JANUARY - Ask Amy Anything
wedding styling q&A’s
January was the month I launched (albeit very quietly!) an Ask Me Anything service when it comes to planning your Wedding Styling & Decor.
This could be anything to do with venue logistics, creative ideas, tablescaping, guest experiences, budgets, event set ups, decorating a space or hiding areas - you name it. It just needed to fall into the venn diagram of Weddings + Aesthetics + Design!
Here’s the questions I got sent and my response. If you’re a little bit stuck with your UK Wedding Planning and need a bit of advice, why not submit a question for February? 'I’ll gather the answers and do a similar post to this at the end of the month.
All question submitters will be emailed a link so they can see how I answered their question….
Q: Do you know how many people it will take to set up our wedding?
COUPLE: Our venue has a booking the night before and will only let us set up 2-3 hours before guests arrive on our wedding day.
We have 200 guests and need to set up and dress 20 tables, a backdrop for the main table and a hanging ceiling installation...
ME: I’d estimate a team of 3-4 experienced event pros on a wedding like this. Don’t forget, the first part of any wedding is loading in, unpacking and getting everything in the right space/area. Time goes really fast when you’re setting up and you need people that are efficient but don’t sacrifice an eye for aesthetic detail. It’s better to have a slightly relaxed half an hour at the end of a set up for contingency and tweaking, than still be setting up as guests are arriving - it doesn't give a great impression!
Real flowers by Filth Floristry, London at our November 2024 Castle wedding collab
COUPLE: Shall we have Real or fake flowers at our wedding?
ME: Real if your budget allows - I just think you can't beat the look, texture and scent. If not, try and source secondhand fake ones to be kinder to the environment -start looking early and set up alerts on facebook marketplace so you can shop around for the right colours and flower types.
I’m actually looking into organisations that recycle real flowers FOR weddings, here's one that does just that in London:
COUPLE: It looks way cheaper to just buy flower vases than rent them, shall we just buy them?
ME: Mmmm on the face of it it does look cheaper and maybe this is the only way to do it with your budget BUT here are few things you might not have considered -
If you decide to work with a florist, many of them have their own vessels they are experienced working with which they build into their costs, so you won’t need to source.
If you’re NOT working with a florist - do you have space to store the vases before your wedding?
Admin/time transporting to the venue without smashing
Who will package up the vases after the wedding
Transporting back home
What do you do with 100 tiny bud vases after the wedding? There is time and admin involved with selling on - but a buyer isn’t guaranteed, they have to want the very specific item you’ve chosen.
Shipping to a buyer - shipping this quantity of glass isn’t really possible so you’re relying on finding a buyer on Marketplace who can collect - this is probably fine for London where there's more people looking, but if you live in a more rural area, less likely perhaps?
Don’t forget, you can ask me anything too! I’ll be doing this until Summer 2025 (possibly beyond, let’s see!) Hit the button below to ask away.