Wedding day advice please

Hi everyone, Congrats on becoming a Mrs! I thought you would be best placed to give me some advice if you don't mind. Basically i feel like i have everything covered in terms of the basics like church, church music, venue, venue music, meals, photographer etc. but i was wondering whether you could give me some advice on personal (i know i said it personal) touches you felt added that something special to your day. I just feel like i'm missing out on some inspiration on small details that will make the day. Also if you wouldn't mind advising on some cuts to the budget i've made 1) no church flowers - we're getting married in holy cross church kenmare and i feel like the altar already has so much beauty that adding flowers will only crowd it out. And secondly because i don't remember anyone's flowers from their weddings. 2) no fancy car - just go in the back of my brother's car which has plenty of room. Thanks! Caitriona

Were not having a wedding car either, hoping someone will have a nice merc or BMW around the time if the wedding! Suppose it all depends on your interests, for example I'm a music teacher so I'm using a lot of old music scores for some paper craft - making paper hearts for the pew ends and alternating those with jam jars with music paper wrapped around them. Re-using those jars in the reception too. We got engaged in Donegal and both our families have long connections with the area where we got engaged so were using the names of the various townlands around there. Doing the centrepieces myself, going for a vaguely glamour/rustic combo - gold and wood - woodslices and pinecones from the forest behind my house, with hand painted gold wine bottles and twigs and artificial flowers in them, and some more music jars, re-using the music hearts on the back of our centre table (nt having a top table were going to sit in the middle of the room). Need to come up with an idea to make the centre table, perhaps a large branch centrepiece not too sure at the moment. Husband to be is a journalist so he wants to do a mock up of the front page which well prob put on the dessert table, were also going to do collages of our two families and a candle on a table with photos of loved ones who are no longer around. What are your interests and go from there! I love this sort of stuff lol xx

Wow sounds beautiful! I love all those personal touches. The problem for us is that i'm an economist and he's a doctor so unless we throw stethoscopes around the pews we're a little stuck! I don't think there are many personal touches we can add to the church. It actually seems to have quite a strict policy on everything! or so i've heard from the singer and florist! For the venue itself, the venue seems to cover a lot! So i'm thinking maybe some candles for outside as the evening draws in. The other half is welsh so i'm planning on giving blarney stones as favours and the irish crew will be getting welsh love spoons, a tradition on a wedding day. I'm thinking a kids table with lots of games, sweets and cookies to keep the kids going - weddings are so dull when you're young thinking of all these boring adults sitting around talking We're making a card box from an old bookcase and are mixing people up at tables. Couples stay together obviously but we're going to put people together on a table with something in common and they have to figure out what that is. That removes the standard boring where do you work, live etc. They may be grouped together if they've all travelled to south east asia during their uni days or if they're all teachers or if they're all politics mad! After that i'm sort of stuck. I'd really like to get bits and bobs that people think - aw that's cute or sweet! Appreciate any inspirational ideas. Thanks!

The bathrooms are rather uninspiring at our venue so I'm hoping to spruce them up a bit, aside from the usual toiletries basket and candles, thinking signs on the way in to each bathoom of us when we were little, hanging on the door over the bathroom signs perhaps. I'd like to put some nice expensive handwash and hand lotion in the bathrooms, just love a good ESPA hand wash! I'm assuming there are no plugs in the bathroom, but I'd love to put in a wee lamp for good lighting and have a sign made up, making a joke of how girls always take pictures of themselves in the bathroom. I don't want a photobooth or anything but just a small note perhaps with a hashtag for those photos, or maybe just for their own enjoyment! And just popped into my head, the way girls make all those best friends for life in the loo, have another wee note with a wee joke about that. I'm not having a theme as such, more touches here and there of similar colours, aside from the table names and table plan being linked. I saw a fantastic old Irish roadsign, the black and white ones, H2B bought me one a few years ago for my old gaeltacht college, and he was able to put in the exact miles from my home to the college. I've seen wedding ones, so will just say X & Y's Wedding Day and the date, and then if we do put on the miles, it'll be the distance from the venue to the place we got engaged. not everyone will know this, but we will and will be a nice keepsake for our house. Can you have some personal input into the ceremony? I'd like a reflection that's personal to us, would love if I could write one! H2B is great with words and even better with puns, so might sit down with him and write one. Could you try that? I've written a jig a few years back, so I might write a second one and have them both played at the mass (my uncles are playing traditional music for me). Obviously that wouldn't be suitable for all, but if you could write something for the reflection, or even a poem to go on the cover of the mass booklet, that would be a great way of personalising the ceremony.

The bathrooms are rather uninspiring at our venue so I'm hoping to spruce them up a bit, aside from the usual toiletries basket and candles, thinking signs on the way in to each bathoom of us when we were little, hanging on the door over the bathroom signs perhaps. I'd like to put some nice expensive handwash and hand lotion in the bathrooms, just love a good ESPA hand wash! I'm assuming there are no plugs in the bathroom, but I'd love to put in a wee lamp for good lighting and have a sign made up, making a joke of how girls always take pictures of themselves in the bathroom. I don't want a photobooth or anything but just a small note perhaps with a hashtag for those photos, or maybe just for their own enjoyment! And just popped into my head, the way girls make all those best friends for life in the loo, have another wee note with a wee joke about that. I'm not having a theme as such, more touches here and there of similar colours, aside from the table names and table plan being linked. I saw a fantastic old Irish roadsign, the black and white ones, H2B bought me one a few years ago for my old gaeltacht college, and he was able to put in the exact miles from my home to the college. I've seen wedding ones, so will just say X & Y's Wedding Day and the date, and then if we do put on the miles, it'll be the distance from the venue to the place we got engaged. not everyone will know this, but we will and will be a nice keepsake for our house. Can you have some personal input into the ceremony? I'd like a reflection that's personal to us, would love if I could write one! H2B is great with words and even better with puns, so might sit down with him and write one. Could you try that? I've written a jig a few years back, so I might write a second one and have them both played at the mass (my uncles are playing traditional music for me). Obviously that wouldn't be suitable for all, but if you could write something for the reflection, or even a poem to go on the cover of the mass booklet, that would be a great way of personalising the ceremony.

My biggest tip with all my great wedding planning experience (ie, none besides the last 3 and half weeks of planning my own ha) is to A) not over think it and B) reflect on your life as a whole - not just what you do as a profession - for inspiration. What hobbies do you do? what common interests do you and H2B have? myself and hubs2b are proper nerds; love computer games, fantasy novels, comics, superheroes etc. so I am throwing in little touches from that. My cousin went travelling with her hubs for over a year before they got married so she had a travel theme wrapped into her wedding with sign posts and locations.

Wow i actually love the bathroom idea!! You are so right, the amount of random conversations people have it's very true. I like you am not going for the wedding booth idea...i've been in a few too many now so it's gone out of fashion in my eyes. I love a bit of trad music and we're having an afters with trad irish music so i don't want to go too overboard on the day and drown out the other half. i would totally go for the idea of common interests but we genuinely have none! Completely opposites attract. He likes cycling and nature, i like bars and spas. I love watching the rugby and football...he loves cooking! One year i was watching the champions league final and he was cooking a risotto in the kitchen - stirring furiously lol. We are polar opposites! I love the ideas for little bits and bobs here and there. We discussed it last night and he's going to make a suitcase box for cards and we're going to have a kids table with cookies and sweets and games like connect 4 to keep them entertained with a sign that says hands off kids only! Thanks for all the ideas, if you have any suggestions about candles and other bits i'd love to hear them TC xx

Catio06 I know I was quite pleased with myself when I thought of it earlier lol. Not going to tell anyone about it except H2B though he won't care for it much I'd imagine lol, he doesn't understand the significance of a chat in the loos. How do you mean about candles, do you mean around the venue or ceremony, or for the unity candle?