ARE SHORT ENGAGEMENTS A THING OF THE PAST?

In a post-lockdown landscape where available dates and suppliers are in high demand, Katie Bletcher asks if it’s still possible to plan a wedding within a year?

Cast your mind back to the pre-pandemic world. When couples got engaged then budget was about the only consideration for setting their date. Could they afford what they wanted, or would they need time to save?

That was then but now as the industry has to cope with rescheduling postponed weddings, finding a date for a new booking can prove difficult. So what happens if you’re newly engaged and still want to plan your wedding within a year? Is it still possible or should you bank on a longer engagement? “Most couples don’t want to wait,” advises wedding planner Laura Devine of Devine Bride. “Lockdown seems to have had a massive impact on couples now taking life/weddings by the horns! They are shopping around for availability and compromising on season and day of the week to get the wedding they want – or switching up location entirely. They don’t want to delay any life plans post-wedding like buying a house, moving country, getting a dog or starting a family.”

To-be-weds Adam Smyth and Jessica Moran got engaged in August and soon discovered planning might be more difficult than they imagined. “We decided on a May wedding as spring is my favourite time of year and we just didn’t want to wait another whole year,” explains Jessica. “Our first priority was securing a venue as we found out we were pretty late in the day according to the wedding calendar. We were definitely worried that we wouldn’t be able to get anywhere as so many venues and suppliers had shut due to covid, and it was hard to find up-to-date information online.” The couple knew they were looking at a guestlist of around 100 but found many venues they liked only accommodated under 50. Undeterred, they got creative and were delighted to discover they could pitch a sailcloth marquee in the grounds of their chosen venue Burgie House. And they’re not alone in wanting a big celebration. After the beautiful micro-weddings in 2020 and 21, planner Oskar Gilchrist-Grodnicki - The Wedding Guru Oskar says there’s now a real appetite for weddings on a larger scale, even if some couples want to keep things more intimate still.

So how exactly can you pull off your big wedding within a tight timeframe in the current climate? Flexibility is key. According to Oskar, there is always a way to make it work. “If you’ve not

got your heart set on a specific supplier and are quite happy to be flexible and work around various scenarios, there are still plenty of opportunities to make it happen,” he says. “Arrange it at an unusual venue, potentially lower your numbers if needed to fit within the venue’s capacity, hire caterers and work

with a slightly different timeline.”

Taking that flexible approach, Adam and Jessica decided they stood a better chance of securing their favoured suppliers if they opted for a Thursday wedding. Even then they were unable to book their first choice of tent supplier but have been lucky enough to get the photographer, caterer and flowers they want. In fact, the biggest compromise this groom’s had to make is hosting his wedding in a country house instead of a Viking hall!

Adam & Jessica

With so many wedding suppliers working flat-out to play catch-up, there’s been a real sense of rallying together. “My network has never been tighter for fellow supplier referrals and recommendations to try to help all of our couples plan the day they want,” says Laura.

And the backlog of weddings can actually lead to pleasant surprises. Oskar says. “Many suppliers rescheduled dates three, four, five or even more times and therefore the date they might not have had available initially, could have opened up due to postponements.”

While you may need to hone your organisational skills, try not to lose sight of the end goal. “Assess your priorities and stick to them yet be flexible and open to various scenarios your special day could shape into,” advises Oskar. “Don’t get disheartened if you first choice supplier isn’t available. Reassess and

move forward.”

And Laura has another clever way of getting around the big day, short timeframe scenario. “A smaller dinner and bigger party is much easier to plan (and pay!) for in a shorter timeframe,” she says. “A lot of stress around weddings comes with food; table plans, menus, courses, dietary requirements, et cetera. Removing these elements, or the sheer quantity at least, will save you masses of time.” Good luck!

Laura of Devine Bride

Our ‘I do’ diary couple Sophie and Chris got engaged last April and they’re getting married this August at Venacher Lochside. They’re actually planning an intimate wee wedding but they’ve still found the planning process more difficult than they initially thought.

“We knew a venue was priority as we were aware lots of places would be dealing with postponed weddings so we may struggle trying to get the date we wanted,” says Sophie. “We got to work with finding a venue right away. We didn’t realise just how many things would be booked up for 2022, so the fear soon set in.” Many of the places they contacted were fully booked until 2023 which they hadn’t expected. Then they got lucky that Venacher Lochside had an August weekend free and a visit to the venue sealed the deal.

Sophie admits that wedding planning has been more intense than they thought. “We have felt pressure in booking the main things such as photographer and venue because we knew how quickly they get booked up and we didn’t have lots of time to decide,” she says. But the couple are still having fun planning. Keep an eye out for their next ‘I do’ diary instalment for all their news.