Planning Your Wedding From Abroad - Guest Blogger: Berry Diaries

While I'm away on holiday in Bali I have lined up a couple guest bloggers to share with you ladies. First up today is a sweet blogger friend of mine who you have seen before here, Lulu with Berry Diaries. Lulu got married over a year ago at home in South Africa. While I may be getting married here in my new hometown of London, I can understand some of the issues of the back and forth of planning a destination wedding. I am excited to have Lulu sharing her thoughts today on a few pieces of advice if you are planning your big day from far away. Take it away Lulu.......

Becca has asked me to share a few tips on 3 Things that made planning our wedding in another country SO much easier.

We were so lucky when planning our Wedding in South Africa last year from London, that everything went so perfectly!

 1. Have a KEY person on the other side - 

For us, we were so lucky to be getting married on my parents farm, and so my Mum was pretty much our Wedding Planner.  I’ve also had friends who have relied on their sisters or best friends or cousins or bridesmaids to fulfill this role, but you need someone.  Someone who is able to go and meet and suss out the florist, band, make up artist or photographer for you in person if you aren’t able to. If you don’t have access to someone like this, or the Wedding venue is miles away from anyone that you know-get a Wedding Planner! But do be careful with who you select and what they are doing with your money. Get them to email you copies of every receipt that they receive regarding your Wedding.

 2. Get Vendor Recommendations from Friends who Recently got married in your hometown - 

If you are getting married in an area where friends have before you, ask them for the list of their suppliers.  Most people will have contacted a few suppliers for quotes so ask them for their shortlists and who they would recommend.  If you are getting married somewhere totally foreign, search the Internet.  See if you can find any reviews on vendors and ask social media land too - it is amazing the advice that you can get from placing a question on twitter or facebook.  Most people love the excitement around a Wedding, and you would be amazed at how your old high school friends’, sister’s husband’s sister also got married there, and can put you in touch for some tips!

3. Create a mock up at home a few moths before - We created a mock up 

a few months before of what we hoped that the tables would look like.  Scour eBay and charity shops for bits and pieces to try and recreate on your own dining or coffee table at home, the way you hope that it will look on your big day.  And then get working on how you plan to access items to create a similar look at your Wedding venue.  Often what you imagined in your head or saw inspiration for on Pinterest, doesn’t look quite like you imagined it to in real life...or something you weren’t sure about, suddenly looks fabulous!

Happy Wedding planning Girls! xoxo - Lulu 

Thank you so much Lulu for sharing your thoughts! Make sure to click over here to see more of Lulu's wonderful South African wedding. I LOVE the work they put into the barn....to a beautiful wedding venue! 

All photos by Stew Nolan Photography

xoxo - Becca