Tag: Guests

Navigate the ins and outs of guest list management so you and your loved ones can have the party of a lifetime.

Wedding Invitations: Paper or Online?

“Oh wow – Who’s it from? Look at my name written in beautiful calligraphy! Look at the handcrafted card! Where is the wedding? What is the theme? Oh my goodness, it’s so stunning. I’m going to pop it on my mantelpiece for years to come!” That is the kind of reaction you want when your wedding invitations finally reach people. Your wedding is actually happening and this is the first time people get a proper hint of what to expect, what to wear, what to give you! And not only that, it’s a lifetime souvenir of your big day. At Bridebook, we love a heavy papered, beautifully written wedding invitation, especially when it is landing on our doorstep! But you might be a savvy millennial toying with the idea of going online and saving lots of lovely trees? Let’s work out what you want so you can create the best bit of post (or email) your guests will EVER receive.

Advantages of traditional invitations:

  • The biggest advantage of a traditional wedding invitation is that it makes an awesome keepsake. It is a physical representation of your upcoming marriage and something that your friends and family can keep forever!
  • Once you have collected all the addresses and postcodes, you will be able to use them when sending your thank you notes – bonus!
  • Another advantage of a paper invite is that, well, they are traditional! They follow wedding etiquette to a T and will please everyone, especially the older generation coming to your wedding.
  • Even if you print your e-vite, it won’t have the same high-end quality as a traditional paper invitation. Not quite the same keepsake.

  • You know the conundrum of not inviting children to your wedding? Or including/excluding plus ones? And all the other secrets of wording? All of these can be lost on an online wedding invitation, whereas paper will allow you to be crystal clear about your preferences.
  • The best thing about a paper invitation is the huge variety of choice when it comes to designs. You can pick the style that perfectly complements your wedding: heavy cream paper for a traditional affair, whimsical and fun designs for something more casual. And while the world of weddings is becoming more open to doing online invitations, some guests might still associate them with a casual affair, no matter the design.

Advantages of going online:

  • Online wedding invitations can save you some big pennies! Even if you have to pay a fee for creating a bespoke design, or for sending out the invites, it will cost you less than a paper invitation which also needs postage.
  • Online invitations are guaranteed to save some time between sending and receiving the RSVP’s. This is very useful if you are planning your wedding in a short period of time.
  • Tracking RSVP’s will be much easier if online invites are sent, as you will be able to see who has opened and read the invitations, even if they haven’t accepted or declined your invitation yet – playing it cool!
  • Providing your guests with printed maps and other instructions won’t be necessary, as your online wedding invitations can have links to everything that the guests might need.
  • If you are an eco-friendly couple, sending emails to your guests instead of paper invitations is a great way to save a few precious trees.

Overall, we still recommend (and love) paper invitations – they are beautiful and you can keep them forever! So if you can afford to go all print, then do it! If not, how about printed invites with a little card (even a business card) directing them to your very own basic website. This is where you can collect RSVPs, share the nitty-gritty details, and bonus – it’s easy to make edits. Quirky tip: buy a .wed domain for around £50 to add a personal touch and voila – SarahandTom.wed

Happy Planning!

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Introduction: Your Wedding Stationery

Your wedding stationery is the first glimpse most of your guests will have of your wedding – and no pressure, but you want them to be blown away! This is when you start to reveal who you are as a couple and what your wedding is going to look like (as well as, you know, actually letting everyone know the wheres and whens of it all…) But there’s a whole world of wedding stationery out there – so let’s break down what you need and how to get started choosing it.

Bridebook.co.uk- grey and lace decorated invitations
By forlovepolkadots, via etsy

What Wedding Stationery Do You Need?

This is about what wedding stationery you need, not what wedding stationery you want! At a minimum, we tend to expect most couples to send a save the date, followed by a wedding invitation suite – which is just a fancy way of saying your wedding invitation plus some added extras: an RSVP card and your wedding information sheet. On top of this, you’ll also likely be ordering wedding programmes and place cards for the day.

What Information Should You Include On Your Wedding Invitations?

Keep your wedding invitations short and sweet – that’s why you send an information sheet too! Your wedding invitation should include the following key information:

  • Who’s invited
  • Your names
  • The date and time of your ceremony and/or reception
  • The venue and location of your ceremony and/or reception
  • Dress code
  • Number of +1s (if any)
  • RSVP details
Bridebook.co.uk- photobooth photos save the date
By This and That Photography

What Information Should You Include On Your RSVP Cards?

Your RSVP cards are for your guests to fill out to let you know whether or not they’re attending and any additional details – so they’ll be providing you with the information! Leave them space to:

  • Fill in their names
  • RSVP “yes” or “no”
  • Let you know their meal choice (if relevant)
  • Add any special requests
Bridebook.co.uk- calligraphy themed wedding invitation
By Jolly Edition, via Etsy

How Should You Choose Your Wedding Stationery?

Your invitations should reflect your wedding so start off by thinking about the overall vibe you want for your wedding. If you’re thinking about your stationery, you’ve probably gotten somewhere with finding your venue – so where’s it going to be? Invitations for a rustic countryside affair will likely look pretty different to ones for a chic soirée in the city centre.

If you’re not sure yet, keep it simple. Consider going for traditional cream, white or ivory invitations with gold or black ink, then add any pops of any colours you’re keen to include on your big day.

Next, you’ll want to think about printing. Now, there are a few different ways of getting your invitations printed – and this can have a huge impact on cost as well as aesthetics, so don’t take this decision lightly! The best way to choose what sort of printing you want is to get samples and see what you like when you’re holding it in your hands.

The most high-end option is engraved printing, which creates raised letters on thick paper. This will give your stationary the most luxurious look and feel. Thermographic printing is a good alternative if you’re on a tighter budget, as this gives a similar look at a lower cost. However, bear in mind that the letters will look slightly shiny if you decide on using this method.

Letterpress printing, on the other hand, might be thought of as the opposite of engraved printing as it results in indented, rather than raised, letters. This is slightly different to embossed printing which doesn’t use any ink and tends to be best for details like monograms.

Your two cheapest options are likely to be digital printing and offset printing. Digital printing is incredibly versatile – think of it as a professional version of the printing you might do at home. Offset printing, on the other hand, uses plates to transfer letters and images and can result in a slightly higher quality product.

Bridebook.co.uk- father of the groom order of service
By Weddings Vintage

How Should You Send Your Wedding Stationery?

When you design your wedding stationery, remember you’ll be posting them! Traditionally, wedding invitations are a 4’5 x 6’25 inch rectangle. Today, however, many couples choose to send round, square or custom-shaped invitations – and these unconventional shapes can cost more to send.

If you’re asking your guests to mail their RSVPs back to you, budgeting for and including pre-addressed return envelopes and stamps can be a nice touch.

On a similar note, don’t forget to budget for envelopes! Get these as soon as possible. And if you’ll be addressing your envelopes yourself, do it in stages. This will help avoid making careless mistakes.

Bridebook.co.uk- wedding menu to match invitations laid out on a plate
By Pippa Mackenzie

Final Tips

Proofread, proofread and proofread again! If you can, ask at least two other people to give your invitations a once over as well. Our top tip is to read the text from right to left or end to beginning as this will help you catch any small errors.

Always order a few extra invitations! It’s always good to have a backup in case of any mistakes – and you or your parents might want one as a keepsake too.

If you can, try to order all your wedding stationery in one go. This includes your save the dates, wedding invitation suite and thank you cards, as well as any extras like programmes and place cards.

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How To: Choose Your Wedding Colours

Wedding colours are usually one of the first foundations of wedding styling that you lockdown, as they’re an important basis for your bookings in loads of other aspects of the wedding too – that’s why they’re so early on in our super useful wedding checklist! 

It’s the kind of detail that is incredibly easy to get caught up in (does it really MATTER if one of them is turquoise and one of them is baby blue?), but, counter-productively, it may feel like wedding colours need to be completely decided on beyond all doubt before you can move on to make any other detailed  decisions.

Fret not: we’ve compiled a list of things to think about in order to choose your wedding colours and choose them right.

 

Location

Where are you holding your wedding? That’s the first question you need to ask yourself when delving into the world of wedding colour palettes. If you want to go wild with very specific colours that mean something to you, or bolds and brights, use our wedding venue search tool to search the largest wedding directory in the UK and find somewhere that can serve as a blank canvas for you to really make your own. Alternatively, if you’ve already got your eye on a venue that already has a certain style, think about the colours so that highlight and compliment the best features of your venue.

The Small Details

Finding a venue can be the cornerstone moment of wedding planning for some couples, for others, their favourite flowers, the wedding dress or the ultimate bridesmaid attire can be the deciding factors in choosing a colour scheme. So if you have certain must-haves, without which you can’t imagine your wedding, get those scribbled down. 

Season

Draw inspiration from your chosen wedding season. Pastels can work well for winter, jewel tones will look fantastic in autumn, so feel free to experiment with textures and different shades!

The Mood

What kind of wedding do you want? If you’re after a feeling of luxury and drama, then go for darker and richer colours. If you are a fan of a romantic atmosphere, lighter shades will look perfect. 

Your favourites

Look in your home and wardrobe for colour inspiration. The colours that dominate there are obviously the ones you love. Bonus: the wedding photos that will take their place on the mantelpiece will even match your home – now that’s planning!

Research

Keep your options open and look around before settling on a palette. Hit up Pinterest or our Real Weddings section for inspiration. While we don’t advise you to chase the latest trends and fashions, you can always throw in a hot new colour as an extra detail to your wedding.

Colour wheels

We’re going to get technical here so grab a colour wheel. The basic rules for colours are that cool and warm colours go well together, as do colours which have the same primary colour base.

Within that, you can pick an analogous colour scheme, with three colours located next to each other on the colour wheel, or you can choose complementary colours, which sit directly opposite each other on a colour wheel. Alternatively, you can go for monochromatic colours, which are a number of different shades taken from the same hue.

Our general rule for choosing wedding colours is to have at least one neutral colour which your guests’ eyes can rest on to balance the bright colours in your palette. And there you go!

Pantone

Every year, Pantone releases its “Colours Of The Year”, a list that attempts to predict the colours that will be everywhere in the coming year. The irony is that this list often decides what the predominant colours will be the next year, and thus what’s readily available from suppliers and shops.

Do you remember 2016 being awash with a light, warm pink and cooler, forget-me-nottish blue? That was Rose Quartz and Serenity Blue. This year it’s the vibrant Greenery. They release them in December, so keep an eye out for them – if its a colour you like, your styling just got a whole lot easier. 

Attendants

Needless to say, when choosing wedding colours, choose shades that are easily wearable, especially if you want the bridesmaids to carry the majority of colour – and talk to you again!

Cake

Sneaky tip: don’t overdo the colour on your wedding cake. We suggest you use small details and occasional pops of colour to make it look epic.

Happy Planning!

 

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How To: Discuss Your Wedding Guest List With Your Family

Bridebook.co.uk guests pouring champagne with happy couple

You’re ENGAGED. Pop the bubbly and let the constant celebrations commence. This is the most exciting time of your life so make sure you enjoy! One of the first things you will want to think about, and one of the first things to complete on our complete Bridebook.co.uk wedding checklist is who you want to celebrate your big day with. We can keep track of all of your invitees, their RSVPs, and their plus ones on our incredible guestlist tool – but we (sadly) can’t make the decisions for you as to who to invite and who not to! So here are our top tips on how to have a stress-free guestlist discussion – think exciting boozy gathering to write down all the people you know and love (rather than a battle of the families!):

1) Who is paying

Consider who is paying and what your budget is. Then work out what kind of shin dig you’re after – small and intimate or one HUGE party. Our budget tool is super useful for working out what needs paying for, so use these sections as talking points for when you then bring in the families. If both families are contributing financially, they should be given a number of guests that they can invite, especially if it is a big wedding. If you are paying, then do whatever YOU ultimately want. Either way, make sure you get across the kind of party you want for your big day.

2) Who gets what

The traditional way of dividing guests used to be 50% to the couple, and 25% to each family. If one family has a huge amount of cousins, this doesn’t really work. And if another family is contributing the full whack, this also may not work. Our advice is to work out what kind of wedding YOU want, decide on your favourite guests and divide the rest accordingly between your families. This way, everyone will feel included and happy!

3) Be Considerate

Try and be as fair as you possibly can; that is the only way to avoid resentment, hurt feelings and arguments. If you are forced to cut back on guest numbers, make sure to cut equally from each side, your own included, not just those of your future in-laws. You’re inviting a huge bunch of people to the party of the century – how fun, but just be sensitive to everyone’s requests!

4) Take time to bond before the big day

If your parents or in-laws are inviting someone you don’t know as well (or don’t like!), it’s nice to make time to meet them and try to get to know them better before W-Day. Your wedding is a special occasion and you want to be surrounded by people you know, besides, the guest will feel especially welcomed and comfortable if you’ve made that effort.

Guest lists and families can be tricky, but stick to our advice, be polite and considerate and you will find the task ahead of you immeasurably easier and lots of fun. You get to sit down with your family and loved one, put together a list of all the epic people in your life and then invite them to one huge party.

Happy Planning!

How To: Entertain Kids At Your Wedding

Bridebook.co.uk flowergirl looks up at mum doing church reading

Nailing your guestlist is crucial, which is why we have a big ol’ guestlist tool to make it super easy for you to keep track. One of the big questions with guestlists is whether you’ll invite children to your day: and  if you’re keen to invite a long list of little ones to your wedding, then look forward to adorable photos and ‘awwww’ moments. However, kids will be kids – you can’t expect them to be angels throughout an entire ceremony, speeches and dinner. Some adults aren’t!  But we know exactly how to keep them acting cute – so here are our top tips. Make sure to add any extras you need to buy or complete to your Bridebook wedding checklist!

 

During the ceremony

If you are including children in your ceremony, like pageboys and flower girls, then make sure you allocate some seats for them, as they will get tired! Get them down the aisle and into those seats. Allocating a bridesmaid or someone to keep them in line helps a lot! Another idea is sneaking in some books or even an iPad for some silent entertainment. This can get the children through the ceremony so you don’t have to worry about them.

 

Seating children for the Wedding Breakfast

There are two ways to do this: sit the kids with their parents or have a separate table for them. Consider their ages and decide if the kids-only table would need supervision (details on getting help at the bottom). Children love having a little table for themselves, as it makes them feel special and allows them to entertain each other. This also means the parents can actually have some time out and party with the big boys!

Make a crafts station

Let the munchkins put their imaginations to good use – give them some crayons and paper and let them go crazy. They’ll make for super cute mementos. Alternatively, Cupcake stations or balloon-making stations are ace! Make some bare cupcakes and let the kids decorate them with edible sparkles and a bit of icing, or give the kids some balloons, some instructions and leave them to make cats, dogs, hats and whatever else they can think of (with someone supervising air provision, of course). Just don’t give them anything that can stain – we want you to get your deposit back, don’t we!

Favours

Are you providing favours for the adults? Definitely consider providing some for the kids! Colouring books, quizzes and games of I-Spy go a really long way. Make sure you have prizes for everyone who completes a quiz – otherwise things could get manic!

Bridebook.co.uk Kids wedding favour Personalised gingerbread man

 

Lawn games

We love lawn games! For an outdoor wedding, think about hiring croquet or giant jenga. These are perfect for the kids (and the adults!) and means you probably won’t see them for the rest of the night – job done.

Hiring entertainers

A magician or clown can keep kids captivated for hours! We advise you to avoid face-painting artists, because white dress… painted hands…the horror. If you’re worried about your budget, maybe someone you know will take on the role!

 

Create an area

Indoor wedding? Try creating a space for the kids – find somewhere you can make a sectioned off area, or perhaps there’s a little room off the main reception area. Stock it with board games, Twister, balloons, ribbons and even put a film on! Nothing will keep kids as entertained as a classic Disney movie and a game of Twister on the side. Bonus point: parents can use it as a changing station or when they start feeling cranky!

Dance your (little) socks off

A cute idea is to have a kids-only dance after the official First Dance. Most kids love dancing and having all the attention on them! They will also look pretty adorable – good for the snaps.

Bridebook.co.uk children dancing on dancefloor

Nannies

If you can find a trust-worthy teenager, or know that a Granny would love nothing better than to look after the kids for the evening enlist their help. This way, parents will be able to enjoy themselves and not have to worry about the little ones.

 

Happy Planning!

How To: Invite or Exclude Kids From Your Wedding

Bridebook.co.uk Flowergirls laughing

Inviting children to a wedding can be wonderful. For some couples, they add something indescribably sweet to the proceedings, as well as priceless moments that rehearsed entertainment simply can’t offer.  However, for others, children equal crying, tantrums and screaming – and can totally cramp your day’s style.  As well as being the #1 UK Wedding Planning App, we want to be your pocket guide to wedding etiquette, to help you navigate the narrow nuances of invites. So whichever camp you’re in, here is our etiquette guide:

If you are including children:

1) This does not mean that every single child of every guest has to be welcome. You can always choose to have just the children of close relatives and friends, or just the pageboy and flower girl in the ceremony. 

2) Clarify that children are invited in your invitation – address the invite to Mr and Mrs Windsor and George and Lottie. That way there’s no room for misinterpretation.

3) Make sure you organise the children at your wedding: seat the parents and children on the same tables, or have a separate table. Get some activity packs for their place settings to keep them occupied and having fun!

4) Remember to order special meals for them if they require it – you don’t want the oysters wasted on a little munchkin if all they want is a Fruit Shoot and some chicken. With our amazing free Guest List tool, it’s really easy to keep track of them all, who they’re coming with and thus how many meals you need to order in.

If you are not including children:

1) Try to avoid saying “NO SMELLY SCREAMING RUG RATS” on the invite and make a note that ‘Unfortunately children are not invited’ or something along those lines. If someone still RSVP’s with the names of their children, ring them up and politely explain why you chose not to have children at your wedding. They’ll completely understand – and if they don’t, steel yourself for the fact that they may come as a package. If the children aren’t invited, they may not come either.

2) If you know you are inviting couples with young children, give them plenty of warning to organise themselves, especially if they need to hire a babysitter.

3) Consider if you have any nursing mothers on the guest list. Their lovely little ones require different treatment, considering they may not be able to be left at home under someone else’s care. Investigate a nearby room where the baby may be able to be taken to sleep in close proximity to their parents so they’re able to check in regularly, but still enjoy the festivities.

Want to plan your wedding like a pro? 

Download the FREE Bridebook.co.uk wedding planning app!  Where you can:

Discover Your Personalised Checklist

Start Building Your Guestlist 

Track & Plan Your Budget

Find & Book Your Venue and Suppliers

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Happy Planning!

Introduction: Your Wedding Team

Bridebook.co.uk wedding party carrying props

Planning a wedding is super fun but it’s a pretty big deal. There’s a lot to do, which is why we’ve developed these completely free wedding planning tools to help keep on top of everything. On the day, however, you probably don’t want to be checking any screens, you just want to be able to focus on looking mind-blowing for your lover and savour the moments before hand – not thinking about where the napkins should go. To solve this, say hello to your wedding team – they’re in place so that once you reach the big day, you won’t have to think about anything other than you and your beloved. It’s a big role, and it can carry big responsibilities. If you’re having trouble deciding who to pick, here’s our introduction to the necessary crew and our tips on how to pick the best candidates. And yes, it is a job (on top of being an honour, of course)!

The Team:

Maid Of Honour

Best Man

Bridesmaids (number optional)

Ushers (traditionally, one per 50 guests, but flexible)

Ring bearer (optional)

Flower girls (optional)

Both sets of parents

 

Tips On Picking The Team:

1) The most important roles are those of the Maid of Honour and the Best Man – they are your rocks. They tend to be the closest people to the bride and groom, and hopefully the most responsible and organised. They will be required to help out with any number of tasks – but mainly to provide emotional support for the couple and be the point of contact on the wedding day. Why not take them out for a nice dinner and ask them properly – like another proposal!

2) Your Maid of Honour is, most likely, your closest friend, your wingwoman. Not only does she need to be organised and reliable, but most importantly you’re going to need her when things get emotional or overwhelming –and someone needs to pass you the tissues. She probably knows you better than anyone, so will know exactly what to do and always have your back.

3) When choosing your Best Man, think about him doing the speech! While we all know his banter is the comedy highlight of the pub on a Friday night, it may not be as hilarious in front of granny! We advise the BM reads our guide to a successful speech here – then obviously he will nail it! Nowadays some grooms choose two Best Men – one for the speech giving and organising, and another too naughty for either of those responsibilities. And who says your Maid of Honour couldn’t do a speech too? 

4) Don’t feel that you have to only have women for bridesmaids and men for ushers. It’s all about who supports you the most, and that knows no gender – increasingly, wedding parties are having bridesmen and groomswomen and they look awesome!

5) Make sure you choose people who will understand their duties and what is expected of them. If they think they’re just in it to wear a pretty dress and sashay down the aisle, they may be mistaken! Dedicate time to brief them properly in advance of the wedding and address any queries that they might have. Once you’re all clear on what’s expected, make sure you go through your suppliers and let them know who to talk to on the day should there be any issues. With their help everything will run smoothly and they can hit the party extra hard knowing they did their bit for their best friends!

6) It’s a nice idea to get all of the wedding party together before the big day. Crack open the bubbly, make sure everyone is introduced and they’ll be best friends in no time. Keep an eye on the ushers around the bridesmaids and look forward to one helluva party!

Happy Planning!