Confession – this post started off as being really very negative, about planning my wedding and most things wedding related. Until I gave myself a wrist slap! I changed my perspective on things along with my outlook and views. So it’s now an honest post, but less negative than it was going to be. I sometimes have the ability to be negative about things rather than positive, it’s a downfall of mine, and is always unintentional, but it’s like once something goes wrong, everything goes wrong and it feels like the end of the word (granted I know it’s not) Basically I occasionally (not always) make huge mountains out of tiny molehills.
Okay so here we go wedding planning – It’s not all I thought to would be, I did have this preconceived idea in my head that it would be all sunshine and roses, but in reality you have to add a few down pours in there too! It seems like the online social media side of wedding planning looks like a total blast! But there are days when I definitely don’t get that vibe so much. Some days when Luke and I are on a roll and everything is coming together nicely it’s great fun! And then there are those days when there is problem after problem and you wonder if anything will go right again!
I’d say that planning a wedding partially in and out of lockdown has been a bit of a Thorne in our sides to say the least. Finding your dream venue on YouTube doesn’t have all the feels and sparkles that you would probably get if you went in person and picked it. As I’ve mentioned in a previous post Luke and I put the deposit down on the venue before seeing it, and then went to view it in mid April. We were semi lockdown with some restrictions still in place when we went for our visit, so the tour was really bland if that’s the right word to use? I didn’t feel like a couple who had just booked a dream wedding, I felt like a couple who just wanted to look around but hadn’t booked a wedding (make sense?) April was also the first and last contact we had with our wedding planners, there’s been no follow up calls or emails, apart from us emailing them, so the whole thing feels really impersonal. However after visiting our venue again on Sunday, just seeing it makes me fall in love with it all over again, it’s a very very special place, and is absolutely stunning, very grand, and a definite head Turner. The staff do let it down unfortunately, and haven’t been overly helpful, and were misleading over several things when we first met and had our tour and chat. In fact with different issues cropping up we have since made the decision to bring in an independent wedding planner to oversee everything, as I have no confidence in the staff we have at all.
Brides dress – I’ve also had a nightmare with my dress which I have previously mentioned in a past post, and whilst I initially would have recommended Adella bridal I’m not so sure I would now. Again with them, I’ve had zero contact and communication since putting the deposit down on what I think is my dream dress (although it’s been so long and I can’t remember what it looks like, so who knows) So again I feel it’s been another very impersonal experience. But on a positive note I am about 3 weeks away from seeing my dress and trying it on again (praying that I haven’t put much weight on since April) and I know that once I have the dress on and see it again I will just love it, and know why I picked it (I hope….. I’m sure I will)
A few other planning problems
We also seem to be having problems with the florist! Which is a long drawn out battle that I’m not backing down from!
I’ve had problems with colour scheming, bridesmaid dresses and flower girl dresses, as well as suits for Lukes groomsmen.
And I’m sure between now and the actual day a few more problems will arise……
So yeah, wedding planning certainly does have its good and not so good days! And issues do tend to pop up at any given time!!
So I ask myself 2 questions- which when I started writing this post had very negative answers, but after having time to process things I have come to a different conclusion.
1) would I reflect back on this whole planning process with happy memories? Yes & No, there are times when I love it and times when it seems just so consuming, and the problems are never ending. However there are always solutions, you just have to find them.
2) Would I recommend our wedding venue to other people. This was always going to be a definite NO, mainly because of staff! However even bad staffing can not take away how visually stunning the place is, and it just takes your breath away every time. So I would recommend it, but equally I’d recommend getting an independent wedding planner in straight away and don’t wait until November like we did.
