It shouldn’t happen to a wedding planner…

By Suzi Dixon
Sep 3, 2010

Our latest columnist, wedding planner Tanya Gates, has top tips to help you plan your big day…

“The wedding is off!” says a bride this week whom I called purely for a catch up; I mean really, what do I say to that?

Never has there been a more awkward silence so I let her know how sorry I am and even then I’m still faced with the silence so I do the only thing I can do, no – not say have a nice day and goodbye, I ask why?

Bad move, I hear you all say – but from past experience, my own and others, it is a sometimes a lot easier to unload to someone who has a little more distance than your friends and family.

I know, I’m sorry, keeping you all in suspense about why the wedding is off well it was due to honesty, and the Bride’s other half not being particularly honest about his financial situation, which happens more often than you may think and is sadly so easy to do.

Come on girls, how often have we told a little fib to our other halves about how much a particular pair of shoes or the perfect dress costs “it was in the sale, darling” or “I found them in Primark, such a bargain” as he’ll never recognise the Kurt Geiger label!

Getting into debt is such an easy thing to do, even if you are generally good with money, and the only way out of it is to be totally honest from the start and that way it should not escalate into something so big that you cannot find a way through it.

Your wedding will be one of the most important days of your life but it is not worth bankrupting yourselves or your family for.  Sit down and go through all your finances, be completely honest (both of you – that shoe addiction may have to go on hold until you win the lottery!)  and it will be hard, you will hear things you don’t like but it is much better to do this now than five years into married life when everything will be so much harder to sort out.

When you are putting your wedding budget together, start with what you can comfortably afford, the next level up should be what you can afford if you cut out a few takeaways and nights out and then the final budget will be one that you could only have if one of you were to pile on the overtime and cut out any holidays as well as the takeaways and nights out – be realistic – do you really want to have a year without a holiday or to never see your other half because you are only working?

The most important aspect of your wedding day is that you are marrying the person you love – anything else you can afford to add to the day is a bonus.

You can still have a beautiful day with all your friends and family without breaking the bank, whether you hire a wedding planner like myself to keep your plans and your budget on track,  or you make a plan yourself and stick to it like glue, it can be done.

Happy planning!

• Hire a wedding planner like Tanya from Every Detail. Find out more at www.everydetail.co.uk.
• For a fabulous West country wedding venue, Bristol247 recommends Tortworth Court. See our review: ‘The awe-inspiring Tortworth Court‘ or call 01454 263000