8 Ideas For Aisle Decorations

What a lovely UK summer we are having! Yesterday I attacked our garden so that we could have a BBQ today, which normally would result in a downpour of typical British rain. This morning however I was greeted by the sun pouring in the window! I hope you are all having a lovely Sunday, wherever you are in the world.

Today's Blog is going to be 8 ideas for aisle decorations. Here are a few ideas I have seen and think are so pretty. 

1) Glass Jars

What I really love about these is how simple yet pretty they are. If you are a flower person and having an outdoor wedding, or a venue with not much room for large flower vases this simple idea gives you the ability to put flowers on your aisle. Clear glass will go with any theme, change the flowers/colour of ribbon and instantly you have a decoration that will fit in with your wedding theme/colour. As I may have mentioned several times, I'm not a big flower person but I think these jars could be filled with a variety of things. Coloured sand for beach weddings, paper confetti, pebbles, petals, whatever takes your fancy.

2) Pew Bows

Bows are commonly used at the end of pews in weddings, what I love about these is once again they are so simple and you can buy these from a wedding decoration company or online quite cheaply. They are available in most colours to suit your wedding and even if you aren't having a church wedding these can easily be attached to most chairs.

3) Bay Trees

This is an idea my husband and I used. We had two at the top of the aisle, and two at the bottom. We tied a red ribbon on them and placed them in ivory plant pots to tie in with our colours. I would have inserted a picture of my own here but I can't find a good shot of them and they are hidden away at the back of our spare room not easily reached I'm afraid! I think bay trees are just so pretty and a lovely alternative to flowers. We were able to take them away and when we are done sorting our home out these will come in to use as house plants. Not always the cheapest idea depending on where you get them, but look around places like B&M, Home Bargains or wholesalers to get good deals. I think ours were about £12/£13 each.

4) Candles

Candles are romantic and the lighting they give is soft. I love the flicker of a candle flame. In the above picture they appear to have put petals in with the candles, which is so pretty and a great way to tie in your flowers/colour theme. Personally I'd probably just go for pillar candles in a large glass vase, but the petals do add a lovely touch. As much as I love this idea, I do also think you would have to have a very wide aisle. The last thing you want is to knock these over with your train. Other than that I think it's pretty and different.

5) Wicker hearts

I love these. So much so, that my husband and I had these for our aisle, we tied them to the chairs with red organza ribbons we had purchased on ebay. They are so simple, and of course hearts will go with any wedding! I purchased mine on ebay, but you can get them on etsy.com, amazon.com and so many other places. Shop around for a good deal. They usually come in plain wicker, white or cream, but if you wanted to and had the time you could buy spray paint and jazz them up a bit. Or why not look for other similar things to hang, such as faux starfish (perfect for a beach wedding) or even a bucket & spade!? The possibilities are endless.

6) Petals

Simple & romantic. Bit of a romantic at heart so this really appeals to me. If you are getting married in a church or other indoor venue be sure to check they don't mind you putting down petals as they will of course have to clean this up. As an alternative you can purchase Petal aisle runners (I think that is what they are called) where material/paper is covered with petals and you lay this on your aisle to walk on. Afterwards this can be rolled up and taken away, so a lot less clean up! 

7) Photos

As an alternative to the glass jars/wicker hearts, why not hang some pictures of you and your husband/wife to be from ribbon? I'm not sure this is something I would have used personally, but I do think it is such a unique idea. A very personal touch to a personal day!

8) Not even sure what to call these... Paper hearts on a stick?

For an outdoor wedding I just think this would be amazing and easily made your self. Just cut out hearts from thick paper/card in the colour of your choice and attach to sticks. Think cocktail sticks or BBQ skewers. Push them in to the ground at various heights lining your aisle. It's incredibly unique, easily adapted to your colour theme and BONUS... Cheap to do!

Well that my 8 ideas I have seen/liked/used. As per all my other wedding blogs, I think it's important to bear in mind where you are having your wedding and to check with any venues what they will or won't allow before you start purchasing anything. It's also a good idea to find out what will already be put in place for you. Some churches will have flowers there already and some venues will provide organza bows & ribbons in their packages. Check with your venue before you purchase anything. Within the limits that your venue and the budget you set yourself, I say anything goes! It's your wedding day so do what you want and what makes you and your partner happy! 

I hope this has given you some ideas and got those creative juices flowing! I also hope that you all enjoyed reading this. If you have any requests or comments please leave them in the comments box below or Email me. I'd also love to hear what you guys choose for your wedding day so let me know, or send me pictures :)

I'm off to have a BBQ with my husband & best friend now, I have no idea what my next blog will be, but I'm thinking maybe gift ideas for bridesmaids/groomsmen? 

As always, thanks for reading! 

Rachel xoxo

Seating your guests - Tips on Table Planning

There will come a time in your wedding planning, usually around 1 month before your wedding, that your venue/caterers/decoration companies will require final numbers of guests, a seating plan and details of where you want any extra tables (for cakes/gifts etc). 

This was one of the tasks I found a little daunting, it sounded like a lot of hard work, but once I sat down and got organised it wasn't any where near as difficult as I expected it to be. Read on for my hints & tips on planning where to put your guests and how to get all those final details pinned down in time.

• My first tip starts with your invitations. Make sure that you request RSVP's by 3 months prior to the date of your wedding. Although this may seem very early on and way in advance of when you need the figures, it will save you any headaches later on. This gives you time to chase up any late replies. It also means you can ensure you meet your minimum head count requirements. Most venues will have a minimum amount, and if you do not have this amount they will apply a room charge. For example, my venue required a minimum of 50 day guests and 100 evening. If when we supplied our final numbers we were short of this amount, they would apply a £250 charge to our final bill. This should have been explained when you signed the contract with your venue, but if you are unsure call your venue & double check to avoid a nasty surprise when you get your final bill.
• Also, don't forget to ask for any allergies or specific dietary requirements on your invites. We had a set menu, but if you are offering a choice then you will need to request the choice is given at the time of RSVP. If you include this on your plan it makes it a lot easier for the venue/caterers when they are serving the meal.
• Find out from your venue what size/shape tables they offer and any room layouts they use. If they regularly do weddings they will more than likely be able to tell you what will work best for the amount of guests you have. Bear in mind their recommendation doesn't have to be used, so don't be afraid to ask if you have a specific idea in mind. 
• Start off working out how many tables you will need in total and roughly how many guests per table you will have. Each table may have a slightly different amount of guests on it, but try to keep them as even as possible. To give you an idea I calculated it like this: I had 52 guests in the day. 10 were on my top table, leaving 42 guests to seat. I put 8 on table 1, 10 on table 2, 8 on table 3, 10 on table 4, 6 on table 5. It wasn't the same on each table as certain couples, or groups had to be sat together but it worked out with a nice distribution across the room.
• Next draw on a piece of paper how your tables will be laid out, leaving plenty of room to write names. Here's how mine looked before the names were applied:

• You don't have to have the same lay out, you could have rows of long rectangular tables for your guests, a round top table, square tables, all the tables in a arch, or pretty much what ever you want within reason. Put this in to a simple plan as above, showing exactly how you want the tables laid out, including where you want the cake, gift table, guest book etc.
• Traditionally on the top table you would seat the Bride and Groom centrally and then working outwards the parents would sit either side followed by the best man and maid of honour. But you don't have to follow this tradition, if you already have children you may want them on the top table with you, or if you have divorced and remarried parents, you may want your step parents on your table too. Generally you will have about 10 people on the top table. Try and be fair, so if you have a sister or brother on the top table, don't leave out your other half's siblings.
• Next work through your guest tables. As an example we filled table 1,2 & 3 with our families, table 4 with our dearest friends, and table 5 was good friends & colleagues. I personally felt it was right to have our families on the tables nearest to us, but it's a choice you and you spouse-to-be will need to make together. 
• Once we had worked out who was going to be on each table I started to think of the logistics. For example, our grandparents I put on the seats closest to us, but facing us so they didn't have to twist around during the speeches and struggle to hear, I surrounded them by their children and grandchildren. Mainly because that's who they want to be sat with, not my younger friends who want to have a giggle and mess about. I put children in between adults and not together on one table separately. If they get tired, or need help with cutting their food (for example) they will want their parents to help, not another child they probably have never met before. You don't have to group your guests in this way, and if there is a family feud, you may find a table of relatives isn't a good idea. But for us we felt it worked well and everyone was sat with someone they knew well so they could have a good natter and not feel left out.
• Once you have written down where you want each guest sat on the plan it's time to include allergies, menu choices, or other special arrangements. We wrote a key on our plan as follows: C = Child, V = Vegetarian, P = Peanut Allergy, H = High chair. We didn't offer a menu choice but if you did then either use 1 = menu 1 etc or M = meat, F = fish. Next to each person in brackets include the corresponding code. For example my table place was written as - Bride (P). The venue knew I had to have no Peanuts near my plate and knew where I was sat (as if the big white dress doesn't give it away) when bringing out the different courses.
• I put the plan away for a week and then went back to it to make sure it was exactly how I wanted it. I gave a copy to the venue at our last meeting, and the night before the wedding we went over it with our event co-ordinator to make sure there were no changes.
• We did our own centerpieces so I didn't include this information on the plan, although our venue were a huge help setting up. If, however, a company are setting up for you, or you have specific table names, variations on decorations for different tables or any other detail you want to be perfect then I suggest you include this on the plan. For example if half your tables are in red, and the other half in gold, then write on the plan which ones are which colour. This will avoid any last minute panics on the day.
• If you have a decoration company, or someone setting up for you then make sure they get a copy of this seating plan. Even though you can tell companies or little helpers what you want, if it is written down they can refer back to your plan and make sure everything is how you wanted it. It just saves stress, arguments and confusion for all parties involved.

This all may seem common sense, or even rather simplistic, but I looked online and found the best thing was to keep it simple. There were many complicated plans, long blogs and articles on etiquette & tradition but it was too complex. I decided that it was best to keep it simple & include the important information such as dietary requirements. It worked for us, with the venue commenting how thorough yet easy to interpret our plan was. So I suggest you avoid big pin boards and over complicated table lay outs. Simple means less mistakes can be made!

I was lucky that my venue supplied a Table Plan outside the door of our room for guests to check where they were sat. This was part of our package. If you want to make one yourself or if your venue doesn't supply one you can do this to match your theme, without getting overly expensive. If you want my ideas on an actual Seating Plan Board for the Wedding Day then let me know in the comments below. I will do some research and attempt to make one myself before I write a post for you. 

My last piece of advice is, do not get stressed over numbers, who is eating what and who is sitting where. It is your big day, and you are marrying the love of your life. If it makes life easy on you then have a set menu, if someone doesn't turn up then it's not the end of the world. So long as your spouse is there, your wedding is legal and you two are happy then that's what is important. The rest is just added extras.

I hope you enjoyed and I hope it has helped some of you bride/grooms even just a little bit! 

As Always Thanks For Reading :)