The Key Ingredients To Creating A Successful Wedding Day For You And Your Guests

Hello, it’s great to be back on Love My Dress! I’d like to start by thanking you for all of your comments, thoughts and feedback on my previous wedding planning feature – A Modern Day Guide To Wedding Etiquette. It really means a lot to me that so many of you took the time to join in on the conversation and share your insights and experiences. Today, I’m going to talk you through the key ingredients you’ll need to create a successful wedding day for you and your guests.

This feature is an important one no matter what stage of the planning process you’re currently at.  If you’re just starting out, then it’s worth keeping this article in mind as you develop and finalise your plans.  And if your big day is just around the corner then hopefully it will reconfirm the plans you already have in place.

Whatever style or size of wedding you’re planning, these ingredients remain the same. They should be the basis for everything, the foundations to a rock solid wedding day and the things that you simply shouldn’t ignore. Whether you’re creating a laid-back, rustic wedding or opting for a classically elegant affair, these fundamentals always apply so if you want my fail-safe recipe for a successful wedding day, you need to start with and continue to remember these ingredients…

A Well Thought-Out Schedule

In amongst the excitement of choosing your wedding dress, booking your honeymoon and attending your menu tasting, talking about schedules is probably the least appealing prospect. However, your wedding day schedule is one of the most essential ingredients and one that simply cannot be ignored.

A carefully planned and well thought out schedule will provide you with an opportunity to notice if anything is still pending, that nothing is forgotten and will importantly ensure, in advance, that your wedding party and suppliers know the who’s, what’s and where’s to your big day.  If everyone knows the plan, then no one should be asking you any last-minute questions or putting you under any added pressure.

My top wedding planning tip would be to start creating your schedule at least 6-8 weeks prior to your wedding as this will give you plenty of time to collate all of the information required, ask your suppliers for their advice on timings and answer / resolve any questions that may arise.

When you’re putting together your schedule, make sure that you factor in some time for just for the two of you and that you allow plenty of time so that you and your guests don’t feel rushed. Equally, don’t linger too long over each element of your day, as you don’t want guests to get bored and lose their enthusiasm. A successful schedule should keep your day flowing.

However much time you put into your schedule, it’s only effective if you and your suppliers use and follow it on the day so distribute copies in advance and have some spares lying around so that you can refer to it if you need to.

All that said, accept that some elements of your day might not run to plan and remember that you don’t need to run your day with a stopwatch and clipboard in hand. The speeches might over-run and your first dance might not take place on the dot but as long as everything still happens and you and your guests are having an amazing time then that is what truly matters.

Left, from this wedding (Faye Cornhill Photography)
Right, from this wedding (Gemma Williams)

Go With The Flow

Following on from my point above, it’s important to remember to go with the flow on the day and I’m not just talking about timings. Come the big day, everything is out of your hands – it’s like you’ve revised really hard for an exam but despite all the work you’ve put in, you can’t control the questions that come up! Similarly, with weddings, you can’t control the weather, you can’t stop a guest knocking over glass of wine or pre-plan / prevent guests from dropping out.  However, what you can control is your reaction.

Few things will kill the mood of your day quicker than guests seeing you upset or angry so keep calm and carry on. If you need something to be dealt with, discreetly ask someone to handle it for you – you don’t need to involve yourself in every element of the day and you certainly don’t need to upset your wedding day equilibrium.

If you can, then remember that however huge something might seem to you, it’s highly unlikely that your guests will notice anything is amiss unless of course they pick up on it from you. As the saying goes, for every minute you’re upset, you lose sixty seconds of happiness, and on your wedding day time is immensely precious.

A Wet Weather Contingency Plan

The UK weather with all its temperament is one factor that you definitely can’t control but you can determine the outcome and how it will affect the success of your day.

Your wedding day WILL still be successful even it if it’s blistering hot, unusually cold, too wet or too windy IF you’ve taken the time to talk to your suppliers, you’ve drawn up a Plan B (and even a Plan C) and you make a conscious effort to go with the flow.

The weather won’t ruin your wedding day unless you let it.

A beautiful rainy day disaster!
S6 Photography

A Little Thanks

Gratitude and manners never go out of fashion so you really need to take the time to say hello to all of your guests and thank them for coming. Do this personally rather than marching everyone through a receiving line and hoping that will be enough. If you’ve invited someone to your wedding, you should care about each of them enough to take a few minutes for a little conversation because they will notice it if you do or don’t!

Similarly, remember to thank everyone who has supported you in the lead up to your wedding, including suppliers. If you’re not able to do this on the day, a little card or note when you’re back from your honeymoon doesn’t take long and will be appreciated more than you know.

Think About Your Guests

Now I know that everyone tells you ‘it’s your day’ and that’s entirely true but making it a brilliant and personal day for your guests is important too because when everyone’s happy, relaxed and enjoying themselves, you’ve totally ticked that successful wedding day box!

When I say ‘think about your guests’, what do I mean exactly?

Well, if you’re asking guests to travel a considerable distance between their accommodation, ceremony and reception locations, think about providing transport, pre-booking taxis or at least having someone on hand with phone numbers.

Another example is the dreaded and much talked about seating plan! There’s nothing lovelier than looking across your wedding breakfast to see everyone chatting, laughing and smiling and all that starts with your seating plan.  So, as you are the only person who can directly influence how successful this part of your wedding day is, really think about your seating plan and try to group people together who’ve got similar backgrounds and interests or who’ve met before.

Finally, what about your guests’ level of comfort throughout the day? Some simple yet effective ways to take your guests’ comfort into consideration include a quiet area for newborns and their mothers, a separate chill-out zone, a supply of flip-flops in the summer and cosy blankets in the winter.  Older guests will be grateful for chairs and little ones will love you it if you provide some games or entertainment.

Look at your guests list, consider the time of year and then go from there.

See more table plans
in our special Pinterest board

When it comes to ensuring that your guests have an enjoyable day, food and drink are by far the most influential and talked about factor and therefore require their own heading!

Let’s be honest, a wedding day is a long day and, unless you want guests sneaking off to forage for themselves, you need to provide enough food and drink to keep them happy throughout the day.

But, what do you need to serve? Well, it’s certainly governed by your budget so an early conversation with your venue or caterers is an absolute must. You should consider the time of your ceremony (will guests have missed lunch for example) and your plans for the rest of the day. You also need to keep in mind that no one is in the mood to party if they’re thirsty or hungry so you need to balance the day carefully. Serving nibbles of some description during those post-ceremony drinks will keep your guests going before dinner and can stop them over indulging on the alcohol front! If you’re not providing drinks with dinner, consider the location of your bar so that guests don’t have to spend too long away from the party to get themselves a drink.

Another key ingredient, quite literally, is the dining options you provide for guests with special diets. Do request that guests let you know of their dietary requirements when they send in their RSVPs so that your venue or caterers can make the necessary adjustments in good time. It’s highly unlikely that anyone will be able to whip up a batch of gluten-free bread or a dairy-free pudding without notice and it’s such a shame if these are guests feel left out.

For guests who aren’t drinking then it’s also nice to provide a desirable, creative and refreshing alcohol-free alternative.

It’s these extra personal touches that realty make the difference as they show your guests that you’ve taken the time to think about them and their enjoyment of your day.

From our ‘A Feast to Remember’ feature

Delegate

Yes, yes, I know I’ve mentioned this before (in this feature for one!) but delegation is key!

When delegating roles try not to dump everything onto one person, instead take into account people’s existing commitments and then split out the roles according to people’s strengths.

You’ll also need to run through roles and responsibilities with everyone in your wedding party in advance of the day itself and check that they know what you want so that there are no misunderstandings later down the line.

You Don’t Have To Do Everything

Weddings are no longer a ‘one size fits all’ occasion and we should have the confidence to create our own brilliantly personal, utterly individual weddings.  So, in order to create a successful wedding day please do keep in mind that you absolutely don’t have to include any wedding day traditions that don’t appeal.

Forcing yourself to conform to other people’s ideas of what a wedding should be is never a good idea so take a look through my modern day guide to wedding etiquette to inspire you to make your day truly yours.

Keep It Simple

In so many ways and for so many reasons, this is ultimately the best ingredient for wedding day success. Trying to over complicate things and include everything that you’ve read about online or seen on Pinterest is going to be confusing at best and terribly messy at worst. As much as you want to do everything, cramming your day full of too many things simply increases the chances of hic-cups and issues.  It’s also highly likely that lots of the things that you’ve thought about will be missed by your guests in the melee. Refine your ideas and keep only the best ones for your wedding day. Give you and your guests time to appreciate every moment for what it is – your successful wedding day.

Love Kat x

 

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Wedding & Event planner Katrina Otter specialises in designing, coordinating and delivering beautifully bespoke weddings, events and private parties throughout East Anglia, the Midlands and London.  As an independent wedding planner, Katrina is able to offer a more personalised approach to wedding and event planning – one that is totally focused on what her individual clients want, and is free to adapt her role and service to suit each client’s requirements.  Katrina is a contributor to Love My Dress. Visit her webpage at katrinaotterweddings.co.uk and connect with Katrina via Instagram on @KatrinaOtterWed.