Matt Streuli: #TopWeddingTips PartOne : Don't Buy Wedding Magazines!

Normally my blog is diary or exploration of my life and views on Mental Health - especially now I've been on live TV! 😋

As part of new series, with the assistance of my W2B (Wife to be), we are giving you our input and the lessons we've learned- some of them are pretty shocking! So rather than throw away your hard earned cash, make your wedding special, meaningful and fun. Let us get to it...

#TopWeddingTips #1 - Use a Credit Card!

Some of you will have read the header and immediately dismissed it but hang on. There are TWO very good reasons to use a card.
Firstly, you will be placing deposits and buying things here and there and sometimes, it will hit you all within a few days - too often its unpredictable. You do not want to be spending money without good thought but you do need quick access and being able to spread the cost over a few months will help prevent you wiping out your savings (if you are lucky enough to have any!). There are some really good websites like MoneySavingsExpert and uSwitch that will compare Credit Cards, even for those on bad credit, and find the best 0% purchase options sometimes up to 24 months. Credit cards are just like your energy bills or your broadband, you have to switch almost yearly or they'll treat you like a mug.

Secondly, is the protection a credit card gives you. It's like a condom for your wedding buys! You will be buying from small business, whether its a photographer, the DJ or local seamstress. Even if you purchase through eBay/PayPal or trusted sites like Etsy or NotOnTheHighStreet, it can still go wrong. HOWEVER, as long as the spend is £100 on the credit card, you get extra protection (on top of whatever protection PayPal or the store gives) buy UK Law. Goods not delivered? They don't work? The company disappears? They go bust? If you've been on those 'Scammers' groups on Facebook then you know how easy it is for conartists to pop up and disapear - its only £50ish so people rarely go to the Police or Court and it takes hundreds of victims before people get caught. Rather than finding the money and energy to go to court (you're getting married after all and who has time to chase £98), you simply call your Credit Card Company and the protection in law means that after a few forms and sending them reciepts or contracts or whatever proof you have they will reimburse you. It happened with us on a holiday with lowcostholidays. They went bust but within a few weeks the money was back and we had rebooked. If we paid through debit card or bank transfer, we would have either got nothing or very little. Just make sure you pay it all off (if you can) before the end of your 0% offer and it means you get all that extra protection for FREE. This applies to EVERYTHING over £100, even if just one installment is on the card... (holidays, hotels, weddings, cars...)

Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act provides additional protection for credit card purchases costing between £100 and £30,000. If you have a claim for breach of contract or misrepresentation against the supplier of the goods or services, Section 75 gives you the same claim against the creditor.
This is useful if, for example, the trader you purchased the goods or services from has ceased to trade or if you haven't been able to locate them. This additional protection only applies to credit card purchases, not debit card purchases. - Which? website, 2018

#TopWeddingTips #2 - Reception? Go Everywhere!

"Oh, this is my dream!" It is still worth checking other venues & hotels. Your savings and your heart will thank you.
Whether you want a Church and Hotel, like us, or maybe you prefer the 'all in one' in a lovely Hotel or the more personalised DIY of a Church and Village Hall or Clubhouse, you need to check all the options. We knew we wanted a hotel as we didn't want people worrying about getting home, rather than having the best party and going upstairs to their rooms (and even breakfast with us the next day). Having read advice online we were ready to get married on Thursday (an evergrowing choice to save £s)

When we went to our first wedding fair in early 2017, the very popular and extravagant hotels and venues already had peak Summer bookings for 2019 and even some for 2020. Your wallet will thank you for giving yourself time to plan and book and your heart will thank you for making the day more personal than a rushed 'prepackaged' option.

The BEST wedding fairs tend to be in Autumn and early Spring (because suppliers are too busy in peak season) but that doesn't mean you can't go to venues and look; sometimes pop in and see the venue set up for an event that day. We'll discuss Fairs in more detail in a future post.

Source: BBC, ONS

We live near Heathrow and I found a Hotel with the package I really liked the look of. For the price, the rooms were amazing and, for me, being at the end of a runway was pretty cool. The price/package looks reasonable too compared to the insane prices we've been showed before. Seeing the place was a concrete labyrinth put me off a little bit. When we saw the windowless dated yet huge box as the Reception venue it made me skeptic. OK, it filled our weekends going to every Wedding Fair and hotel within 30 minutes of our Church but we found a MAJOR brand hotel with much nicer rooms and venue for MUCH less. It was closer to our Church too and our hearts and wallets thanked us for checking it all out. It will take weeks and months of weekends to check out all the options - even if it is just for the freebies you get or the ideas. The ideas might be "let's do that" or "we will never do that".

Oh, and you definitely want to get married at the weekend? Rather than throw away good money for the privalige find a Corporate hotel. Our hotel is mostly corporate which means that Saturday was CHEAPER than the Friday (they would lose their regular 3-5 days conferences). Bear that in mind! Plus, if it is good enough for businesses making Million Pound deals or Donald Trump's Dumps, then its good enough for us. What matters is how you use or decorate the space.

DO speak to people at the venues, not just take a brochure or a website. Again you might get some freebies but they'll also tell you how to get the best from them to make it YOUR day - if they don't then you know they are just for people who have FAR too much money!

We'll have more info on researching Churches and Hotels in future posts.

#TopWeddingTips #3 - Don't Buy Wedding Magazines! Use Pinterest

Definitely take in all the ideas and advice you can and then collate them as you feel they are relevant but never in paper form...

Brides, Elle, Hello!, Empire, Cosmo...
All on one app you can Screenshot!

OK. The headline is a bit of clickbait. Some of the decent magazines will set you back anywhere from £5 to £19 per month. Some of their articles will be free online but I suggest you use an app/website like Readly. For us, we got a free trial and a discount subscription through a mobile phone provider or broadband or something but its a website that allows you see the latest edition and most of the back editions for hundreds of magazines, not just weddings. We read some of the big brand magazines but also the more regional ones - so you could see real weddings near you (over the past few years!) and not just adverts. It's not just UK, but Europe too. I can't read much German but you're only looking at the images and screengrabbing your favourite ideas really. Click here for the full list of 'Wedding' mags.

Once you collected the screengrabs from the magazines put them on a shared board on Pinterest and then as a couple you can go through. Each of us added different things and so were able to combine what we both liked. You can organise them much better rather than having cut outs and print outs strewn about your home (which is going to be filling up with other things for your wedding!). Maybe you still want a physical or paper idea board, but at least you've narrow it down online. Over the 18 month, it saves trees and money.
Have a look at our board, which needs some organising at some point!, here: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/matthewstreuli/wedding/

We liked adding stuff and then sitting in bed on a Sunday morning with teas and coffee narrowing down the pins and sorting them. You can also search Pinterest for ideas like invites or to save photos you've taken from things you've seen at fairs. Save links there too so it's all in one easy place. Use it as inspiration to make your own - or enlist those around you! We'll discuss more next time but trial your ideas at your Engagement Party - its a 'Dress Rehearsal" for your reception!