Popularity has always been a surefire way to secure business; and online popularity – which translates to reviews – is one of the most powerful ways to show the world you’re liked, respected and worth investing in.
Reviews are particularly important in the wedding industry.
In today’s world, we Google before be book, buy or visit.
And just a few positive reviews can reassure couples you’re worth checking out, whereas negative reviews or no reviews at all will fill couples with dread and suspicion.
But why take our word for it?
We’ve reached out to Bridebook Award Winners 2018 – that is, the most impressive, talented and successful wedding makeup, dress, menswear, jewellery and accessories suppliers we’re working with right now – and asked them to explain in their own words how powerful they believe reviews are in helping them reach award-winning status.
Bejouled – Bridebook’s Jeweller of the Year
What are the top 3 benefits to having reviews in your personal experience?
Benefit 1 – I think the biggest benefit to having reviews is that it shows potential customers that you are a quality supplier, with loads of happy previous customers! I think many consumers will look at reviews before contacting any wedding suppliers as they can trust what others have said and look to their experience with that company.
Benefit 2 – Having great reviews also lets us know that we are doing a great job! There is nothing better than seeing your customer showing off their sparkling jewels, over the moon with the finished result. One of our favorite parts of the job is getting positive feedback and making our customers happy makes everything worth it.
Benefit 3 – A great benefit of reviews is having all of our wonderful Thank You cards on display in our Boutique which shows customers when they walk through the door that we are loved by some many previous customers. We have had many say that seeing all of the lovely cards sealed the deal for them!
How does the review process work in the UK wedding jewellery sector and can you identify any areas that could be improved?
I think most reviews these days come from Facebook which is great as it’s a platform that most people are active on. However, we try to push reviews across all our platforms such as Google, Bridebook, Vows Awards etc so we have great reviews across the board.
The only downside to the review process is that sometimes you can receive a negative review from someone who has never even been in contact with the company and that can impact your overall rating as a whole which can in turn impact the opinion of potential customers with regards to your brand. I think if a better screening process was put in place to validate reviews it would stop this from happening.
Dani Roberts Makeup – Bridebook’s Bridal Beauty Therapist of the Year
What are the top 3 benefits to having reviews in your personal experience?
Real customer feedback so that I can improve the service I provide in the future.
Gives future clients reassurance and an insight to what I can provide for them on their big day.
Shows your experience in the industry and that you’re a reputable business.
How do you generate bridal beauty bookings?
I currently use social media and post photos of my work as advertisement. I also have a lot of bookings through word of mouth and recommendations.
Do online reviews play a part when couples contact you via word of mouth referral?
I think they do as I direct them to my website and Bridebook profile so that they can get an idea of my style and pricing, view my work and so that they will be able to read reviews for that extra level of reassurance.
Sarah’s Wedding Boutique – Bridebook’s Wedding Dress & Accessories Supplier of the Year
How does the process of review giving / collecting work in the wedding dress and accessories sector?
Reviews are usually given following a purchase or once the bride has become a ‘Mrs’. This enables the bride to give genuine feedback on our Bridebook profile based on their wedding dress buying experience from start to finish.
Is it more important to win approval and good feedback from fellow suppliers rather than brides? Why?
Approval from both suppliers and brides are equally important with regards to working relationships and productivity. Both go hand in hand in terms of business success and a positive attitude is infectious! We have a great rapport with everyone involved. I believe this is an important strength which should never be underestimated.
What are the top 3 benefits to having reviews in your personal experience?
It is important to receive feedback from our customers to know we are doing things right.
To promote customer and shop awareness.
To boost staff morale and confidence.
Whitfield & Ward – Bridebook’s Menswear Supplier of the Year
What are the top 3 benefits to having reviews in your personal experience?
Reviews give our customers an insight into how we operate and what to expect when they come in to see us.
Food glorious food…what’s a wedding without a caterer or cake?
Food is usually at the centre of any social occasion and nowadays we all choose places to eat based on recommendations from friends and family or based on online reviews and star ratings.
We cannot emphasise enough how important reviews are in helping wedding caterers and wedding cake makers generate bookings.
Couples simply cannot choose between the thousands of foodies – good, bad and ugly – without a little guidance. And the best guidance comes in the form of real reviews and recommendations from the couples you’ve cooked, baked and served food for in recent weddings.
In the spirit of letting others do the hard work for us, here are two award winning Bridebook wedding suppliers to explain how important reviews are for wedding food suppliers.
Cakes by Nina – Bridebook’s Wedding Cake Maker of the Year
Nina, how does it feel to win this award!?
Thank you so very much – I’m truly over the moon! I’ve already seen some benefits of winning as I’ve had a few consultations with couples who were on the fence but when they saw that I’d won, they visited my website and Bridebook profile page, read my reviews and decided to go with me.
Amazing! So winning has proved how important reviews are for you.
Absolutely. Clients often comment that they have read my reviews before deciding to come and see me. Reviews are really important as it is a nerve wracking decision deciding who is going to do the best job making your wedding cake.
What are the top 3 benefits to having reviews in your personal experience?
It gives you a stronger brand presence and supports potential clients in their decision making process.
It helps put people’s mind at ease in this competitive market when you cannot be too sure of what you might be getting.
It gives people the chance to read what real customers think of your service as well as see your product so helps you develop as a business and generate bookings
Circa Events – Bridebook’s Wedding Caterer of the Year
Olivia, congratulations on becoming Bridebook’s Wedding Caterer of the Year.
May we ask, what are the top 3 benefits to having reviews in your personal experience?
Potential clients can see real-time, honest reviews from real couples!
It drives traffic to our website
It boosts our reputation with other suppliers and venues which in turn gives us more business opportunities
When you post reviews, do you do so on multiple platforms?
Dependent on the review and the wedding venue, we might post reviews on Facebook, our website and Bridebook. Where we post usually depends on where the client referral has come from in the first place.
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That’s certainly given us food for thought (excuse the pun) with regards to just how impactful reviews and recommendations are for wedding food suppliers.
Do you have any comments to add about your experience of the power of reviews as a UK wedding food supplier?
For more information and interviews with award winning UK wedding suppliers, check out our Review Series.
Soniamarie Loves has been announced as Bridebook’s Wedding Planner of the Year.
With over l0 years in wedding and event planning, owner Soniamarie has worked with couples from all walks of life – planning, managing and coordinating weddings of all types and budgets both in the UK and abroad.
Soniamarie really does love everything to do with weddings; that much is clear from the fantastic reviews we’ve seen on her website and on her Bridebook profile.
“I love to make my clients happy, to give them the wedding that they have dreamed of and to treat it as if it were my own by giving every detail of your day the care and attention that it deserves.”
Reviews may have gotten Soniamarie noticed and helped her win this prestigious wedding planner award but we wanted to know in her own words just how powerful she feels reviews are in helping Soniamarie Loves grow as a business.
We asked Soniamarie, what are the top 3 benefits to having reviews in your personal experience?
Benefit 1 – reviews help to sell a service. Being a wedding planner can sometimes be difficult to “sell” as it is an intangible service and not something which you can demonstrate to a client or show them before they buy. This is where reviews come into play and they have really helped me win new business.
Reviews are the undiluted words of a couple, their friends and family from the weddings that I have planned, managed or coordinated and they are based on personal, first hand experiences of my work. I think that it is pretty hard to ignore how a service has made someone feel.
That is what people relate to and it has meant that prospective clients do not have to solely rely on my own words about how I can add value to their wedding day, they can read my reviews.
Benefit 2 – reviews never expire. Once someone has provided me with a review or testimonial, it is there and can be reused and promoted at any time without limit. That is a free and invaluable advertising tool for my social media, website, brochure and any other marketing tool I want to use them for. Oh, did I mention that they are FREE forever?!
Benefit 3 – reviews help to increase your credibility. When couples are searching for a supplier on a directory for example, they do not know that supplier personally and so have to rely on the content they find on their profile page.
Being a supplier with a number of reviews will make you stand out from the crowd and give weight to the services you provide. For me, reviews show that I know what I am doing and that I am an experienced planner.
If you think about it, not all of the people who have left a review can be wrong and there must be some truth in what they have said. I personally think that my reviews have worked wonders for me, they are as good as word of mouth and I have definitely gotten business from them.
In your experience as a top wedding planner, do you often receive rave reviews without having to ask for them?
I would say that it is 50/50. I tend to get reviews by way of ongoing feedback during the planning process from my clients and even suppliers that I work with, without asking. It can be a simple as a “Thank you, that was really helpful” or “You are a star!” I class these comments as reviews too as it is all feedback on my work and I am so grateful and humbled for all feedback.
I have been pleasantly surprised by some of the reviews that I have received from couples who were so happy with my service that they have sent me videos while on honeymoon! I couldn’t ask for more than that!
There are of course times when I have had to follow up with a client for a review which I do not mind doing and equally they have not minded supplying for me. I try not to be pushy with it as I am dealing with newlyweds so sending me a review is not at the top of their priority list immediately after their wedding day.
Patience is key. I believe in the service that I provide and because of that, I am confident that my clients will not mind sharing that experience with others to help me promote my business.
That’s so great to hear! And we completely agree that every kind word should be considered a review. Do you think it takes a lot of time and discipline to successfully manage the review process for your business; from requesting a review right through to posting it?
Yes, I do. You need to be on top of it and it definitely does require time and discipline to obtain reviews and then use them most effectively.
I can honestly say that I am not always the best at doing this and I know that I could use them a lot more than I do. It is so easy to be so engrossed in my client’s “wedmin” that I forget to make enough time to work on this is important part of my business.
I think that it is really important to capture raw emotion and feelings while it is still fresh in the minds of the couples you work with, so seeking the reviews as soon as possible is key. Snooze and you will lose.
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That’s certainly given us food for thought with regards to just how impactful reviews and recommendations are in the wedding planning industry.
Do you have any comments to add about your experience of the power of reviews as a UK wedding planner?
For more information and interviews with award-winning UK wedding suppliers, check out our Review Series.
When it looks too good to be true, it sometimes isn’t.
It’s tough these days trying to decide where your business should feature online, isn’t it?
Resources are often scarce and busy wedding suppliers like yourself don’t always have the time or money to feature on all the platforms that promise to get you noticed.
We get it.
But what if we told you that we’ve got inside information that suggests that there is a ‘magic mix’ of core, online marketing platforms that every UK based wedding supplier must take advantage of to win bookings?
All you need to know to mix your own magic formula are these three little words…
Website, Social, Bridebook.
Let’s break it down…
Continuously invest in your website. Update it, nurture it and promote it. It’s your online business card and portfolio.
Advertise your service or product on social media. Share good feedback, take photos of the weddings you work on and test out paid advertising if you’ve got the budget and the time.
Create a free account and profile on Bridebook. The UK’s number one wedding planning platform is currently helping over 100,000 UK couples plan their wedding. How can this huge audience search for you if you’re not listed on the directory? Did we mention it’s free?
The only one of these three magic ingredients that we’re guessing you don’t already know plenty about is Bridebook, so allow us to enlighten you.
Bridebook Business – the free profile that generates over 15,000 enquiries a month
70,000 UK wedding suppliers just like you are currently setting up free Bridebook Business profiles to tap into the whopping 1 in 3 UK couples who’re currently planning their wedding with Bridebook.
100,000 newly engaged people is a whole lot of love; are we right?
Did you know that on average, over 15,000 enquiries are sent to UK wedding venues every month? That’s 100% return on investment.
Of course, the more time you spend updating your profile the better, as Bridebook’s sophisticated algorithm reads the information you provide to put you in front of relevant couples.
So the more information you give the easier you’ll be found by the right kind of couples.
Bridebook was given 4.5 stars for excellence in supporting wedding planning couples and in generating business for suppliers. And you know first hand how trustworthy and important reviews and star rating are.
On that note, we’d like to leave you with a few of our reviews that might encourage you to make the best decision of your business life.
Happy reading.
Oh…and if you’re ready to jump on the Bridebook bandwagon just contact us here or call us on 02080686859.
Looking for more wedding industry supplier stories and couple insights? Head to the Bridebook Business Hub, the home of wedding industry knowledge.
We know it can be difficult to squeeze in all of the essential things you absolutely must do to fulfil your role as wedding supplier.
But did you know that setting aside just a few minutes to ask your potential and existing clients the right questions at the right time is one of the most important and impactful things you can do to help grow your business?
Your most powerful source of knowledge is your consumer base – that is, your couples.
The insights you garner from clients and from losing potential clients can really make or break your future as a wedding industry professional.
So here’s our essential guide to the questions you need to be asking your couples and at which stage of their wedding planning journey.
Stage 1 – enquiry received
Send the couple an email thanking them for their enquiry, congratulating them on their engagement and inviting them to discuss their requirements in further detail. You can do this in the form of a wedding venue visit or by scheduling in a Skype or phone call to, for example, understand what the couple like about your wedding business and to talk them through your portfolio.
Tip – although email is the preferred form of communication for 88% of wedding planning couples, try to initiate a face to face conversation or phone call after you’ve received their enquiry. Half of couples say that they prefer in-person contact with the wedding suppliers they choose to use.
Not all wedding suppliers are good at doing this.
How professional will you look and how much will you stand out against the competition if you ask to meet the couple to discuss cake designs or insist on a phone call to introduce yourself as the couples potential wedding decorations supplier?!
Set the bar for excellent service and fantastic communication early on.
Stage 2 – after the venue visit or initial introduction
So you’ve met the couple face to face or at least spoken with them over the phone.
You should have gathered all essential information such as both of their names and contact details, and established when the couple are looking to get married (this is important regardless of whether the couple choose to use your services or not, as it enables you to track enquiry volume against seasonality).
A day or two after the visit or post-enquiry discussion, email the couple to follow up and express how much you’d like to work with them.
If it’s a yes…
If you receive positive news from the couple and they choose to use your wedding services, send them an email expressing how pleased you are to be able to help them create their dream day.
Here are some real examples of questions you could then ask your new clients, courtesy of the wedding venue Hedsor House:
What made you choose Hedsor House?
What were your favourite and least favourite things about Hedsor House?
Did you feel that pricing was good value at Hedsor House?
What other wedding venues did you consider along with Hedsor House? How did it compare to these other venues?
If it’s a no…
If you receive a rejection from the couple and they let you know they’ve chosen another wedding venue or supplier, you could ask:
Which wedding venue did you choose in the end?
What were your reasons for choosing this wedding venue over Hedsor House?
If you could do anything to improve or change Hedsor House and make it your ideal wedding venue, what would it be?
If it’s gone quiet…
If you don’t hear back from the couple after a week or so, you could email them to say:
We hope Heacham Manor is still in the running to be your wedding venue however if you have chosen not to hold your special day with us, we’d love to know which venue you did eventually choose, and what the deciding factor was?
It’s important that you learn from the ‘no’s’ and try to understand why couples don’t choose your wedding services. This knowledge can and will help you convert more enquiries into bookings in future.
Stage 3 – post wedding
Once your journey with the couple has come to an end and you’ve contributed toward delivering their dream wedding day, you can ask for final feedback and a review direct on your Bridebook profile – just share your link!
Tip: wait at least two weeks before asking the couple for feedback as they are going to be on a wedding high and you don’t want to seem inconsiderate.
Here are just some of the questions you can ask a couple after their wedding day (pick a handful that work best for you and your wedding business):
How would you rate your overall experience?
How well was your initial enquiry dealt with?
Do you remember who you dealt with?
Would you agree that the website is easy to navigate and understand?
When choosing us which other wedding venues made it on to your shortlist?
What was the deciding factor that made you choose us?
How would you rate the event staff on the day?
Which caterer did you choose?
How would you rate your caterer?
Were you happy with the service you received from your suppliers (both recommended by us and others)? Please do give us details if any failed to meet your expectations or exceeded them…
Would you recommend us to friends/family/colleagues?
Would you use us for future events?
Did you stay overnight with us? If you did stay overnight with us, how would you rate our guest accommodation?
What was your favourite thing about your experience with us throughout your wedding planning journey? What was your least favourite part of your experience?
What would you improve about our wedding business?
Would you be interested in appearing on our website in a Real Wedding feature?
Is there anything else you’d like to tell us?
We’d love to hear if we did a particularly great job or if there’s anything we can improve on…
Are we able to share the content of your responses for marketing purposes?
Ask the right questions at the right time in the right way.
How you ask your couples these questions is up to you.
We recommend using a simple survey tool like Typeform or Survey Monkey. Alternatively, start with an email and follow up with a phone call or face to face meeting. But remember to be flexible in communicating with the couple in the way that suits them best and works well enough for you.
Don’t ask too many questions and make sure you revisit the answers regularly and really use the insights these answers provide to help drive your wedding company forwards.
Ultimately, it’s essential for you to remember how important the answers to these questions are in helping your wedding business grow and develop.
Any questions? I hope so…
Looking for more wedding industry supplier stories and couple insights? Head to the Bridebook Business Hub, the home of wedding industry knowledge.
And those digitally devoted information absorbers are now demanding a different approach from wedding suppliers. They’re looking for an altogether more open wedding market. They want you to overshare examples of weddings you’ve worked on – but don’t hound them or they’ll swipe left.
They might not have tons of time for you but they sure as hell want you to lay all of your cards on their perfectly designed wedding breakfast table.
#itscomplicated
So here’s the rundown of exactly what engaged and soon-to-be-wed couples of today expect from their wedding entourage for the approximate 20 months that they’ll be engaged and working with you…
1.Be online when your couples are
Unsurprisingly, the most popular time of the week for wedding planning is after work, with 63% of couples stating that evenings were the time they were most likely to be online.
Bridebook has discovered that the majority of enquiries are sent between 7pm-9pm so as a wedding supplier, you need to be active at these times. And of course the faster you are able to respond and interact with these enquiries the higher your conversion rate will be.
Where possible, keep an eye on your inbox over the weekend as Saturday (40%) and Sunday (37%) also show higher than average wedding planning activity.
2.Contact couples in the right way
For yet another year running, email is the preferred method of communication for initial enquiries (85%) and ongoing contact (88%) between couples and suppliers.
Interestingly though, half of couples also want in-person contact with the suppliers they’re working with.
However, you choose to answer your initial enquiry, remember to ask your couples how they would like to be contacted from there on and ask when is best for them in case evenings and weekends don’t suit.
3.Never underestimate the importance of reviews and recommendations
For yet another year running, couples have rated reviews and recommendations from friends and family (71%) as the most valuable source of information when booking wedding suppliers.
It is now more important than ever that you showcase your past work and triumphs wherever and whenever possible because 76% of couples read 8 or more reviews before booking a wedding supplier.
More specifically, 59% of couples said that they wanted to read online reviews from couples you’ve worked with in the past before making a decision on whether to contact you.
4.Understand how couples are choosing to spend their wedding budget
Did you know that the national average wedding spend in the UK in 2017 was £17,913 – excluding honeymoon? In London, this figure rises to £31,837.
So what are these big spending Millennial’s actually doing with their wedding budget?
The good news is that the money being spent on suppliers has increased by an average of 12% year on year. Consider this when reviewing your prices and ensure that you’re still pricing competitively and are not underselling your services by pricing too low.
Marquee hire (24%) food and drink (23%) and venue dressing (22%) are areas of spending that grew the most year on year.
5.Couples need interaction
The wedding industry is an unknown for most couples when they first dip their toe in our world and as such, we should be willing to guide them through the process.
This is the most important day of their lives and they are spending a lot of money so you have to prove your worth and show them that your business is worth investing in from the get go.
Be their friend and their partner throughout the wedding planning process. By communicating in the right way and offering the right kind of advice without being pushy you’ll ensure that couples have confidence in you and trust your expertise.
6.Couples depend on your photos
It is so important that you show couples what you do and what you offer with real, visual examples.
Keep your website and Bridebook profile up to date with the latest and greatest photos from weddings you’re most proud of.
Wedding venues – make sure that you’re showcasing great quality external and internal photos. If you aren’t blessed with acres of glorious grounds take photographs of other assets that surround you – whether rolling countryside or big city hotspots.
Makeup artists, wedding stylists, florists – photograph your work yourself and ask photographers and videographers for permission to use a couple of their photos or stills from the day (remembering to credit them).
Try to evoke a “that could be us” feeling with every visual you share.
7.Diversity is important to Millennial couples
Diversity is a problem that we are facing in the industry and we as suppliers should be tackling it head-on.
We live in one of the most diverse countries in the world and to ignore that is to ignore and potentially offend your potential customers.
As a start, be gender inclusive and try not to use phrases such as ‘normally a bride and groom have this or do that’. Consider your use of ‘bride and groom’ in the content you write and speak, using the term ‘partner’ or ‘couple’ instead.
We should be making every couple feel confident, comfortable and unique.
Wedding suppliers; ask yourselves…
…are you working with millennials or against them?
Are you interacting with them at the time and in the ways that they want you to?
Are you showcasing your business at it’s best – including reviews and beautiful images to really sell how great you are?
Bridebook can help you adjust to what Millennial couples want and need. Set up your own Bridebook page now to start promoting your business in a quick, easy and effortless way.
Looking for more wedding industry trends and couple insights? Head to the Bridebook Business Hub, the home of wedding industry knowledge.
Her natural, relaxed, storytelling style captured the interest of so many engaged couples last year and it’s clear to see how happy her newlywed clients are with their photographs thanks to the reviews left for Sam on her website and on her Bridebook profile.
Reviews may have gotten Sam noticed and helped her win this prestigious award but we wanted to know in her own words just how powerful Sam feel reviews really are in helping Samantha Jayne Photography grow as a business.
We asked Sam, what are the top 3 benefits to having reviews in your personal experience?
In today’s digital world the online presence of reviews is HUGELY important!
As much as you can promote the value of your own business, nothing is more credible than a glowing review from a client.
Benefit 1 – reviews give potential clients an insight into the services and the experience you provide. Little things that matter to clients can stand out in these reviews.
For example, this is one of my favourite reviews from a bridesmaid last year:
“Sam is bloody fantastic. She was there for the bride, Katie Fox, from disgustingly early o’clock to get some pre-glam shots. She was helping wherever she could when asked but also doing a dozen things that she had anticipated would help before being asked. She had obviously spoken to not only the bride and groom but family in advance to arrange surprise staged shots that would make the bride blart even harder (sorry Katie face!)
“She was on table tops, on the floor, on counters in every corner and crevice to get the perfect shot. At one point we joked about her getting upon the beams in the barn and she was genuinely looking for a way to gain access to the rafters for a good aerial shot of the dance floor. She puts kids at ease and rounds them up without missing a step.
“When asked how long she was staying she said as long as the party is on she would be there. The woman refuelled with a fruit shoot ffs. Her photos are stunning, they completely capture the personality of the couple and their day from barely sun up to the last glass of fizz is put down.”
This bridesmaid has since been recommending me to everyone she knows.
Benefit 2 – online reviews can also benefit your business by shedding light on your brand’s personality. How you respond to a review (whether it’s positive or negative) has just as much impact.
Reviews build trust….would you rather hire someone who has a lot of happy customers or someone without? I know which I’d prefer.
Benefit 3 – online reviews will also improve your Google ranking! Google pulls data from external online review sites for it’s search quality. The more positive reviews you have on these sites the higher your rankings will be in organic search results.
Wow. So reviews are pretty darn important then!In your experience Sam, do couples make an enquiry before or after they’ve read reviews about your service?
In my opinion most couples make an enquiry after they’ve looked through my work and read through reviews. As stated above it gives them a level of trust in me and an insight to the kind of person I am. Then I meet up with them to discuss their day, answer any other questions they may have and put them fully at ease.
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That’s certainly given us food for thought with regards to just how impactful reviews and recommendations can be for wedding photographers.
Do you have any comments to add about your experience of the power of reviews as a UK wedding photographer?
For more information and interviews with award-winning UK wedding suppliers, check out our Review Series.
Looking for more wedding industry supplier stories and couple insights? Head to the Bridebook Business Hub, the home of wedding industry knowledge.
“I’m a photographer – but I’m also a storyteller.” John Nassari
John Nassari certainly is the storyteller he proclaims to be; as much is evident in his incredible work which has won numerous accolades, and in his desire to continue to change the future of photography with the help of immersive technologies.
But what about the story behind the storyteller?
How did John Nassari get to be one of the most recognised and appreciated photographers in London today?
We met up with him to find out.
This is the story of John Nassari.
How it all began
At the tender age of 13, Cypriot born John was handed a Zenith VM by his stepfather. It was a Russian film camera and it was the best birthday present he’d ever received. Over the next few months (and as it turned out, years) John experimented with this camera and learnt all about the basics of photography with the help of his devoted parents.
“My father had this magical way of discussing aperture and shutter speed. I remember I just got it…it just made sense to me.”
John would write down the F stops and shutter speeds that he used for each photograph. He’d take the same picture but in different ways; changing how he exposed images and noting the different effects these changes had.
“Most of it was rubbish but my mum pulled a few aside and questioned why I’d photograph that particular shape or shadow. I used to say I don’t know – it just caught my eye. And that’s when I started to play around with form.” John knew from very early on that this was what he wanted to do. He’d been captured by the art of photography.
Nurturing his passion
Within the next 12 months, John had joined a local camera club and found himself developing real photography skills alongside a group of older gentlemen – all of whom were hobbyist photographers. It soon became clear to the club members that this 14-year-old boy had a very special talent for photography that reached far beyond the realms of a hobby.
A member of the camera club donated a darkroom to John and other members began to lend him equipment and teach him things that they themselves had learnt about photography.
“They were so kind to me” says John. “ I was so shy at the time. And then I started entering these competitions and actually winning them. Everyone was really thrilled for me.”
John went back to the camera club that helped him perfect his craft 10 years later to teach photography, and to his joy, some of the original members were still there.
Carving a niche
John was always interested in form, and particularly in shadows, colours and textures. John would photograph objects and landscapes more than he would people early on in his photographic journey.
Still life was John’s first love, and it is a love that has stayed with him throughout his career.
“When I shoot table decorations for weddings – that’s still life – so of course, I’m still shooting what I love to shoot most. I really enjoy it. It’s a technical process rather than the process of shooting a person. People came into my work later on.”
John pursued an academic career at the University of Arts in Rochester, and it was during this more practical period of his education that he began to shoot people.
By the time John reached 28 years of age he had completed his MA in Visual Culture (which was more theory than practical) and chose to undertake his dissertation on people, which is ultimately where some of his finest work begun to materialise.
“I think at some point or another, most photographers turn the camera on themselves. Maybe not directly on themselves but on their family. And that’s what I did.
“I began to think about ‘the self’ and about family, and I managed to take around 2,000 pictures in 2 years with my 35mm lens. In those days, everything I shot was with a 35mm. I’d photograph all kinds of occasions.”
“I went to see a curator with this collection of family photos and they asked me: “what’s the story?” I couldn’t really answer. As a body of work it just didn’t fit. So finding the story and meaning behind me and my family was a journey of exploration which involved me digging deeper to discover as much as I could about my background.”
At this stage of his career, John begun to explore emotion, family and relationships through the lens.
“I became focused on the subject of belonging and in turn, I rejected objects and aesthetics in favour of emotion.
“Emotion is a hard thing to capture. It’s not just about someone laughing. To capture raw emotion in a beautiful moment demands something more than a smile. The most powerful images – whether they include a touch, a look or a smile – capture an isolated moment; perhaps between a newly married couple whilst they’re surrounded by relatives dancing.
“How you convey that emotion within an aesthetic frame is what makes a photograph truly powerful.”
A defining moment that changed you…
Dad and Me is one of John’s most recognised and best-loved photographs. It won the Taylor West Award at the National Portrait Gallery in 1999 / 2000 and is one of the defining shots that signalled a shift in John’s career. He was officially on the map.
So how was the idea executed?
“Well I asked dad to go shopping – I gave him a budget and asked him to buy himself something and to also buy me the identical outfit. He asked me what it was all about – he didn’t get it but he participated and did it, and came back with these two matching outfits – one for each of us.
And so we put on our outfits and I set the timer on my camera for this self-portrait.”
“The outcome is a photograph about ambivalence. It’s about the relationship I have with my father and possibly the ambivalent relationship that many men have with their fathers.
“Conflict and contradiction are key – this photo suggests imitation and me wanting to be like my father; of course I admire him and look up to him, but there’s this tension about not wanting to actually become him.
“You admire your father but you don’t want to become him. We’re holding hands which implies intimacy but there’s also this distance between us – we’re not smiling.”
A defining moment in wedding photography…
The Cyclist is an iconic piece from John’s wedding collection and has won awards for its metaphorical display of two lives and two journeys intersecting at a pivotal moment.
“I had everything planned out perfectly. I was in position; I’d stopped traffic temporarily and guests were preparing to throw confetti as the couple emerged from the church. And then just as the sky exploded with colour a cyclist tears through the shot… I was so angry at the time but somehow had the presence of mind to keep shooting despite the interference of the cyclist.”
When John explained what had happened to the newlyweds they just smiled and said: “typically Cambridge”.
In the days that followed the wedding, John became more and more intrigued about this man – the cyclist. He wanted to enter the photo into a competition but needed permission from him. Plus he wanted to find this mystery man from a human interest perspective and enlist the help of others to create a bit of a buzz.
John reached out to the Cambridge News and they loved the story. It soon made it into the Metro and people everywhere started talking about the photograph and ‘the man’.
Eventually, Archie Wood – a Cambridge student – came forward as the mystery cyclist. In fact, he was late for his physics exam because he was speaking to John! John made it up to him and sent Archie a signed, framed copy of the photograph that had made him one of the most famed cyclist in the photography world.
What’s next for John Nassari…
As someone who doesn’t like to sit still for very long, it was to be expected that we’d soon see something groundbreaking from John.
Nassari 360 is an immersive, interactive, explorable 360 digital experience, which layers content in the form of a curated gallery of senses and environments.
People are able to view photographs, scroll around to see what lies beyond the frame, and hear the sounds of people and their surroundings.
Nassari 360 is to be launched at The Photography Show on 17th March at NEC Birmingham.
John is also close to completing an online wedding photography course which is designed for both aspiring photographers and established photographers outside of wedding industry.
Stay tuned for more from John Nassari and the latest in wedding photography news.
Looking for more wedding industry trends and couple insights? Head to the Bridebook Business Hub, the home of wedding industry knowledge.
Does any industry compete with the wedding industry when it comes to the sheer volume of questioning? Was that another question? Anyway…
We’re guessing that there are probably more questions asked throughout the wedding planning journey than there are in any other events industry.
Questions from guests to couples, couples to wedding suppliers and suppliers to couples; not to mention questions from suppliers to suppliers…and the list goes on.
Nowadays, more and more engaged couples are building wedding websites to help them easily manage questions they receive from guests, and by sharing answers to all the questions they’ve already been asked they can help inform guests without having to speak directly to each of them about the same things.
Makes sense, right?
So if couples have realised the huge advantages of having FAQ-style question and answer pages, why haven’t all wedding suppliers?
Realising the many benefits of FAQ pages
FAQ pages tend to be the ones that customers visit most but website writers think about least.
So why does this disconnect exist?
It’s a mystery to us. Perhaps the FAQ page just isn’t sexy enough. But there are plenty of companies doing it justice and even stamping their personality on the page in the form of creative answers.
Here are 5 core benefits to including an FAQ page on your wedding website:
Reassuring couples that you’ve got their questions covered and that they’re not asking anything you haven’t heard before
Improving the efficiency of first meetings with couples by providing answers to common questions beforehand, allowing you to focus on the details that matter most
Opportunity to improve SEO through targeted content development
Earning trust by showing you’re a professional expert in your field
Allowing couples a snapshot of your personality by creatively answering their questions
Whether you’re a wedding venue, a wedding photographer or a wedding caterer, you’re probably asked the same sorts of questions every time you meet a new couple.
Are we right?
So an FAQ page will save you heaps of time.
Deciding on questions to include, and structure
When choosing questions to include in your FAQ section, focus on relevancy and anyopportunities that allow you to develop answers into pages and encourage further engagement.
To start, think about the questions couples always ask you before and after booking, such as…
Does your wedding venue provide the option of a late night extension?
What are your deposit and payment terms?
If you end up with an extensive list of questions, group them into categories such as “Deciding on which wedding photographer to book” and “What to ask once you’ve booked your wedding photographer”.
Categorising your questions not only helps your visitors to navigate the FAQ page easily it also helps you ensure that you’re organised and are including all important questions.
Structured content also brings with it great SEO benefits, seeing as Google likes order. Being able to read a content-heavy page by category and tagged headers makes Google-bots happy.
In terms of how you write content for an FAQ page, make sure that you write your questions from your customer’s perspective (e.g. “How do I…”) and answer from your business’s perspective (e.g. “You should…” or “We provide…”).
And remember that your FAQ pages are a great place to convert interested couples into your next wedding booking. End each answer or page with a call to action that links to more information about your services, prices or the question/answer topic.
Tip: it’s important to update your FAQ page with any new customer concerns as they arise. Remember, all website pages should be regularly updated so that they don’t go stale!
Leveraging your FAQ page for SEO purposes
One of the great, secret benefits of FAQ pages is that they give you the opportunity to search engine optimise your website beyond that of ANY competitor – if you do it well.
Here’s how…
List out all of the questions you are regularly asked plus any questions you think potential clients would type into Google when researching a wedding supplier like you.
Even if your target audience isn’t searching for topics related specifically to your wedding brand, they might be searching for answers to questions related to the wedding industry in general via search engines.
You could include queries like…
What questions should I ask wedding photographers before booking one?
How much should a wedding venue cost?
Then link from these questions to content/landing pages that answer in detail and continue the journey from question to conversation to (hopefully) conversion.
By adding content or landing pages that are optimized for specific search queries and that further expand on answers to popular questions, Google will read you as highly relevant in your industry which means your wedding website will rank higher in results pages and subsequently, couples will be able to find your company more easily when searching for wedding suppliers like you.
Plus, having more detailed answers to popular questions on your website will encourage newly engaged couples to think of you as an industry leader in your field. They’ll likely choose the wedding supplier who’s ‘in the know’ when it comes to making that booking.
Get drafting those frequently asked questions today!
The FAQ page is often an afterthought for many websites. But used strategically, it can add a lot of value to your wedding website and your business on the whole.
Get started today – you can thank us later.
Any questions?
Looking for more wedding industry trends and couple insights? Head to the Bridebook Business Hub, the home of wedding industry knowledge.
15 minutes with four award-winning UK wedding venues
Do brides and grooms really care about reviews when it comes to wedding venues?
Surely they either fall in love with a venue, or they don’t – right?
You know that your wedding venue is far more than the bricks and mortar it’s made from. It’s about ambience, decor, service and comfort. It’s about supporting a couple in helping them create their dream day.
So reviews count.
They help a couple envisage their big day and decide whether the experiences of other happy newlyweds are the kinds of experiences they themselves want for their wedding day.
Rather than continue to tell you how important reviews are, we thought we’d let four award-winning wedding venues do it for us. Here are their thoughts on the power of reviews…
Woodhill Hall – Bridebook’s Winning UK Wedding Venue 2018
Bridebook: Tell us about your success with reviews so far, as a top UK wedding venue…
We’ve found the value of reviews is paramount to our business.
I think our key to receiving such successful reviews is that we’re a family run business that really gets to know our couples. From day one, they feel like part of the Woodhill family and we really get to know the couple, their family and friends. As a result, couples don’t feel like they’re reviewing a business, as one of our couples explained, it feels like you’re reviewing family. Reviews which are left by our couples always make us smile from ear to ear and we’re proud to showcase them on our website and with providers such as Bridebook.
Reviews also provide such a great opportunity to reflect on the team’s performance as well as allowing us to look back on how great the couples big day was. Often reviews from couples will mention a funny story or an element of the day which really stood out and it helps the team relive how great their day was.
Have you seen/felt the difference reviews make to the number of enquiries you receive? Any stats to support?
100% yes. We continue to be surprised by the number of enquiries we receive by couples who are interested in the venue and have chosen to visit us based on glowing reports from couples who’ve married with us, guests at weddings or even suppliers sharing how nice they found the venue. In 2017, 24% of all our enquiries came from couples who’d read reviews about us and out of those, 74% booked with us which is amazing. If it wasn’t for hearing about or reading a review they may have never visited us at all.
What are the top 3 benefits of having reviews in your personal experience?
True impartial representations of the venue by ambassadors who’ve been there, done that and enjoyed such a wonderful experience.
They provide a window into your customer service standards.
The more you showcase the more weight it adds to how good you and your business are.
Dodmoor House – Bridebook’s East Midlands Wedding Venue of the Year 2018
At which point in the wedding planning process do you ask couples for a review?
We wait until the wedding has finished, about a week or two after (depending on our couples’ travel plans). We find that it’s good to really give them a chance to reflect on all aspects of the wedding and give them time to relive it all.
How do you ask for the review?
We send an email to our couples and also ask them to send over any photos for a blog post or real-life wedding feature. We like to keep our couples involved in the ‘Dodmoor family’ for a long time after the wedding!
What are the top 3 benefits of having reviews in your personal experience?
It gives potential couples the opportunity to read real, honest opinions about our venue and the service we provide. It helps people to see where we shine and help them make a decision to book us for their dream day!
Receiving reviews from couples can help us to learn where we can improve. There’s always room for a little improvement!
We get really excited when a review comes in from one of our couples or a guest at one of the weddings; it really builds up morale within the team and gets us all pumped up to run our next wedding and do it all over again!
The Grand Hotel, Tynemouth – Bridebook’s North East England Wedding Venue of the Year 2018
Have you ever received a negative review and if so, how did you deal with it?
So far I do not think we have had a bad review which is incredible to be able to say.
If we did receive a negative review then we would look at what has been mentioned and act upon this and contact the couple to address any issues.
What are the top 3 benefits of having reviews in your personal experience?
It is good to get feedback on the hotel and hear back from our couples about their wedding experience.
It is reassurance that we are doing our job well when we receive glowing reviews.
It is good publicity for the hotel and for potential brides to see these reviews.
Redhouse Barn – Bridebook’s West Midlands Wedding Venue of the Year 2018
What are the top 3 benefits to having reviews in your personal experience?
Reviews are hugely important to us. We aren’t a huge fan of ‘pushy sales’ techniques and often letting potential couples see the fantastic reviews we have from previous weddings says a lot without us having to.
It gives potential couples a lot of confidence that what we are telling them about the venue and the food is true and often better than expected.
Recommendations are definitely the best form of advertising. I had one couple who visited us recently and the groom was very open and said that he wasn’t originally interested at all in a Barn wedding but his fiancé told him to spend a bit of time researching us (as she was desperate to come for a viewing) and after reading through our reviews on Facebook he knew it was where he wanted to get married before he actually visited!
Who asks couples for a review at your wedding venue?
We never canvass our couples or their guests to review the venue after their wedding so we are very lucky to receive some lovely thank you cards from most couples following their big day and we often upload those ourselves to share the love!
As mentioned above we don’t like to be too pushy and that extends to chasing people after their wedding to write something lovely about us. Generally, couples and their guests will take it upon themselves to review on social media or send us something in the post. It’s a testament to the fantastic service and hard work of the team here that people will go out of their way to review the venue, food and service.
Where do you showcase your reviews (online and offline)?
We like to showcase our reviews on all of our marketing platforms and social media. I try to keep these updated as much as possible with the latest reviews.
I don’t tend to like using older reviews as a lot can change in a couple of years so It’s nice to show new couples that this review was from a wedding from the summer just gone rather than from 5 years ago!
We use Facebook a lot already and I am starting to get better with Instagram which I would like to post more reviews on but I’m just getting to grips with it.
Offline we have a big file in the Barn full of all the thank you cards we receive so when potential couples come to view the Barns they can have a flick through!
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Reviews are the difference between converting an enquiry or a venue visit into a booking, or not.
Take our advice and the advice of award-winning, expert wedding venues today, and start harnessing the power of reviews for your wedding venue.
Looking for more wedding industry trends and couple insights? Head to the Bridebook Business Hub, the home of wedding industry knowledge.
The “Meghan Effect” has already begun making it’s mark on the UK wedding industry. Harry and Meghan’s wedding is the most viewed wedding in history, and the trends it has created have already taken hold.
The royal wedding gave the world a great distraction from global politics with Harry and Meghan receiving more global Google traffic than Donald Trump over the weekend, and 6 times more traffic than Brexit in the UK.
The highest levels of global internet interest came from the UK, with New Zealand a close second. Commonwealth countries filled up most of the top spots followed by the USA. North Korea showed was 41st most interested country in the world in the Royal wedding, even ahead of Britain’s neighbour, France at 46th!
There’s no doubt that it is wedding trends and the wedding industry as a whole that Harry and Meghan’s historic wedding will truly make a lasting impact. Below are just the initial trends Bridebook.co.uk, the UK’s leading wedding planning app, have identified, from cake flavours to national attitudes towards multiculturalism and second marriages.
Castle Wedding Venues:
Bridebook.co.uk, the UK’s leading wedding planning app, has seen an impressive 32% increase in searches for castle wedding venues between Friday the 18th and Monday the 21st.
Stella McCartney is renowned in the fashion world for focusing heavily on sustainable, environmentally friendly, and animal free fashion. This was certainly not lost on Meghan who’s decision to have Stella design her second dress was a pointed one. It should come as no surprise, then that we have seen a 160% increase in searches for “Stella McCartney wedding dresses” and a 12% increase in “sustainable wedding dresses” since the royal wedding.
Perhaps more telling is not so much the interest in the designer, as the interest in the striking halter neck design. While searches for Stella McCartney are already starting to reach its original levels, interest in this unique wedding dress style has stayed piqued. The search term “halter neck wedding dresses” saw a 235% increase in searches on Saturday evening and Sunday, a trend that Bridebook.co.uk expects to be a lasting one for at least a few years to come.
Givenchy wedding dresses did not see quite the same boost in interest as did Stella McCartney, however there has been a striking burst in interest in boat neck and silk wedding dresses, a direct effect of Meghan’s big moment when first revealing her wedding dress on Saturday morning.
This is of particular interest to the wedding industry as wedding dress trends have been overwhelmingly dominated by lace and long sleeves for the past 7 years since Kate Middleton’s wedding dress. Bridebook.co.uk experts confidently predict that these trends will finally give way to the this new way of slick, unadorned modernity in wedding dress styles, as indicated by the 87% increase in interest in boat neck wedding dresses, and the 110% increased interest in silk and satin wedding dresses.
Unadorned vs Dramatic Wedding Dresses:
Bridebook.co.uk’s experts, from the UK’s leading wedding planning app where 100,000 weddings are planned a year, predict that Meghan Markle’s choice of first wedding dress will have much greater an impact on wedding styles than simply one’s choice of dress material. For the past two decades, wedding dresses have acted as a “showstopper” in themselves, intricately adorned with beading and lace, motifs and elaborations. Meghan’s wedding dress, and the way it complimented and highlighted Meghan’s natural beauty, is sure to usher in a new era of attitudes towards wedding dresses where the dress’s purpose is to draw attention to the bride’s beauty, as opposed to drawing all the attention to itself.
Getting Married in May:
In 2017, May was only the 5th most popular wedding month in the UK with only 9% of wedding being held in the month. Bridebook.co.uk has already seen a 16% increase in wedding dates being scheduled for the month of May since Saturday. Bridebook.co.uk predicts that this is both due to the beautiful weather the UK has been experiencing, and experienced on the day of the royal wedding, as well as a boosted interest in seasonal and local flowers with May being the peak time for blooms. Interest in seasonal local flowers has been steadily increasing since 2010, from 28% to 64% of couples saying they chose seasonal, native flowers for their wedding.
Philippa Craddock Flowers:
Royal wedding florist Philipp Cradock must have impressed the engaged population of the UK on Saturday with her gorgeous choice of green and white flowers and foliage, structured into striking arches and abundant decoration. Bridebook.co.uk, the UK’s leading wedding planning app, has already seen a 210% increase in profile views on the wedding supplier booking platform.
Second Wedding Dresses:
Though the trend of brides having second wedding dresses has been on a slow but steady rise since 2010 (from 4% of UK brides in 2010 to 8% in 2017), Bridebook.co.uk predicts to see this increase exponentially, riding on the success of Meghan’s second wedding dress. The overwhelming success of high street wedding dresses in just the past couple of years is sure to play a large part in this, making multiple dresses just as affordable an option for all no matter your budget. Watch this space! The second wedding dress is on the rise.
Bride Speeches:
Meghan was not the only brides giving a speech on her wedding day! Bridebook.co.uk, the wedding planning app on which 100,000 UK weddings a year are planned, has revealed that of the roughly 5,900 other weddings that happened on May 19th, 27% of them had brides giving their own speech.
Bridebook.co.uk expects to see the number of brides giving speeches at their wedding continue to increase. The UK has already seen a 50% increase since 2010, however the high profile nature of Meghan’s decision to give her own speech is sure to see this figure grow at an ever increasing pace, in line with the trend of weddings veering more and more away from traditional, outdated and sexist practices.
Attitudes on Second Marriages:
One of the most exciting prospects of the “Meghan effect” is much larger than the fabric she chose or the shoes she wore. This wedding and the massive celebrations that surrounded it are the ultimate example of how second weddings can be just as much of a celebration as the first. All too often, second weddings aren’t treated with the same fervour by both the participants and outsiders. However, Bridebook.co.uk are thrilled to see Harry and Meghan’s wedding as once and for all laying to rest the myth that second weddings shouldn’t be just as much of a celebration as first.
Any stigma attached to second marriages is gone. If Meghan can get remarried by the Archbishop of Canterbury in a royal chapel in the presence of the Queen under the eyes of the world, anyone can. Everyone should rightly feel fully empowered to celebrate their marriage to the maximum, even if it is not their first marriage.
The rise of the “even-bigger” second-marriage. No longer will second marriages be frowned upon or hidden, it is time for them to be celebrated!
Solo Aisle Walk:
Though Meghan did have Prince Charles walk her down the aisle, there was a definitive first half of the walk that Meghan owned on her own. Walking yourself down the aisle shouldn’t simply be a last resort for those who are unfortunate enough not to have a father to walk them. In fact, it should be quite the opposite! It’s a mark of female empowerment and independence, eschewing the outdated traditions surrounding the “giving away” of the bride.
13% of brides walk down the aisle with someone other than their father, including brides who choose to walk alone. Bridebook.co.uk expects this figure to only continue gaining momentum as some of the oldest wedding traditions are altered or pushed aside to make way for modern, feminist couples. And if Meghan can do it with billions of watchers including The Queen, so can you!
The Revival of Church Weddings:
Not everything is about breaking tradition! In fact, the UK wedding industry is currently seeing a revival of church weddings and ceremonies, a trend that has been steadily in decline since 2005 as couples opted for non-traditional and marriage licensed venues.
This renewed interest in church weddings, with Bridebook.co.uk seeing a 22% increase in searches for church venues in the last 3 years alone, is significantly influenced by the increased flexibility with the church service. Just as Meghan made her very royal church service her own (the Bishop! the gospel choir!), so can British couples in most churches. Gone are the days of weddings being restricted by strict tradition and protocol, and hello to soul sing along services!
The End of the Traditional Wedding Cake:
RIP so-so marzipan and stodgy fruit cake – expect the world of wedding cake flavours to explode! Bridebook.co.uk has already seen a 34% rise in searches for non-traditional and, even more on trend, seasonal wedding cakes. Longevity is no longer the priority for cakes, it’s all about the flavour!
Less Bridesmaids, More Friends:
Is it the end of the bridesmaid, and the rise of the supportive bride tribe? Meghan’s decision to forgo having any adult bridesmaids is not an unusual one. It’s clear she has no lack of friends she could have included, but likely decided to avoid the social intricacies of inviting only a limited number of friends to be a part of the bridal party by having none at all. Over 18% of UK brides stated that they did not have any adult bridesmaids for the same reason in 2017.
Also consider the fact that the average age for getting married is older than ever before, meaning that friends and family may have children or other duties that make them not as available to be at your beck and call. By forgoing adult bridesmaids, a trend Bridebook.co.uk predicts will sweep the UK in the coming years, you aren’t limiting yourself to your girlfriends (since when does your squad need to be all girls?) and forcing them to wear matching outfits, but can still benefit from having your supportive squad through the day regardless.
Planning your wedding?
Bridebook.co.uk is the UK’s number one free wedding planning app, with over 16,000 registered wedding businesses and more than 100K couples planning their wedding with us.
Are you are an engaged couple looking for your wedding team?
You’ve just got engaged. You’ve told your friends and family. And now you’re starting to think about the wedding planning.
But before the manic planning begins, some people like to take some time to relax and create some special memories of the engagement. This is the “engagement(or “pre-wedding”) photoshoot”. This may(or may not) be for you. It’s not for everyone so feel free to skip this hack if it’s not of interest. If, however, you do want a pre-wedding photoshoot but are struggling for inspiration, we have outlined some engagement photoshoot ideas to help kickstart your creative thinking.
Do you have a special location that has become important to you and your fiancé? This could be the location of your first date, the location of the proposal or just a place that you have both spent a lot of time together. These places are likely to hold more emotional value to you than a generic beach somewhere. The photos will tell a much richer story(that perhaps only you know) that you will be reminded of with every look.
2. Style
There are many different styles of shoot you can opt for. The most common would probably be:
Romantic – the good old-fashioned “looking at each other with puppy eyes” picture.
Playful – messing around in a field with enormous smiles
Quirky – using props to add humour
3. Props
Try using some props to add a dash of playful humour to your photos. Don’t go prop-crazy! Just do 1 or 2 shots using a prop to avoid your album looking like an Etsy pinterest board.
If you choose to use some props in your photo shoot, here are some of the most popular options.
Bunting with romantic wording
Giant lettering
Scrabble tiles
Books with titles that are applicable to your lives
Hand written signs and chalkboards
Picture frames
Balloons
An umbrella
Suitcases
Flowers
Printed photographs
The engagement ring
To make this even more personal, try thinking of something that represents who you are as a couple or encapsulates your interests.
Ultimately, there are no set rules when it comes to doing an engagement photoshoot. Follow what feels natural and makes you feel most comfortable.
When it looks too good to be true, it sometimes isn’t.
It’s tough these days trying to decide where your business should feature online, isn’t it?
Resources are often scarce and busy wedding suppliers like yourself don’t always have the time or money to feature on all the platforms that promise to get you noticed.
We get it.
But what if we told you that we’ve got inside information that suggests that there is a ‘magic mix’ of core, online marketing platforms that every UK based wedding supplier must take advantage of to win bookings?
All you need to know to mix your own magic formula are these three little words…
Website, Social, Bridebook.
Let’s break it down…
Continuously invest in your website. Update it, nurture it and promote it. It’s your online business card and portfolio.
Advertise your service or product on social media. Share good feedback, take photos of the weddings you work on and test out paid advertising if you’ve got the budget and the time.
Create a free account and profile on Bridebook Business. The UK’s number one wedding planning platform is currently helping over 100,000 UK couples plan their wedding. How can this huge audience search for you if you’re not listed on the directory? Did we mention it’s free?
The only one of these three magic ingredients that we’re guessing you don’t already know plenty about is Bridebook, so allow us to enlighten you.
Bridebook Business – the free profile that generates over 15,000 enquiries a month
70,000 UK wedding suppliers just like you are currently setting up free Bridebook Business profiles to tap into the whopping 1 in 3 UK couples who’re currently planning their wedding with Bridebook.
100,000 newly engaged people is a whole lot of love; are we right?
Did you know that on average, over 15,000 enquiries are sent to UK wedding venues every month? That’s 100% return on investment.
Of course, the more time you spend updating your profile the better, as Bridebook’s sophisticated algorithm reads the information you provide to put you in front of relevant couples.
So the more information you give the easier you’ll be found by the right kind of couples.
Bridebook was given 4.5 stars for excellence in supporting wedding planning couples and in generating business for suppliers. And you know first hand how trustworthy and important reviews and star rating are.
On that note, we’d like to leave you with a few of our reviews that might encourage you to make the best decision of your business life.
Happy reading.
Oh…and if you’re ready to jump on the Bridebook bandwagon just contact us here.
“Put simply, it’s such a wonderful advertising platform. For us at Knockwood Bespoke Receptions, we have only just started out and with money being fairly tight with starting a business, I can’t believe Bridebook is free. We’ve had many more enquiries via Bridebook than I believe we would have without it!”
Kelly J Photography
“Lots of my bookings have come through Bridebook in the last few months, whereas normally directories don’t tend to send much traffic my way.”
“I usually tell all my couples about Bridebook for planning, I use it too. It’s professional, clean, has really helpful articles, and one of my favourite places for advertising.”
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Controller
Bridebook Limited is the data controller of your personal data. We are responsible for its security and for ensuring that we use it only for the purposes outlined in this Privacy Notice.
If you have any questions about this privacy notice, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact us using the details set out below.
Contact Details
If you need to get hold of us for any reason in connection with your personal data, please email us at [email protected].
We are: Bridebook Limited of 43 Manchester Street, London W1U 7LP.
We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office, number ZA168139.
You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns about data protection before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.
Changes to the privacy notice and your duty to inform us of changes
This version was last updated on 16th May 2018.
It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.
Third-party links
This website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit.
2. The data we collect about you
Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data). We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together follows:
For Bridebook Subscribers:
Identity Data includes name, email, phone number, and if you choose to log in through this method, Facebook and/or Google profile data.
Profile Data includes photo, username and password, feedback and survey responses, reviews of suppliers, Instagram profile data.
Wedding Data includes wedding date, engagement date, wedding budget, spouse name, wedding role, wedding location, supplier bookings.
Guest List Data includes (in respect of your wedding guests) name, residential address, phone number, email address, gender.
Correspondence Data includes email correspondence, and Identity Data.
Usage Data includes information about how you use our website and app.
Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access this website.
Marketing Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us.
Sensitive Data includes details about race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, information about health and genetic and biometric data. We only collect this information if you choose to give it to us because you think it helps you to arrange and organise your wedding and take into account different guests particular needs.
Where you provide us with personal data belonging to another person (including sensitive data), we do not control that personal data and will act only as processor of that personal data in accordance with our obligations contained in our terms and conditions.
We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy notice.
For Suppliers of Bridebook:
Contact Data includes supplier name, business website, business email, business phone, business address.
Profile Data includes your username and password, feedback and survey responses.
Usage Data includes information about how you use our website.
Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access this website.
Marketing Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us.
Correspondence Data includes email correspondence and Contact Data.
Financial Data includes information about your bank account and any payments to or from us.
We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy notice.
3. How is your personal data collected?
We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:
Direct interactions. We collect the majority of your data when you choose to give this to us on our app or on our website, by email or otherwise. The data that you choose to provide to us helps you to organise your wedding if you are a subscriber or helps subscribers to understand your services if you are a supplier.
Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we may automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies. We may also receive Technical Data about you if you visit other websites (like Facebook and Google) employing our cookies. You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of our website or app may become inaccessible or not function properly. For more information about the cookies we use, and how to disable them, please see our Cookie Policy.
Third parties or publicly available sources. We may receive:
Technical Data about you from various third parties (as governed by our Cookie Policy) and as set out below:
(a) analytics providers such as Google with servers based outside the EU;
(b) advertising networks such as Facebook pixel with servers based outside the EU; and
(c) search information providers Google based outside the EU.
(d) Contact Data from publically available sources if you are a supplier
4. How we use your personal data
We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:
To provide the services to you in accordance with our website terms and conditions; or
Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and we have made an assessment that your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.
Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data.
In respect of your Sensitive Data, we will only collect this from you where you provide this information voluntarily because you think that it helps you to organise and arrange your wedding more thoroughly. Where you do so, we will take this as a clear affirmative action signifying your agreement to the processing of your Sensitive Data. You may withdraw our right to process your Sensitive Data on your behalf at any time.
Where you provide us with personal data belonging to another person (including any Sensitive Data such as health needs), we do not control that personal data and will act only as processor of that personal data in accordance with our obligations contained in our terms and conditions.
Emails – Opting out
We strive to provide you with choices regarding certain personal data uses, particularly around the emails you receive from us.
If you are a subscriber, we may use your Identity, Profile or Contact Data to send you reminder emails as part of our service to help with the administration of your account and to assist with managing your wedding. We automatically sign you up to this when you subscribe with us as we think it is in our legitimate interests to offer you this complete service. You are free to opt-out from receiving these emails at any time.
If you are a subscriber, you will also receive marketing communications from us if you have requested information from us or created an account with us and, you have not opted out of receiving that marketing.
We will get your express opt-in consent before we share your personal data with any other company for marketing purposes.
You can ask us or third parties to stop sending you marketing messages or reminder emails at any time by following the opt-out links on any marketing message or reminder emails sent to you or by contacting us at any time.
5. Disclosures of your personal data
We may need to share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in paragraph 4 above:
Service providers acting as processors based in the US who provide IT support, IT backup, data storage, email management and system administration services.
Analytics and advertising service providers which may have servers based in the US – for the purpose of analysing user behaviour & retargeting.
Third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer, or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy notice.
We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law.
We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.
6. International Transfers
A number of our service providers processing your personal data on our behalf have servers based outside the European Economic Area (EEA) so their processing of your personal data will involve a transfer of data outside the EEA.
Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the EEA, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring that either:
we have a specific contract with that processor in a form approved by the European Commission which ensures that service provider gives your personal data the same protection it has in Europe; or
if the provider is based in the US, it is a member of the US Privacy Shield which requires them to provide similar protection to personal data shared between the Europe and the US.
Please contact us if you want further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your personal data out of the EEA.
7. Data Security
We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.
We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.
8. Data Retention
How long will you use my personal data for?
We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.
To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.
In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data: see Request erasure below for further information.
In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.
9. Your Legal Rights
You have the right in certain circumstances to:
Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a “data subject access request”).
This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you.
This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.
Request erasure of your personal data.
This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.
Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms.
You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.
Request restriction of processing of your personal data.
This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios: (a) if you want us to establish the data’s accuracy; (b) where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (c) where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or (d) you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.
Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party.
We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.
No fee usually required
You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights).
What we may need from you
We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.
Time limit to respond
We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.
There are many reasons you may be drawn to the idea of a minimalist wedding. It may be the money-saving benefits of minimalism, or perhaps the relaxed feel that is created by lack of clutter. Whatever the reason for pursuing a minimalist wedding, take a look at some of the ideas below which are guaranteed to strip back your wedding with “minimal” effort!
Let’s start with the obvious:
Get Rid of the Unnecessary
Minimalism is all about less “stuff” so getting rid of the unnecessary elements of your wedding is key to achieving that minimalist look. Think primarily about decorations…..what do you really need? Try to focus on just 1 or 2 key elements and make them the focal point of your decorations. If you are getting married in a pretty venue, try to keep it stripped back and let the venue shine through.
Minimalist Wedding Decorations
If you are using white table linen, try not to put too much on the table as you want the linen to be the main feature. Sharing-platters for example will cover too much table space and will lead you towards a share-y feel rather than a minimal feel.
Minimalist Wedding Flowers
Likewise, the flowers should also be kept simple. Don’t use too many colours in bouquets but instead stick to just 1 or 2 colours. Good options for minimalist arrangements are white roses, plants or even vegetables. If you are opting for wildflowers, try neat arrangements rather than the messy look.
Handmade Décor
There is a good opportunity to make some of your own décor by using what is lying around. I use the word “make” very loosely. Simple examples are using old jars as vases and filling them with long plant stems. Likewise, use the jars as candle holders for tea lights…..cheap but effective.
Naked Wedding Cakes
Strip down that cake! Naked wedding cakes are a refreshing alternative to the traditional iced affair. If you, or somebody you know, are comfortable with baking, you may be able to make a naked-cake yourself to save some money. The beauty of naked-cakes is that they still look good even if they are lop-sided.
Simplified Menu
Keep the menu super-simple. Stay away from anything too elaborate and stick with simple dishes with only a few ingredients. Chicken is always a good choice. If you want to be a bit more quirky but still keep things minimal, try a buffet table or a Pizza bar!
Paperless Invites
This is a great way to save some money. If you don’t hold too much affection for the paper invite, go paperless and send your invites via email, Whatsapp, Facebook or Instagram.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that a minimalist wedding is easy because sometimes it can be even harder to achieve than a non-minimalist wedding. In most cases, however, a minimalist wedding is a good way to save some money while creating stunning elegance at the same time. It’s not for everybody but some people just love the idea of a clutter free-wedding.I
If you are following our Checklist, then you have just chosen your hymns/songs and readings for your ceremony. Now you need to put it all together into your order of service and finalize this with your officiant.
Your officiant may provide you with the order of service structure as it may vary depending on where you are in the world. Ask them about this when you confirm that they will be the officiant at your wedding.
To help you get started however, we have put together a template which is a popular structure for the ceremony. Feel free to copy/paste/edit/rearrange etc.
Front page
Order of Service for the marriage of [bride and groom’s names]
‘Firstly I’d just like to say I’m very nervous about making this speech. In fact this must be the third time today that I have stood up from a warm seat with pieces of paper in my hand.’
‘I don’t believe in roasting the groom on his special day. Therefore this speech won’t contain humiliating stories about [groom]. Instead I’ll refer only to his loving and generous nature. Thank you and goodnight.’ (Sit down)
‘Being asked to be someone’s best man is like being called for jury duty. You don’t really want to do it but know you have to.’
‘[groom] has informed me that the buffet this evening is charged on a cost-per-head basis. So, on his behalf, I’d like to thank the following people for not coming…..’
‘It’s been an emotional day……even the cake is in tiers.’
‘My parents always told me that if I had nothing good to say about someone, I should just be quiet (sit down).’
‘Apparently, as Best Man, I’m supposed to sing the Groom’s praises and talk about all his amazing qualities. Unfortunately, I can’t sing and I won’t lie.’
‘The trouble with being the best man at a wedding is that you never get the chance to prove it.’
‘This speech will be a bit like [groom]…….short and not very funny.’
‘I am actually a little nervous giving a speech, but I feel comforted by the fact I have actually rehearsed this speech in front of a live audience at the local old people’s home……I think it went well. They all peed themselves anyway.’
How much does a wedding cost? Depending on your budget and the lavishness of your taste, your wedding could cost anywhere from around $50 to ……..well…..there is no limit really.
According to Brides Magazine, The average wedding cost in the United Kingdom is now topping £30,000 which is quite a significant number!
Download our wedding planning spreadsheet which has a handy budget planner to add your upcoming costs as you acquire them.
There are 2 ways to plan your finances
Budget determines wedding(You have a fixed amount that you are able to spend)
Wedding determines budget(You are willing to spend whatever it takes to have your dream wedding)
If you have a fixed budget, simply add your budget to our Budgeter spreadsheet.
The spreadsheet calculates the amount you have available to spend on each vendor category based on the average amount spent for each category. Sticking to these amounts will keep your wedding on budget.
If on the other hand, you have no budget and are willing to spend any amount to make your dream wedding happen………go wild!
One of the most difficult aspects of planning a wedding is the task of managing the communications with all your guests. The more guests you have, the more difficult this becomes!
Travel arrangements, accommodation and food allergies are just a few of the areas where you need to liaise with your guests.
Don’t fret, we’ve got a spreadsheet for that! It covers all the above-mentioned areas and more. This is designed around the wedding planning experiences of real couples and built to hold all the information you need to get the job done. You have no idea how useful this will become in your wedding planning. Enjoy!
Once you have completed your guest list, pass it over to the venue and assign your seating
