by Hanami Dream | 27, December, 2017 | news
I hope you’ve had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas. At this between and betwixt time, I often take the time to reflect on the past year. And what a fantastic year it’s been for Hanami Dream weddings and special occasions in 2017.
This year, my focus has been on developing the blog commercially, as well as providing inspiration to brides and grooms in the Cotswolds. Plus I’ve continued to combine my marketing experience, with my local knowledge, in the scope of the wedding industry. It has been great to provide marketing consultation to some local, independent wedding businesses in and around Witney, Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds. I’ve been affectionately titled the Wedding Inspector – a bit like the Alex Polizzi of the local wedding industry!
I’ve also organised a festival style wedding open day, along with three styled bridal shoots with some amazing local suppliers this year. These have included The Secret Garden, Festival and Journey to the Centre of the Earth themes (look out for images from the latter of these coming soon). I was chuffed to have these shoots featured on Bride Magazine online and SoGlosWedding too.
#UKWedLunch has been going over a year now and attracts new followers every week. This is a great Twitter hour for wedding planning in your lunch break with other brides to be, grooms to be and wedding professionals in the UK.
I’m delighted to have enquiries for different aspects of the business including venue styling and consultancy, as well as such lovely testimonials from happy couples and suppliers I’ve worked with in 2017.
The blog featured posts on different elements of wedding planning, local wedding venue reviews, wedding fairs, wedding transport, favours, alternatives to bouquets, wedding cakes and some wonderful guest posts from local wedding professionals (with top tips and an insight in to different elements of wedding planning from their area of the wedding industry). Plus my series titled ‘the holy trinity of wedding planning’ looked at wedding budgets. See the top posts of 2017.
My blog has had an exciting year and continues to go from strength to strength. The highlights of 2017, were being a finalist in the UK Blog Awards in April again, having one of mood boards picked as finalist again in the UK Academy of Wedding and Event Planning SS18 Pantone® colour trend challenge, plus I was proud to win Theo Paphitis’s Small Business Sunday #SBS recently.
Now is also a great time to look forward to working with more local wedding professionals, services and venues in the brand new year ahead. #keepitlocal. And I can’t wait to produce more styled photo shoots and have opportunities to collaborate with local suppliers.
Please get in touch if you’d like to advertise on the blog, submit your own wedding details, would like to collaborate on a shoot, write a guest post or need some marketing advice and guidance. Together we can build the local wedding industry and inspire brides and grooms for their special day.
Many thanks for your support in 2017 and here’s to an exciting and very Happy New Year!
by Hanami Dream | 17, October, 2017 | tools
Everyone has a different sized budget which varies based on what you choose for your day.
As with most elements of the wedding day, each component can be prioritised in order to put the focus where you want it to go. Bear in mind that within each category of your budget you have a range of price points you could choose depending on the quality (ie you could pick caviar or chips for your food! You could arrive by helicopter or have your mate’s dad drop you off in his car.)
Overall wedding budgets are on the rise. The average cost of a wedding in the UK (outside of London) is currently £27,000. The largest part of the wedding budget is spent on catering, the venue, photography, the wedding dress and entertainment – in that order.
As a guide, I tend to suggest to couples that they allocate around 35% of their overall wedding budget (£9,450 of a £27,000 budget) to cover all aspects of the reception (to include cake, décor, drink, favours, food, furniture and venue hire costs).
Other areas of the budget should include these categories:
- Ceremony
- Reception
- Entertainment
- Attire
- Rings
- Photography
- Flowers
- Stationery
- Transport
- Gifts
- Hen/stag parties
- Honeymoon (optional)
Take a look at an example of a wedding budget in percentage terms and please contact me if you’d like to see a further breakdown of costs.
For more about the money side of things, take a look at the holy trinity of wedding planning: how much.
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by Hanami Dream | 6, April, 2017 | tools, traditions
Take a break from tradition with this handy guide to modern alternatives to personalise your wedding.
- DRESS IN WHITE: Will your dress be white/ivory or will you break with tradition?
- MATCHING BRIDESMAIDS DRESSES: Will your bridesmaids have matching dresses or will you mismatch styles or colours?
- UNLUCKY TO SEE BRIDE BEFORE THE WEDDING: Will you opt to capture a ‘first look’ shot instead of following this tradition?
- THROWING THE BOUQUET: Will you throw your flowers or give them to longest married guests after anniversary dance?
- TOP TABLE: Will you sit your parents, best man and chief bridesmaid at the front or have your own table to yourself?
- WEDDING GIFTS: Will you ask for things for the home or experiences or honeymoon vouchers?
Whichever customs and traditions you decide to incorporate into your big day, Hanami Dream wish you health, wealth, happiness and all the very best in your married life.
After you’ve decided when your special day will be and sorted the major elements of your guest list, venue and budget (or the who, where and how much of what I term the ‘holy trinity of wedding planning‘) then you’re in to the nitty gritty of things.
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by Hanami Dream | 30, March, 2017 | tools
Huge congratulations if you’re currently planning your forthcoming wedding (or another milestone occasion). I hope that you’re enjoying the wedding planning process so far. Take a look at this handy wedding planning timeline and other tips to help you get started.
- JUST ENGAGED: Set the budget, date & guest list so you can pick a venue and planner
- 11-12 MONTHS TO GO: Book photographer, florist and caterer, pick your attendants, get insurance & think about decor
- 8-10 MONTHS TO GO: Book officiant and band, register for gifts, book honeymoon, buy dress & pick stationery
- 6-7 MONTHS TO GO: Pick cake, buy bridesmaids dresses, send save the date, trial hair and make up & taste menu
- 3-5 MONTHS TO GO: Book transport, hire suits, pick accessories, buy rings, order favours and decide on decor
- 1-2 MONTHS TO GO: Send invitations, finalise menu, write vows, confirm numbers, create seating plan & complete schedule
After you’ve decided when your special day will be and sorted the major elements of your guest list, venue and budget (or the who, where and how much of what I term the ‘holy trinity of wedding planning‘) then you’re in to the nitty gritty of things.
Sign up to receive the latest wedding planning tips, tools, trends and traditions straight to your inbox.
