recently engaged, now is the perfect time to start getting excited about planning for your big day.
Here at Bridebook, we know that it may seem a little daunting to plan your wedding from your living room, but with this expert guide, you’ll be getting started soon.
Getting started
Knowing where to start can be the trickiest part of planning a wedding, but with our handy wedding checklist, it couldn’t be easier. Simply start by working your way through the individual tasks and you’ll be rolling in no time!
Invite your partner to collaborate with you so that you can start assigning tasks to each other. At Bridebook, we strongly believe that wedding planning should be a joint effort, so get them involved if they aren’t already!
Feel free to start browsing for inspiration at this stage too. The hashtags #wedding and #weddinginspo on Pinterest and Instagram are particularly #stunning.
Agreeing your budget
It’s good to sit down with your partner and talk about what you both want from your wedding: a small and intimate affair with close friends and family or a lavish party with hundreds of guests?
Once you’ve worked out what you both want, you need to decide how much you are willing to spend for your big day. With that in mind, let Bridebook do the hard work for you! With data from the 500,000 weddings we’ve helped to plan, we’ll help crunch those numbers. Just enter your total budget and we’ll tell you how much you should be spending on each item, from your venue to your cake.
Booking your Venue
Booking your venue is often the most exciting part of the wedding planning process, but it might seem a bit tricky to do from your sofa. But don’t fret! There are now loads of ways that you can use modern technology to get a feel for your venue without the need to visit.
Use Bridebook’s search tool to browse through thousands of venues that meet your specific needs and quickly narrow down by shortlisting your favourites. Look through our extensive picture galleries and read the reviews from our previous couples to start getting a feel for the place.
Next, get brochures from your favourites and reach out to see what remote viewings they can offer. Lots of venues are now offering virtual tours or videos that can help you get a better picture of your perfect wedding: all from the comfort of your own home.
Booking your suppliers
Again, Bridebook’s search tool comes in handy here, allowing you to look through all of our wedding suppliers in your preferred area and explore their photos and reviews.
Your venue can also be a great help here too. They will often have a list of preferred suppliers for their venue, which can help you narrow down your choices. This way you can be sure that the supplier knows the space well and that the venue trusts them to do a great job.
Managing your guests
Deciding who to invite to your big day can be a challenge for any couple, but with Bridebook’s guestlist tool, it’ll be a breeze.
Add all of your potential guests (or import them straight from your contacts to make it even simpler!), then choose if they are coming for the day, evening, or on the waitlist for now.
Then use our Guest Info Collector to gather their email and physical addresses, so that you can send them their save the dates and keep them updated throughout the planning process.
Start building your gift list
Getting married is not just about throwing a party, it’s also about the rest of your life too and a gift list can be a great part of helping you prepare for that.
Start thinking about what you want from your gift list: a gift registry, a honeymoon fund, or perhaps asking your loved ones to contribute to a charitable cause that’s close to your heart.
Then, start adding your dream gifts, knowing that they’ll be with you sooner than you think!
Enjoy it
Weddings are very special. There is no better reason on earth to throw an epic party than two people falling in love. And the world is certainly going to need some incredible parties soon… and you are going to be at the very centre of them.
Make sure to take stock and enjoy planning this amazing event with your loved one, your friends and your family (virtually) by your side.
As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, sadly there are many couples that need to reschedule their special day. However, the good news is that chances are, they still want to get married! It is crucial to do everything you can to work with your couples to postpone, instead of cancelling. Whilst still not convenient for either parties, this will protect your revenue and cash flow.
Bridebook are in a fortunate position to have a view on both sides of handling postponements; our UK Wedding Venues Slack group has over 700 active members and our Facebook group is 7000 couples strong! Hamish Shephard, Founder of Bridebook & Hedsor House, has put together some advice to consider when postponing weddings, in order to protect your business.
Think about how many weddings you are doing a year
If it is only a small handful, then hopefully moving these weddings won’t be too difficult and you can accommodate them. However, if you are doing a larger number (more than 40-50 per year) and weddings are a core / the core part of your business, it becomes paramount to focus on protecting your business as a top priority.
Work out the financial impact postponements will have on your business
Think about how both the best and worst case scenarios will impact your business model. You must be extremely aware of the financial impacts that could be coming your way. It has been alarming to see some venues being overly generous (as lovely as that is!) and allowing couples to reschedule their wedding to any day in the future, even their peak summer 2021 dates.
This is extremely dangerous, as you are essentially ‘giving away’ your prime dates for next year at no extra cost, which will create a significant cash flow issue. You would usually be getting double this revenue, as you would sell those dates easily. Be very cautious of this and study your financial model carefully.
When should you be moving weddings to?
We highly recommend trying your best to not move your couples further than a year out from now. For example, if we take September 2020 as the very earliest to be pushing weddings back to, you can then offer couples an 8 month window between September 2020 and March / April 2021 to reschedule their wedding in. Hopefully, you will likely have more flexibility with available dates during this time frame, too. This time period allows you to keep all wedding bookings within a year and therefore, help manage your cash flow.
If you allow postponements beyond March, you will be treading into dates you usually have no problems booking / busier dates for your venue. You must be very cautious of protecting your business here. Whilst it may make discussions with couples much easier to allow them to re-book their wedding whenever they wish, your number one priority to your team, your suppliers and indeed, your couples, is to ensure your business is protected and still standing in a year’s time.
Be hyper aware of wedding insurance policies
Discussions on our UK Wedding Venues Slack group and Facebook group for couples are showing that wedding insurers are not being hugely reliable, and are acting defensively. Understandably, this has been a huge shock for their businesses as well, however it is very important you are aware of the situation surrounding insurance.
Wedding insurers’ first reaction has been trying to push the weight back onto the venues, rather than allowing claims or payouts. We have seen challenges coming from all 4 main wedding insurers in the UK – the most popular one has even taken down their website! There is a huge amount of doubt over whether insurers will actually pay out, therefore you must tread with caution and not rely on the fact that your couples have insurance.
If a couple have wedding insurance, there are very different liabilities to their wedding if it has been affected due to a government shutdown, or due to your or their choice to postpone / cancel. There are two possible implications:
If you are cancelling / postponing their wedding due to the current circumstances, the liability could fall solely on you. You must know your contract.
If you have to move their wedding in the next few weeks due to the government shutdown, the situation is very different, as you have been forced to close by the government.
Sadly, it is highly likely that even if the insurer does have to pay out to your couple, they will ask them to see your contract. They will be looking to find holes in the contract, to see if the payout can fall on yourself, before they even pay out to the couple. The insurance companies are under a huge amount of strain in this climate, so will be looking to find loopholes in your contract – please ensure you review them thoroughly.
What is the best possible scenario?
The ideal situation for all venues at this time is for couples to happily agree to postpone their wedding to a date that suits them, and protects your business. The way a postponement should work, ideally, is that the couple agrees to ‘cancel’ their wedding and you are able to re-issue their existing contract as a new booking, but with a new agreed date. All that is changing in their new contract is the date, do make sure not to change anything else. Again, this is not something you HAVE to offer your couples, but it is the best possible scenario for both sides.
Communicate clearly with your couples, with empathy
This is a hugely emotional time for couples having to postpone their wedding, so don’t forget to simply talk to them. Show them you’re still committed to giving them their dream wedding day, and that their best shot at getting this is moving the wedding to a mutually agreeable new date. Do let them know that you are working together with them, but that you are a business too and must protect it.
If couples are still holding onto their original date and you feel its best for them to postpone, we highly recommend discussing the fact that even if weddings return to semi-normal in the coming weeks, there will still be other implications to affect their perfect day. For example, elderly guests and those coming from abroad may not make it, their honeymoon may be affected and registrars may still be limiting numbers of people in a ceremony.
This truly is the toughest few weeks we have ever faced in this industry. Once again, KEEP GOING! There is light at the end of the tunnel and we will get there by supporting each other. Bridebook are here to help as much as we can, so keep an eye on the UK Wedding Venues Slack group for further supportive content.
While times are tough and work stressful, it’s more important than ever to try and be positive, find effective ways to switch off and give your mind a break. Bridebook have put together a series of fun activities to give you some inspiration for your downtime – following on from part 1 and part 2, here are our recommendations for this week…
1. Learn a Language
With easy to access online courses there’s no reason why you can’t use your free time to learn a new language. Brush up on your skills and maybe by the end of isolation you’ll be able to put them into practice! Our favourite is Duolingo – not only is it free but it makes learning a language fun!
2. Brush up on your Painting
Whether or not you think you’re the next Picasso, art can be incredibly therapeutic and a very effective way to distract your mind from work. Buy some paints and try your hand at a still life, sketch the view from your window, sit around the table with your family and draw the person opposite you, buy a Paint by Numbers… Have a go – you’ll be surprised at how quickly time flies!
3. Play a Game
Sometimes nothing beats a good old board game. Dust off the scrabble board, dig out the chess set, shake up the Boggle letters and get your household round the table for some quality time. As well as the classics, our current favourites are Articulate! and Chameleon – now’s a great time to invest in some new board games and keep the whole family entertained.
4. Compete in a Pub Quiz
Don’t let that general knowledge go to waste and join in with a pub quiz from the comfort of your sofa. Why not get the household together and do it as a team? Try the Big Drop Living Room Pub Quiz on Tuesday evenings at 7.30pm!
These are just a few ideas to try and bring some lightness to your day. For more ideas take a look at part 1 and part 2 of our series! If you have any other ideas we’d love for you to share them – you can join the UK Wedding Venue Slack group here where there’s a #feel-good-fun channel for all things positive. And of course if you have any questions at all or need any help then please do reach out to anyone in the Bridebook team.
In an industry centred around first impressions and showrounds, working from home is likely to be a big change for all wedding venue teams. Bridebook have put together 9 productivity hacks to help youand your team tackle remote working as effectively as possible – you might even find yourself still using these when things go back to normal!
1. Communication is Key
Regular and consistent communication is essential to maintaining effective remote working as a team, and it doesn’t need to be any more difficult now you’re not sharing an office. Ideally bookend the day with a structured team catchup and then communicate updates more informally in between. These are our top tools for communicating online:
Slack
A messaging and desktop app which makes team communication easy;
Create channels and topics to organise the conversations and facilitate both key discussions and informal chats.
Each morning set out your key priorities and communicate those with your team in a daily standup meeting. Setting clear expectations, accountability and deadlines will give everyone focus for the day ahead. You can then create a schedule of tasks, allocating time for deep focus where necessary. A debrief at the end of the day is an effective way to ensure everyone is keeping on track.
3. Work Environment
The right setup is essential for productivity and well worth putting time into. Can you work comfortably? Is there any equipment that would support you better, such as a monitor or noise cancelling headset? Can you work free of distractions? Sharing a house with others working from home can be an additional challenge, so if this is the case try to set some ground rules and expectations from the start. We found this helpful tool to manage multiple workspaces in the home:
Work From Home Scheduler
A household resource management app enabling you to work productively with everyone under one roof.
When you work from home it can be difficult to switch off and before you know it you’ve worked through to bedtime. Try to stick to your usual hours where possible – this is much more sustainable and will avoid burnout, enabling you to maintain levels of productivity and good for your mental wellbeing!
5. Take breaks
Especially if you work on a laptop or computer, regular breaks will give your eyes a rest, avoid unnecessary headaches and reignite motivation. Think about your usual work structure in your venue – How can you ensure to keep those mental breaks and breathers? Why not set daily alarms? And be sure to make the most of your daily allocated outdoor exercise time if you can – the fresh air will clear your head like nothing else!
6. Limit Social Media
While it’s great to stay connected with others, social media can be the detriment of your productivity. Try to limit this distraction by removing any browser shortcuts, logging out of accounts and, if you must scroll, keeping it strictly to break times.
7. Bridebook Tools
Bridebook has been built to help support you effectively run your business. Use the enquiries manager to keep track of the progress of your enquiries and analyticsto see which areas could do with some TLC. Now’s the perfect time to ensure you’re maximising your business potential.
8. Look Ahead
Day-to-day work has no doubt changed completely in the last couple of weeks. While the near future is uncertain, try to find opportunities to look ahead and maybe even start setting those 2021 goals. Could you make improvements to your team management? How’s your marketing strategy? Are your platforms up to date with your best photos? This will be over at some point, so put yourself in the best position possible for when it is.
9. Work out what works for you!
Try to be patient in finding your best way of working, and be open-minded too. Last week may not have been productive, but it doesn’t mean this one can’t be. Think about what’s working well and what’s not and make adjustments.
These are just a few thoughts on how to maintain productivity in a home setting, and who knows, you may even find some aspects of work benefit from this remote approach. For further support on how to work from home as a team, have a look at our 5 top tips here. Of course if you have any questions at all or need any help then please do reach out to anyone in the Bridebook team. You can also join the UK Wedding Venue Slack group here to chat with others who are in the same boat, and if you have any thoughts or tips yourself then please do share – we are in this together!
In this unprecedented and ever-evolving situation, one thing we can likely count on is that we’ll all be working from home for the weeks ahead. While this is a big change for everyone in our industry, having the added responsibility of looking after children will no doubt bring further challenges (and frustration).
Bridebook have put together 9 top tips for everyone working remotely with children. Use them to help you navigate the time ahead and find your new normal together as a family.
1. Set Up Your Work Space
Create a designated space for your work and another for your children’s school work, and set boundaries. This will not only enable you to keep better organised and free of distractions, but will mentally help you to get into the zone when you need to and step out of it at the end of the day. If you’re able to designate a room, then a closed door indicating focus time could make a real difference to interruptions.
2. Start Early
If you can, wake up an hour or two before your little ones are out of bed and use this time to set yourself up for the day. Plan, prioritise your tasks and set clear goals each morning. Anything you can get done first thing will give you the time to give them your undivided attention later on with a little less pressure.
3. Routine as Usual
Even with school closed, keep the routine where possible. If you don’t have a lesson plan from teachers then build your own. There are endless resources online to support – why not try a 30 day free trial of homeschoolPlanet – or get creative, draw up a chart and stick it to the fridge. Involve your children in this process so they feel like part of the plan – collaboration is key. With a structure in place, align your work around theirs – this will allow you to block out and allocate your time effectively and ultimately be more productive.
4. Include Frequent Breaks
Include short breaks between each task in the home school schedule, and where possible join in with these. Dividing time up this way will be great for productivity for both you and your children and will enable you to regularly engage throughout the day between periods of focus.
5. Get Active
Whether outside or indoors, make it a priority to get some movement in at least once every day. Essential to both physical and mental wellbeing, this will make a huge difference to the whole family and hopefully stop energy levels from getting out of control. Why not try PE with Joe Wicks on Youtube – people are loving it!
6. Extracurricular Activities
As with keeping to the usual routine as much as possible, if your children can carry on with any other regular activities, such as music lessons or ballet classes, check online to see if these are being offered. If not, why not create your own – get them more involved in cooking dinner or run a zero-effort art class with the help of paint by numbers.
7. Sharing is Caring
If you have someone to share the responsibilities with then make the most of that. Rotating between time with each partner, alone time and family time all together will help you break the day into blocks and allocate work time accordingly.
8. Be Flexible
In this challenging and uncertain time, perhaps most important is to stay open-minded. Be flexible with your children and with yourself – some things may have to slip, and that’s ok. This is about finding the new normal all together.
9. Connect with Other Parents
Being connected with others in the same situation can be hugely valuable and comforting. Perhaps someone can suggest a great online lesson plan or a fun breaktime activity, or maybe you have a top tip to share? The UK Wedding Venues Slack group, which you can joinhere, is a great starting point if you want to reach out and find others in the same boat.
We hope that these 9 top tips will help you and your families manage these challenging times. For more advice on remote working, have a read of our top productivity hacks here. As ever, Bridebook is here to support you to the very best of our abilities, so do reach out if you want to chat to a member of the team. The UK Wedding Venues Slack group is a hugely valuable source support with over 700 members, which you can joinhere. We will get through this, together.
While times are tough and work stressful, it’s more important than ever to try and be positive, find effective ways to switch off and give your mind a break. Bridebook have put together a series of fun activities to give you some inspiration for your downtime – here are our recommendations for this week…
1. Throw a Party
Isolation doesn’t have to mean no more socialising. Video conferencing apps are making it easier than ever to connect with the people you care about. While Zoom is one of our favourites for work, we love the House Party app for our social lives – free to download for both Android and iOS – for ‘meeting’ with friends and family. It even enables you to play games together!
2. Cook up a storm
With stocks limited, this is a great chance to get creative with store cupboard ingredients. There’s plenty of inspiration online and recipes all across social media – just check out trending hashtags for creative ideas #quarantinekitchen. Jamie Oliver has even managed to quickly turn around a new tv series: Keep Cooking and Carry On which started on Monday 23rd March on Channel 4!
3. Watch a film
With Netflix, NowTv, AmazonPrime and more there is certainly no shortage of tv series or films to watch. For something a bit different, The International Documentary Film Festival has made 300 documentaries available online free of charge – have a browse here!
4. A Night at the Opera
Want some culture? Get a 30 day free trial of Marquee TV to watch acclaimed productions form The Royal Opera House, The Bolshoi, Teatro Real, Royal Shakespeare Company, Opera Zurich and more!
These are just a few ideas to try and bring some lightness to your day – watch out for part 2 and part 3of our series for more activities! If you have any other ideas we’d love for you to share them – you canjoin the UK Wedding Venue Slack group here where there’s a #feel-good-fun channel for all things positive. And of course if you have any questions at all or need any help then please do reach out to anyone in the Bridebook team.
While times are tough and work stressful, it’s more important than ever to try and be positive, find effective ways to switch off and give your mind a break. Bridebook have put together a series of fun activities to give you some inspiration for your downtime – following on from part 1, here are our recommendations for this week…
1. Get Growing
A good thing about these days in quarantine is that we’re becoming much more aware of our consumption. With all this time at home, now is the perfect opportunity to start growing what you eat. Whether you have a garden to grow vegetables or a windowsill to plant herbs, there’s an option for everyone. This is something too that will continue to give back.
2. Visit a Museum
See world-class art (minus the queues and ticket prices!) with an online tour of these famous museums and galleries:
Keeping active during this time is super important for your mental wellbeing, but doing the same thing everyday will get boring. Why not try something new and join a class online! There are tonnes of options – these are some of ours faves:
These are just a few ideas to try and bring some lightness to your day – take a look at part 1 of our series and watch out for part 3 for more activities! If you have any other ideas we’d love for you to share them – you can join the UK Wedding Venue Slack group here where there’s a #feel-good-fun channel for all things positive. And of course if you have any questions at all or need any help then please do reach out to anyone in the Bridebook team.
The UK is now in lockdown, which means we must work from home if we can. It is crucial to not let remote working affect your efficiency, team relationships or your physical and mental wellbeing. We have outlined 5 ‘best practices’ for effective and healthy remote working below.
1. Get set up on Slack (or similar)
Slack is an incredibly easy online team communication platform, designed to ease crowded inboxes and boost productive team work. You can get your team set up in a matter of minutes, for free. Slack allows you to create different topic channels, to support streamlined business management (we couldn’t live without it at Bridebook HQ!).
To emphasise just how easy and effective Slack is, take a look at (and join) the UK Wedding Venues group we created recently. It is busy with 600+ members, all working from home, having invaluable discussions and supporting each other through these times.
2. Regular virtual check-ins with the team
Keeping up face to face (or screen to screen…) social communication is crucial to effective remote working. Ensure you are regularly checking in with your team, just as you usually would during the day. You could simply use FaceTime / Whatsapp video calls on your phone, or use a video conferencing platform such as Zoom / Google Hangouts on your computers.
Here at Bridebook HQ, we are having full team and freelancers virtual check-in at the end of every day, to ensure we stay connected with each other – as you can see below!
3. Keep the positivity & morale high
It’s important to keep track of the positive things still happening around the world and in our daily lives. If your team is using a remote communication platform such as Slack, start a ‘positivity’ channel, where you can post things that lift each other’s spirits. If you don’t use Slack, you can simply use email, or perhaps make a Whatsapp group!
Put the time into ensuring your home work space is a pleasing one – a tidy desk is a tidy mind. We will likely be away from our usual workplaces for some time, so we’d encourage you to do an online order for the items you need for an efficient home work space (e.g. laptop stand, keyboard, desk chair).
PS. If you are struggling with back aches after sitting at a dining table instead of your desk, we highly recommend purchasing a laptop stand, back support and/or orthopedic chair!
5. When work ends, close the computer
At the end of the day, close the laptop in order to maintain a healthy separation between work hours and your free time (we’re all guilty of it). This may be particularly difficult during these turbulent times, especially if your home doubles as your place of work! So instead, simply try and be aware of when you will be finishing your daily work tasks, and give your mind the time to relax.
We hope these best practices will help you and your team get through this unfamiliar period a little more smoothly. To further support you through this time, take a look at our 6 ways to look after your and your team’s mental health through lockdown. As always, please feel free to reach out to anyone in the Bridebook team if you have any questions. Stay strong!
The evolving situation with COVID-19 is undoubtedly a highly stressful and uncertain time for everyone in the wedding industry. With the added unfamiliarity of isolation and working from home, it is more important than ever to remember to look after the mental health and wellbeing of our colleagues, friends, family and of course, our own!
Bridebook have put together 6 top tips for everyone working remotely, isolating or just finding the situation a bit difficult. We hope they help you and your team keep clear-minded and positive during these tough times.
1. Keep your body active, and mind calm.
It is well-known that keeping physically active is crucial for mental wellbeing, particularly now more than ever. Many brilliant gyms are live-streaming free online workouts you can join throughout the day, such as Barry’s Bootcamp, 1Rebel & F45. If you prefer a lower impact workout, there are many brilliant online yoga or pilates classes available (we love Yoga with Adrienne). Starting and/or ending your day with some meditation or mindfulness is a brilliant way to de-stress, re-centre and clear your mind. Apps such as Headspace & Calm are excellent (free!) guided meditations. Give it a try and within a few days, you’ll notice the difference.
2. Get some fresh air when you can
As of 23rd March, we are only allowed out of the house for exercise once a day. It is vital to make the absolute most of this time; fresh air is key to mental well-being and helps reset a frantic mind. Our recommendations on how to use this time are:
Before work, instead of the morning commute, take a brisk walk / run round the block.
If you have an outdoor space at home, simply have your morning coffee in the garden.
During the lunch break, walk the dog (if you have one) or take a stroll on your own or with the kids. Leisurely outdoor walks help to ‘clear the cobwebs’ and reduce any stress or anxiety you may have.
3. Relax and de-stress after work
Now more than ever, you must remember to look after yourself. Whether this is indulging in self-care with a face mask and a hot bath, or just sitting down for an uninterrupted dinner with your loved ones, don’t de-prioritise it.
Use these extra hours after work to give time to your hobbies, whatever they may be. From painting, gardening, playing with a pet, playing an instrument…do whatever keeps a smile on your face.
4. Put some music on and have a boogie!
Many people are keeping spirits high during isolation by simply putting some good music on and dancing it out. Whilst this may sound like nonsense, research shows that dancing actually improves brain function and boosts memory! It also makes us happy, releasing more serotonin levels into our body.
Music streaming services such as Spotify and Youtube also have hundreds of ‘productivity work playlists’ available, if music helps you focus whilst you work.
5. Keep a routine
One of the biggest pieces of advice during this lockdown period is to structure your days. Try and keep your morning and bedtime routine as close to normal as possible, to ensure your body and mind remain in sync and as efficient as possible. If you find you have more ‘downtime’ than usual, make a list of all the things you have been putting off that you can get round to now. We will be sharing some more information about being productive in quarantine soon!
6. Cocktail hours & Netflix parties!
Why not introduce a fun activity like end of day / week ‘cocktail hours’ for your team! Everyone makes their favourite cocktails and has a good ol’ chinwag on a video call. A great way to end the day and stay connected with your colleagues / friends. You could also join over 1,000,000 people and have a Netflix party. Link up with the team and host long distance movie nights and even TV watching parties. A team bonding activity ideal for a weekday evening.
We hope that these top tips will help you and your team balance your mental and physical well-being through these strange times. For more activity ideas, take a look at our fun things to do in quarantine series. As ever, Bridebook is here to support you to the very best of our abilities, so do reach out if you want to chat to a member of the team. The UK Wedding Venues Slack group is a hugely valuable source of community and support, with nearly 700 active members, which you can join here. We will get through this, together.
Hamish Shephard, CEO of Bridebook and owner of Hedsor House shares his Covid-19 advice for couples with weddings in March, April & May 2020.
Dear couples,
With the news from the government solidifying the ‘stay at home’ message, I know that you are concerned about what this means for your weddings in the coming days, weeks, and months.
Below we have outlined our advice based on the information that we currently have, based on feedback from couples, venues, other industry profiles, insurance companies, legal advice, and government recommendations. Of course, there will be nuances, and this will not apply to every single couple. Nonetheless, we hope that it is helpful for a large number of couples planning weddings in the coming months.
We know that the situation is far from ideal, but remember that one day it will be over, and you WILL get married to your partner in a wedding filled with love. However, at this time, we all need to be realistic, understanding and flexible.
Remember, also, that your venue and suppliers are going through an extremely stressful time too, trying to protect their livelihoods, while ensuring they do what is right for their couples. It is a time for all of us to come together and be understanding of a very difficult situation for everyone.
If your wedding date is in the next few months (March – May):
Our strong recommendation is that you should work with your venue and suppliers to postpone your wedding as soon as possible. This is the right decision on the basis of public health, your financial interest, and for the overall success of your wedding. If your wedding is scheduled any time between now and the end of May, your wedding will certainly be affected and may not be able to go ahead at all. Making postponement arrangements now with your venue will put you in the best position to find a date that works for you, and keep most of the plans and financial commitments that you already have in place. Priority no.1 is to talk through your options with your wedding insurer, if you have cover.
We next suggest you speak to your venue to discuss alternative date options, and then discuss with your partner and key guests which dates work best for everyone. Keep an open mind with off-peak seasons and non-Saturday wedding dates, as they will undoubtedly become desirable for the many couples rescheduling their weddings. Venues typically have greater availability in Autumn and Winter, and the industry as a whole already sees a trend for couples booking Thursday, Friday and Sunday weddings. These dates are going to be the solutions for many couples, and you should start considering them now.
It is important to recognise that your venue is likely having an extremely stressful time too. They are likely a small team, dealing with a huge amount of change and many very anxious customers. They will be doing their best handling these unprecedented challenges, which significantly threaten their livelihoods, so work with them and give them your support. They likely need support at this very tough time as much as you do.
If you are still considering going ahead with your wedding, please remember that the risk of losing your deposit or other financial commitments will be greater if you don’t make plans to rearrange your wedding date. Given that the government have now stopped public gatherings, your wedding will likely need to be cancelled or affected in a drastic way and it is not always clear who will be financially responsible for these cancellations. Since these are unprecedented times and there are so many unknowns, we suggest acting now rather than waiting with fingers crossed. There is a very real possibility that your wedding will not be able to go ahead as planned, and the costs may not be covered by your or the venue’s insurance policy.
If your wedding is planned for the Summer (Jun-Aug):
While your wedding may not be in immediate jeopardy, it has the potential to be disrupted, especially if you have overseas or elderly/vulnerable guests. Making a contingency plan now will give you the greatest opportunity to control the outcome and costs, and find a wedding date that works for you without the ongoing stress and anxiety of a potential cancellation or disruption. We recommend starting to have conversations with your partner now about alternatives that will work for you including the possibility of postponing your wedding or contingency plans if some guests are unable to attend. You don’t need to make any immediate decisions right now, but you should be having the relevant conversations. Remember to be patient with your venues and suppliers, as they are having to shuffle weddings that are supposed to take place in the coming weeks too.
If your wedding is in September 2020 or beyond:
Our advice at the moment is to keep monitoring the situation closely. Keep an eye on the latest information and consider thinking about basic contingency plans, should you need them. At the moment, we are hopeful that September weddings and beyond will go ahead as planned, but of course we need to monitor the situation closely.
Once again, I want to express my utmost sympathy with all of you going through this incredibly tough situation. Now is the time for you and your partner to stick together closer than ever and Bridebook will be there to support you too. Remember, this will be over and your big day will come.
Best wishes and keep safe,
Hamish
Here at Bridebook, we believe strongly in the power of community during times like these, so we have set up a Facebook group for anyone involved in planning a wedding. Join here for some practical tips from our team of experts, as well as friendly support from others in a similar situation.
There is no doubt that COVID-19 will affect the wedding industry – and it already is. All of us at Bridebook HQ are pulling together to do our utmost to support you, our venues. With this in mind, we have put together a few ‘do’s & don’ts’ of COVID-19 that should be at the forefront of your mind through these turbulent times.
The Do’s
Communicate with your couples proactively, and with empathy.
Don’t wait for your couples to contact you with concern – proactively reaching out to them with reassurance will put you in a much better position. At this stage, you may have communicated with all your imminent couples, but do consider reaching out to your late Summer / Autumn couples as well – they will likely be concerned and needing reassurance too.
Be careful and mindful when handling postponements.
Where possible, try and keep any rescheduled weddings in 2020, so as not to impact 2021 finances. If you have to move bookings into 2021- aim for the low season.
Don’t block your high earning dates that you would easily sell anyway – rescheduling to March 2021 is much better than August 2021. Additionally, be very vigilant with discussing insurance cover with each couple. We will be sharing much more on handling postponements soon.
Prepare for effective remote working.
We have all been encouraged to work from home where possible now, and it may last a while. It is crucial to not let this affect your efficiency, team well-being or new business. We recommend getting your team set up on Slack, a super easy online team communication platform, and using an online video conferencing for your meetings, such as Zoom or Google Hangouts. We will be sharing further advice on this topic soon!
The Don’ts
Don’t panic.
Try to remember, this shall pass. The only way to get through this is to act with a calm mind and well thought out actions. Don’t panic your couples or team unnecessarily – ensure you always communicate with clarity and empathy. Try not to let this issue become all-consuming either; find something to make you, your team and your couples smile as often as you can!
Don’t let your wedding marketing fall behind!
Sadly, many venues may lose revenue during the next few months, so continuing to secure new business is crucial. Over the past 2 weeks, Bridebook has seen a year on year increase of 49.45% in enquiry volume across the site. The positive news is that couples are still getting engaged and the new business IS still out there – be it 2021, 2022 or late availability enquiries from those who cancelled destination weddings.
Therefore, make sure you are keeping your Bridebook profile, social media channels & website regularly updated and looking beautiful! We also highly recommend having a video tour of your venue on offer – it doesn’t need to be professional at this stage, but it’ll allow couples to see why your venue is special if they can’t come for a showround.
Don’t forget to support each other.
Now, more than ever, we need to come together as a community and lift each other up. Bridebook have created a UK Wedding Venues Slack group to give venues the opportunity to discuss the evolving situation & support fellow wedding professionals. To join the nearly 800 members, simply click HERE or get in touch with the Bridebook team.
Once again, all of us here at Bridebook HQ want to reiterate that we are here to support you to the best of our abilities. We will be actively communicating and sharing valuable content on the Slack group, as well as keeping tabs on Government updates. This is challenging, uncharted territory for all of us, but by educating ourselves, thinking rationally and supporting each other – we will get through this together.
At Bridebook, our mission is to make it easier for everyone to plan their weddings. However, if you are getting married in the coming weeks and months, we understand that you have concerns about how the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic could affect your wedding day. We’d like to help you navigate this tough time by providing a wedding-specific checklist to help you manage your wedding plans and any adjustments that you may need to make.
We also believe strongly in the power of community during times like these, so we have set up a Facebook group for anyone involved in planning a wedding. Join here for some practical tips from our team of experts, as well as friendly support from others in a similar situation.
1. Keep your loved ones safe
First and foremost, your number one priority should always be keeping you and your guests safe, especially those who are at a high risk (elderly people and those with underlying health conditions). As weddings are often a gathering of generations including parents and grandparents, try to be understanding if your loved ones are not able to attend your wedding. There’s no doubt that you and your guests will be frustrated, but remember that it is possible to celebrate your wedding from afar.
It also goes without saying that you should look to official sources (government, WHO, etc.) for specific guidance on what measures you and your wedding guests should take regarding gatherings, travel and social distancing. These recommendations are changing regularly and may affect your wedding in different ways, so it’s important to stay up-to-date with official sources.
Bridebook tip: Continue to check the government and other official sources to keep up to date with what guidance is in place.
Bridebook tip: Start thinking about ways to allow guests to participate in your wedding from afar. Consider live-streaming or recording some of your event if you are in a situation where the wedding can go ahead, but not everyone can attend. Ask if your venue has these capabilities or look at other DIY options, such as Facebook Live, Skype, or Zoom.
2. Talk to your wedding venue and suppliers
The wedding industry is facing a very difficult and stressful time ahead to maintain their businesses. We know that they are hugely sympathetic to you all. Industry professionals care passionately about making couples’ days special and go to extraordinary lengths to do so. They are now facing a whole new challenge to balance this, while considering the short, mid and long term impacts on their business and livelihoods.
While the government only has suggested guidelines in place rather than official closure, you may find that there is little they can do that’s outside of what is covered in the contract. Your best bet is to ask them what their policy is at the moment, but be appreciative of the fact that they have no more information than you and will likely be responding on a day-by-day basis, depending on what new information is provided.
Bridebook tip: Check in with your venue and suppliers, but be understanding that they are just as concerned as you about the situation. They’ll likely have different policies in place so you’ll need to understand how your specific providers are managing these challenging circumstances.
3. Check your wedding insurance
If you have wedding insurance, check what you are covered for and under what circumstances. We understand that coverage varies across different insurance providers, so you’ll need to understand specifically what your policy entails regarding cancellations and postponements. Once you get in touch with your policy provider, share the details with your venue and suppliers where possible.
Bridebook tip: Ask the following questions to your insurance provider where relevant:
a) If we ourselves have to self isolate, will you cover our wedding being postponed?
b) One of our parents/grandparents could fall into a category that is forced to self isolate (age, health conditions). If this scenario were to arise, would we be covered to postpone our wedding?
c) Our Best Man / Maid of Honour lives overseas and is banned from travelling – will a postponement be covered?
d) We have planned for 140 guests. Would you cover a postponement if the government officially limits gatherings to under 100, 50 or 10?
e) What is your policy based on the government’s current advice? If the wedding is formally banned under any future government ruling, will you cover the cost of postponement?
f) If the wedding is unable to go ahead but I am offered an alternative date which would usually be cheaper (e.g. off peak), will you cover the cost differential?
4. Understand the travel guidelines for guests and your honeymoon
Living, as we do, in a globally connected world, many weddings have guests from all over the world. Check to see if guests from other countries can make it, but plan with the expectation that they may not be able to travel. This may affect your guest transport and accommodation providers, so you should familiarise yourself with their policies if guests are unable to attend. Be aware that travel restrictions are changing daily, which may mean some people do not feel comfortable travelling at the moment.
Similarly, your honeymoon may be affected by travel restrictions. You should check what travel restrictions are in place for your honeymoon destination, whether it is within the UK or abroad. Check with your honeymoon transport and accommodation providers to see what policies are in place in the event of a cancellation or postponement. Additionally, if you have purchased travel insurance you should contact your policy providers to understand your coverage.
Bridebook tip: Check the FCO pages about travel guidelines here.
5. Discuss contingency plans with your partner
With the situation changing on a daily basis, you may need to make contingency plans for your wedding. While there may still be some unknowns, it is good to have a think about the different scenarios and what you would do in each case. Talk to your partner and see what they feel about these plans too.
Remember that the purpose of getting married is to bring your and your partner together, and during this time you’ll need to make decisions together and rely on each other for support. Your wedding plans may get interrupted and altered which will be very frustrating, but you’ll get through these challenges together.
Bridebook tip: Discuss potential plans with your partner, so that you know what is important to both of you. Start with the following 4 questions:
a) If necessary, would you want to get legally married at the earliest opportunity but postpone the party? Or would you rather postpone both?
b) Who would need to be able to attend for you to be happy for the wedding to go ahead?
c) If we need to postpone the wedding, what would you rather do? Postpone for a short time (and use an off-peak season or weekday) or push back further to keep the plans as similar as possible?
d) What should we do about the honeymoon? Would you prefer to postpone it or change location (if possible)?
Bridebook tip: Prepare for potential changes to the event itself. Start by asking yourself these three questions:
a) What would we do if we need to reduce numbers to meet future government guidelines? How would we go about it? Use the Bridebook guest info collector in the guest list tool to collect email addresses. Just add five guests to the list and the feature will pop up.
b) How can we still make those not present part of the celebration? Can we arrange for someone to live-stream or record the ceremony?
c) What if a supplier has to pull out at the last minute? Do we have relatives or friends who can capture photos or videos for you, bake a cake, or create an amazing playlist? What really matters for the day?
6. Update your guests
Whatever tools you are using to communicate to your guests (wedding website, email, paper), keep them informed about any changes in wedding plans that may affect them. Also, let them know how best to contact you if their RSVP status changes.
Bridebook tip: Communicate with your guests as early as possible, and let them know how to communicate with you.
7. Join our Bridebook community group on Facebook
We know that this is a stressful time for everyone planning a wedding at the moment, so we have created a Facebook group for all couples to join. We hope we can all help each other with practical tips, as well as find and connect with other people in similar situations. You are not alone!
Bridebook tip: Join the Facebook group today and find some comfort and support in these tough times.
Finally
We hope that you found this article useful and we look forward to seeing you in the Facebook group, so that we can offer more support in the coming weeks.
Stay strong, keep safe, and know that this will all be over at some point. In the meantime, we hope that Bridebook can be a source of support for you.
Finally, give us a follow on Instagram if you would like some funny/cute/inspirational distraction from the news.
Bridebook is thrilled to present the 4th annual UK Wedding Report, featuring insights from thousands of couples across the country. With couples spending £6,286 on their venues and £1,193 on their wedding dresses, it’s easy to see how wedding costs can add up to £20,731 when all the bits and bobs, including engagement ring and honeymoon, are included.
So who are today’s marrying couples? They’re in their early thirties (31.4 and 33.3 to be exact), they’re engaged for an average of 23.5 months, and they’re spending 25% or more of their household income on their weddings.
With so much at stake, today’s couples realise that the most expensive weddings are not necessarily the best, and in fact they’re finding innovative ways to save on wedding costs. They’re increasingly choosing non-Saturday wedding dates (43%), they’re trading paper for digital invitations (8%) and save-the-dates (12%), and they’re enjoying honeymoons locally within the UK (15%) rather than traveling abroad. Budget-conscious and more environmentally-friendly too!
With all these cost-cutting measures, couples still prioritise a unique and personal wedding. They’re increasingly interested in venue-hire only packages (39%) where they can fully personalise the look and feel of the space, and they want to host their ceremonies directly at their reception venues, and they’re interested in having friends and family share in the preparations for the festivities like making the wedding cake (35%).
When it comes to wedding inspiration, couples who married in 2019 showed a greater interest in rustic wedding themes (34%) and barn venues (18%), indicating that today’s couples are more into a less formal, relaxed and casual wedding vibe.
But while these couples may aim for a relaxed style on their wedding day, their engagements can sometimes be anything but. Couples rely on reading reviews (18.7 venue reviews) to help get a feel for businesses they are considering, and find these reviews to be more important than everything else except for touring the venue itself. On the planning side, couples mention wedding planning challenges from guest management issues, keeping everything organised to family politics, to stressful decision-making processes for their venues and suppliers. Most of all, they just want to stay within budget (16%). We hear ya.
Luckily, Bridebook is here to help with many of these challenges. With Bridebook, couples can get personalised budgets outlined based on the specifics that they want to include in their wedding, which keeps them on track with spending throughout the engagement. The wedding checklist highlights specific tasks to complete and when, featuring useful advice and tips throughout. Searching venues and suppliers couldn’t be easier with reviews, photos and all sorts of helpful information to aid in decision-making. Bridebook’s Guest List allows for easy guest management on the go, with an easy Guest Info Collector feature that allows guests to input their own address information, and voila, it’s updated. Wedding challenges averted!
An engagement party is the perfect way to celebrate your happiness with your family and relatives. It’s a chance to unwind, have a couple of drinks and enjoy your engagement before the craziness of wedding planning gets into full swing. So, until you walk down the aisle, your engagement is the best way to share the joy among your guests and allows you to show off your engagement ring to a chorus of oohs and ahhs.
An engagement party can be anything you want it to be and you can be as wild or as low-key as you like. Whatever your style, taste and budget, there’s an engagement party type out there for you.
But where do you start? There’s so much to choose from, how do you know what’s right for you? In this post, we’ll run through more than 30 unique engagement party ideas so you and your loved ones can party the night (or afternoon, or weekend or brunch…) away in style.
Once you know what kind of party you want to throw, read our post on how to plan an engagement party to get things moving and make sure you don’t forget a single thing.
30 fun and unique engagement party ideas
If you’re looking for some inspiration for creative ways to throw a memorable engagement party, then look no further. Below are 30 ideas for throwing the perfect engagement celebration bash.
1. Hawaiian Luau party
Because we don’t have quite as many white sandy beaches and crystal blue oceans in the UK, Hawaiian Luau parties are pretty rare, so it’ll make for a fun and unique way to celebrate your engagement. With great Hawaiian party food (just no pineapple on your pizza, please), decorations and games, your Hawaiian Luau-themed party will amaze your guests and add a lot of fun, excitement and limboing to your engagement party.
2. Glamping party
Glamping parties are one of the trendiest engagement party ideas that will give a whole new look and feel to your engagement celebrations. You can enjoy games, BBQ, S’mores and some drinks as you envelop yourself in nature, play some games and tell spooky stories around the fire. It’s a great way to shut yourself off from the rest of the world and enjoy spending time with loved ones.
3. Casino night
As you’ve already won the jackpot of your life by finding your soulmate, you can keep that winning feeling going by arranging a casino party at your place. Get some dice and a couple of packs of cards and let your guests have fun in your very own casino. You could also hire casino tables and dealers to give it that proper Las Vegas feeling. Just remember it’s all for fun, so don’t bet all your wedding savings on black!
4. Couples costume party
A couples costume party is one of the trendiest engagement party ideas you can go for, bringing extra fun and mischief into the party mix. You can invite your guests to dress up in costumes related to famous couples, which will add a fun twist to your engagement party.
From Posh and Becks to Romeo and Juliet, your guests will enjoy getting into the celebrity couples’ characters. You can also make a game out of getting your guests to guess who everyone is dressed as.
5. Dessert party
If you have a sweet tooth, then throwing a dessert party for your guests is a great way to get your taste buds tingling. Instead of a standard buffet or sit-down meal, you can add a variety of desserts to your engagement menu and watch as your guests get high on your sugary supply.
From silky smooth white-chocolate parfait to unctuous chocolatey truffles with strawberries, you can offer a little slice of heaven. You can even plan to serve up a selection of various famous dessert wines like Riesling, Tawny Port and Sauternes to complement each dish.
6. Desert party
This one will really get your guests’ minds working. Surely they meant it’s a dessert party, they’ll say. Throw expectations on their head by throwing a party themed around deserts, with cactus-decorated cupcakes, cowboy-inspired barbecue food and even crispy salt and pepper scorpions. In the evening, you could sit around a campfire and crack out the guitar to sing a few tunes.
7. Mardi Gras
Let your hair down with extravagant outfits, flying beads and mouth-watering Cajun cuisine. In the UK, Mardi Gras is still a relatively new trend, so be ahead of the curve with this fun-filled way to party into the night.
8. Oktoberfest party
Embrace your German side with an Oktoberfest-themed engagement party. All it takes are some steins of beer, tasty sausages, salty pretzels and your finest lederhosen. Throw in a Bavarian Oompah band and you’ve got everything you need to get the party started whatever time of year it is.
9. Wine and cheese tasting
If you plan to throw your engagement party in the spring or summer, a wine and cheese tasting party is a brilliant option.
Hosting a wine and cheese tasting party is the best way to kick off the summer season with your family and friends. You can even embrace the beauty of the surroundings by adding flowerbeds, lights, candles, and as many decorations as you’d like. Just remember to get a wide selection of cheeses, both for those who like the smelly stuff and those who aren’t particularly adventurous.
10. Movie night
A movie night is one of the best options to enjoy and relax at your engagement party. Hire a projector and turn your engagement hall into a movie theatre, or your back garden into a makeshift drive-in.
To make your guests feel even more comfortable, you can keep it laid back by organising a cosy and comfy setup along with bundles of treats for guests, including classic cinema snacks like popcorn, nachos and pick ‘n’ mix. If you’ve invited friends and family with kids, remember to choose films a little closer to Jumanji than Scarface.
11. Beach bonfire
A bonfire at the beach adds a lovely vibe to your engagement party as you sit back, enjoy some food and drinks and talk with loved ones, all while the waves lap gently against the shore. You can also take a Bluetooth speaker and use your phone to play a few tunes as you hang out.
You can time the party in such a way that the guests have a moment to meet during the daylight before the orange and pink hues cover the sky. The whole setup makes for a romantic and memorable party. Just make sure you have permission to light a fire if you’re using a public beach.
12. Murder mystery
A great way to add fun and mystery to your engagement party is by organising a convoluted murder for you and your guests to solve. It’s impossible not to enjoy interacting with actors as you try to figure out who committed such a terrible act – you or your fiance might even be the murderer or the victim – or both. Scandalous!
There are plenty of murder mystery companies and am-dram groups that will come to you to host the game to make sure you have a killer engagement party.
13. Retro arcade party
If you want to bring out your inner child, a retro arcade party is the perfect option for you and your guests. Retro arcade parties offer a unique and competitive twist to your celebration, especially if you grew up playing a lot of the old classic machines.
From pinball to Pac-Man to Space Invaders, your guests can enjoy getting stuck in blasting, jumping and flying through various games. You can even book the arcades that have bars as well so that your guests can enjoy adult beverages while having fun – that’ll appease Grandma while the rest of you play a few games.
14. Roller disco party
Another retro favourite, a roller disco party is an amazing way to add fun to your engagement celebrations. You can arrange an adult-only disco party where you and your friends knock back a couple of drinks to help cushion the occasional fall, or include the kids for a crazy, laugh-filled skate-a-thon.
Throw in some classic tunes, a few slices of pizza and a cheeky drink or two, and you have all the makings of an unforgettable engagement party.
15. Brewery party
Breweries are fabulous venues for parties, with plenty of delicious drinks at your fingertips. Whether it’s a simple get-together among friends and family or a more elaborate engagement party with a featured brewmaster, organising the ultimate brewery party is as simple as… organising a booze up in a brewery!
16. Hollywood red carpet event
Add some Hollywood A-lister glitz and glamour to your engagement party with a red carpet, paparazzi and a few glasses of bubbles. You and your guests will feel extra special as you lord it up for the evening.
17. Globetrotter party
Celebrate the next adventure the two of you are about to go on by reliving your previous travel memories together. Serve international food and drinks and fill your venue with maps so your guests can plot their own around-the-world trip.
18. Masquerade ball
To add a unique and elegant feel to your engagement party, why not throw a masquerade ball? You can invite your guests to dress in their finest outfits and encourage them to design their own creative and extravagant masks.
To embrace the theme, you can serve your guests cocktails and Venetian-inspired food, and even decorate the venue in plenty of gold, with twinkling fairy lights and flickering candles to set the mood.
19. Garden party
A garden party is a great idea that will enhance the beauty of your engagement day. Put on a beautiful spread, cover the garden in fairy lights and glowing lanterns, and watch as the garden gets enveloped in magic as the sun starts to set. Keep food and drink on theme by offering elderflower and lavender cocktails and serving a selection of tasty plant-based dishes.
20. Pool party
A classic pool party is a huge crowd-pleaser, and because it’s not common in the UK, it has a massive WOW factor. Throw on some tunes, serve some mocktails and enjoy the sun as you play games and relax in the water. Check with your local pool or lido to see what kind of private party packages they offer.
21. Backyard BBQ
Why not keep things simple with a backyard BBQ? Everyone knows what to expect; some slightly overdone food, some ice-cold drinks and a few pesky wasps – but there’ll also be some laughs, music and fun with a relaxed and chilled atmosphere.
22. Cooking class
For something fun, different and challenging, a cooking class led by a professional chef is a wonderful way to get stuck in and make some delicious food. There are dozens of different cuisines you could try, from making sushi rolls to tossing pizza dough. And the best part is, you can sit down to enjoy your food and a few drinks afterwards.
23. Game night
There’s nothing quite like a game night, so why not bring a bunch of people together and play Charades or Pictionary, or some quick-fire versions of some of the classics? Guess Who?, Twister, Jenga, Hungry Hungry Hippos and if you’re really feeling brave, Monopoly. You could even play a selection of relationship- and couples-themed games, or a quiz all about your journey towards being engaged. Just remember not to get too worked up – it’s only a game after all!
24. Arts and crafts party
Crack out your creativity and rope your guests into taking part in some arts and crafts. It could be knitting, pottery painting, or even some still-life drawing if you’re feeling adventurous. Encourage your guests to take their creations home as a keepsake.
25. Karaoke night
If you and your loved ones love belting out a few numbers after a drink or two, a karaoke night is a hilarious way to get everyone in the mood to party. To keep it related to your engagement, select a playlist of romantic tunes or songs that mean something to the two of you.
26. Fairground fun
Enjoy some candy floss, toffee apples and burgers while trying to hook a duck or win at the coconut shy. You could even have a cake themed to a carousel with sugar work horses. Everyone loves the fun of the fair, so bring that joy to your engagement party.
27. Fairytale party
For a magical engagement party, embrace fairytales or Disney classics and ask your guests to come dressed as their favourite prince or princess. Themed food options could be not-so-poisoned apples, the grey stuff (we hear it’s delicious) and Mickey Mouse-shaped waffles.
28. Boat party
Instead of partying on dry land, why not take to the seas (or a lake or canal) in a boat? Let the current take you as you knock back some drinks, chill out with loved ones and soak in some sunshine.
29. Bollywood night
Embrace good food, a brilliant atmosphere and great entertainment with a Bollywood-themed party, complete with vibrant colours and fabulous Bollywood dancing.
30. Comedy club night
Tickle your funny bone by organising a trip to your local comedy club, where you can enjoy some drinks and a few sets by local comedians. Just make sure you sit on the front row so the two of you get picked on by the comics – it’ll leave your guests howling with laughter and give the two of you great memories of your big night.
Get started on your wedding planning
After your engagement party, you can focus on planning your perfect wedding. Sign up to Bridebook today to use our free resources and tools to plan your big day.
Engagement Season is now fast-approaching, with Bridebook’s recent predictions in the Evening Standard that December 21 and 22 will be the most popular dates for proposals this year! Considering that 40% of couples are estimated to get engaged during the festive period, between Christmas and Valentine’s Day, it is imperative to be ready to turn the flood of enquiries into confirmed bookings.
Bridebook reached out to an expert in the field, Olivia Riddiford-Mills, founder of Host Venue Consultancy, to gather her top tips on making Engagement Season a truly successful one. Read on for Olivia’s advice on best practices to ensure your enquiries convert!
What can you do to as a venue to capitalise on this extremely busy and often lucrative sales opportunity? Take a look at my top tips below to help you achieve an increased conversion rate.
Ideal client profiling
You need to be completely and utterly laser focused on who you are serving. I’m not talking about engaged couples who live within a 15 mile radius of your property. I’m talking about Sarah who’s 29, an interior designer with a Dachshund called Bertie. I could go on!
Think about those couples in the past who really epitomized your venue. Those who gelled with you as the owner, manager or coordinator, who didn’t negotiate on price, who dearly loved the property inside and out and shouted about their positive experience post-wedding.
I would suggest creating an ideal client profile that you have stuck up in your office as a constant reminder of who is a great fit for your business. Why should you do this? It will save you time and investment in the long run. Everything you do from writing copy to posting on social media must be targeted to your ideal client.
Bridebook Tip: When putting together an ideal customer profile, ask yourself the following 5 questions: What style or ambiance is your couple looking to have at their wedding? What millennial trends are they most influenced by? What is the one thing they won’t compromise on when planning their wedding? Where does the couple get their wedding inspiration from? What is the selling point of your venue for this couple (accommodation, beautiful scenery, exclusive use, etc.)?
First Impressions count
Millennial couples are doing more research than ever before, but at the same time having quick, decisive moments when they’ve found “the one”. You need to make sure that any first impressions they receive are positive. It’s a hugely competitive market place out there. Venues are popping up left, right and center wanting a slice of the £billion UK wedding industry (and who could blame them!).
From your website to your consistent social media posting to photos, videos, show round meetings – think about how you can win them over in one fell swoop. Become a bit of a show off. Why is your venue better than another?
Wedding directories form a large part of a venue’s marketing strategy but they must be kept up to date with relevant information and must showcase the venue impeccably in order for a potential couple to click and make contact. Upgrading to Bridebook’s brand new VenuePro service would be my advice. They are offering a 30 day money back guarantee period to show you the specifically crafted features to ensure you get results.
Website
Your website is your shop window. It should be concise, easy to navigate, contain pricing information, beautiful imagery and video and all the information required to make an informed decision to enquire/book a show round. I always suggest that my clients work hard on implementing first class SEO to ensure that their ideal client is landing on their site when wedding planning.
Bridebook Tip: With increased competition within the wedding industry, SEO is more important than ever, which is why we’ve written an article outlining our top tips on nailing your SEO. Get inspired by examples of wedding venues that lead the way with excellent websites and SEO, like Quantock Lakes, Country House Weddings and The Ravenswood.
Package it up
Now is a good time to review your wedding packages and pricing. What’s been working and what hasn’t over the past 12 months? Do you offer an a la carte flexible option or a “done for you” all inclusive offering? There’s no right or wrong here. I would say, having both options available is a winner but it really depends on your venue type and your ideal client. Just please make sure you have financially costed out the elements properly and are making enough profit per wedding.
Bridebook Tip: Update your pricing in your Bridebook profile making sure is reflective of your 2020 offering. You can upload your brochure or price list to your profile, under the Pricing section, for couples to easily download!
Open days that deliver
Ideally, you should have an open day scheduled for early in the New Year. These events can be hugely successful in obtaining and securing bookings from the flurry of excited couples that got engaged over the festive period. It’s a date that you can give out to every enquirer and chances are they will be very much geared up to attend. When’s yours?
Bridebook Tip: Open Days and wedding showcases are a great way to get your prospective couples through the door to truly experience what your venue has to offer, so it’s important to do them right. We partnered with Sissons Barn to bring you the do’s & don’ts of holding a wedding showcase.
Customer experience
In today’s modern world the consumer wants an experience. They are not satisfied with the norm these days, they want to be excited and wowed – their expectations are higher than ever before. In all that you do, take into account the sense of sight, smell, sound, taste and touch. What’s giving them “the feels”. Those little touches, like providing surprise treats at a show round to lighting the fire on winter days or even giving the couple a personalised gift on their wedding day, all add to a wonderful experience, outstanding testimonials and further business.
Testimonials & Reviews
Make it your mission to obtain feedback from your married couples. A personalised email will do post wedding to prompt them. Don’t forget they may well be sunning themselves in the Maldives on their honeymoon so allow some time for them to reply.
Guide the couple as to where you’d like the review sent and while you’re at it, double check that it’s OK to get in touch with their photographer/videographer to gain access to imagery of their special day. This should feature in your terms and conditions as standard but it’s always polite to ask.
Engaged couples are using online reviews more and more to make decisions on what venues they’d like to go and visit. Short snippets from reviews can be used on your website, directories, social media and brochure – show the world how good you are at what you do!
Bridebook fact: According to the UK Wedding Report 2019, 62% of couples valued reviews as most important, surpassing recommendations by friends and family. It is more important than ever to collect and present reviews across platforms, allowing couples to make informed decisions from sources they trust.
Let’s get visible
Keep things consistent on social media and use video to keep your audience engaged. You never know who’s watching you. You can use fantastic automation tools for Instagram like Planoly, Later and Buffer for several other platforms. Get in the habit of scheduling your content in advance and then automating so you can focus on selling!
Training
Don’t underestimate the power of training your staff. From team meetings so each member is kept up to date with changes within the business to external sales and marketing training to enhance their skills, don’t leave it out in 2020 – you constantly need to up your game.
Keep up the good work. Trust me, I know how challenging running a wedding venue is but you’re doing a great job. I wish you a successful engagement season ahead!
Engagement Season is the busiest time of year for enquiries and it can also be the most lucrative one for your venue! Bridebook expects 50,000 new couples to sign up to the platform in this time period, all eager to start planning their wedding and booking suppliers. So, with the above advice in mind, get ready for the most successful Engagement Season yet – there is no time to waste!
Interested in boosting your Exposure on Bridebook this engagement season? Register your interests for Venue Prohere.
About Olivia
Olivia Riddiford-Mills is an expert venue consultant helping venues across the UK stand out and sell out in the bridal market through group programmes, an online membership and one to one training.
Get access to 4 video trainings coming up in January, a challenge “Fill the gaps in 2020” and a masterclass all for FREE over in Olivia’s Facebook Group “The Wedding Venue Community“.
Holding your first wedding showcase may seem like a daunting task – and for good reason! The preparations take detailed planning and vigorous execution… but it’s all worth it once the couples start flooding through your doors and experience what your venue has to offer!
Laura Harris shares the experience of holding their first wedding showcase event at Sissons Barn. Read on for the do’s, don’ts and top tips to guarantee success at your own wedding showcase event!
Tell us a little about Sissons Barn…
The farm has been a family run venture for the past 4 generations now and has slowly been diversifying for about 15 years. Sissons Barn first started as a wedding venue for marquees the year we got engaged.
Four years ago we started the daunting task of planning the new barn build. We decided that if we were going to make a success of the wedding business we needed to have a venue that would work all year round, be able to hold ceremonies and be something different to what the local venue market had to offer.
What made you decide to host a wedding showcase event at your venue?
We were very lucky to have a lovely lady approach us and ask if we’d like to hold a wedding showcase event. She organises wedding events in the local area and so the journey began! We mutually chose a date that we hoped would be far enough away so the barn was finished but still within the ‘Engagement Season’, which as we know is a critical sales period for any wedding professional.
Did you know: Engagement Season runs from Christmas to Valentine’s Day. Bridebook estimates that 40% of all engagements in a year happen over this festive period, the busiest weekend being 20th, 21st & 22nd December!
What concerns did you have regarding hosting a wedding showcase event?
Our biggest concern was that the Barn would not be finished in time. We were working every hour under the sun to try and get it complete. We desperately wanted to have the wedding showcase event, so cancelling or postponing was not an option. Once we were in a reasonable place with the building, we then had to worry about whether potential couples would want to come and see it. Would the Barn be interesting enough for our local couple audience?
Bridebook tip: Benjamin Franklin once said, ‘Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today’. As a venue, you are always going to be making changes, improvements and fixes to your venue and wedding offering. Don’t let this put you off hosting a wedding showcase event. Book that date in advance and work towards it.
What would be your top tip for driving couples through your doors?
I think the best places for us are social media and online directories, especially Bridebook. Our target audience are generally on their phones, so all the suppliers booked for the wedding showcase event were tagging, sharing and boosting the events detail, driving couples to the ticket site. They were free tickets but it was very handy to gauge the number you will get on the day.
Did you know: The UK Wedding Report found that 52% of couples are using phones daily for wedding planning. The most popular phone activities are researching venues and suppliers, keeping notes / photos and browsing inspirational photos. The Bridebook app allows them to do all that and more, so it’s the perfect place to advertise your venue and any upcoming open days.
Would you recommend Bridebook to other wedding venues?
Absolutely!! Bridebook has given us 33% of our bookings so far but that’s not all. Their help, advice and friendly words of encouragement have been invaluable.
Interested in boosting your exposure on Bridebook this Engagement Season? Register your interest for VenuePro now!
Based on the learnings from your first showcase, what are your 5 do’s when hosting a wedding showcase event?
Collaboration over competition: If you have any preferred suppliers contact them first to have a pitch, it saves awkward conversations and keeps everyone happy.
Tactical room set up: place things like free food samples in both prominent and tucked away places to keep the room moving. If you are offering a free glass of bubbles, make sure you have staff in place to help with this, so you are free to speak with couples in detail.
Save time on questions: Create a FAQ’s list to hand out, this helps keep couples moving through without them feeling they haven’t been looked after. They can read them at a later date, leaving us to engage with them at a more personal level.
Refreshments: Tea! Or water for you and the other suppliers! A vital addition when you are potentially talking for 3 hours. Again, it was helpful to have a member of staff there to help.
Plan & prep: We set up the room the day before so the suppliers could set up straight away when they arrived. The event planner had created a map of the room with the suppliers names on so we knew who was where and whether they needed a table and electric.
…And your don’ts?
Content is king: Do not leave it to the last minute to put together all the information you want to give couples about the venue. We did and felt we may have missed giving some couples key information.
Smart casual is your best bet: I made the mistake of wearing a very smart dress and heels! I looked the part but I could hardly move in my dress and my feet we killing me!! Note to self – normal smart work clothes!
What is your no.1 recommendation for venues thinking of hosting their first showcase event?
We would not have been able to organise the event without the event planner, so my top tip would be: if you are friendly with a planner, see if they would like to mutually collaborate. They have the skills and time, even if you don’t, to bring the event together. We have now got two more dates booked with our planner and she has given us the confidence to start thinking about doing our own much smaller open evening.
Bridebook tip: Event planners can take a lot of pressure off your shoulders when organising Showcases and Open Days. If you don’t already work with an event or wedding planner, get in touch with one through Bridebook!
About Laura Harris
Laura lives on the farm with her husband, Ben, and their two small children and a Jack Russell. She is a gardener and designer by trade but has been helping to run the farm business since her and Ben married 7 years ago.
Equipped with Laura’s tips and ticks, you should now be ready to tackle your first wedding showcase or to make improvements to your existing practices! Check out the Bridebook Business Hub for more information, inspiration and advice.
Advertise your upcoming Wedding Showcase on your Bridebook profile, by uploading details under Fairs, Reports & Network.
Proper wedding etiquette begins the moment you start planning your wedding. From the guest list to the cheese-board, to the actual nitty-gritty details of wedding planning! However, one of the best ways to plan a wedding as smoothly as possible is to know exactly what to avoid when planning your wedding.
Whether you’ve been waiting to plan your wedding since you were a child or you have no idea where to begin, these 43 wedding planning mistakes to avoid will be your saving grace.
No bride or groomzillas here, just bride and groom-chillas. And with Bridebook.co.uk’s free and easy-to-use wedding planning tools (from your wedding checklist to your budget), you’ll be planning pro in no time.
In this video, Bridebook founder (and qualified wedding planner!) Hamish Shephard rounds up the most common wedding mistakes he sees couples make during their wedding planning and shares his expert advice on what to do instead. Whether you’re a bride- or groom-to-be, noting down these wedding tips and tricks on your wedding to-do list will set you well on the way to your dream day.
1. Don’t leave everything to the last minute. Winter is the ideal time to get organised with Bridebook as your planning companion.
2. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself or your wedding. You are going to be surrounded by your best friends for the party of your life with the love of life.
3. Don’t forget to download the Bridebook App (iOS and Android) if you haven’t already. Netflix and sofa time is the perfect time for some smart wedding planning.
4. Don’t wait to buy your alcohol. Buy it now at the Christmas supermarket sales and save around £2000! Sorry, Tesco.
5. Don’t race through all your planning and make the most of each step instead, like having a boozy family Sunday lunch to pick your wedding wines.
6. Don’t bankrupt yourself. Most couples overspend when they don’t need to. There are loads of ways to save – see our top tips – and use your Bridebook’s budget tool to look at what you should be spending on each item.
7. Don’t do anything until you have found your venue. This will set the date, style, location and capacity of your wedding.
8. Don’t lick 100 envelopes. Do yourself a favour and buy a gluestick!
9. Don’t book your venue until you have your budget breakdown (Our budget tool with do this for you). Renting a jaw-dropping castle is awesome, not being able to afford any food because of its cost isn’t!
10. Don’t wish the planning stage away too much. Whether it is getting a hotel bartender to design you personalised cocktails for the big day, or spending time making your wedding playlist, enjoy those moments and savour the thoughts behind them – your actual wedding day will go by in a flash on the day!
11. Don’t fall into the usual trap of trying to do everything at once. You have plenty of time. So set up your personalised checklist here, and we will guide you through everything in the most stress-free way and make sure you don’t miss a thing!
12. Don’t have the bar too far from the dance floor… when Spice Girls comes on, all the men will leg it to the nearest pint. And when Mr Brightside comes on, they’ll all sheepishly make their return.
13. Don’t use spreadsheets! You are getting married, not doing your accounts! Our guestlist tool is much more fun and easy. Purposefully built to save you time and to spare you from those unwanted guest list arguments!
14. Don’t decide to have your stag do too close to the big day. We all know broken bones take time to mend and eyebrows need time to regrow.
15. Don’t rush up and down the aisle. Take it slowly. All your guests want to see the happy couple. Especially Grandma!
16. Don’t have a receiving line (this is when you and your parents greet every guest – as you come into the meal) at your wedding. If you do want one, do it as you go into the venue but keep it far back from the bar area so guests can move through and start on the champagne quickly.
17. Don’t have any seating too near the dancing area. People-watchers and non-dancers will frighten off the self-conscious.
18. Don’t sit your badly-behaved friends near your younger family members. Uncle Bob won’t approve!
19. Grooms – don’t forget to pack a spare white shirt! Accidents happen, no one’s judging.
20. Don’t split the party up by having a ‘guys’ room’. A whiskey room sounds like a great idea but only in theory. Save it for the stag do instead.
21. Don’t make the bar toobig as guests will use it as the perfect place to congregate.
22. Don’t forget the all-important baby wipes. You’ll be amazed as to what they can get out of a wedding dress.
23. Don’t forget to ask someone to film the bride’s final dress fitting. This will make the MOB’s and chief bridesmaid’s life much easier when strapping them in on their wedding day!
24. Don’t forget to have a boogie with your parents. It will be one of their favourite memories of the day.
25. We advise you don’t put the cheese board anywhere near the dance floor. Cheesy music is great. Cheesy smell… less so.
26. Try not to make pre-dinner drinks go on for too long. Your guests will start moaning about sore feet which can be a dangerous mood killer!
27. Don’t let your wedding day be the first time both families meet. Arrange a pub lunch weeks or months beforehand. It may save some heated drunken disagreement on the day!
28. Don’t have your wedding speeches written on a scrappy piece of paper that’s easy to lose. Have the final version on a neat piece of paper, or on an iPad that you can ask one of your bridal party to look after until you need it slipping under your chair in preparation.
29. If you decided against having a videographer at your wedding, don’t forget to ask a reliable friend to film all the speeches on their phone. You’ll want to look back on them after the wedding!
31. Don’t show everything off at once. Reveal the photo booth or the magician later on in the day as this will create more of a buzz. There’s nothing quite like tipsy twenty-eight-year-olds when they realise there’s a candy floss machine around.
32. But at the same time, don’t spring any unwanted surprises on your wedding guests. Compulsory dance competition? Maybe not.
33. Don’t serve seriously garlicky dishes on the day of your wedding – you don’t want to be reminded of it all night on the dance floor.
34. Don’t spend a small fortune! If you have your eye on a venue that is out of your budget, decide to have a midweek wedding instead and save yourself 50%.
35. Don’t forget to make copies of all the paperwork for the big day and keep them safe in a ‘wedmin’ file.
36. Don’t let guests spend ages queuing up for a drink at the bar while you’re off having your photos taken as a newly married couple. Ask the venue or catering company to ensure some drinks are pre-poured ready for guests to grab and go.
37. Don’t forget to gently sandpaper the bottom of your new shoes! You don’t want them hindering your dance moves or be slipping around the dance floor!
38. Don’t forget that you will need to feed your suppliers at some point. Pre-ordering a nice takeaway is likely to be the cheapest option, or you can ask your caterer to prepare a large dish of something easily shareable like lasagna or shepherd’s pie.
39. Hallucinating on your wedding day? Don’t try new sleeping remedies the night before. Test it out a few weeks before instead.
40. Know your dress’ limits. Your wedding day is not the time to practice your cartwheels if you’re in a close-cut slinky fishtail number.
41. Don’t be shy about telling your suppliers your budget up front. Get a quote from them. If it’s too pricey, tell them what your budget is and see if they can work around it.
42. Don’t wear your heels for the first time on the day. Instead, do a test run in them to the supermarket, so you have the trolley to help you!
43. And one more to finish with… don’t forget to enjoy every moment of it! It will most likely be the best day of your life!!!
Want to plan your wedding like a pro?
Be sure to download the FREE Bridebook wedding planning app and familiarise yourself with all of our incredible tools for a stress-free engagement!
Simply enter your total wedding funds, give us a few basic details, and in one click you’ll have your very own expert breakdown of your wedding costs. You’ll know exactly where to spend your money for your special day – and the real fun of planning can begin!
Want to get started with ballpark figures? Below you’ll find a complete wedding budget breakdown, based on the average total costs of UK wedding suppliers. The average amount spent by UK couples on their wedding in 2024 comes to £20,775 (or £25,952 including the engagement ring and honeymoon). If you want to find out how to stay on budget, take a look at our other articles for some of our top wedding saving tips. We’ve got advice on how to save on photography, flowers, invitations and more.
Creating a wedding budget breakdown is one of the most important steps to tick off on your wedding planning checklist, whether you’re planning a more affordable DIY wedding on a budget or a more extravagant celebration. In this video course, Bridebook founder (and qualified wedding planner) Hamish Shephard explains how to set and manage your wedding budget, and reveals how you could save thousands on your wedding venue, catering and other suppliers.
Your wedding venue is easily the single most important part of your planning – so it’s no surprise that it’s also the most expensive part of your wedding budget! Choosing your wedding venue really is step one of your wedding planning journey, and it affects every aspect of your big day.
Not sure where to start when it comes to choosing your venue? Well, don’t worry, we’ve got you! We don’t mean to brag, but we’ve the largest wedding venue directory in the UK.
With our wedding venue search tool, you and your partner can find your dream venue faster than you can say, “I do!” If you know exactly what you’re looking for, you can kick things off by searching by name, location or style. If you’re just getting started with your venue search, try using filters such as “barn” or “city” and “budget” or “luxury” to get an idea of what’s out there.
As you might expect, the total cost of your catering will be 100% dependent on the number of guests you invite to your wedding. Your guest list will have a big impact on what you’ll spend on your wedding overall as well, so we recommend making some rough decisions about the size of your guest list as early as possible in your wedding planning if you can.
Since caterers usually charge by the head, cutting some co-workers or +1s from your guest list might be your first move if you’re looking to save a few hundred pounds on your wedding. Another easy way to cut costs is to go for food trucks, sharing plates or a buffet over a set menu or traditional sit-down meal. Not only is this a great option for couples planning a wedding on a budget, but it’s also ideal for those wanting a more relaxed atmosphere on their big day.
For even more ways to save on your wedding catering and make your budget go further, check out our top tips on slashing the price of your wedding breakfast.
Your wedding is one of the most important days of your life, so it’s important that those memories last forever. That makes choosing the right wedding photographer one of your key decisions. After all, you’ll be looking at their photos for years to come, so it’s absolutely worth the investment!
How much you pay will depend on the photographer, the service you want and the specific package you choose. If you want to cut costs and make your budget go further, ordering a digital album instead of a hard copy can save you some serious cash.
You might be asking yourself, “Why do I need a wedding videographer when I already have a wedding photographer?” Well, while a photographer can capture the key moments and highlights in a few snapshots, we’re betting you’ll want to remember every second of your wedding day – and having a designated wedding videographer will allow you to do just that.
As with wedding photographers, some videographers cost more than others. If having an absolutely jaw-dropping video is a priority for you, consider cutting back on some of your other suppliers to make room in your wedding budget.
If you don’t know how or where to find wedding videographers in your area, try using our wedding supplier search and then selecting the “Videographer” category. And be sure to check out our top tips on choosing your wedding videographer before you book yours!
How much do wedding flowers cost? Well, that depends on the type of flowers you want at your wedding. Though, in our opinion, our best bet is to go with seasonal flowers. It’s a great aesthetic, can mean big savings if you’re on a budget, and can even bag you some sustainability points! But whatever you do, never, ever underestimate how much flowers can transform your wedding!
If your heart’s still set on elaborate floral decorations but you’re worried about breaking the bank, check out our top wedding flowers penny-saving tips. You’ll be amazed how much you can save on your wedding flowers without sacrificing the “wow” factor.
Decoration isn’t just about the flowers! Don’t forget that many venues require you to hire all your furniture and other decorative features (especially “blank canvas” venues). This might be from the venue itself, your caterer, or a third party – but either way it’s an additional cost to factor in.
Something that can also eat up a big chunk of your wedding budget is marquee hire. If you’re hiring an outdoor venue for a winter wedding (or, let’s face it, probably for summer too!), you’ll definitely need one. If marquee hire isn’t included, this extra cost will add a few hundred pounds to your budget. So our top tip? Aim to book an all-inclusive venue which offers a two-in-one decoration and hire package. That way, you won’t have to worry about extra costs later on!
There are two main things that will affect the cost of your wedding cake. The first is the number of tiers you go for. This comes down to how many people you’re trying to feed and what kind of look you want. At the end of the day, more cake means more money…but one sneaky way to cheat the system if you’re on a budget is to order a cake that uses dummy layers.
The second factor is whether you want a traditional fruit wedding cake or a more modern sponge with fresh fruit. While the former can be made further in advance, the latter will need to be baked the night before or even the day of the wedding itself, which makes them that bit more expensive.
If you have a baker in the family, why not ask them to bake your wedding cake? They might offer you “mates rates” or even make it for free as their wedding gift to you. Then you can use the money you save to invite a couple more guests…or put it towards your honeymoon!
With a million-and-one amazing options to choose from, deciding on your ideal wedding entertainment is no easy decision. You’ll want to think carefully about three things. Firstly, what do you and your partner want? Do you see yourself and your partner swaying to a romantic live band, or is techno not something you’re giving up on your big day? Secondly, what will your guests enjoy? And finally, what will fit in with the style and vibe of your wedding?
When it comes to pricing and budgeting, the first question is whether or not you have your heart set on live music. A DJ is almost always cheaper than a live band and can be just as good.
There’s a breathtakingly beautiful wedding dress out there for everyone – and it doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg! Our handy list of wedding dress saving tips will help you find that dress of your dreams…even if you’re trying to avoid the (shockingly large) average dress cost of £1,424!
Not included in this total are your bridesmaids’ dresses! Whether you’re taking the hit yourself, splitting the cost or asking your main girls to pay, you can find our favourite places to buy your bridesmaid dresses here. From budget to luxury, your girls will look fabulous no matter the choice!
Don’t overlook the shoes! You want to look both fabulous and comfortable — and that comes at a price. Some brides will go with simple ballet flats so they can take the dance floor by storm, while others are comfortable in stiletto heels for all eight hours of their wedding day. If you want to save on shoes, just go with the favourites in your wardrobe. But if that perfect pair of brand-new wedding shoes is something you’ve been dreaming of since your engagement, why not step into Jimmy Choo’s wonderful world of weddings shoes guide right here on Bridebook.com?
And don’t overlook the other wedding fashion accessories! From the classic bridal veil to belts and sashes or hats and capes, accessories are a great way to make a statement, especially if you’re on a budget. A bit of sparkle is a sure-fire way to liven up a more affordable, simple gown.
The way a bride envisions her wedding is simple: she looks drop-dead gorgeous next to her prince or princess. And who makes all of this possible? Trick question! All you need to look absolutely stunning is a beautiful, happy smile…but yeah, a little hair and makeup will help too!
When it comes to figuring out how much you should spend on each part of your wedding, most couples overlook the groom’s attire and menswear But the groom and groomsmen will want to look gorgeous on their W-Day just as much as the bride and bridesmaids will, so why not let Bridebook help you decide on the perfect groom and ushers attire for your wedding day?
Our top tip? Communication. Make sure both your ushers and your bride are comfortable with what you choose to wear. You don’t have to be all “matchy-matchy”, but when your wedding comes together as a whole, the groom will be one of its central pieces…so keep that in mind!
Factoring your wedding jewellery into your budget is just as important as the wedding dress itself, as it can really add up. From necklaces and earrings, to bracelets and hairpieces, sourcing the dreamiest jewellery is crucial if you want to look fabulous walking down the aisle.
And as small as they are, don’t forget your wedding rings! They might just be the most significant detail of your wedding. After all, they’re a lasting symbol of your love and commitment to your partner, and will be with you both for the rest of your lives. Just like engagement rings, they’re also an added cost to your overall wedding budget…but definitely one you shouldn’t cut! Having trouble deciding on which metal and design to go for? We’ve put together a handy guide on all the different types of wedding bands available and their pricing.
You may feel a bit overwhelmed when it comes to choosing your wedding stationery. After all, when there’s everything from save-the-dates and invitations to programmes and place cards to consider, it’s not easy to know where to start. But, luckily for us, Papeterie Eugenie (who did George Clooney’s wedding stationery) shared their insider knowledge with us to help make picking out your stationery a piece of (wedding) cake, no matter your budget.
Do also keep in mind that this figure can vary widely depending on your unique needs and preferences. While both DIY or online invitations (such as those from Paperless Post) can cost next to nothing, bespoke and handcrafted stationery can cost closer to £800 or more.
Yes, yes, we know…organising your registrar isn’t exactly the most exciting part of your wedding, but it is very much one of the most crucial. Despite that, they’re an often overlooked expense that can come as a bit of a shock if you’re not expecting it! Even the royals have to pay their registrar fees, and it’s the one cost on this list where there are no sneaky loopholes or cost-cutting measures.
If you’re looking to save money on your wedding, or simply want an intimate legally binding affair, a registry office wedding is by far the cheapest option.
If you’re on a budget, consider hiring a wedding planner. Adding in this extra cost might sound counter-intuitive, but it could work out in your favour in the long run. Wedding planners have invaluable industry connections and a knack for haggling down prices – so they’ll likely have access to deals us mere mortals can only dream of!
If you’re looking for a less traditional and more personalised wedding ceremony, you’ll want to hire a celebrant. They’ll give you the freedom and flexibility to truly personalise how you celebrate your love with your partner. Just bear in mind that celebrant ceremonies aren’t legally recognised in England, Wales and Ireland (but are in Scotland). So hiring a celebrant will be an additional cost – you’ll still need to make provisions for the legal paperwork to be done at a registry office.
To ensure your wedding day runs smoothly, consider hiring a toastmaster as well. A lot of couples overlook toastmasters, but they play a vital role on the wedding scene. In addition to working with fellow wedding suppliers, they’re responsible for announcing toasts and introducing the speakers, and making sure your guests are in the right place at the right time. Hiring a toastmaster may eat up some of your budget, but it’ll leave you to enjoy your big day stress-free.
Who doesn’t like wedding favours? They’re a great way of giving your guests something to remember your special day by. We’ve kept the number on the lower side, based on 2024 average wedding costs (check out our ideas for affordable wedding favours), but favours can be as big or as small as you like, depending on your budget and preferences (and how many guests you have.
And remember, you don’t have to give favours at all! A lot of couples wonder whether or not wedding favours are a necessary cost – and honestly, it depends! For many of your guests, attending your big day will have been enough of a gift. But if you have money left in your budget…go for it! We actually get this question a lot on our Bridebook Instagram page, which you should follow immediately if you want wedding tips, inspiration and a little bit of Bridebook silliness.
Don’t worry, we’re not suggesting you organise taxis for your entire guest list! But whether you’re thinking of making a low-key arrival or even planning on flying down the aisle (no, seriously, it’s been done before!), don’t overlook your own wedding transport. From vintage cars and carriages to tandem bikes and trucks, you’ll find the wedding transport to suit you on Bridebook.
When making decisions about your transport, a key consideration is how far your ceremony is from your accommodation and the reception venue. So maybe don’t choose to make your entrance on a tandem bike if you’re getting married five miles away from your wedding breakfast! And if you’re looking to cut this cost completely, why not ask a friend or relative if you can borrow their super cool car? Not only will they be flattered, but you’ll also save some £££!
Don’t forget your honeymoon, and any other hidden wedding costs (think organists and choirs, delivery costs, accommodation for your guests and suppliers, service charges, feeding your suppliers on the day, insurance, VAT). Your main focus might be on the wedding day itself, but it’s important to budget for any post-wedding spending too, as these costs can be significant. For example, you might need to dry clean clothing, buy thank you notes for your guests, and so on. For a more complete list, check out our post on hidden wedding costs every couple needs to know about.
The honeymoon is understandably a big post-wedding cost. According to our 204 Wedding Report, while older couples are more likely to stay within England, younger Gen Z couples are looking to travel more, favouring the beaches of the Maldives, Caribbean, Greece and Italy for their honeymoons.
Plan your dream wedding on Bridebook
So, that’s how a wedding breaks down for the average couple in 2024. Now it’s time to find out what your personalised budget breakdown will be, so you can get cracking with your planning!
And if you’re looking for ways to save money on your wedding, we’ve got plenty of cost-cutting hacks, so you can have your dream wedding without going over your budget. From venue saving tips to guest list considerations, we’ve got you covered.
