Joanna's Big Day: How a Novelle Consultant Plans Her Wedding

The Proposal

Tuesday September 29th will always be one of the best days of my entire life! Cameron and I were starting off our month long trip to Europe in England where he has some extended family. We were in Cornwall and had planned to have the morning to ourselves, exploring and admiring the beautiful coast. We had come across a beautiful lookout point we had discovered last time we were in Cornwall, and spent a long time reminiscing on our seven year relationship and all the wonderful things in our life. I had absolutely no idea it was going to happen, until he told me there was another reason he wanted to bring me here. He then told me how much he loved me and got down on one knee and asked if I would do the honor of marrying him. I’m sure he said a bunch of other really sweet stuff, but I couldn’t tell you what it was. The moment will always remain in my memory as a blurry combination of happy tears and heart palpitations.

Back To Reality

If working in a bridal shop has taught me anything, it is that timelines are VERY important in the wedding planning process, and somehow, I already felt behind. I knew the first thing to do was to book a venue, which was a lot more complicated than I anticipated. How do you know where to start? What kind of questions should I be asking? Thank god for google. I honestly just started booking appointments for viewing venues by which ones looked the nicest. After visiting a few, I started figuring out what was important to us, and what things we would have to compromise on. Most of the venues we looked at had informative websites, but if we needed further information we emailed the event coordinator who would send us a breakdown of costs and what was included with the rental. Here is a list of the main considerations we had when booking a venue:

• Guest List: As soon as we got engaged, we made an approximate list of all the people we wanted to invite. It added up to around 200 people, which I didn’t think was massive, but lots of venues can’t accommodate that many people. There can also be a difference on how many people the ceremony space can hold compared to how many people the reception space can hold.

• Budget: The biggest costs we took into consideration were cost per person for food, corkage fees, and the room rental fee. We discovered that most venues wave the room rental fee if you exceed a certain dollar amount in food and alcohol. We also learned that if your guest list is over 150 it is cheaper to pay a corkage fee per person and then supply the alcohol. Some venues allow you to do this, and some don’t.

• Atmosphere: I wouldn’t say we had a specific vision or theme we wanted to stick with, I just knew I wanted something classic. Nothing too modern and nothing to rustic. Most venues you can get a feel for right away just by looking at the pictures, but it’s always worth it to see in person.

In the end, we decided to go with the Royal Glenora Club for the reception space, and are still in the process of booking a ceremony space. I can’t believe I get to marry the love of my life on October 1st, 2016, only 318 days away, but who’s counting…

Tip from a Real Novelle Bride

Go with your gut. It’s easy to get sidetracked and distracted by beautiful venues and amazing menus, but don’t forget the true meaning of the day. If it’s more important to have all the people you love at your wedding, don’t compromise.