Tailored elopement packages - combining "bespoke" and "off-the-shelf"
With the pandemic forcing couples to postpone their weddings, we are getting mixed reactions from brides and grooms all around the world.
Some are frustrated that they have to move their wedding date and overhaul everything, while others are happy that they have more time to plan and reimagine their big day.
There are couples who are entertaining the idea of a destination elopement in a far-off country with no guests at all, while some are considering an intimate wedding in their backyard with families and closest friends.
If you’re still in the early stages of wedding planning, and you're quite overwhelmed...
Take a break and read this post.
We’re going to talk about the frameworks of wedding planning that you can take a look at, analyze, and choose from as you plan for your big day:
Will you take advantage of the postponement and plan for an elaborate ‘bespoke wedding’? Or will you simplify everything and go for a plain ‘off-the-shelf wedding package’?
You might want to explore a third option that strikes a balance between bespoke and a wedding package.
Your choice of a wedding planning framework is very important. It will determine the course of your next steps, and the level of stress that you'll be facing.
Why are couples crazy for bespoke?
What is a bespoke wedding anyway?
A lot of couples these days like to make their wedding highly customized so that their preferences and personalities will be reflected in every element of their special day. That’s exactly what a bespoke wedding is all about– “your choice” down to the last detail.
Peach Perfect Weddings started as a business that helps couples plan bespoke weddings. Our years of planning this elaborate and luxurious celebration taught us three reasons why brides and grooms are crazy for bespoke.
Unlimited Online Resources
A highly customized wedding is a product of gazillion inspirations and wedding resources online. 21st century brides and grooms are so inspired by everything they see on Pinterest, Instagram, and wedding websites.
They just need to tweak and combine some elements from the actual weddings they see online and they can create something unique for their big day.
Personal Preferences
In our experience as wedding planners for many years, we’ve seen how every couple dreams of a completely unique wedding, designed 100% to fit their vision.
They want a specific style for the bridal gown, a specific floral arrangement for the ceremony, a definite type and number of tables for the reception, a unique calligraphy style for their invitations, along with all those very specific details for their big day.
Culture and Religion
Aside from personal preferences, cultures and religions are the top reasons why some couples want a bespoke wedding. For example, Greek, Indian, Russian and Italian tend to have over 100 – 200 guests. With such large party, a bespoke wedding is often the only way.
Bespoke weddings are for couples who…
While making a choice between the three wedding planning frameworks, you have to understand that a bespoke wedding is most suitable for you if you're a couple who:
- Has a big and flexible budget.
- Has a lot of time to get involved in each planning step and decision.
- Plans a larger party (say over 100 people).
- Wants to control every aspect of your wedding.
- Wants an elaborate / specific decoration and styling or wedding theme throughout the entire event.
- Have multiple days of celebration/event.
How to plan a bespoke wedding
Oftentimes, you need to hire a bespoke wedding planner long before your wedding day because this type of planning framework requires precision and attention to detail.
Here are some preliminary matters that you need to settle before planning your bespoke wedding. This will help you understand why a bespoke wedding planner is much needed to prepare for this type of highly customized weddings.
#1 Identify the big details of the wedding
Here’s a list of the important elements and suppliers that you have to decide on: - Wedding Budget range - Wedding Theme/Motif - Venue - Wedding Planner and Coordinators - Venue Styling (and Stylist) - Type of Ceremony (and Officiant) - Legal Paperwork - Ceremonial Traditions and Symbols - Flowers - Wedding Cake - Food for the Reception - Accommodation - Transportation - Hair and Makeup Artist - Photographer and Videographer - Musician After deciding on all these major aspects of the wedding, your planner will fill in the little details that you missed out.
#2 Decide on a timeline
“*If my wedding will be 12 months from now, when do I need to **book a venue**? When do I need to start **writing the guest list**? When do I need to **send out the invitations**?*” These questions can all be answered by setting a wedding timeline. Couples must do this with their wedding planners because a bespoke wedding, being a highly customized event, has a unique timeline as well.
Sample bespoke wedding planning timeline
If you want a bespoke wedding, you need to make a lot of decisions involving wedding suppliers, decor, program, and other unique elements that will make your big day personalized.
The main difference between a bespoke wedding and an elopement package is that the couple makes every single decision down to the last detail.
Here's a sample timeline to plan a bespoke wedding:
1st Quarter
- Accomplish the legal paperwork - Make a draft of the guest list and decide on a range - Book a wedding planner and coordinator - Set a ceiling for your wedding budget - Book the venue and venue stylist based on the range of guest list - Book the officiant, photographer, and videographer
2nd Quarter
- Finalize the guest list - Decide on the unique elements that you want for your wedding - Book the florist, wedding cake supplier, and caterer - List down your options for accommodation and transportation - Decide on the look and wedding attire - Talk to your planner about the estimated wedding budget
3rd Quarter
- Book the artists/suppliers for your bridal gown, groom’s attire, and wedding attire for the entourage - Book your HMUA and musician - Talk to your planner about the little details that you need to finalize - Decide on alternatives for some elements that are difficult to procure - Start formally informing your prospective guests of your intent to invite them - Finalize your total budget with the wedding planner
4th Quarter
- Send out invitations and RSVPs - Work on the final adjustments that you have to make - Finalize all the details with your planner - Start relaxing to physically prepare for your big day
Pros and Cons of bespoke wedding planning
There is a price to pay for a highly customized wedding and oftentimes, they are time, creativity, and money.
Here are the pros and cons of a bespoke wedding so you can see the bigger picture and decide whether or not it is for you:
Pros
**#1 It is 100% unique and reflective of your desires** Bespoke is bespoke because it is 99.99% customized to fit your specific desires in all aspects of the wedding. These unique elements come in different forms such as the favorite dishes of the family; wedding dance based on your cultural background; religious elements and decorations; and wedding giveaways based on your interests. **#2 You make most, if not all, of the decisions** We’ve been talking a lot about “your” decisions and that’s the bottom line of a bespoke wedding. Whether you hire a planner to help you out or not, planning a bespoke wedding means executing all the details of your wedding based on your choice in every aspect of it. Unlike in off-the-shelf wedding and elopement packages, bespoke weddings give you the complete freedom of choice. **#3 You can be your own venue stylist** Venue, venue, venue. At the end of the day, your wedding venue spells half of the success of your wedding. The good thing about a bespoke wedding is that you get to decide how your ceremony and reception venue will look like. It is your chance to be your own venue stylist so you can fulfill your dream wedding! **#4 Your options are unlimited** You can look for any supplier you want and book him or her for your wedding. Unlike an off-the-shelf small wedding and elopement packages, you are free to choose anything and anyone you want without being limited by a specific list of options that usually comes with a package. The same goes with all the other aspects of your wedding – your choice prevails!
Cons
**#1 Takes more time to plan** Since a bespoke wedding is completely unique, you’re going to start from scratch. And by scratch, that means getting a pen and paper, listing down the wedding elements you need to decide on, researching on how to make your choices possible, and going through all the excruciating details of execution. **#2 Definitely more stressful** The devil is in the details, and when there are lots of details involved, there are more headaches too. Be ready for the not-so-good surprises when planning a bespoke wedding, like: - the unavailability of some unique wedding elements; - the longer waiting period from certain suppliers; - last-minute changes that require major adjustments, and more. These surprises are minimized or totally eliminated in elopement packages. **#3 Bespoke wedding planners must be there every step of the way** To help you execute your plans, you really need a bespoke wedding planner on board. Otherwise, you’ll need twice as much time and energy to plan and arrange everything. **#3 Actual budget is hard to determine** A budget estimate is usually determined later in the course of bespoke wedding planning. The main reason is that your planner needs to look for the best sources for the unique elements that you want for your wedding. Another reason is that there’s a lot of finalizing that needs to be done. Expect a lot of alternatives to the original plan and a corresponding series of budget adjustments.
Off-the-shelf packages
This is a much simpler framework that is completely different from bespoke wedding planning. An off-the-shelf package includes pre-selected wedding details and elements so couples won’t have to start from scratch.
Typical package inclusions: the venue, catering and wedding cake, photography, videography, hair and makeup, flowers, and the musician(s).
From what we’ve observed, such packages are often offered by wedding venues themselves with limited options. Wedding planners who work with a set number of venues and suppliers in certain regions also offer wedding packages. They pre-select suppliers for all the abovementioned wedding essentials and categorize their packages into high-end, mid-end, and budget options. Here’s a quick look on the pros and cons of wedding packages.
Pros:
**#1 A complete package that needs a little to no modification at all** Once you choose a specific package, everything else has been decided for you. Most wedding packages include the suppliers behind each wedding element so all you have to do is to tell the planner your venue styling preference or motif and their stylist will do what has to be done. The same goes with food for the reception, your photographer, and your musician. Typical wedding packages often include specifics menus that you must choose from. With all these characteristics, you can expect a complete package that does not require a lot of planning. **#2 Less time to plan and arrange** Since everything has been decided for you, expect less time to finalize the details and arrangements for your wedding. If you’re a couple who’s too busy to research for a wedding inspiration, much less plan for every detail of your big day, then a package will definitely be a good fit. **#3 A predetermined budget** Every package comes with a price tag. In fact, this is the first thing you’ll see when a planner explains the differences of their wedding packages. Therefore, if you go for this option, you can easily set a budget and start saving up for your wedding.
Cons:
**#1 Not as personalized as a bespoke wedding** As you may expect, every typical wedding package follows a pattern. Therefore, you typically can’t customize your event down to the very last detail when you go for off-the-shelf elopement packages. **#2 You have very limited options or no options at all** As mentioned before, most wedding packages have pre-arranged elements and suppliers. You may not have the chance to change these aspects because they are the inclusions in your chosen package. **#3 You can’t dictate who to work with** Some couples are very particular with the photographer, videographer, or caterer, etc that they’re hoping to work with. However, in a typical wedding package, you may not the option of choosing the people you will work with for your wedding day.
A Balance between the two
Is it possible to simply have the best of both worlds?
Peach Perfect Weddings used to plan bespoke and luxurious weddings before, but our experience taught us what’s really important for couples. Since then, our goal has been to give couples the best wedding day with the least stress possible.
To achieve that, we’ve created personalized elopement packages that strikes a balance between the two extremes.
Here are the reasons why we think that Tailored Elopement Packages give couples the perfect balance and the best of both worlds.
Customizable Wedding Packages
We were able to create elopement packages that are complete with the essentials but are still flexible to accommodate your preferences.
Unlike a bespoke wedding where you need to think of every element to include, our tailored elopement packages are designed to contain all the essentials of a beautiful wedding.
However, we won't lock you inside a rigid and unadjustable wedding box. We’ll let you customize the package by removing some elements that you think you don't need and replacing them with add-ons that you prefer. This way, the elopement package will be tailored according to your needs.
Zero Stress with a Dedicated Planner
We love the idea of a customized wedding but we don’t want to give you the burden of planning every single excruciating detail of your big day. Therefore, we will provide you with a dedicated planner who will guide you all the way from enquiry, to helping you design your wedding package, to on-the-day coordination.
Each planner serves a limited number of couples to ensure your special day gets the attention it deserves.
Expanded Network of Trusted Suppliers
We’ve built up a network of suppliers for venues and other wedding essentials so we can come up with a package that eliminates all the time and stress that bespoke wedding planning entails.
We love the convenience that wedding packages give but we don’t want to limit brides and grooms to the elements we have pre-selected for them.
Therefore, we’ve searched not only for one or two caterers, photographers, musicians, and other wedding suppliers for our packages. Instead, we widened our network so you can decide who you want to work with for your wedding.
Best and Most Unique Elopement Venues
We’ve also searched for the best venues for destination weddings all over Europe so you’ll have a wide range of options on this crucial aspect.
We don't just look for popular venues. We personally travel to the destinations listed on our website and intentionally look for hidden gems, scenic natural spots, and untapped local venues that offer the best destination wedding experience for couples.
Predictable Wedding Cost
We know that couples like you want to stay within your planned budget. To achieve this, we will inform you about our package costs upfront, and the corresponding price for each add-on that you may want to avail of. This way, you will know immediately how much your whole wedding will cost.
In fact, you can literally see a wedding cost estimate on our Get a Quote page!
In the end, it's your overall happiness that matters!
Peach Perfect Weddings has found its niche in creating a perfect balance between a bespoke and a wedding package. This is our service to all couples out there who are torn between a luxurious bespoke wedding and a "factory" of wedding packages. With a tailored elopement package, it's possible to plan your wedding without stress and still customize it to make it truly yours.