Time is moving on and it’s that bit nearer your wedding now. You’ll be well ahead with your plans, having sorted your budget, venue, wedding dress, wedding photographer and florist.
Now it’s time for the other wedding players to enter onto your big day stage.
Bridesmaids used to be thought to protect the bride from evil spirits on her big day. Well, we’re not sure about that, but carefully chosen bridesmaids can certainly help you to maintain your composure and keep everything running smoothly – and at the very least hold an umbrella over you to protect you from wet weather!
We’d recommend a chief bridesmaid who you feel you can hand the reins over to from time to time, and who you can trust to deal with your wedding venue, suppliers and wedding plans, as all these are an essential part of the bridesmaids duties. So think hard about who you ask. You can have as many, or as few, bridesmaids as you wish.
Men should get their suits organised early on – particularly if they all need to get together and go to a menswear shop for fittings.
Traditionally, men’s accessories (ties, cravats, waistcoats) follow the colour scheme of the wedding, but that’s not a hard and fast rule. Just like your wedding dress, a groom’s suit should reflect his personality and the style of ceremony you’re having.
The golden rule is that all hired suits should be tried on BEFORE the wedding day. Missing cufflinks, trousers that are too short in the leg… these are all very real wedding day dilemmas that can be avoided if you check, check and check again!
Sort your stationery
Wedding stationery is a very personal and individual part of your big day, and includes more items than you might think! By stationery we generally mean the following:
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Save the date cards
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Invitations and RSVPs
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Orders of service
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Menus
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Place cards
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Table numbers or names
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Thank you cards
Save the date cards should be sent out as soon as you’ve set a date. This could be 12 months in advance of the wedding – which is a particularly good idea if you’re planning on getting married abroad, as friends and family will need to book flights, time off work and may also like to build a holiday around your wedding.
Invitations should be sent out six to eight weeks before the wedding, but if you want these designs personalised in any way it’s best to give your designer as much time as possible to produce them.
Invitation packs should include hotel or B&B ideas for out-of-town guests, directions to the venue with postcode for sat navs, a request for any special dietary requirements and details of your gift list. Some brides prefer to exclude their gift list details from the evening-only invitations but generally all guests will want to give you a little something, so have an idea in mind before they ask you.
Remember that larger invitations cost more to send and very small envelopes can get lost in the mail. Hopefully you’ll get all RSVPs back from your guests at least two weeks before the big day, so that you can finalise numbers with your wedding venue.
