Planning
“It is the bride who can learn to let go, that will have the most successful and enjoyable day”.
Just imagine planning the most important day in someone else’s life – as a full time job! Not only do you have to deal with a bride and groom who want their wedding day to be perfect (of course!) but you have to juggle the constant ear bashing of their family members. We caught up with two industry professionals who’ve mastered the art of wedding planning. Whether you’re planning your own wedding, or hiring a professional this is a must read…
Could you please tell us how Amore came to be?
Hemali and I co-founded Amore just over three years ago. We met whilst working at another wedding planning company. Unfortunately the owner of that company closed down due to ill health. Despite leaving that company, we were still getting approached by past clients to help plan their family member or friend’s wedding. As we started to get back in touch with our suppliers, they all said that we were the face of the company and that we should set up our own. We had always had a fantastic relationship with our suppliers and worked well together, and so we did. The rest, as they say, is history…
So if I was a blushing bride, what services could your company offer?
As wedding planners, we have built up a huge database of suppliers covering all aspects of planning a wedding. However we have vetted a preferred few in each category that we recommend foremost to our clients as our ‘Approved list of suppliers’. These are companies, who we know from experiences, are professional, fair in their pricing, reputable and we know won’t let our clients down. (the market has become so saturated and competitive that it’s difficult to tell the difference between the good and the bad). And having built up a relationship with Amore, they are always willing to offer some form of discount to our clients or go that extra mile.
We offer a range of different services from a complete wedding planning and coordination package, to a more bespoke service where clients can opt to buy in services from our preferred suppliers. Whichever service our clients opt for, we offer advice on all elements of the wedding and tend to get phone calls filled with questions and advice from the parents, siblings, uncles, aunts etc. Since we are planning probably the most expensive and memorable day in not only the lives of our couple’s but their families also, it is important to us that we get to know the families on a personal level. We have to say, our favourite part of any wedding / wedding related event is on the day itself when the family members come up to us with smiles and hugs, looking relaxed, stress free and thank us for all our hard work. It’s great seeing months of hard work come together on the actual day and appreciation is like the icing on the cake.
Now I know that you Urvashi married recently, what was it like planning your own wedding and what were the major highs and lows?
My husband is also in the wedding industry; he runs a highly sought after videography company, Shaadi Videography. We therefore had a lot of pressure on us as expectations were extremely high of our big day. However we thoroughly enjoyed every moment of working with our trusted suppliers and friends within the industry to create three truly amazing wedding events; a civil wedding day, mehndi night and the big Indian wedding. Having both been involved in so many weddings, we know what works and what doesn’t. We therefore created a wedding day that was elegant yet informal, with great attention to detail. Stemming from our Indian Summer theme and colour scheme throughout our wedding stationery, mandap and flowers, to ensuring there was ample food served throughout the day with our favourite signature dishes created especially for us and selecting entertainment that was both interactive and unique. It was important to us that our wedding reflected our personalities and would stand out in our guests minds. I can’t say there were any major lows, as thanks to my wonderful Amore team, everything went to plan! However with so much else to do such as juggling full time work with countless shopping trips, arranging overseas guest accommodation, preparing for pre-wedding events etc there were times when I thought had I not been a wedding planner I would have definitely hired one!
What advice would you give to a bride and groom planning their wedding in less than six months?
You must be organised and set yourself weekly targets as well as a deadline to have everything done at least two weeks before the celebrations begin. It can be both emotionally and physically draining and the last thing you want is to not have been organised from the offset and find yourself running around frantically during your wedding week. Be realistic as to how far your budget will stretch and about the limitations to what will be on offer at short notice. Couples planning short lead weddings must be willing to be more flexible with their requirements. Also don’t try and do everything yourself; delegate but only to the people around you who you know are organised and responsible. Finally contact us at Amore! Remember we have all the reputable suppliers you will need and we know what is and isn’t possible in any particular timeframe. From having 18 months to 1 month to plan a wedding, we’ve done it all!
Finally what have you learnt most about brides after spending so much time with them?
There are two types of brides that we come across; the bride who worries and stresses about everything and the bride who knows what she wants and plans her wedding with confidence. From our experience, it is the bride who can learn to let go, that will have the most successful and enjoyable day, and it’s this latter category that most of our bride’s fall into. Our advice to any bride who isn’t looking to hire a wedding planner, is to plan your wedding with utmost precision and delegate so that you can confidently let go and enjoy yourself on the day. After months of planning, the day itself goes so quickly and it’s a shame to see a bride worrying about things going on around her rather than enjoying the moment.
Flowers & Plants Association flowers.org.uk
Flowers have been given new and alternative meanings to ensure their meanings still have relevance for today’s brides and grooms.
The Flowers & Plants Association felt it was time to give the language a bit of a makeover to bring a new, updated meaning to flowers, that suits both florists’ and customers’ needs better.
The tradition started in the time of Queen Victoria, as a way for her subjects to send secret messages through gifts of flowers when it was deemed unseemly to openly express emotions. The meanings were written down in special dictionaries, and the language of flowers was born. Beech was used to represent ancient knowledge, blossom to express good fortune, and lilac to symbolise first love.
The new and alternative meanings are based on the flower’s folklore, botanical or common name, visual appearance or the sound of the name, to create a language of flowers for the 21st century.
Here’s just a taster of the association’s new flowers and plants meanings and what they can say to today’s modern lovers and friends.
Floriography – 21st century style
Alstroemeria – You’re so pretty
Amaranthus – Thank you for mending my broken heart
Ammi – You’re my queen
Aster – You’re a star
Begonia (flowering) – I love your smile
Begonia Rex – Thanks for your patience
Capsicum – You’re hot
Carnation – Your beauty is timeless
Chrysanthemum – You bring me laughter and happiness
Cornflower – You’re so funny
Cosmos – I love you more than chocolate
Craspedia – You light up my world
Dahlia – You’re great
Echeveria – I’m sticking around
Eucharis – I’ll love you forever
Ficus – I want to grow old with you
Gerbera – Cheer up
Gladioli – You’re so glamorous
Gloriosa – You’re my hero
Heliconia – Hello, gorgeous!
Hyacinth – You’re a lady
Jasmine – Fancy a cuppa?
Kalanchoe – You’re the Queen bee
Lathyrus – Sweetie pie
Lily – You’re so sexy
Lisianthus – Thinking of you
Muscari – With love
Nigella – I love your curves
Passionflower – I want to seduce you
Peony – You’re girly and great
Poppy – I can’t get enough of you
Protea – I love your muscles
Ranunculus – I’ll run to you
Red rose – I love you
Solidago/Solidaster – I love your smile
Solomon’s Seal – Sealed with a kiss
Tulip – You’re priceless
Vanda – You’ve got va va voom!
White rose – You’re my soul mate
Zantedeschia – I’m impressed
Zinnia – You’re crazy but cute
Flowers & Plants Association flowers.org.uk
There are hundreds of flowers that hold special meanings … these are some of our favourites…
Amaryllis (Hippeastrum) – splendid beauty, pride
Arum lily, calla (Zantedeschia) – magnificent beauty
Bluebell (Scilla) – constancy, forgive and forget
Campanula – white, gratitude
Carnation – red – “alas for my poor heart”; striped – refusal; yellow – disdain; pink – woman’s love
Cockscomb celosia – affectation, individuality
Chrysanthemum – red – “I love you”; yellow – slighted love; white – truth
Daffodil – regard, chivalry
Dahlia – good taste
Forget-me-not (Myosotis) – true love, “the key to my heart”
Freesia – friendship
Garden Pink (Dianthus) – pure love
Gladiolus – strength of character
Hyacinth – blue – constancy; white – unobtrusive loveliness
Iris – yellow – flame of love
Lilac (Syringa) – purple – first emotions of love; white – youthful innocence
Longi Lily (Lilium longiflorum) – pure and modest
Lily of the valley (Convallaria) – return of happiness
Love lies bleeding (Amaranthus) – hopeless, not heartless
Mimosa (Acacia) – sensitivity, secret love
Narcissus – self esteem, female ambition
Orange blossom – bridal festivities, virginity,
Orchid – longevity, elegance
Peony – bashfulness
Rose – symbolises love & good fortune; white – truth; white with pink blush – “only for thee”; large bright pink – “meet me by moonlight”; single stem – simplicity; red & white together – unity; small yellow – “thou art all that is lovely”; rosebuds – pure and lovely; red – eternal love; crown of blooms – reward of virtue
Rudbeckia – justice
Snowdrop – hope
Solidago – encouragement
Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum) – purity
Stock (Matthiola) – lasting beauty
Sunflower dwarf – adulation
Sweet pea – departure, delicate pleasures
Tuberose – dangerous pleasure
Tulip – red – declaration of love; striped – beautiful eyes
Veronica – fidelity
Violet – faithfulness, modesty
For more ideas on how to use flowers on your big day do visit the Flowers and Plants Association
Cupcakes: so last season sweetie. The hot new trend from the States making its way to our shores is decorated cookies. With the launch of world renowned cake designer Lindy Smith’s latest book, Bake Me I’m yours…Cookie, a craze for decorated cookies is set to burst into our lives.
Fairy cakes and biscuits were taken by our American cousins, given a transatlantic twist, and are now being fed back to us as cupcakes and decorated cookies. Stateside, decorated cookies are used as gifts and treats where a longer lasting nibble is needed, or where different shapes, sizes and colours are called for.
Not to be beaten at our own game, Lindy has seized the opportunity with the launch of her new book to show how creative us Brits can be. Wannabe US Martha Stewarts stick to their tradition of using royal icing on cookies and are thus limited in the effects they can create. Lindy takes the blank canvas of a biscuit and turns it into a work of art through the use of sugarpaste: there is an entire chapter on wedding favours – perfect for the couple who wish to say ‘thank you’ to their guests in style!
She’s even created her own range of cookie cutters priced from £4.25 to £7.60 to help you create your very own masterpieces – on sale at http://www.lindyscakes.co.uk.
The winter season brings out the festive moods in everybody. With white snow as the background, any colour stands out and gives a gorgeous look.
Winter wedding stationery could involve everything to do with the ‘winter season’ including festive colours and ornaments, snow covered trees, poinsettias, mistletoe, holly and snow flaked designs.
If you are choosing wedding colours for winter weddings think of deep red, forest green and ice blue.
The traditional red and green is a natural choice for Christmas time wedding stationery but for a twist, deck up the invitations in elegant gold and silver or navy blue and light blue.
Swarovski crystals and diamante embellishments will add a welcome sparkly extra.
The snowflake theme will continue to be very popular for winter weddings. We suggest scattering snowflake confetti into the invitation envelope to carry on the theme and create some fun and excitement.
Clean and crisp as fresh snow in winter, a classic silver and white wedding theme is an automatically elegant winter wedding stationery colour theme.
Elegant and modern, purple is also a great choice for adding a modern splash of colour to the winter wedding. For a royal feel to your wedding day, rich purple and shimmering silver create a truly majestic and enchanting winter wedding colour scheme.
The fresh and contemporary lime green – a fanciful and luxurious twist to traditional green, coupled with gold and white add flair and fancy to the winter wedding theme.
Instead of combining the snowflake with typical seasonal motifs such as snow-capped trees, holly, bells, mistletoe etc, ananya (www.ananyacards.com) suggests brides use something different and distinctive for invitations for their special day. Using colours and motifs of winter combined with something unexpected gives an interesting twist to wedding invitations. We suggest combining contemporary Western motifs with more traditional ethnic, Eastern designs.
The intricate design of the paisley is combined with subtle snowflakes to merge ethnicity with seasonal charm. The modest colour of the snowflake is perfectly harmonised with the bright colour of the paisley.
Using the colours of the season, the Christmas tree green is combined with the festive red. For a more contemporary look, purple has been combined with silver to give a regal and enchanting look.
For further information about ananya and our wedding stationery, please visit our website www.ananyacards.com
Guest Blog by Nazma, fashion spectator who blogs @ Asian Fashion Blog
It’s that time of year again, wedding exhibitions and shows are happening every weekend up and down the country. Should you attend them all? Are they worth the entry free? There’s no right or wrong answer…some of them are good, some are bad but from personal experience, I went to at least 5 wedding exhibitions the year I got married and I’m glad I did. Here are my top tips for getting the most out of these shows:
1. Don’t take the whole world with you!
If you’re serious about planning your wedding and finding some suppliers then you need to be selective in who you take with you. I’d say limit your group to 4 or 5 people maximum, because any more than that and the group will restrict your browsing and probably get in the way of all the other attendees. If you absolutely must take the whole family and all of your friends, split up when you’re checking out the exhibitors so you can talk to suppliers without your posse standing around looking bored!
2. Have a rough idea of what you’re looking for before you go.
Are you looking for a venue? A dress? A make-up artist? Has your rich uncle already agreed to let you use his Bentley? Knowing what you need will help you decide which stands to check out, plus if you know that you’ve already got something sorted then there’s no need to waste time by browsing exhibitors who offer that service or product (unless of course you want to take a look anyway!)
3. Be patient
Some exhibition stands will be busier than others, at the Asiana Show in Birmingham this year there was hardly any room to move at the Parisa Accessories stand because people were buying all their sparkly products! If you like the look of something it’s worth the wait to talk to them, even if you have to go for a walk and then come back.
4. Don’t be shy – ask lots of questions and show an interest
After you’ve waited patiently to speak to someone, or even if you didn’t have to wait, don’t be shy! Tell them what you’re looking for, ask them their prices, availability, locations covered and if you like their product/service then say so. In order to get people to make a booking, a lot of the exhibitors offer discounts or offers to people they speak to on the day so show an interest and you might get something in return. This is how I got a 10% off voucher from Arinder Bhullar for my wedding outfit, and more recently at the Asiana Birmingham show one of the exhibitors was promoting an upcoming wedding exhibition in Manchester, I was speaking to them and mentioned I was planning to go and he gave me two complimentary tickets! I saved myself £15 there
5. Make notes
Take a pen and paper with you. You will undoubtedly be given millions of leaflets and flyers but these won’t necessarily tell you all info you’ve gathered from talking to people…and after a long day of looking at loads of wedding stuff it can be hard to remember who you spoke to and what they said. Making a few notes will help you remember who designed that amazing dress you saw in the 3rd part of the catwalk show, or which florist made those centre-pieces that you fell in love with and must have!
6. Don’t be disheartened if you don’t find what you want
All of the exhibitors at the shows are in the wedding business, and most of them will have a lot of contacts. So if you can’t find the extremely rare hire car you want, or the portable indoor water feature you’ve always dreamed of for your wedding, ask around because the chances are somebody there will know a supplier who can get it for you.
Click here to read more written by our guest blogger on her own blog, Asian Fashion Blog
As a wedding writer and editor, people take it as a given that you’ve been planning your big day since you graduated from nappies. But here’s my confession: while I know exactly which suppliers to recommend to my readers, I haven’t got a clue what to pick for myself. I was never the type to think about my own wedding – after years on the singles circuit I didn’t think Mr Right even existed. Then along came Rob, and despite myself, I fell in love with him, and subsequently the idea of being together until we were old and wrinkly.
We’d always talked openly about getting married but he officially popped the question in January 2010 while we were on holiday in Malaysia. I endured weeks of ‘I’ve bought you a ring from Argos’ teases, but when he properly did it at the top of a waterfall, it was a sparkler from Hatton Gardens. Next came figuring out what type of wedding we were going to have. As Rob is from New Zealand and I’m a South Indian Hindu, our wedding is going to be a bit of both. But here’s the conundrum – when it comes to East meets West weddings, where do you draw the line? I have a deep fear of fusion weddings being décor and food disasters – by trying so hard to be in the middle, it ends up being neither here nor there. The only solution is to have a proper full-on religious ceremony and as for the reception – well, watch this space.
One thing that’s helped immensely has been talking to other brides. I can hear it in their voices – the ones that were probably hell for the family and guests, and the ones that were just really happy. I’d like to be the latter, so I’m going to get people involved, and ask them what they’d like. What’s my dad’s favourite song? My mum’s favourite flowers? I’m lucky that my mum and Rob agree on a lot of things – they are nature-lovers and both want Indian food and a venue near London. Finding the right venue is currently giving me the most stress – but it’s bearable because I know everything else will slot into place once that’s booked. I still haven’t decided on a theme but I love the idea of vintage Indian. Bring on the sari mandaps, Zeenat Aman and dancing till dawn.
Poorna Shetty is The former editor of Asiana Wedding. Poorna has also worked for The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, Cosmopolitan and The Sunday Times Style and Travel magazines. In addition, she also works as a mainstream travel and women’s features writer, and was shortlisted for a Women of The Future Award in 2007. You can follow her blog at www.theasianweddingeditorsguide.blogspot.com
No idea what to get the wedding couple, looking for something special but can’t find it anywhere? The Asian Wedding is here to help, we’re going to be featuring quirky and unusual gifts for the wedding couple in this series. This time around we focus on ART.
If you’re looking to buy the bride and groom something they can treasure, then Zoe Reece, from The White Lounge is here to help. Here she offers her advice:
“Buying a present for a friend’s wedding is difficult – you often end up buying something you wouldn’t normally have chosen from the wedding list. As a friend you don’t want to buy something functional like a toaster, you want to buy something personal that you know the bride and groom can enjoy. That’s where art comes in – it’s a thoughtful and unique gift that the bride and groom can treasure always as a permanent keepsake of their special day. You can select an art work that has hidden meaning for the couple, which represents something special to them or just to remind them of the special day. It will also last long into the future! To spread the cost of a buying a piece of art, a group of friends or family can get together to give an artwork making it an even more special present.”
We’re simply inclined to agree! So if you’re looking to receive something that just isn’t the normal kind of thing, send your nearest and dearest a link to this feature!
You can buy lots of Art online, or check out more at The White Lounge.
Leave A Comment