We have moved!

Much as I've loved inhabiting this little pocket of cyberspace for the past couple of years they do say a change is as good as a holiday, and it is definitely time for a change. So my blog will now be joining the rest of my site, that's wearing some brand new clothes.

So please head on over to www.savoirweddings.com/blog to see more.

Thank you!

Antoinette meets Austen inspired shoot

When I started working as a wedding planner and stylist I had no idea that within a couple of years I'd get to work with some crazy creative people and work on projects like this shoot.

The idea was to create something evocative and atmospheric rather than detail heavy, and pretty much as soon as I decided on the concept -   two brides, Antoinette, Austen and gorgeous English country gardens - I already knew who I wanted to work with.

And let's just say they did not disappoint! See the end of the post for supplier details, but in the meantime...

A teaser...

Sarah Gawler

... from last week's shoot. Working with the dream team was amazing. The models were brilliant and even the weather held out for us.

Can't wait to show you more.

Time to get into the groove

Good morning and welcome to another week folks! Today's what does a wedding planner actually do is all about creating the right working environment, (as inspired by Madonna and her ability to get into that groove).

Everyone is different but I think most people benefit from working set hours in a proper location i.e a desk, not your bed, the sofa, floor etc.

Creating a decent work space for yourself gives you more pride in your work, makes you feel more focused and helps spark creativity.

Before I purchased my snazzy orange Ikea desk I worked at the dining room table. Which wasn't great as it's in the same room as the TV. And somehow Neighbours and Home and Away were always on. Working in the lounge meant I would just pop the TV on for company - Jeremy Kyle, Loose Women, yep, all that trashy TV became the background noise to my work.

But now I have a clean, (most of the time), work space, which is just for work and whilst I work better with some sound, the company of the radio is far preferable to people shouting on Jeremy Kyle. Because if it's a case of sorting out my insurance, or watching a man who fathered his sister's best friend's child's baby, which one's most likely to win out?

What about you? Where's your favourite place to work?

To haggle or not to haggle?

Pound purse from Alphabet Bags

I thought I'd start the week with a contentious issue - the subject of haggling.

There are certain areas of life where haggling is okay/expected and others where it's not.

You go to a car boot sale and they say £10, you say £5 and so on.

But you go to the hairdressers and they say £40, you don't say £25. In fact, can you imagine doing that? The receptionist would look at you like you're crazy and tell you the price is £40. 

So how does this all apply in the wedding industry? Brides are constantly told to get their money's worth and try to negotiate. Which is fine but can lead to this kind of scenario:

Bride: 'How much is your XYZ service?

Wedding planner/photographer/insert any wedding professional: For that service the cost will be ABC.

Bride: I'd like to pay DEF, can you do that?

W.P: Well possibly, but it won't be the above service, it will be JKL.

Bride: But I'd like the XYZ service.

W.P: Well then I'm afraid you'll have to pay for it.

If you're not totally confused by my XYZs and so on, let me try to explain.

I am not saying that trying to get a good deal and negotiating are 'not allowed' in weddings or that it shouldn't be done, but there are ways to go about it that are fair to both parties.

If somebody enquires about a service of mine, I give them the quote based on a variety of factors. This quote is what I feel is fair to both the bride and myself. No one gets into wedding planning to get rich quick! We do it out of love, but do have to try run a business at the same time.

So if the bride tells me that's higher than she expected, I ask her what she wanted to pay. And then where possible I try to create a bespoke package that she can afford but that is financially worth me doing too. So I'll offer less hours, or less meetings, or some way to reduce the price but still be fair. Basically I'm prepared to negotiate. Up to a point.

And the same applies when approaching wedding photographers for instance. If a photographer says on their website their fee is £1800 for 7 hours, and you say you'll give them £1500, the photographer will most likely say no. And be a bit affronted. If you only have £1500, then by all means ask if they are willing to do it for 5 hours for instance.

Negotiating on price in essence is a good thing, (I do it a lot for my clients obviously), but it's the way you do it that counts, especially when it comes to individuals running their own businesses - planners, photographers, stationers etc. These people have set their prices for a reason - it's what they think is fair to both themselves and their clients - and it's important to respect that.

My advice to those dealing with hagglers - be polite and flexible where possible - but don't forget to respect yourself and your business at the same time, otherwise you'll take a job on but be resentful, and that's not worth it for anyone.

Chalk hearts and paper love

Afternoon my dears, taking a little break for preparing for Saturday's wedding (please no rain) to bring you photos of a mini shoot I did recently.

Gaelle, aka oh la la weddings and I first worked together on a make up shoot and since then we can't stop planning collaborative projects.

This shoot features the lovely Rachel and Damien, a super sweet couple who recently got married in Australia.

We wanted to show how something as simple as coloured bits of paper cut up as confetti can be a fun prop for a love or engagement shoot.

You could even re-use the confetti on your wedding day if you felt like it.

 

How cute are they?!

And it's always interesting as a wedding planner to see how a photographer works. Gaelle is mighty talented and creative and I'm looking forward to working with her lots more!

You can see another shoot I recently styled here.

70s inspired shoot

Not so long ago on a blustery Sunday afternoon myself and Jemma from Pearl Pictures, (and her sweet assistant Grace) got together to do a mini love shoot featuring me and my boy.

You don't have to be engaged to have yourself a little love shoot (as I myself am not)! And lots of good photographers now offer themselves and their camera for an afternoon of happy snapping, so it's a perfect idea if you maybe didn't get the wedding pics you wanted. Or perhaps you're already married and fancy some up to date photos taken by a pro.

And you can style them any way you want which is why I've focused on the props in this shoot. I've been having a seventies moment of late so brought along some of my most suitable props for the occasion.

The weather was TERRIBLE. It was so windy I felt like I was about to take off which didn't make it easy to look happy and relaxed. A good lesson though, that you can't control the weather ;)

Think in general I prefer the behind-the-scenes-styling to the in-front-of-lens-posing. Props, as they say, to Jemma for handling such challenging weather and models!

 Pearl Pictures

I do styling for engagement shoots for my couples too and am looking forward in particular to one of my 2012 couples. I think they're going to have some interesting ideas!

What about you? If you were going to do a love/engagement shoot how would you want to style it?

Attempting to avoid social media burnout

This pic has no relevance to this post, except that photography is one of my new hobbies. 

Which I have time for now I'm not on Twitter so much.

I'm starting the week with a personal post. About my relationship with Twitter. There has been quite a bit written lately about social media and Twitter in particular and how as a self employed wedding industry pro it can affect you.

I love Annabel and Lucy's posts on the subject and they both got me thinking and made me realise something I hadn't really noticed before.

I 'check' Twitter far too often. Often when I have nothing to say. It's like a compulsion.

And not only that but it makes me feel something I haven't felt since being a geeky teenager, totally left out. There's something about it that sometimes makes you feel as if everybody is going to one big party you haven't received an invitation too. And the desire to 'check' is even more strong on low days. When you've had a bad day, feel threatened by the competition or just generally feel uninspired by yourself.

You know you've got a problem when you're experiencing something -  a nice meal for instance, or you find a good shop and your first thought is, 'ooh, must tweet this'.

So last week I made a decision to only tweet during office hours. From 9 - 5.30 I can tweet my little heart out but the evenings are for my REAL LIFE! No blogging either. Or Facebook. Or any type of social media. I know this sounds dramatic but I want my life back! And I removed the apps from my phone too. How much mindless 'checking' do I do without even noticing it?! I decided to use the time to 'take up hobbies'. Like photography and learning the guitar. How very twee of me, eh?

One of the reasons I became a wedding planner is because I like people. I like engaging with other human beings face to face. There are loads of local people on Twitter that I follow and am interested in. So I made a decision to contact them directly and arrange to meet up for coffee/wine which I've started to do. It's not as easy as tweeting and you can't do it as often but it's much more fun.

Twitter is vital for promoting yourself in the wedding industry. And I ain't no fool. I'm not going to delete my account or do anything drastic. But I am getting some perspective on it all. There's a big wide world out there to explore after all.

I've got to say once again thank you to Annabel and Lucy and all the other posts I've read on this recently. In a small way, you've helped me change my life for the better. And that, I suppose, is proof of the positive power of social media. So it's not all bad ;)

P.S I should point out how amazingly this new plan has been working out. I'm even sleeping better! So newbie wedding planners, watch yourselves, you don't want to get social media burnout like this planner nearly did.

70s inspired photoshoot preview

Jemma Watts Photography (Pearl Pictures)

Way back in chilly March, I got in touch with my photographer friend Jemma from Pearl Pictures to ask if she wanted to shoot a photo shoot I had an idea for.  We've known each other for quite a while and never yet worked together so I thought it would be be a good opportunity to join forces and have some fun.

Which it was. But windy. Oh so windy. And as any planner or photographer knows, wind can be worse than rain for taking photos. But we got there in the end and even though it felt a bit like an endurance test we're pretty happy with the results!

Music, blogs, and magazines and other news...

savoir weddings news

Phew what a week last week was. Looking forward to this one being less manic! Aside from dramas with Blogger (which I'm sure a lot of you experienced), my friend and business buddy Charley and I launched We Plan, You Play which was launched through Rock n roll Bride. A wedding music blog designed to help couples compile their wedding playlists.

Nothing beats live music and all but for the hours you have an iPod running you have to think about each and every song that plays at your wedding. Especially as there's nothing worse than the wrong music for destroying the mood. And coming from a music events background I am particularly keen on encouraging clients to think about their wedding music and We Plan, You Play aims to do just that! So go check it out and let me know what you think!

Last week was also pretty cool because Nina and Patrick's wedding was featured in Wedding Magazine and I designed a mood board for Annabel over at Love my Dress - a rustic charm board, the first of three May inspired boards.

the wedding fair

Not a fan of wedding fairs in general, this is one I can get behind the idea of...



See the website here for more details. I figured this was something interesting when I read this on their site:

Wedding coming up? Fed up of sprawling soulless commercial wedding fairs? Compact and bijoux, get personal at Craft Central! All you need to add a handmade touch to the big day. From bride to evening guest, there’s something for everyone...

Sounds good no?

Have a good week my dears!

Savoir couple in Wedding Magzine

Super pleased to see the one of my couples, the lovely Nina & Patrick and their wedding in Wedding Magazine out now.



Yay!

What does a wedding planner actually do? Part 6

via French by Design (awesome blog, check it out)

When I set up my wedding planning & styling company a lot of people - friends, family, randoms responded with, 'Oh, okay, so.. what exactly do you do'? Which being slighly paranoid, I heard as, 'Oh, okay so you charge people for things they could do themselves'?

Now fast forward a couple of years and I'm less sensitive about this issue. It's true, and I've said it before, wedding planning isn't rocket science. It falls into two main categories - organisation & research (the planning), + creativity and an eye for detail (the styling). Which require skill and ability sure, but we're not exactly doing brain surgery over here.

In many ways I see being a wedding planner as similar to being a mum (not that I am one so it's kind of conjecture but anyway). You work damn hard and are excellent at multi tasking, staying calm in a crisis and so on and yet in the eyes of many, it's not a real job.

I'm not saying this to whine about how misunderstood we wedding planners are, but just to draw your attention to the quote above, (found via Amma from Beyond Beyond on Pinterest incidentally, cheers for that).

Common sense is not that common.

Damn straight.

So yes, wedding planning isn't rocket science and yes most people can manage it. But that doesn't mean they're good at it. Or it won't stress them out.

And if you're wondering whether hiring a planner is worth it, and whether you can do it yourself, well yes you can probably. But the key skill, if you'd call it that, that wedding planners possess, is common sense. Which is among other things, what wedding planning is really. And as Voltaire wisely put it, that ain't that common.

What does a wedding planner actually do? Part 5

Help create the running order of the day...


Lavender champagne from Martha Stewart Weddings

A key part of a successful and enjoyable wedding is the atmosphere. Which mainly boils down to how the guests and bride & groom obviously, are feeling. Atmsophere is made up of sights, smells, sounds and and it's peoples' interpretations of these, that collectively creates the atmosphere.

So it stands to reason a good way to keep the atmosphere good at your wedding, is to keep the guests happy.

And a good way to keep guests happy is to think about timings. This seems to be one of the areas a lot of couples worry about, if my couples are anything to go by.

From how long the ceremony should last to what time to serve the wedding breakfast, the wedding day running order makes a big difference to the overall feel of the day. We've all been to weddings where you're hanging around after the ceremony whilst the bride and groom have their photos taken. You've got a glass of champagne but you haven't eaten for hours and it's nearly 3.30pm and there's no sign that you'll be fed anytime soon.

These kind of moments aren't great for guests and are definitely something you want to try to avoid. You want charmed, relaxed, happy and satiated guests and the best way to guarantee this is to get the running order right.

Every wedding is different and what's right for one couple and one wedding doesn't necessarily apply to another. But there are some general good rules/guides to follow and understanding timings is one of the main skills of being a wedding planner. We know roughly how long things take, and when you're most likely going to want to move things along. This comes partly from experience, but it's also a skill that every good wedding planner should have.

Interviews, photo shoots and Royals

Happy Bank Holiday lovely readers! I hope you had a splendid Easter weekend. Here's this week's Monday Medley...

the interview/photo shoot


from oh la la weddings

On Friday I met up with two rather talented ladies to work on an interview feature with a little make up shoot. I'll be blogging full details later this week but here's a little sneak peek. One of the things I love best about my job is all the interesting and creative people I've been able to meet and/or work with. Liv from Blushless and Gaelle from oh la la weddings and I have a couple of other projects up our collective sleeve and I can't wait to share them with you.


the royal wedding

I have to be honest, I don't really care about the royal wedding. It feels almost blasphemous to say so but I get far more excited about 'real' weddings. And being self employed I can't even get excited about the bank holiday as I'll be working. Grumbling aside, however there is one aspect I am intrigued about shall we say and that's the dress. I know whatever design house and design is chosen will pretty much dominate the bridal industry for a couple of years. Whether it's Bruce Oldfield, Alexander McQueen, Alice Temperley, the much lesser known Sophie Cranston or somebody else entirely, I will definitely be checking out the gown.

On a different note, an estimated 2 billion people will tune in at some point to watch the wedding. No pressure then. I would be absolutely terrified I would trip up or accidentally swear or do something else entirely inappropriate!


the web chat

And with the Royal wedding around the corner everyone is naturally talking about weddings. Which has also led to lots of talk about being a wedding planner (which I have blogged about here). And you can join me and a selection of other fab wedding planning pros on Wednesday 27th April as part of the Guardian's live web chat discussing how to become a wedding planner. It's between 1pm - 4pm on the 27th and you can sign up here so you don't miss out.

A slightly sickly Monday Medley

What a week last week was! Working with new clients, photo shoot planning and attending the wedding Oscars aka Rock n Roll Bride's party. Unfortunately it has all taken it's toll and I am now laid up with a chest infection. Which is not all bad because it gives me time to put together a little selection of what's been catching my eye this week.

the photo shoot


from Ashton Jean-Pierre Photography

Charley from London Bride and I have been working on a new project. All I can say now is it involves weddings (but of course) and music. Fingers crossed it will be launching very soon but in the meantime here's a sneak peek of the shoot shot by the marvelous Ashton Jean-Pierre.


the engagement shoot

Which leads nicely onto this super cute and fun engagement sesh. Well worth a look through the other images.


from Polka Dot Bride


the bride

I have a bit of a thing about walls in photos and this image kind of takes my breath away.


from our labour of love via forget me knot weddings


the bunting how to guide

Daily Candy's guide to making bunting. As much a wedding staple as cake, this guide will have you crafting your little heart out.


note: this bunting is actually from John Lewis, but you could make it if you wanted to ;)


the favour

These wall garden favours are handmade which makes me love them all the more. What's more they don't look too tricky to make. Anyone fancy making some and sending me pics of the results?!



from Ruffled

Hope you had a lovely weekend and are all geared up for the week ahead. I cannot believe we're over halfway through April, where is this year going?!

For more Monday Medley's see here

What does a wedding planner actually do? Part 4

The issue of hiring staff...


from doreese illustration and photography


I get a lot of emails from people looking for a job in wedding planning and asking about paid work at Savoir Weddings and thought it was about time I tackled the issue of staff.

From the amount of interest I get it seems everybody wants to be a wedding planner these days. Which I get because it is a rewarding and varied job. So I hope no one finds this patronising, because I'm certainly not saying I know everything, but here's my advice for those of you thinking of becoming a wedding planner.

I can't speak for all wedding planners and the big guns (who don't work on weddings less than £60k) are probably different but most of us don't make enough money to hire full time staff.

I am a full time wedding planner. It took me well over a year to get to this stage. I'm certainly not rich but I make enough to live on which is great. I should point out here incidentally, if you're thinking of becoming a planner or starting a wedding planning biz to get rich, think again. It's incredibly hard work, involves working anti social hours, is at times stressful, and when you work it out per hour it definitely doesn't fall into one of those 'easy money' jobs likes some people seem to think.

So even though I am a full time planner I don't generate enough income to support staff. There is Dan who is involved in the music side of things and I work with interns during particularly busy periods. But whilst I pay the interns' expenses I definitely don't make enough to pay someone else a salary.

And this is quite common according to my fellow wedding planners.

So for those of you who want to become a wedding planner you really need to think whether you're prepared to become a business owner too. Because 99% of people who are wedding planners run their own businesses. So if you really want to do it you have to not only be good at planning/styling weddings, but also self motivating, managing your own time, finances and everything else that goes with running a business.

I don't want to discourage anyone considering a career in wedding planning. I genuinely love my job and often see it more as a way of life than a job. But it's not enough to just love weddings. There's a very high chance you'll have to establish and run your own business to become a planner and that's not a decision to make lightly.

For more on being a wedding planner see here.

What are your thoughts? Fellow wedding planners, do you agree? What about you other freelancers, do you get lots of job applications too?

A bit of a soppy post

I'm feeling in a particularly sentimental mood today and felt like this was a perfect opportunity to was lyrical on my love for my couples.

I can genuinely say I adore each and every couple I'm working with at the moment. They are all so wonderfully unique and their ideas and hopes for their respective weddings completely reflects this.

I will have to quit whilst I'm ahead here before I becoming sickeningly schmaltzy. Suffice to say I never would have imagined a few years back that I would get to run my own business, work creatively with inspiring suppliers (you know who you are!) and meet such diverse and interesting people both in the flesh and in the blogging world.

I guess I want to say a big thank you in particular to my couples for making my job so enjoyable. Some of whom I know read this but won't comment ;)

You guys rock my world!

What does a wedding planner actually do? Part 3

Can you afford a wedding planner?

Um, yeah.

One of the most annoying myths about wedding planners is that we're a luxury for high end weddings and couples with big fat budgets.

Most of my clients have modest but perfectly respectable budgets. As one bride said to me at the weekend: 'We could afford more, but this is what we're comfortable spending on our wedding.'

In my experience the quirkier and more creative the couple are the more likely they are to have a 'budget' wedding. And that's fine by me. Far more enjoyable to work with couples like this!

This doesn't mean I don't and haven't worked with couples with bigger budgets (and by bigger I mean £40k and upwards) it's just the majority of my clients are 'normal' people with 'normal' jobs from 'normal' backgrounds and this is what they can afford.

And I don't see why they shouldn't hire a wedding planner any less than someone with £100k to spend.

Okay so obviously I have to make a living. I know what I can afford to charge prospective clients and I know what wouldn't be possible for me to do. Sometimes I really love hearing about a couples' ideas but they can't afford to hire me as a full planner - so I help them out with a consultation for instance.

Just like there are designer boutiques where you can spend a month's rent on a handbag for instance, there is also Topshop.

In all aspects of life there are options for those with money to spend and those who have to be more careful. And it really really bugs me when people think wedding planners are only for the wealthy.

There are wedding planners who cater to a more luxury driven market and yes, if you've got £20k to spend don't both getting in touch with them. But for all the rest of you wondering if you can afford a wedding planner. You can. To some extent anyway. And don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

This is the third post in my mini series about life as a wedding planner.

What does a wedding planner actually do? Part 2

The other week I started this little mini series with a post on wedding planning and what hours and where I work. This post is all about how I divide my time between my clients.

Sorry about all the text by the way. No pretty pictures today, this is all about the words!

Firstly I'll make an obvious point. I do have to take on enough weddings to make a living. Whilst I do love my job I do still have bills to pay so I do have to work on more than one wedding a year say to make it work! Having said that one of the key factors in running your own business is the balancing act between having enough clients vs having the time to dedicate to each one.

So I never take on more work than I know I can do well. In fact one of the hardest things in running my own wedding planning business has been having to turn down a wedding job because as much as I'd want to do it, I just don't have the time.

Different couples hire me for different purposes so some will require more work than others. I offer one off consultations on a variety of wedding related things from wedding styling to managing the budget and so on. So these jobs are time intensive for a short space of time, obviously during the consultation and when I write the follow up report. Then the couples go off and plan their own weddings armed with whatever information and help they needed. This is different to the full planning jobs for instance where I work with some couples up to 18 months before their big day. So with full planning jobs it isn't intensive all the time but an ongoing process.

So how do I divide my time?

When I provide checklists and time lines for couples I also draw them up for myself. So I know what I need to be doing for each client by a certain time. And I know which parts of the wedding planning process are most time consuming. The venue search is always the biggy and when this happens I can guarantee that couple will be getting a lot of my time!

Everybody has different ways of working but I tend to roughly map out my week into sections for each client. So I'm always totally focused on one wedding at a time. I don't search for reception decoration ideas for two weddings at a time for instance.

But as much as we planners like to plan, I do have to be flexible as everything revolves around the couple and their needs. Sometimes brides (and grooms) change their mind about what they want or something new crops up in their lives that affects their wedding. So lists and planning is essential but so is being adaptable to new situations.

Certain clients have more demands or a more challenging wedding to plan (tight budget, large guest list, short time to plan). But by having time blocks for each client I can ensure one client doesn't take up more time than another. Even if that sometimes means working late it's the fairest way to ensure every client gets the attention they deserve.

Having said all this, if Kate and Will decide to hire me as their wedding planner for the royal wedding, I wouldn't need any other jobs at all, so if you're reading this Kate please do get in touch.

Joking obviously. I'd rather have all my couples than one royal one. Plus I imagine it will be very traditional which isn't really my bag ;)

What does a wedding planner actually do? Part 1

*my ideal office would look a little like this divine image from coco+kelley*


I know a large part of the people who read my blog are my clients, or potential clients so I thought letting you in to my world and how I work on weddings might be of interest to you.

So I'm going to do a series of blog posts on various different issues/situations/musings and if there's anything in particular you'd like to see here just get in touch josieanddan@savoirweddings.com.

Okay so first up a question I've been asked a fair few times in consultations:

What hours do I work and where do I work?

Since I first became a wedding planner roughly 18 months ago (depending on whether I consider the start of my business when I began researching or got my first client) I have played around with different working hours.

I'm more a night owl than an early bird and find myself most creative late at night so the normal 9 - 5 routine isn't always best for me. Plus a lot of my clients are super busy and have full time jobs so they can only meet in the evening. So in some ways I should work 3pm - 3am or something although that doesn't leave much room for a life.

One thing's for sure, whether it be actual research, networking or thinking about a particular wedding or client I definitely work more than 40 hours a week. Which I imagine is true of lots of self employed people whether they work in weddings or not.

I do a lot of work in the various splendid coffee shops of Dalston and Hoxton (I had an office but the building got sold) and find these kind of environments great for when I want to brainstorm or work on something creative like wedding styling or design. And I work from home the rest of the time which is great for speaking on the phone/more serious research. And also lovely because my desk overlooks a canal which is fairly peaceful.

The one time that I try to keep sacred is my weekend. Partly because otherwise I'd never see my friends or my boyfriend and partly because wedding planning is a full on, passionate, exciting job and I need the weekends to relax and regroup.

What about you? If you're freelance where do you work and what hours do you keep?