Your wedding day is supposed to be one of the most special days in your life and you want it to be as perfect as possible so you can cherish the memories forever. There are things that you can do to avoid the common wedding pitfalls, but you can’t control everything and you need to plan for those.
Hire a Wedding Planner
Wedding planners were unheard of in the UK a few years ago, but now they are commonplace and can help you avoid many of the pitfalls. There are wedding planners to meet every need – there are, for example, ones that specialise in destination weddings, gay weddings and luxury weddings.
Make sure you Have Contracts in Place
There will be multiple suppliers involved in making your special day the one you always dreamed of, unless you are using a wedding planner and they are contracting with the suppliers on your behalf. For each supplier you need to make sure you have a written contract in place and it needs to be specific and cover every little detail – how much will you be charged if you have 1 extra guest or 10 cancel? You don’t want any nasty surprises and you don’t want to pay for services you end up not needing. It’s important to look at the cancellation terms too. Although it is probably unthinkable, you might need to cancel or reschedule for a variety of reasons.
Our usual advice applies for services that cost over £100, which is to pay with a credit card even if it is only a deposit you are protected by the Consumer Credit Act 1974 as the credit card company is equally liable for the service. If the supplier goes out of business you can get your money back from the credit card company. Hopefully, this will happen in good time to allow you to make alternative arrangements.
Wedding Gift Services
Our advice is to use a reputable High Street brand like John Lewis or Marks and Spencer. If the company goes out of business you and your guests could be out of pocket. We have a guide here telling you what to do when a company goes out of business. Of course, your more generous guests will be protected by the Consumer Credit Act if they have paid by credit card and the gift is worth more than £100.
Wedding Photographer
The good thing about photographers is that you can ask to see their previous work, so you can see if you like their style or whether they are any good.
As always, you should get everything in writing including any special requests such as a photo of you with your favourite auntie. You are covered by the Supply of Goods and Services Act, but the problem is poor photographs are difficult to rectify after the event. However, in some cultures photos of the married couple are taken after the wedding day, so there may be options.
Get Wedding Insurance
Whether you are getting married in the UK or overseas our advice is to get some wedding insurance. It is reasonably priced and will protect you if things go wrong.
Finally, good luck on your big day.
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