5 Mistakes Couples Make When Planning Their Wedding

As you may have seen on our previous blog, there are unfortunately many mistakes that couples can make on their wedding day. You want to look back on your wedding with positive memories to cherish and not dwelling on mistakes you made that you wish you had done differently. To give you an idea of the most common mistakes I see couples make in the planning of their wedding I have put together below the top 5 mistakes I have come across. You can then learn from their mistakes and have only amazing memories from your wedding planning and the wedding day itself.

1. Not planning entertainment for the drinks reception

Quite often couples focus so much on the photography side of things when looking at the details for their drinks reception that they forget their guests will just be sitting around for that 2 hours. This can be a long 2 hours for your guests and you don’t want your guest’s memories of the wedding to be of waiting around for a big chunk of the day. The day is about you as the couple however it is also important to consider your guests in your plans as they have made an effort to attend the wedding. Arranging something simple in this time can go a long way, I would definitely recommend arranging some sort of entertainment as well ensuring there is seating available as not everyone will want to stand for the full duration of the drinks reception. Check out our other blog for entertainment ideas for your drinks reception.

2. Not researching your suppliers before booking

It is understandably easy to get caught up on fixating over prices when it comes to searching for your wedding suppliers, however, this can be a key mistake. If your budget will allow you to it is so important to look into other factors when deciding your wedding suppliers and not just price. The wedding industry can very much be a place where the phrase “you get what you pay for” is accurate and you do not want to be one of the unfortunate couples who suffer from not being aware of this. A great simple way to overcome this is by doing plenty of research into your potential supplier before confirming your booking, you can check out their online presence, social media platforms and reviews. This will give you a good idea of how they work as a company and if you would feel comfortable leaving your wedding in their hands, at the end of the day your wedding will be one of the most important days of your life so you want to make sure you get it right.

3. Don’t let your guests remember the wedding food for the wrong reasons

Not considering when guests will be hungry happens more often than you think, when planning the catering side of things couples often don’t take into consideration how their guests may feel and can focus on how they will feel themselves. A great example is the drinks reception, eating during this time may not even spring to mind to the couple when planning as they will be thinking about their busy photo schedule or still plan to be full from a champagne breakfast. However, their guests will not have much going on at this time to distract them from hunger. It is common for guests to be hungry during this time due to not having much time to eat with the travelling, skipping lunch for the ceremony, not having the wedding breakfast until mid-afternoon and they may have even had to skip breakfast all together depending on the ceremony time. Ways to combat this is to plan for this when arranging your timings for the ceremony and wedding breakfast or if it isn’t possible to avoid this issue with the timings, provide something to tide over your guests during the drinks reception. A great idea for this is Canapes, they are simple to arrange and will not be too filling for your guests to ruin their appetite for the wedding breakfast.  

Another key time in the wedding day that I have seen couples make a mistake with their food planning (or lack of) is the evening reception, it often happens where couples decide to not provide evening food as they believe their guests will not want anything else after the big wedding breakfast. The truth is unless your guests are an absolute exception they will most likely be grateful for the food that is put out for them in the evening, you would be amazed at what people can put away when they have had a busy day of travelling between venues, socialising and most likely getting through a few drinks.

4. Not considering the children in your plans

When including children in your invites it is so important to include their needs into your plans. Unfortunately, if you don’t plan for activities to keep them entertained and for the right food to be available you will most likely know about it on the big day. It is best to designate time into your planning to consider what you can do for them, if you cater for their needs they are more likely to stay happy during the wedding and a happy child will create happy parents. This way all of your guests will be able to enjoy the day to the max with you.

You can check out our other blog for inspiration on how to keep them entertained.

5. Last-minute planning

Planning your wedding and being engaged is such a special time that you won’t experience again, so it is important to make it as stress-free as possible to make it enjoyable and memorable for the right reasons. The best way to do this is to give yourself plenty of time and not leave anything to the last minute and creating a mad panic. My advice is to consider this when choosing your date by making sure you are giving yourself enough time, create a rough schedule to follow that includes all of the elements you need to arrange and if possible book a wedding planner to help keep you on track and work with you to create your special day without the stress on you.

So keep in mind these mistakes when planning your wedding to give you the best possible wedding experience, if you would like to check out our other blog for 5 mistakes couples make on their wedding day you can check it out here.