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| Photographer - Ashford Daly Photography Wedding Planner - Julie Dawson / The Wedding Genie Make-up - Lizzie Griffiths Hair & Accessories - Sarah Roberts Venue - Iscoyd Park |
I think to have Julie involved in your wedding would take so much stress away from you as she would make sure that you had your dream wedding. I have asked Julie to do a guest post on my blog, so that you know a little more about her and the different packages she offers. Now over to Julie!
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| Photographer - Ashford Daly Photography |
I am
thrilled to be featured on Lizzie’s blog. You might be thinking that you need
some help planning your wedding but are not sure what a wedding planner can
offer you or if it’s affordable? It really is not for the rich and famous
anymore. Read on and I will give you an insight into how I can help you.
The
Wedding Genie help and guide couples who struggle to find the time to plan
their special day to create a perfect wedding without the stress, panic or
upset to their busy lives. No matter what stage you are at I can be your very
own personal wedding assistant. Inspirational and Creative Wedding Planning
that really delivers what you as a couple want. Save precious time, money and
stress
Planning my
own wedding was like embarking on the most fabulous journey ever. Even though I
was not the typical “wedding person” I became totally enthralled from beginning
to end. At times it completely took over my life and I forgot why I was getting
married in the first place. Sometimes my budget became a life force all of its
own threatening to get bigger than the national debt! I can see now how the
lure of glossy magazines and hundreds of websites selling everything that is a
“must have” can influence and pressure you into thinking you must have that!!
Its so now!! Well Stop!!! I would rather
think about what makes you and your partner tick. How can your wedding truly
reflect your style and personality without breaking the bank and prevent
wedding overload?
These are
some of the main reasons why I became a wedding planner. I wanted to offer
services that couples could afford and that would be incredibly useful. I found
through my research that most brides wanted to plan their own wedding but
sometimes didn’t where to start. They were so overwhelmed with all the
information on offer that they were stuck in this massive puzzle and they couldn’t
work out which piece went where. A lot of them had busy careers and finding
time to start to plan was really difficult.
I wanted to
help strip away some of the hype and make wedding planning really enjoyable.
Most of all I wanted to make it affordable so that everyone could use a wedding
planners expertise if they wanted to, even if only for a few hours when they
needed it the most. I wanted my prices to be transparent and not a percentage
of the wedding’s budget. I didn’t want to take commission from suppliers so that
I could be completely independent.
After some
thought I came up with a couple of services that I specialise in. “My Genie for an evening Service”. to tackle
the issue of how to start and what to do. This service is a two-hour planning
session, I send out a questionnaire designed to get to know you. From this I
can build a picture and arrive armed with hints, tips and advice related to
what’s right for you. We spend the whole time concentrating on what you want
and how to tackle the planning.
After the session
I write up our discussions, which then becomes your “wedding road map”. It
details your ideas, priorities, and your style. That way you have your own
wedding day vision written down to focus on. Each time you start to go off the
planning road read it and remind yourself what your priorities are, and what
kind of a day you want. I find this really helps couples to stick to their
budget.
I offer
Wedding
planning is easy if you break it into bite-sized chunks; make it simple and
work out your priorities. This is the most important thing to do. Decide on
your three or four main priorities and use these to focus on your budget, the
rest will fall into place.
My
philosophy is to help you think about what makes you tick and how you can make your
wedding day reflect you, a celebration of you and your partners style and
personality. I aim to inspire and support.
One of my
other main services is “On the Day Coordination”. No one could have planned my wedding day to perfection
more than me, but on the day I still found myself running around checking on
the suppliers. I had to ask my bridesmaids to sort out things like the flowers,
the cake and making sure the room was just the way I had planned it - the list
was endless.
There was a
duty manager and he was brilliant but he was concentrating, quite rightly, on
the venue, food and drinks. It really is true that the day goes by in a whirl
and in hindsight I would have loved to have handed over the whole thing to
someone who understood how I wanted everything to be. The whole focus of my
wedding was supposed to be to spend the time with friends and family but I have
to say I missed a lot of what happened on the day. In the run up I was quite
stressed liaising with suppliers and the venue etc. If that could have been
done for me I would have spent more time with Stuart my husband.
“On the Day Coordination” became
my next new service. For this service I meet my couples about a month before
the wedding, at the venue. We go through everything and I take a list of all
the suppliers and plans. After that the couple can sit back and pamper
themselves on the run up to the wedding. I contact everyone to double-check
arrangements and give my couples a weekly update if they like so they are sure everything
is going as planned. They can wake up on the day, take off their watches and
enjoy every single minute whilst I organise everything behind the scenes.
On the day I
greet all the suppliers; create a timeline so everyone knows what to do. I even
greet your guests, and bring my emergency kit. It contains everything from
suntan lotion; batteries and umbrellas to battery operated fans in case it’s
hot, and even spare tights etc. If
anything does go wrong it’s my job to sort it out so that you don’t even know
about it.
The rest of
my services are designed around what you need, you just pay for the time you
spend with me, or how long it takes me to do something. I can plan your whole
wedding or just part of it. If you get a panic attack half way through planning
call me, we can meet go over everything and I can give you a to do list to get
you back on track. My husband (gorgeous
chap) thought of the name of our company, The Wedding Genie, because people can call me when they need me.
I wish you
all a fantastic wedding planning journey, the wedding day you truly wish for, and
health wealth and happiness during your marriage.
Please don’t
hesitate to get in touch for a chat to see how I can help.
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