While planning a wedding is undoubtedly one of the most exciting times of your life, it can also feel a little overwhelming at the start.

Here, our in-house wedding expert, Susie Evans, provides us with a handy guide to ensure you have all bases covered

1. Spending Plan
   The first thing to do is to create a spending plan for your wedding budget. Once you have an overall figure in mind, including any parental contributions, set up a detailed spreadsheet and keep it up to date. Nowadays, there are also some handy online wedding budget tools you can use to help manage your money throughout the whole process.
2. The Guest List
   The next step is to come up with a rough estimate of the number of guests. This will have an impact on the cost of all the other elements, so it’s important to decide this early on. Have a minimum and a maximum number of people in mind, so that you’re prepared for all eventualities, and decide whether you’d like them to attend the whole day or only the evening celebration.
3. Choosing a Venue
   Once both of the above factors have been decided upon, you can then start to look into potential venues. As you’re reading this here, chances are you are considering The Barn at Botley Hill as your venue, and, if so, we are here to help with all the ensuing steps of the plan. We can also promise you a beautiful backdrop for your wedding with stunning views over the North Downs.
4. Setting the Date
   Once you’ve chosen your venue, you can then decide upon your date. Are you imagining a warm summer’s day with outdoor photos or maybe you prefer a cosy Christmas wedding? Remember if you’re holding your wedding with us here at The Barn at Botley Hill, you will also need to factor in booking a registrar to officiate at the ceremony.
5. The Style of Your Wedding
   Now comes the really fun part; deciding what style of wedding you’d like. To help narrow things down, try looking at Pinterest and Instagram, where you will find a whole host of ideas. You could even create your own private online mood-board! For those who need a helping hand, here at The Barn at Botley Hill, we have bespoke wedding planners whose services can be enlisted if required.
6. Choosing your Suppliers
   We also work with a range of carefully-curated suppliers that we know and trust – from florists to cake-makers and photographers – and who we consider to be among the best in their fields. So you can be safe in the knowledge that you are going to get an excellent level of service. Between them, they also cover a wide range of styles, so we’re confident you’ll find just what you’re looking for.
7. Finding ‘The Dress’
   One of the most memorable parts of planning a wedding is the quest to find ‘the dress’. Bear in mind, though, that some designers will need several months to create the perfect gown, so the more notice the better. Also, it is only really once your dress is chosen that you can start to think about the bridesmaid dresses and groom’s-wear that will best complement yours.
8. The Invitations
   As soon as the date and venue is confirmed, it’s worth sending out a ‘save a date’ so that people can get it in their diary. This can also be a good moment to think about a gift list, as it can take a while! The invitations themselves should be sent three to six months in advance, along with any associated information such as the wedding list, directions and recommendations for accommodation etc.
9. The Finishing Touches
   Once all the key elements are in place, you can start to think about the final details – such as creating a table plan, any readings that you’d like and a timetable for the day. You could also think about any fun additions that you would like to add, such as extra fairy lights, a photo booth and thank you gifts for the key people in your wedding party.
10. Enjoy the process
    Finally, the most important thing to remember is that the process should be a fun and enjoyable one throughout! This is your special day and you deserve to enjoy every moment – and that includes the planning. You’ll find lots of useful information here on our website, so have a look around and enjoy getting started. We look forward to meeting you soon!

Welcome to Our Newest Team Members

We recently welcomed Susie Evans and Emily Taggart-Edmeades to the team at The Barn at Botley Hill. They’re here to guide you from your first enquiry right through to your wedding days. Do get in touch with Susie and Emily. They are lovely and look forward to speaking to you soon.