Organising a beautiful wedding with just 5 weeks to go
What do you do if you need to organise a last-minute wedding? Not everybody has acres of time to plan, sometimes life happens – whether you want to tie the knot before the arrival of a baby, a move abroad, or just because you can’t wait to say I do. For Emanuel and Cherry, this time frame was just five weeks!
They still wanted their wedding to be beautiful, romantic, full of style and the wedding of their dreams.
Tip one: Find a venue fast and save the date!
Emanuel and Cherry found Treseren whilst searching for a stylish venue for a small, intimate wedding before they emigrated to Australia. They rang Emma at Treseren from Australia in early July whilst looking for somewhere to live in Melbourne. Time was short as their move from London to Australia for Emanuel’s new job was due at the start of September, so they needed to get married in August before leaving.
At Treseren, we only had one date left in August, we saved the date and helped set Emanuel and Cherry on the right path to get the legal side of things moving.
It’s really important that a venue is up on their knowledge of the legal process, that they are happy to work with you to create everything at speed and work out all the details at their end to make everything happen.
Tip Two: Contact your local Registry Office ASAP
If you want a legal, civil ceremony in the UK, then there is a process to follow and there must be a notice period of at least 28 days. You need to book an appointment at your local Registry office to initiate this notice period as soon as possible and have all the necessary paperwork ready to take along. This includes valid identity documents and details of where and when you want to get married.
For Emanuel and Cherry the possibility of the wedding happening would be dependent on booking an initial interview at their Registry Office in London and hoping that everything would fall in to place with Cornwall Registry Office availability. It was a 50 / 50 call whether the official process could happen in time, especially as Cherry was originally from outside of the EU… it turned out that London and Cornwall Registrars moved heaven and earth to make the booking happen and the wedding was booked!
Tip Three: Keep the guest list small
There are many wonderful things about small, intimate weddings and many people plan them way in advance. If you are planning a wedding at short notice, it helps to be agile and smaller numbers will give you more flexibility to create the wedding you want with the most important and closest people to you attending, without becoming a logistical nightmare. Once you know who you want to invite, you can confirm availability fairly quickly with small numbers. From there, everything can fall in to place relatively smoothly from travel and accommodation for your guests, to the menus and style of celebration.
A small venue will often be able to accommodate all your guests, as well as organise a lot of the details for you.
Emanuel and Cherry’s wedding was kept small with just 12 guests, and we were able to accommodate everybody at Treseren. It was no small thing to organise as it was a truly international affair, with family flying in from Japan and Romania as well as friends travelling from London to celebrate with them at short notice. Final numbers were only confirmed 3 days before the wedding!
Tip Four: Send out a text or email invitation to your guests
With a short time-frame, you need to let everybody know about your last minute wedding as soon as possible. There’s no time for save the date stationary, and perhaps not time for wedding stationary. Using today’s speedy methods of communication whether by text, email or a Facebook or Whats App Group is going to be the best and quickest way to communicate.
Tip Five: Plan quickly, but don’t compromise on style
Make a list of what is important to you – and go for it! If necessary, find a good wedding planner local to your venue to make those last minute arrangements come together quickly, but if you’re planning a small, intimate wedding then often the venue will include this in their package.
At Treseren we work with some brilliant local suppliers, and we were able to quickly pull a team together based on Cherry and Emanuel’s wish list. Oona from Oona’s cakes stepped in to create a very special wedding cake with two different flavours – as the cake was really important to Cherry and Emanuel we knew she would be the right person for the job and the end result was stunning. Cat from Tide Flowers came up with some beautiful arrangements that were just right for an al fresco wedding. And Angie, part of the Treseren team came up with an inspired menu for the wedding feast, based on Cherry and Emanuel’s love of Greek food. Kati from Scalet Paperie created stunning wedding table stationary and everything was ready to create the most beautiful last minute wedding.
Tip Six: Relax and Enjoy your day
No matter how quickly a last minute wedding was organised, if everything is in place, it will come together on the day just as a wedding planned months (or years!) in advance. It is so important to leave everything in the hands of your wedding co-ordinator and venue on the day, and after all that last-minute rush, just relax and enjoy your wedding!
Last-Minute weddings can be so romantic, and Emanuel and Cherry’s was no exception…
Cherry and Emanuel’s Beautiful, Intimate (and last-minute!) wedding day
Cherry got ready with her mother in Middleton, our Master Suite at Treseren. She spent some time ahead of the ceremony to write some special words for Emanuel which she was to present in the service.
It was a beautiful, blue sky day and Cherry’s mother selected a single rose to hold and accompanied Cherry to her outdoor ceremony setting under an ancient walnut tree in the gardens at Treseren where family and friends were waiting.
Emanuel and Cherry wanted to feel really connected to nature and opted for a unique flowing ceremony from outside to in, centred under the beautiful walnut tree at Treseren, flowing inside to the wedding room for their legal words and to sign the register. At Treseren, we have been one of the pilot venues developing these special indoor / outdoor flowing ceremonies meaning a couple can choose anywhere in our grounds to get married if the weather is fine, but still be legally married.
Following their ceremony, the reception flowed out on to the terrace and in to the gardens. A wonderful wedding feast followed and then there was traditional Romanian dancing. Toasting marshmallows around the fire pit as the sun went down was the end to a perfect day.
As Cherry wrote in our Treseren guest book:
“I never imagined any special day to be extra special. From day one, Emma helped us with everything. Five weeks of planning is a bit rushed and short, but this family made it possible for us. Short and rushed, but the memories are definitely not. We couldn’t thank you enough. From the bottom of our fulfilled and happy hearts!! Thank you!!!!”
August 25th 2019
Photography – Paul Caddis, Treseren
Cake –Oona, Oona’s Cakes
Flowers – Cat, Tide Flowers
Stationary – Kati Scalet, Scalet Paperie
Catering – Angie Greenham, Treseren
Planning and Co-ordination – Emma Caddis Treseren
