London Wedding Planner

Have you ever thought what it would have been like to get married in a pre-internet age? You would have only had a small stack of magazines for inspiration; no blogs to look at for ideas or feel inadequate when reading. No way of sourcing matching doilies, straws and paper napkins (green and white gingham since you ask!), or locating small green clothes pegs, boxing gloves, green sugar mice or old kitchen scales (yes, I did find all of the above for my Summer Fete reception!)

However, the reality is that we do have access to a world (literally) of wedding inspiration, and the savvy bride can use this to their advantage. Many of us have dabbled with Ebay either as a buyer or seller, but many haven’t heard of Etsy , the site where sellers of hand made and vintage items ply their wares which has been likened to a crafty cross between Amazon and Ebay. In addition, there is the wonderful UK based Not on the High Street which showcases the quirky and characterful offerings of over 1800 independent retailers.

Each site offers its own benefits – a huge selection of reasonably priced goods from Ebay, with the added thrill of securing your desired item at a ridiculously low price if you are lucky with your bidding; the ability to have many wonderful hand made touches at your celebration even if you haven’t touched a glue stick since primary school by using Etsy;and  great personalised items, perhaps as gifts for attendants, whilst supporting small UK companies a Not On The High Street. Perhaps you can get some inspiration from our finds:

Of course, there are pros and cons of shopping on line, and these are often even more pertinent when you are up against the time and budget constraints of wedding planning coupled with the emotional desire to make the best day of your life just that. I learned from my mistakes – perhaps you can too!

- Do be mindful of your budget – it is easy to see lots of lovely things that you suddenly “need” but didn’t feature on your original plan or costings. Don’t buy anything until you are sure you need it and you have a place for it in your celebration

- Do use Etsy’scolour finder – a brilliant way of finding decorative items which tone with your colour scheme

- Don’t forget what you’ve bought – I squirreled a lot of things away and promptly forgot I’d already ordered them until I went to put a second lot away a couple of months later

- Do factor in postage costs – some items seem great value on Ebay, but once you’ve included post and package costs you can buy the same or similar elsewhere for cheaper

- When using Etsy, check that the supplier ships internationally before setting your heart on something – a lot of sellers will only ship to US addresses

- If your Etsyorder is for more than the equivalent of £18 you will be liable for Import VAT charges, plus the £8 charge the Post Office impose for collecting the duty

- For personalised items from Not On The High Street, do leave enough time as the small retailers involved do not generally have the manpower of larger suppliers and may take a while to get the order back to you (I have found what I ordered to be well worth the wait though!)

- Choose “Buy It Now” items from Ebayto save the stress of bidding

- Enter your highest  Ebaybid on the item and leave it alone. If you get outbid, look for an alternative and don’t be tempted to increase the bid to an amount above which the item is worth

- Start looking for items early, to allow you time to get the bargains. Last minute searches lead to overpaying for items

- Remember that a lot of items can be resold on Ebayafter the wedding.

You might also find interesting:

• Mad About…Not On The High Street
• Mad About…Etsy
• Sarah’s Thoughts – Sweetie Buffet
• Sarah’s Thoughts – Gifts With A Difference