How did you decide...

I know it sounds cliche but the second i put my dress on it knew it was the one, i tried on lots and kept going until i got that feeling, which was only 10 dresses to be honest!!! And it was the same with venues, OH and i booked a day of looking at 5 or 6 venues, did our research on all of them first, finding out if we could have them exclusive, costs etc and from the moment i walked through the door of my venue i knew it was the one.

Have you started looking yet?

x

Um i know this feeling, it worries me too.

So far i have booked my venue, church and photographer. I couldnt decide on my venue at all, i viewed about 25 and none excited me as such. I finally decided on my venue after going to a wedding fair and speaking with suppliers who all stated that one particular one was the best to work at and how good the service etc was. I also spoke and viewed a hitchers wedding photos on here which made my decision.

We chose photographer (finace is amuteur photographer himself) after viewing numerous websites and brochures. Also looking at past customer feedback made our decision.

One of the major probs i had was deciding whether to have civil or religious ceremony! I am soo worried about regreting my decision. I still havent decided totally, lol.

Thanks ladies... We're on a smaller budget so with Venues its about the price as well as the wow factor i have viewed 3 venues so far and loved one of them, but I m admit here I am AWFUL at making a decisions ie Ill go to a restaurant order something, then ummm and arrr then change it then umm and arr and go with the original choice and then wonder whether i should of got the other thing i want lol THATS how bad I am!

Going to tyake what you have said into account!

I'm one of the worst at making decisions and do tend to rush into things then change my mind later down the line.

As regards the venue and dress - like Moya said, you just kinda know. It can't be explained. We went to see 5 venues and ours was the last. I was blown away by it and it wasn't the most expensive one we visited - in fact it was the 2nd cheapest. So, basically what I'm trying to say is that it doesn't have to be expensive to be right for you and your OH - you'll know the one when you visit it. Do loads of research before hand and if you are on a really strick budget find out the cost of the places before you visit. If its way out your budget don't even go - no use upsetting yourself and not worth blowing the budget on either.

Same goes for the dress really - you'll know the one. Some girls pick really quickly others have real trouble finding what they are looking for. I've tried on about 30 dresses in total and mine was the 2nd dress I tried on, on the first day of looking. I NEVER thought I'd make a decision as quick as that but when you know, you know.

Hope that helps a bit. Sorry for the ramble ?

Its so hard isn't it! With the venue we went round 8 but 1 really stood out as it had everything we wanted (though not cheap). As for the dress I bought 1 from a private sale on ebay (went & tried it on) but then found another I liked better so am trying to sell the orginial 1. Its not easy but I think i knew deep down that it wasn't the dress for me I'm just a sucker for a bargain as I was worried about how much the whole event would cost.

We've now made a checklist of things we need to pay for and have treid to organise them over the next 8 months so to spread the cost out.

I thing wedding-related decisions can be so hard because people/magazines/traditions suggest that you need to do this and that and quite often some of the things are completely the opposite to anything you'd want if you sit back and think about it. My advice is to always take a breath and think 'is this really me? does this really reflect me and H2B as a couple?' Sometimes just taking some time to think about things really does help you reevaluate how you feel about it. And *try* to ignore what other people say you 'must' have at the wedding as this often confuses matters more....

I've found it really helps, especially when you have so much information bombarding you about how a wedding should be done.

Our venue, for example, is somewhere that my family used to go to play and have a nice cuppa whenever we had a sunny weekend growing up and even though I was a little reluctant to book it, H2B was super-keen because it was such a huge part of my life and now I can't fathom what my initial issues were with it! Our band is perhaps not the most traditional wedding band, but their repertoire is virtually identical to H2B and my iPod favourite playlists. My dress was the only dress that made me feel like me rather than someone pretending to be a bride.... I hope this helps.

Everything i've choosen as been done so on the price!!! i'm trying to get the best i can for the money i have. we booked the venue based on the package price, its not in league with some other venues but its "nice." With the dress i'd tried on about 20 dresses,i tried all the sale dresses on in the shop, the dress i choose only white dress i'd tried on and it just clicked and felt right.

with any little choice i seem to spent hours checking them out on the internet before i commit to something and then with anything i've bought already i try and avoid looking at any alteratives just in case theres something i like and want that instead - just keep saying to myself any money i spent on the big day will be taken from my honeymoon spends!!!!!

This is all brilliant advice!!!

Thanks so much ladies!! Cola I think you're right, I think if I buy something and love it I just need to go with it and not look again as to dissapoint myself...

I completely agree with you!!

We knew what church we wanted but struggled with receptions and I still do to be honest.. but tkaing a deep breath and a step back the only conerns I had were what people would think not what I thought so yep have the fairytale dress and church but the venue does what we needed and the inside is very nice.. I dont think I would have felt comfortable at a big posh venue.. people that know me (will obviously be there) know its not really me anyway..

Most of my decisions have been made on price. I really can't justify spending thousands on one day.

As for venue - we only looked at one and booked it (though D didn't think we needed to see it, he was ready to sign up for it from the off ?) We phoned up and it was a really great price, was a bit different and had a wow factor. More than I thought I would get.

Up until the day he proposed, we had our wedding pretty much planned out. We didn't want the "traditional" wedding style of hotel, etc so we were gonna find somewhere nice to get married and then have the reception in a pub. We loved the idea of an informal day. I personally feel that weddings can be a little "keeping up with the Jones'" so we wanted something different. But when we saw the price of our venue, we decided to pay a bit extra and book it.

I'm so happy with the choice ?

As for dresses - I've not chosen yet and can't decide. I like pretty much every dress i've tried on!! I think I may have to buy more than one and just change every hour ?

It's a balance between going with a gut feeling, and being practical. for example, when choosing a venue, score them on food, access, ambience, helpfulness of the coordinator etc etc. but if there is one particular venue you can't get out of your head, then that says a lot. then once you've booked it, the most crucial thing is, STOP LOOKING AT OTHERS. you'll only confuse yourself.

same with dresses. for me, there wasn't a 'OMG It's The One!' moment - i chose the dress which suited me the most and was in my price bracket. i still think about the dress i didn't choose, but ultimately, i made the right decision as the one i didn't choose was £800 over budget and i just couldn't justify it.

i changed both my FG and BM dresses in the run up, but was able to get a refund on the former and exchange the latter (for lots of dresses i could wear on HM!!) so it worked out OK.

in the end, once you've made your decisions on the most expensive parts of your wedding, don't go looking for other options.

i completely agree! in regards to venue, my OH and I made a list of requirements that really helped us narrow down the field a lot - preferred location, number of guests, style of venue (we didn't want a marquee or a reception room in a hotel), max price etc. we only saw one venue and booked it soon after - immediately fell in love with it, and thought it was really unique. in hindsight, i wish we had looked at a few more places because our venue is very pricey and i'm finding i am being really really careful elsewhere...

as for dress, flowers, cake etc - it's all been a case of 'i know it when i see it'. so i just did a lot of research and suddenly i'll see a photograph and i'll be like YES THAT'S IT!!! good luck!! it's hard because you want it to be perfect, but i also needed to make decisions in a timely fashion so as to get on with the rest of the planning...

Oooh it's so hard making decisions and I'm rubbish at it! OH thinks I'm sooo hopeless. We knew we didn't want a traditional wedding, but it's really hard to see through all the traditional stuff and focus on what we want. I've looked at hundreds of websites and been in one or two shops for dresses, I know what I want and its not very traditional. I've now found one I LOVE on a website, and am going to see it, and hopefully order it in the New Year. Venue was easier, we're getting married in Gibraltar, and went to see the registry office, which is really nice, same with hotel, and there are some gorgeous gardens for photos. For the party when we get home our first two choices were fully booked for Saturdays in summer 2010, but we loved our third choice venue, so that's all booked now too! ?