Top Tips with Amber De Savary, Events Sales Executive for Cowdray House and Events

For those planning their big day, Amber is a font of all knowledge when it comes to weddings, we caught up with her to find out more.

• Ditch the traditions – there are so many wedding traditions that come with getting married and I absolutely recommend ditching any that don’t feel right to you as a couple. For instance, the tradition of having a top table and sitting with your parents – I actually wanted to sit with my bridesmaids and ushers at my wedding so my parents had their own table of friends and we sat with our friends. Everyone was happy!

• Table favours – these can be lovely special touches to a wedding but I think unless they are personal to you as a couple they can be a waste of money and are often left behind by guests. I went to a great wedding where the groom was a tree surgeon and so they had hand carved wooden coasters that the groom had made with each guests’ name on for their place setting – lovely and super personal.

• Don’t panic – there is so much stress associated with wedding planning and really it is just a super fun celebration with your closest family and friends so try to focus on that and just enjoy it.

• Start with the big things first – it can be overwhelming when you first get engaged so I suggest starting with the big things first like venue, catering, photographer and then move on to the smaller bits later on.

• Work out where to spend your money – weddings can be expensive so I would recommend deciding where you want to spend your money. For my wedding, the photographer was really important as I wanted to have lovely photos to keep forever so I decided to spend a bit more money on this element and save in another area that didn’t matter to me as much.

• Make the most of a venue’s suppliers – wedding suppliers can be overwhelming so I would definitely recommend using suppliers who are used to working at your chosen venue. All of our suppliers at Cowdray House have worked here in the past and therefore are experts in the space and can guide you on what works and doesn’t work. They are also used to working with our team so it will cut down on your admin massively.

• British weather – the British weather is totally unreliable so it is really important firstly to think about a wet weather plan if you are looking at a summertime wedding and secondly important to still really love that option. Cowdray House is amazing as it works for both summer and winter weddings and with such stunning inside reception rooms you really have no cause for worry about the weather.

• Sustainability – I personally love a wedding with a touch of sustainability so using sustainable flower arranging processes or paper straws for your drinks. Every little bit counts. For our wedding we actually had plants rather than flowers so at the end of the wedding our friends and family could take a plant home with them and keep it in their garden to remember the day!

Find out more about weddings and events at Cowdray