Choose a note.

Start with the number of people you genuinely want in the room, not the number a brochure hopes for. A venue that ‘can do 150’ may mean 150 standing with a food truck, not 150 seated with speeches. Ask to see the room laid for a wedding of your size, or at least a scale plan.

Then ask what happens if it rains. Outdoor ceremonies are lovely in June and miserable in a squall. A good answer names the backup room, how long the move takes, and whether the furniture is already on site. ‘We’ll work it out’ is not a plan.

Kitchens and loos matter more than chandeliers. Find out whether caterers can use the kitchen, where staff eat, and how far a guest in heels walks from table to cloakroom. If you are marrying in one place and eating in another, time the walk yourselves.

Noise, curfews and neighbours decide the end of the night. A midnight finish on paper can mean last orders at 11. Ask what ‘dancing until late’ has looked like for a recent wedding, and whether acoustic music is the only option.

Finally, ask who is on site on the day from the venue, and until when. A caretaker with a phone number is a different kind of support from a coordinator in the room. Neither is wrong. You simply need to know which one you are booking, and what you may still want a planner to cover.

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Couples often meet a sample budget and feel they have already failed it. Venues and food usually take the largest share because they are the day itself: a place to be, and a meal. Photography, music and flowers are easier to scale. Attire is personal and should not be squeezed to make a spreadsheet look typical.

Write the numbers you know first. A venue hire, a caterer’s price per person, a photographer’s fee. The gaps are where the vague worry lives. Our budget tool on the planning page uses a sample split that always adds up to 100%, so you can see the trade before you promise anyone a deposit.

Contingency is not pessimism. Ten percent is comfortable; four or five percent still catches a reprint, a taxi, or a surprise corkage bill. If the plan has no slack, the last month becomes a series of small panics.

Be honest about who is paying, and what they hope to see for the money. A parent funding the meal may care about food and a roof. You may care about a band. Those are both reasonable. They need to be said early.

We do not publish a single ‘average wedding cost’. It flatters no one and describes almost nobody. A written working budget, revisited twice, is more useful than a national figure.

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Ask how many weddings they photograph in a month, and what happens if they are unwell. A second photographer is not a luxury if your families will be in two places at once. It is a plan.

Look at a full wedding, not only the twenty favourite frames. Notice whether people are being directed into shapes that do not look like them, and whether the evening exists or stops at sunset. If you want speeches and dancing, say so.

Ask about timings. Group photographs can swallow a drinks hour. A good photographer will tell you what is realistic in twenty minutes of good light, and what can happen later, indoors, without holding dinner.

Agree how you will be cued. Some couples want a quiet word; some want to be left alone until a list is finished. Neither style is more professional. The mismatch is what creates the stiff pictures.

Finally, ask when you receive the photographs and how they are delivered. A gallery link and a clear number of edited images is enough. You do not need a premium album on the first call unless you already know you want one.

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Day-of coordination, as we offer it, begins in the final weeks. We confirm suppliers, collect timings, and write a run of show that your families can follow. On the day we lead for about ten hours: setting up the room with the venue, cueing the processional, keeping dinner moving, and handling the small problems so you do not.

It does not include finding your venue, designing the whole look, or managing months of contracts. If those pieces are still open, partial or full planning is the kinder brief. Starting ‘day-of’ when nothing is booked yet usually means a scramble.

What couples notice is the absence of certain questions. Guests are not asking you where to stand. The band is not asking you when to start. A parent with a speech is not hunting for a microphone that was never ordered.

We bring a modest kit — pins, plasters, a charger, blotting paper, a copy of the plan — and we leave when the evening is safely underway, or stay longer if that was agreed. The point is a day that does not depend on your memory.

If you are deciding between packages, look at who is already in place. A nearly finished plan needs a calm lead. An early plan needs company for the decisions. The fee follows that difference, which is why day-of coordination starts from £950 and full planning from £5,800.

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