As any avid readers will know we’ve usually posted our thoughts on the wedding trends for the upcoming year by now. But this year we decided to postpone because we all know where most of the inspiration will come from -all eyes will be on the Royal Wedding. This event will inform many a bridal decision for years to come! Maybe even decades if she gets it as spot on as Grace Kelly did.

Remember all those eighties weddings with the floral headbands and big puffy shouldered dressses? I was a bridesmaid at a few such occasions back then and they all took inspiration from Diana’s 1981 wedding day look. Flowers adorned heads in most cases as not everyone’s budget could stretch to precious stone tiaras!

Almost 30 years to the day since Diana’s wedding to Charles, Kate Middleton will become Princess Catherine and all eyes will be upon her. Then Waity Radiance will scurry off to inform you of the precedent she has set with her big day look. We’re so excited by this that we don’t mind waiting. Which must be exactly how Kate herself felt for the last 8 years!

Please stop by the blog in May when we promise a big breakdown of our thoughts on wedding trends for 2011 as inspired by the big event. Flags at the ready!

Well real life Professional Wedding Planners are fast becoming a brides must have accessory. The services of a Wedding Planner is no longer reserved only for the A-list. Think of it this way, we now have food delivered, cars washed by those helpful guys in the supermarket car park, and it’s not seen as lazy or extravagant. In the US Wedding Planners have been the norm for years, over 26% of brides in the UK now enlist the services of a wedding planner to inject creativity whilst taking away the stress of the big day resulting in priceless peace of mind.

If you need inspiration to put a personal stamp on your big day, then this is where the creative skills of a Planner can turn your wedding from ordinary to extraordinary – without blowing the budget. Ideas that wow and little touches make the difference. Planners are full of ways to create a day that truly represents you.

Don’t worry this will be done in close collaboration, we never loose sight of who’s wedding it is. It’s a collaborative approach that will produce stunning results.

So back to the initial question, Do I need a Planner? the answer is probably. To plan a wedding from the beginning to end can take over 300 hours, that’s nearly 2 months of a full time job! Who has that sort of time?

So what will it cost? Each wedding planner works in a different way and offers an individual product and service. Some wedding planners charge a flat fee, others an hourly rate with a minimum fee or a percentage of the overall budget. Shop around, and you will find a planner to suit your budget and needs whether it is an afternoon’s consultation, full planning service, venue search, budget planning or on the day coordination.

So if you want to explore the idea of hiring a Professional Planner, I suggest you follow these tips:

1. Personal recommendation is the ideal way to find the right planner for you
2. Have a look a planners websites and see if you like their style
3. At the consultation it is important you feel comfortable, so ensure you get on as you will be communicating a great deal. Do they listen to your ideas?
4. Ask for references and testimonials
5. Have they received any awards, press coverage
6. Not essential, but ask if they have undertaken any professional training
7. Speed of response to your initial enquiry
8. If you are happy and want to proceed, sign a contract that details the service specifics including number of meetings

Article by Sonia from Sparkle and Wow Events.

Sonia from Sparkle & Wow Events, is a Professional Qualified Wedding Planner and runs an award-winning wedding design consultancy in London. She offers all prospective brides and grooms a complimentary consultation over a cup of tea or wine if you prefer and will happily listen to your wedding plans. To book your complimentary consultation (which is without obligation) call her on 0845 234 0528 or 07947 571 693.

In this vein 2010 wedding trends continue in line with much of 2009’s offerings, but with extra emphasis on hair/head adornments. Now is the perfect time to go for something beautiful in your hair to really customise your bridal look. The economic outlook has an impact here too with those in the know predicting personalised details, rather than grandiose pomp, the order of the day.

Short dresses reflecting 50’s and 60’s styles are increasingly popular, and demand continues for asymmetric shoulder gowns. Layers are still going strong with frills and ruffles adding depth and texture. For 2010 it’s all in the details: alongside ruching, bows, back and strap details on dresses, oversized accessories with lashings of pearls, feathers and sparkle are key.

How to add the personal aspect? Wear something you love with confidence and your own sense of style will shine though. If your dress has many of the details mentioned above, hair accessories can help balance your look. A romantic scattering of flowers or a statement headband is all you need. An asymmetric shoulder looks great with a bold pearl bracelet on the opposite wrist.

Playful cocktail rings are also still on trend but with a big sparkler on your ring finger already, perhaps you’re covered?! As always the key to finding your bridal look is to take the time to think about the overall look you want to achieve and use your wedding dress to inform your bridal accessory decisions. Radiance Boutique aims to make selecting those perfect finishing touches simple, but please get in touch if you require any assistance.

Here we are, peak wedding season again. All over the country brides and grooms-to-be are busying away, planning every microscopic detail of their big day. Thanks to the internet, the sky’s the limit when it comes to choice and advice.

Wedding planning and buying has, like all other commercial industries, moved online. Online gift lists, chat forums, editorial articles and supplier searches greatly increase choice and awareness. The next step on from this, taken up by 25000 brides in the past year, is the couple’s personal wedding website.

Out with the reams of paper inside the wedding invitation and in with the online electronic information pack informing guests about the day, complete with maps, route planners, streaming videos and photo albums to which their guests can upload photos.

Amanda Hinton, Editor-in-Chief at WeddingPath comments

“WeddingPath is the perfect platform for anyone planning a wedding, whatever the budget and wherever the location. Our free wedding websites are a complete bonus while the rest of the site buzzes with activity from daily wedding news updates and fabulous competitions to one of the UK’s busiest forums for wedding talk.”

With 2000 new brides logging on to build a free wedding website every month, there’s no doubt that a personal site is the new must have. WeddingPath is unique in offering a personal do-it-yourself design and build service for free along with up to the minute wedding news, real life wedding stories and useful tips. The only thing WeddingPath can’t do is guarantee the weather…

Check out this example of a wedding website for yourself and be inspired to create your own!

Wedding photographers sometimes have a bad reputation – ask a sample of your married friends and it will become clear that in wedding photography there is no middle ground.  Happily-marrieds are usually terribly disappointed or ecstatically over-joyed with their wedding images.

What is the secret?  Why is there such a divide between loving and loathing your wedding album, and just how much impact does the photographer have on the memories of your day?  A lot.

I recently shot a portrait session with a lovely actress who was married in June last year.  She had seen my wedding photography website since then and started telling me how much she wanted to get married again so that I could shoot the wedding – such was the “nightmare” she was experiencing with her photographer.

She sent me a link to her wedding images and I clicked on the collection, expecting to see hideous poses, out of focus shots, selective colour, and ill-thought out effects.  However, much to my surprise, the images were actually quite good from a technical point of view.

The photographer clearly had a good understanding of composition, the backgrounds were nice and soft, and the main subjects were always pin-sharp.

The images were just a little bit ordinary.  Perfectly fine.  Acceptable.  Nice.  However, the emotion of a wedding tends to magnify feelings and as this particular bride didn’t want “nice and ordinary” she started to loathe the pictures.

Now, when choosing your photographer it really is important to think about the style you want captured as each photographer will be different.  The tendency to categorise styles, with reportage and photojournalism on one side, and classical on the other does little to help the bride understand the differences between each photographer.

The first thing to do is ask any of your married friends if they have had a great experience with their wedding photographer.  If they have, and you like the images in their album then put that photographer on your shortlist.

Next you’ll need to start researching other photographers to add to your shortlist.  A google search is probably the best place to start to find photographers in your area.  When you look at the websites consider the feeling you get from them.  Does the website look fresh and modern and is it easy to navigate?

A photographer who has invested in their website is one who has passion and who is concerned with the image they are presenting to the world.   A scruffy unkempt website is not a good sign at all.

If you get a good feeling from the website, next navigate to the gallery pages and asses the photographers work.  Do the images have a clear style?  Are they technically sound?  Has emotion really been captured?

When you have found a couple of photographers who have portfolios containing images that really excite you, check if what they offer is in your price bracket and what you want.  Some photographers will not post price lists on their website so find some who do before making any decisions.

Also, be aware of what is actually included in any wedding packages as this can make an initially cheap-looking photographer quite expensive when everything you want is added up, or a more expensive photographer better value when the quality of their products is considered.

There can seem a whole range of different products and services on offer in Wedding Photography, but what are the main things you need to consider – and what are the hidden traps that couples may not be aware of?

1.     Coverage – how long will the photographer be at your wedding?  A wedding day can be anything from 8 hours to 16 hours.   Make sure you are aware how many hours are covered and how much additional hours will cost, or find a photographer who offers Unlimited Coverage.

2.     Albums – is there a range of albums to display your images?  How many “spreads” are included in the quoted price, and how much are additional spreads?

3.    Personality – Do you have a sense of the photographers personality through their website?  Are they a fresh and fun wedding photographer, or staid and corporate?

4.    Blog – Does the photographer have a photography blog, and is it regularly updated?  A busy blog means the photographer is also busy.  It gives a great insight into their personality and can help you decide if this is the kind of person you would like at your wedding.  A photographer who updates their blog regularly is one who is excited about their work, and gives you an opportunity to see their very latest images.

5.    Similarity – can you see yourself in the images on the photographers website?  Are you similar to the couples he or she regularly shoots?  If the couples look like models and not “real” people then chances are the images are of models hired in or from training courses.  As the photographer directly if the images are from real weddings or pre-wedding shoots.

Follow this advice and you should have a short-list of photographers you can arrange to meet and see their work.  At this stage you need to check the quality of their albums matches the claims on their website and that their personality is one you feel comfortable with.  You will be spending a lot of time with your wedding photographer so it is vital you get on with them!