Hello sweethearts!! How are you all today? I realy do hope you enjoyed The French Shoot blogged yesterday!!

There’s been soooo much prettiness on the blog this week I thought I should bring you some good old fashioned wedding advice. I had the pleasure of meeting a very chic and lovely lady last week at The Designer Vintage Bride Sale and well, let’s say we had a right old chin wag whilst sharing a cab back to Victoria! Luckily for us she agreed to write this brilliant guest post for me, secrets of a wedding planner so to speak!!. So I leave you in the very capable hands of Marine from Boutique Weddings with these top wedding planning tips…

Top tips every bride should know when planning a wedding…

Sort out your guests list first

Resist the temptation to visit wedding venues as soon as you become engaged! If you look at venues before you have finalised your guests list, you could end up hiring a venue too small or too big for your needs.

Spend as much as you can on your photographer

There’s nothing more upsetting than a beautiful wedding and an average photographer. Consider your wedding photos as part of your heirloom. They will last for a long time after the flowers have perished and the cake’s been eaten. So don’t compromise on the quality of your photographer; a great photographer will be worth every penny and will give you amazing photos.

Booze guide

If you can’t offer a full open bar, just offer a selection of beer and wine, as well as your signature cocktail. Guests can then buy off-the-menu mixed drinks if they so wish. One nice white wine and one red are all you need if you’re on a tight budget, and don’t hesitate to replace champagne with sparklers from other regions of France such as Crémant de Loire or Crémant d’Alsace.

Buy top quality candles

If you’re using candles, buy the best quality you can (places like Nordic House are great) with a longer burning time than average, and candles that won’t blacken or drip. Normal tea light candles (bought from a supermarket) will only last 1h to 1h30. You need at least 4hrs burning time for tea lights, and 8 hours for the bigger candelabra.

Emergency kit must haves:

The must haves in your emergency kit should be: a few wedding music CDs (should your quartet be late or stuck in traffic), safety pins, matches, ribbon (matching your colour scheme) which is always handy for last minute decoration, spare votives (to light up any dark spots), baby wipes (it cleans a multitude of sins) and water.

 Upgrade the powder room

Upgrade the facilities in the bathrooms as much as you can. The bare minimum is luxurious hand soap, hand cream and good quality toilet paper. I also recommend having a little basket with mints, hair spray cans and perfumed body sprays.

Think reflective surfaces, lighting and candles

Lighting can dramatically transform a room so don’t spend all your decoration budget on flowers. Up-lighters, fairy lights, candles, the use of mirrors and mirrored plates can really make a difference so when you think décor, think flowers + lights + props.

{Image credits, Photo 1, Photo 2, Photo 3, Photo 4, Photo 5, Photo 6}