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Planning a wedding takes a lot of time, patience and sometimes can be full of frustrations. Having a clear plan for your wedding is essential. Being organised will help keep the stress away. Getting others involved in the planning could be the perfect opportunity to unite both families before the big day
 Top Table Planner helps with the working out of who’s going to sit where. This is widely recognised as being one of the hardest parts of planning a wedding. Many people underestimate just how long it can take, even for relatively small events. If parents are separated that can cause a real headache for the top table, one Auntie may not be speaking to another, or you may have 3 groups of 5 friends that you need to somehow fit onto 2 tables of 8. It can be a bit like trying to push a square peg into a round h ole!One of the best pieces of advice is to start early, even before any RSVPs have come back. Most of your close friends and family will be coming anyway so you may as well work out where they’re going to sit early on. That leaves you plenty of time to work out where to place your other guests and to rearrange the plan when you have that inevitable last minute cancellation. Traditionally, table plans are arranged using a pen, rubber and endless scraps of paper. Post-It notes have proved quite popular too! However, this is the 21st Century and fortunately there are now computer solutions to help ease the headache. Online services such as Toptableplanner allow you to work out who’s sitting where quickly and easily. You just type in your guest names, add some tables and then drag and drop guests around the screen until you’ve created the perfect plan. It makes it a doddle to sort out last minute changes too. TopTablePlanner costs just £10 for six months use of the software and there’s a free trial available too so you can try it out for yourself first.
Do I Need a Wedding Planner?
 You may think that hiring a wedding planner is something that only celebrities do? Well you would be wrong! Many brides and grooms-to-be underestimate the wedding planning process and the costs involved. Current estimates state that the average wedding takes around 274 hours to plan. Add to this a full time job, home, social life and family commitments and that adds up to a lot of busy lunch hours and weekends and ultimately, stress!
The average cost of a wedding is also estimated at £17,000. That is a huge chunk of money and, short of putting a deposit down on a house, is likely to be one of the biggest purchases most people will make in their lifetime! Why leave things to chance then? By all means use the wedding planner that your venue may provide you with but please bear in mind a few points:· Your venue probably works with a small list of suppliers. This can limit the amount of people you have access to. The venue may mark up the price of the supplier to increase their revenue which means you miss out on any discounts. The venue co-ordinator will only be involved in the aspects of your wedding directly related to the venue. The venue co-ordinator works for the venue and not for you. This can have implications if you are on a small budget as they will want you to spend as much money as possible! The venue co-ordinator may also not even be there on your big day. They may just appoint a member of staff to oversee the day.
The benefits of hiring your own wedding planner are enormous. A planner can become involved at any stage of your planning process whether it’s from the time you get engaged or just a couple of weeks before the wedding. If they are involved from the start they can help with devising your budget and timeline. If you do not spend time from the outset on this it is very easy for things to quickly spiral out of control! Your planner will help you to keep your budget on track and can advise on which areas you can save on. The majority of the time, planners can negotiate discounts on your behalf. Don’t be fooled into thinking though that a supplier will offer you the same discount if you ask. From the supplier’s point of view, they will view you as a one off customer. The chances of you purchasing their service or product again are minimal whereas a planner is likely to go back to them again and again if they deliver a great product or service. A good wedding planner will never take over your plans and impose their own ideas on you. They are simply there to listen to how you envisage your perfect day and to help you create that day within the budget you have set. Your planner will always offer suggestions and advice and help you to develop your theme as well as sourcing anything you require from the standard items to more unusual items. YOU will also always have the final say on any decisions which need to be made. Arguably one of the main benefits of hiring your own planner is that they are literally your one point of contact for everything to do with your wedding. Wedding Planners pride themselves on offering brides a 24/7 service so they know that they can contact at anytime for anything. It’s like having a personal wedding concierge! So, here are DaisyChainEvents top 3 reasons for hiring a wedding planner: 1. They will save you money
2. They will save you time
3. They will definitely reduce stress! For details on Wedding Planners, please see those mentioned in our wedding directory, or you could contact the article writer directly, Daisy Chain Events.
Choose your dates
Confirm with important family members that your planned date does not clash, before you send those invites out. Location of ceremony and reception
Check the availability of that much loved and dreamed about location. Remember that you will need to book a registrar if it is a civil wedding Budget
You will need to decide who is paying for your wedding. Most modern relationships start with couples living together, a taste of life together. These couples tend to decide to pay for their wedding themselves. There is an advantage to this, you are able to have the wedding you really want, rather than the one your parents want. Insurance
It isn’t nice to consider anything will go wrong, but there is the possibility. Guests
You will need to discuss your guest numbers, which goes hand in hand with your budget. Once a number has been agreed it will make your guest list easier to write. You don’t have to be rigid with this number, just remember your budget! Bridesmaids, Maid of Honour and Best man
Choose these early on and ask them. They could be crucial in assisting you in the planning of your wedding and not just on the big day itself Theme You may chose to stick with a traditional wedding, but there are alternatives that may suit you instead. Stationery
There is so much to choose from these days. You could choose a theme to follow through in your order of service, thank you notes, place cards, menus..... Catering
Are you doing the catering yourselves, or having a catering company, or is the venue supplying the service? Do you have any specific dietary requirements to consider? Remember your budget and number of guests when working out the cost per head Transport
How are you and your guests going to be getting to the venues? Use your imagination as all eyes are on you and what a grand entrance you could have!
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