It's been a week of 'Girls Night In' planning sessions and 'On The Day' co-ordination preparation - 2 of our most popular, and valuable, services - and I've thoroughly enjoyed myself!

One of the most daunting things for couples planning their celebrations is knowing exactly where to start. It's easy to feel overwhelmed when you're bombarded by magazines, websites and friends offering a million and one different ideas. Because we're passionate about keeping wedding planning 'refreshing, simple and invaluable', we relish the opportunity to help couples at this early stage with a planning session at home.

Our objective and experienced point of view enables us to highlight priorities and work through potential problems whilst offering ideas and inspiration that guarantee couples come away from the sessions much calmer and excited about planning their wedding.

The best way to ensure that you don't wake up in the middle of the night worrying about details is to identify what is worrying you and get answers to those worries as quickly as possible - sounds simple and, once you know what questions you need to ask, it really is!

Not only do couples spend 2 hours face-to-face with me but they know that I've already spent a similar amount of time preparing for the session to ensure that it's tailor made for them and no-one else, making these planning sessions incredible value for money and an ideal way to kick-start your wedding plans.

Tucked away at the bottom of the High Street in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, is a treasure trove of a shop, called 'Me Me Me'. It's a family run business and one of my favourite places to buy gifts. They specialise in hand-made, customised Memory Boxes that are excellent value (from £60) and a gorgeous way to store wedding photos, invitations & rsvp notes, tiaras, confetti and anything else you can think of to create an evocative reminder of the best day of your lives.

They only need a couple of weeks to produce them and the possibilities are endless - you can contact Natalie and her Mum through the Me Me Me website or pop in if you can. It's also a great place to find gifts for bridesmaids as they stock some beautiful jewellery and have recently started offering scrap-booking packs that enable you to produce wonderful, handbag-sized keepsakes.

If you'd like to talk to me about organising a 'Girls Night In' planning session, check if we're free on your wedding date for 'On The Day' wedding co-ordination or just need an answer to a question that's keeping you awake at night, please get in touch!

Until next week,

This week our 'Power Hours' have literally been flying off the shelves (well, if we had shelves of 'Power Hours' they would have been!). I love Power Hour work as it's a great opportunity to work with lots of different couples, all of whom are planning unique celebrations and looking for an objective, experienced point of view to guide them through the maze that is wedding planning!

Power Hours are also a brilliant way of dipping your toes, as it were, into the world of wedding planners. For less than the cost of dinner for 2 at your local pizza restaurant, you can spend an hour with someone - either face-to-face, on the telephone or via email - who plans weddings every day and is passionate about helping couples plan the celebration they really want, not the one they think they have to have!

This week I've helped a couple decide on table decorations and sourced a jazz band for another couple. I've also hand written 100 invitations, chased up 30 outstanding RSVPs, found a company that will produce a wedding cake made of cheese locally and deliver to a pretty remote venue as well as sourcing Swarovski table crystals for a wedding in a week's time!

Power Hours are designed to cover all sorts of wedding planning tasks, as this week perfectly illustrates. I thrive on this type of challenge and I know that we really help couples out by offering this service - the smiling faces and 'thank you' emails are all the proof I need

If you'd like to talk to me about how we might be able to help you with a Power Hour or 2, check if we're free on your wedding date for 'On The Day' wedding co-ordination or to help you kick start your wedding plans with a 'Girls Night In' wedding planning session please get in touch!

Until next week,

I was talking to someone this week about how they found their wedding venue and I just had to share it with you. It's an enormously important decision, one that will not only set the tone and atmosphere for your whole celebration, but one that's likely to eat up a significant chunk of your already stretched budget.

So, how about investigating charity-owned venues? It's a win-win because lots of charities own spectacular buildings so you won't have to compromise on style or charm but you will have the satisfaction of knowing that the money you're paying is going to a good cause. Thanks for this tip, Lindsay, it's exactly the sort of story we love hearing at Magic Dust!

My heart goes out to all the couples currently affected by the news this week that WrapIt have gone into liquidation. In my humble opinion, this is yet another example of what happens when companies in the wedding industry get greedy and forget about the people they should be focusing on - couples getting married.

We discuss this terrible situation, with tips and advice for affected couples as well as ideas for alternative gift lists, in more detail in Magic Dust's current newsletter which you can subscribe to by clicking here (we'll send you this current issue straight away).

I'm not a fan of observing traditions on your wedding day because you think you have to, but you've probably guessed that by now! Favours tend to be top of my list of unnecessary expenditure unless you really want them - I've seen too many bags of sugared almonds left on tables at the end of weddings to think they're a must.

So, it's unusual for an idea for a wedding favour to make it into The Blog... Wedding Tree Favours deserves a mention. Helpfully presented in blister packs that make it easy for guests to transport them home, each tree comes with it's own certificate of provenance and is not only environmentally friendly but a lovely way of ensuring that your wedding day is remembered by generations to come.

There's something very romantic about thinking that your great grandchildren could be building treehouses in an oak that was planted in celebration of your wedding. And if any do get left behind at the end of the night, take them home and plant your own orchard!

I'm going to end this blog with another heart-warming tale. According to research in a national newspaper this week, married women's favourite pastime is going out for dinner with their husband. It's good to know that in this materialistic age, handbags, shoes, expensive cars, holidays and houses still can't beat a good old chat over a plate of food with the love of your life.

And on that note, I'm off to meet Mr Willson at our favourite restaurant... If you'd like to talk to me about how we might be able to help you, check if we're free on your wedding date for 'On The Day' wedding co-ordination or to help you kick start your wedding plans with a 'Girls Night In' planning session please get in touch!

Until next week,

So much has happened at Magic Dust this year that I wanted to mark the blog's 'Seven Month Anniversary' (any excuse for a celebration!) by saying a big thank you to all the wonderful couples, as well as the fabulous (and less than fabulous...) suppliers we've worked with so far this year for being the inspiration behind every blog.

I'd also like to thank all those of you who read the blog regularly - it's great to know you're out there and, even if we never meet, I wish every single one of you a fantastic wedding day and a stress-free time planning it!

I've got a couple of 'old faithful' suppliers to share with you this week before I head off to a tiny place in the Cotswolds for what promises to be a fabulously decadent - and impeccably planned (!) - wedding this weekend.

Kirsten Goss's jewellery is stunning. Even that doesn't do it justice! The fact that Kirsten herself is in London next week and currently taking bookings for appointments with brides at her Kensington store, is fantastic news. If you can be in London between 5th and 9th August and you would like some expert help in choosing your wedding jewellery, then give them a call and tell Kate I said hi!

Cox & Cox has long been a favourite website of mine that I've tried to keep a closely guarded secret but, no more, I just have to share it with you. Such a lovely website to browse, it's full of great ideas for wedding decorations but never strays into tacky, unnecessary frippery and that makes me very very happy! So do have a look, be inspired and like they say throughout the website 'use your imagination'.

If you'd like to talk to me about how we might be able to help you, check if we're free on your wedding date for 'On The Day' wedding co-ordination or to help you kick start your wedding plans with a 'Girls Night In' wedding planning session please get in touch!

Until next week,