What inspired you to become a wedding planner?

I’m a creative soul with a slight obsession for organisation so planning and designing weddings spoke to all my best qualities from the very start. I began in the events industry at a wedding venue and branched out on my own shortly after. And now, knowing I have the skills and expertise to bring someone’s wedding dreams to life and then seeing all our hard work and planning pay off on the client’s big day is what makes my job so rewarding.

What’s your favourite wedding trend at the moment?

Colour! It’s safe to say we’re slowly moving away from the traditional green & white or white & blush colour palettes. Couples are now much more open to incorporating colour into their wedding day which is the best news for us as planners. Colour is one of the easiest and most effective ways to inject the couple’s personality into their wedding design, and it often results in a more unique experience for guests (who are typically attending 2-3 weddings a year).

If you’re not keen on bright or bold colour palettes, remember there are also tonal and pastel colour combinations that always look gorgeous when used within a wedding. One of my favourites is tonal shades of blush and lilac paired with a neutral beige or taupe base tone, which we used at an autumn wedding in London last year, you can view it here! 

What advice would you give to newly engaged couples?

One of the first things I do with my clients is figure out their priorities for the day and based on this we decide how we’re going to utilise their budget (this is also where we typically come up with a more realistic figure for their budget). I do this by having clients fill out a comprehensive questionnaire followed by an in-depth meeting where we talk through their options, but you can do this yourselves by listing out every detail of the wedding and deciding which items matter to you most (hint: this is where you should prioritise your spending!).

Getting your priorities and rough budget allocations in order is key for easier decision-making during your planning process. If you’re not sure how much venues or suppliers charge in your area, request sample or estimate quotes to build a rough budget – do not base your budget on the ‘average wedding budgets’ listed on wedding blogs (think of it like this: if you googled ‘average house prices in the UK’ and compared this against the cost of your own home, there would likely be quite a difference – weddings are exactly the same).

Only after a couple and I have completed this first crucial step of outlining priorities and a budget plan do we start looking at booking their venue. Your venue along with catering are among your biggest wedding expenses and need to be aligned with your budget from the start, otherwise you could be setting yourself up for unexpected budget increases later in the planning.