Post wedding, clean up & pack down

It’s a few weeks before your wedding, you are undoubtedly wrapped up in the creation of your day. Table centres, name place cards, flower arrangements, table runners… will be whizzing around in your head and taking up most of your living room floor! You check checklist after checklist, ensuring you have everything carefully packed in boxes, ready for the venue set up, how exciting!

Then it dawns on you and the bubble of beautiful bursts as you realise everything that goes up must come down!
The questions begin…

• Who is going to be there early the next day to do the post-party clear up?
• Who will ensure the return of any hire items to avoid late return charges?
• Who will collect all of our items and pack them neatly away again to treasure as a keepsake or sell on?
• Who will package up any left over evening food, wedding cake and alcohol for us to take home?
• Who will collect all the empty bottles and drop them to recycling?
• Who will ensure all our cards and presents are safely returned to us?

The creative freedom an exclusive blank canvas venue offers goes hand in hand with a mammoth clean up the next day! Which I think most of us will agree is not the most appealing way to spend the day after your big day. Especially when you are feeling shattered and a little worse for wear. After months and months of planning and to do lists, that last thing you want is to be worrying about further responsibilities.

I am sure you would much rather spend the morning having a leisurely brunch with your new spouse and family, perhaps your first walk together as newly weds along the Cornish coast to blow off those hangover cobwebs then an afternoon with a pot of tea and opening all those lovely cards and gifts from your guests. A much more welcomed thought than that of scrapping the remains last nights buffet off plates (your caterers will have been long gone after once evening food was served), cleaning away dirty tablecloths, emptying ashtrays, beer bottles and filling rubbish bags.

Yes indeed it is the un-glam side of wedding planning but it is something that has to be done. Especially if you have opted for a marquee wedding reception or exclusive use venue where, unlike a hotel, it’s likely there will be no in house staff to do any of this for you. There is also likely to be a specified time when the venue must be ready to be handed back over or marquee taken down, again adding to the pressure of getting all of this done quickly and efficiently.

My advice to you, hire a coordinator to do it for you! Either that or be extremely organised and rally a team of dedicated reliable  friends and family who will commit to helping you after (hangover or not).

Enquire with Jenny about her post wedding packages and allow yourselves to enjoy the first day of married life together.