August Brides' Wedding Planning Tips

In this month’s wedding blog we have lots of previous August brides sharing their own wedding tips and wedding photos giving you loads of wedding inspiration especially if you are getting married in August!

Read on to see their beautiful wedding photos and hear all their wedding tips!

If you are getting married in the month of August as you are in good company because according to weddingsonline.ie, August is the most popular month for weddings!

Real Wedding Inspiration

Edel and Brian’s Big Day

I have two very special friend’s weddings to share with you this month! First up, is Edel and Brian who got married in Heritage Hotel 8 years ago! I was so sleep deprived at this wedding as Seán was only 6 weeks old! Niall was in the bridal party so my parents came to give me a hand! We did get our first professional photo as a family of three as Edel had kindly organised this with the photographer (it was the same photographer we had at our wedding too!).

These newlyweds were so relaxed on the day and it really shone through! Edel looked amazing (as did Brian!!!). They are terrific friends of ours and although I missed the hen (heavily pregnant!), there wasn’t a hope in hell I was missing this couple’s big day so Seán came with us and partied into the night in his pram!

Here are Edel’s top tips for getting married:

Make a list of who you want to take photos with and give them to your photographer before your wedding day so you make sure you get photos with everyone you want (this comes up a lot so bride to be’s take note)
Give small jobs to someone not in your wedding party as your bridal party will be busy enough. Edel totally forgot to send around a guest book to sign and found it next day in the room with only a few signatures!! Edel wishes she had given it to one of the Mam’s. So if there are other small things you want doing be sure to delegate – you will find people love to have job to do on your big day!
If you are a guest at a wedding a nice idea is to print the photos to give to the bride and groom. Edel remembers that I printed photos of their wedding day and popped them in a thank you card for when they came home from honeymoon. It was extra special as they didn’t have their wedding photos from their photographer yet.

Abs and Rich’s Wedding Day

These two met on the Greek Islands when interrailing and have travelled the world together since! We are so lucky to have them living down the road from us now! They got married in the Lyrath Estate six months after our wedding! This was our year of all the weddings! And again I don’t have many photos as there was too much fun being had! It was a terrific wedding and we had a super table with all our friends! We have so much love for this couple.

Abs’ wedding advice is:

Grab a sneaky 30 minutes with you and your new hubby to toast your day together away from everyone (and without photographer) and soak it all in together!
Get as many photos from friends and family as possible – they only got printed photos from two people and one was from me! (You are probably starting to see this as a trend here with me as I try and get photos printed for the couple after their own wedding to have when they get back from honeymoon!). The photographer only takes so many and Abs loved seeing the ones of friends and family of what they were doing throughout day!
Make a list for photographer – they didn’t and there are lots they felt they missed on day! (as mentioned above this is a big wedding tip as many couples don’t do this!)
After that- Enjoy, it’s over in a heartbeat (simple and to the point – totally agree with Abs on this one)

And I am super excited that the next three weddings to be featured are of three of my bride followers who got married last August! I am absolutely honoured to feature you, your gorgeous photos and your wedding tips!

Aisling & Ronan’s Wedding Day

Aisling is a makeup artist and has a lovely Instagram page (allaboutashie) which is totally worth a follow. Aisling is a little gem and a big supporter of my business which I am so grateful for! She got married in Cabra Castle Hotel in a stunning Pronovias dress with her bridesmaid equally stylish in Watters dresses.

Aisling’s top tips include:

Sending out your invites early so you can plan your numbers well in advance and have a good idea of who is coming to your wedding.
Definitely book a videographer as the day goes by so fast it is all a blur. While waiting for the video footage of their wedding, the videographer did send them a little teaser. Aisling received her highlights video a couple of days after her wedding day and found it so emotional reliving it all.
If you want a certain venue or band or certain elements at your wedding wait an extra year and save to have it exactly how you want it. Aisling and Ronan saved for two years and they say it was the best thing they did as they had everything they wanted.
Have a wedding day scent . They had Yankee candles lighting everywhere and now anytime they want to remember their day they can light their scent and it will bring back the day. (PS. Have a read of my blogpost on the “Jo Malone Scented Wedding Experience” as I talk about wedding scents on your special day)
Spend the most money on your entertainment – your singer , band etc . Their guests haven’t stopped commenting on theirs – Singer Keri Ann Rowan and Band Electric Avenue
They originally wanted fireworks but decided to do sparklers instead and were so happy they chose this option. Fireworks can be so expensive and most packages only last about 3-4mins. Instead they opted for sparklers for each guest she thinks it cost them about €50 in total and the impact was amazing . The photo speaks for itself!

Barbara and Jason’s Big Day

This beautiful couple got married in Faithlegg Hotel on the 30th August 2019 and Barbara gushes about how amazing the day was how it was “all we could have dreamed of… so cliche but true”

Barbara’s wedding tips include:

Her top tip is to relax! It’s all the people who love you watching so don’t get too nervous!
A wedding can be all about the little things – they had an instant camera with loads of replacement cartridges instead of a photo booth and it was a big hit and they got some super photos!
They had a 90 minute drive to the venue from the church so they included the bridal party in the limo and had so much fun (I love this idea – good tip!)
Also, they did a round top table for just the two of them, their bridal party and their partners. (Doing the top table can be so tricky so this is a nice alternative to the traditional wedding top table. One of my best friends did this as it was lovely having Niall with me at the top table too!)
Her sister made the cakes and Littlemuffinblog did cupcakes, cake pops and macaroons. One word – WOW!!

Sarah and Kevin’s Wedding Day!

Sarah married her love in Dunmore House Hotel in Clonakilty. They had an amazing day with their family and friends and all she wants is to do it all over again! I know the feeling – Niall and I are ten years married and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat!

She got loads of tips from people in the run up to the wedding and here are a few of them!

All the cliches about a wedding day are true; it goes by so quickly! Take in every minute with your family and friends! Pull your partner aside for 5 minutes during the evening and soak it all in together!
Listen to the advise of friends/family who have recently married – they have experienced the day so they know what they’re taking about!
Sarah admits to be a crier so she thought she would be very emotional on her wedding day but she was just so happy and excited all day she didn’t have time to be too emotional.
Trust your vendors – weddings are their business!
Invest in the things that are important to you and your partner i.e. band, food, hotel etc and don’t sweat the small stuff. Sarah didn’t even notice some of the details on the day that she had spent so much time thinking and worrying about in the weeks coming up to the day!
The week before the wedding is a bit mad but try spend some alone time with your partner and try not to leave any big jobs until the last minute!