Amanda will be marrying Adam on 25th March 2018 in a Jewish wedding at Braxted Park, UK.
THREE FACTS: (1) Amanda & Adam met outside in a bar in Tel Aviv (2) Adam has a ridiculous sense of humor (as described by Amanda!) and we love him all the more for it (3) Amanda & Adam’s wedding is 100% focused on all the people and things that mean the most to them. You can click here to read all Amanda’s planning posts to date.
365 days later…
Well, here we are. At the time of writing, it’s been 365 days since Adam and I got engaged. And what a year it’s been! Aside from celebrating our engagement and planning a wedding, we’ve had a crazy kind of year. We’ve celebrated eight weddings and received invitations to seven more. We’ve moved house five times (yep, that’s right), have travelled the country visiting the new homes and babies of our friends and celebrating milestone birthdays with our family and friends.
Image by Stark Photography from Brooke and Boaz’s Jewish Wedding
Top 10 things I’ve learnt
The thing is, I was told that whatever I decided to do, wedding planning would be stressful. But with everything else going on (see list above) I’ve tried really hard to avoid additional stress. It’s definitely a ‘test and learn’ situation, but Adam and I have compiled the top 10 things I’ve learnt from wedding planning. Hopefully it’s a starting point for any recently engaged couples.
1. Make a budget (and keep hold of it!). As the daughter and sister of an accountant, the importance of spreadsheets has always been instilled in me. But with three sets of financial contributors, a shared spreadsheet has been absolutely key. A simple google doc has meant that we’re absolutely clear on who is paying for what, when payments are due, and supplier contact details.
2. Finding a venue is the first hurdle. Persevere. There’s a lot of choice out there and once you’ve weeded out anything that doesn’t feel right (or is out of budget) you’ll likely still have a decision to make. We looked at lots of venues before returning to the 2nd one we’d seen. Adam was way ahead of me on this and traipsed around 10 venues with me before returning to the 2nd one that he’d already secretly chosen.
Image by Fred Marcus Studio from Marianna and Peter’s Jewish Wedding
3. Supply yourself with options. If like me, you’ve been to lots of weddings recently, you’ll know the big supplier names. But whether they fall within budget or not, I really recommend looking around. I had no idea how much variety there was until I started thinking about different styles of photography, different band types etc. Find somebody you trust who can be the expert, especially if you don’t know exactly what you want
4. Haggle. Not in a middle-eastern market way, but there’s nothing wrong with asking if there’s anything that can be done on the price. Especially if you’re getting married out of peak season. We got 20% off our venue on the spot!
5. Invite people who are important to you and who will make your day. Guest numbers spiral out of control very quickly and whilst some people have rules, (eg we’ll invite partners if they live together), we found it much easier to think about everybody individually. You can’t invite everybody, and shouldn’t feel bad about it either.
Image by Jon Bird from Haley and Boston’s Jewish wedding
6. You will lose touch with reality at least once. My moment came just before we went bridesmaid dress shopping and later when I was deciding on invites. Crying over font types? STEP AWAY FROM THE WEDDING PLANNING.
7. Let people help you. Involving your friends and family can really help to make things personal. As an added bonus, if you don’t have a wedding planner, you can delegate to people who love you, to take the pressure off. And if your partner is keen to help too, take advantage!
8. Lean on the traditions you love, and challenge those that you don’t.
Image by Jennifer Jasso from Lacey and Brandon’s Jew-ish wedding
Image by 9. Think beyond the wedding. This will help with that whole ‘losing touch with reality’ I mentioned earlier, but it also helps when it comes to making decisions. I’m a sentimental fool and want lots of ‘keepsakes’. This has helped us to choose a ketubah we’ll want to put on our wall, a style of guestbook that won’t gather dust in a box and a table plan frame that we can use again after the wedding.
10. Pinterest. Literally a free ideas factory.
Image by John Nassari from Susannah and Simon’s Jewish wedding
Click here to read all Amanda’s planning posts to date.
Amanda & Adam’s Wedding Vendors booked so far:
Venue – Braxted Park
Photographer – Steve Carter Hewson
Band – LDN Party Band
Bridesmaid dress – David’s Bridal
Flowers – Urban Flower Farmer
Jewellery – Litzi
Pinterest should be at the beginning of the list 🙂