How we chose our wedding suppliers...

Photo by Olga Becker

I realised the other day that I haven't told you about all of our wedding suppliers so I thought it might be useful if I told you about them - and how we picked them.

Venue
I've told you lots about our venue before but I probably haven't told you how we chose it. To be honest, it was the only venue we looked at in person although I did do a lot of online research on other venues in our area and compared prices. It ticked lots of boxes for us: gorgeous setting, one location for the ceremony and reception, we could stay there for the whole weekend (and so could the main wedding party), it was exclusively ours and did I mention the gorgeous setting? We went and had a good look around, got on well with the wedding planner, and put down a deposit. And that was that!
Butley Priory

Dress
I tried on so many dresses I lost count but the one I fell in love with was the 2nd dress in the 2nd shop I visited: Pronuptia in Ipswich.
Picking the dress is worthy of a post in its own right but the main thing to remember is to try on loads of different styles - what you think you like might not suit you and you can't tell what dresses will look like until you put them on.

Photographer
We met with several photographers but the one who blew us away was Olga Becker. She takes amazing photos as you will have seen here and here. And she also took us on a pre-wedding shoot so we could get used to posing together and I had a boudoir shoot too. Again, I could write an essay on choosing a wedding photographer but here are a few tips:

1. You must feel comfortable with them - they'll be with you for a lot of your wedding day.
2. You need to know what style of photos you'd like - do you want lots of formal group shots, mainly reportage or a mix of both?
3. Look at their portfolio - not just one wedding but several and make sure you can see what the final album will look like.

Caterer and cake
Our caterer was recommended by our venue so that was an easy decision - you may find you have to use a particular caterer or the food is all done in-house in which case this decision is easy. Make sure you go for a tasting though regardless to help you pick your menu. Our caterers were Spice Outside.
We found an amazing cake maker at a wedding fair. We then went for a tasting where she presented us with an array of flavours and choices of shapes and finishes. Amazing! Oh and she gave us a mini-cake to take away. So again, make sure you go for a tasting when you pick your cake maker.
Vanilla Patisserie

Music
I hate wedding discos - you know the kind I mean: the birdie song, YMCA and a cheesy DJ. So it was really important to us to find someone who would understand the kind of music we love and that our guests (of all ages) would enjoy.
We met Dreamwave events at a wedding fair (a rich hunting ground for local suppliers but also full of things you don't need like balloon arches). After a good chat we decided they were exactly who we were looking for - they came to the venue for the whole day and played through the drinks reception, the wedding breakfast and then the evening reception. We gave them a list of "must-plays" and a "do not play under the pain of death" list. And they were brilliant. Not to mention the perfect lighting and atmosphere they created. I danced literally all night (barefoot - my shoes were way to high to wear all day).

I think that will do for one post - for those of you getting married, I hope it was interesting! And if you're not, one day I might get bored of wedding talk. Maybe!