Wedding Planning

1. Introduction

Wedding is one of the brightest events in people’s lives. This event symbolizes unity of two loving souls. According to Valenti (2015), “Marriage is a leap of faith and a journey.” Hence, the current marriage should be properly organized and managed for bringing its participants positive emotions and lively recollections. Successful event management can help to plan, execute, and evaluate wedding (Hard n.d.).

Current coursework provides description of the preparation to this event. Much attention will be paid to thorough planning and organizing all participants and performance (Young 2014). The purpose of this wedding is to collect money for orphans who live in Barnardo’s homes (London, UK). The wedding presented in the current work is a small size event prepared for 50 guests, including the groom and the bride.

2. Wedding Concept

As it has been mentioned above, proper planning and organization of wedding will make this event one of the brightest remembrances in the life of the couple. It is notable that every wedding requires thorough preparation, because this event symbolizes the gathering of unique people. However, a wedding should have the purpose and the concept. Before the commencement of planning, the event manager and all involved parties should clearly understand the answers to the following questions: Why the event is planned? What do people want to obtain as a final result? Who will take part in the planning process? When will the event take place? Where will the event be held? How will it be held? (Liang 2012, p.5).

2.1. The Purpose of the Wedding

As indicated above, the groom and the bride should clearly understand the main purpose of the event. In this particular case, the purpose of the wedding is gathering of two souls who became alone due to catastrophes (both of them have lost their parents), met each other, felt in love in challenging condition of orphan Barnardo’s home, and found internal forces to become successful businessmen in London. This event symbolizes human ability to stand against challenges in his and her lives and to become happy after meeting a kindred spirit. The style of this wedding will combine simplicity and tenderness. The bride will have white dress. The groom will be dressed in a standard black suit. The main colors of the wedding will be white and purple. White is used because this color is a symbol of purity, light, and perfection. Purple symbolizes bravery and “endurance of suffering” (Bortoli & Maroto 2001, p. 21). Simplicity of this event is reflected in simple cuisine which will be based on European dishes. In the same time, the couple decided to invite live musicians and a master of ceremonies in order to make the event more interesting, cheerful, and memorable.

All the funds received during the wedding will be directed to Barnardo’s home in London, because both the groom and the bride were brought up there. The couple decided to make donation and help other orphans. That is why they invited the most well-known celebrities of the London theatres to their wedding. The bride likes theatre very much. She has a lot of friends who are actors, writers, painters, stage managers, producers, etc. Some writers and painters will introduce their new works during this wedding. The information about this event will be published in various British magazines and newspapers in order to attract public attention to the problem of orphans in the UK.

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2.2. Stakeholders

The following stakeholders are engaged into the described wedding: the groom, the bride, guests, the master of ceremonies, suppliers, and venue and ceremony register officer. A lot of creative personalities will be invited to this event as well. Consequently, all the decorations, cuisine, and execution should be at the top level. Special designers will be invited for decoration of the restaurant. Much attention will be paid to the quality of dishes and alcoholic drinks.

2.3. Timing of the Wedding

The wedding will be held at the end of the August, because the weather in this time period is warm and sunny. The event will be held on Saturday. The weekend time is chosen in order to enable guests to prepare to the event and to have a rest after it on Sunday.

2.4. The Event Venue

Additional attention has been paid to the location of the event. The groom and the bride considered the following factors: location, costs, design of interior and exterior, availability of outer ground, convenience of vehicular access, availability and convenience of emergency enters, reputation, personnel, cuisine, and alcohol (Pinola 2014).

The Mandarin Oriental located near the Hide Park is chosen as the reception venue. It is situated in the city; hence, any challenges with transportation will be eliminated. The location of this venue is shown on the figure 1 (‘Meetings and events’ 2015). 

This place has been chosen because it has sufficient ceremony capacity (200 guests) and attractive inner and outer decorations. The bride likes this place very much. Some views of this place are shown on the figures 2 and 3 (‘Meetings and events’ 2015).

The wedding will be held in the Carlyle Suite situated on the ground floor. It has enough capacity, attractive decorations, and convenient location. The plan of the ground floor of the hotel is presented on the figure 4 (‘Meetings and events’ 2015).

Contacts of the Mandarin Oriental are presented in the table 1 (‘Meetings and events’ 2015). 

Table 1.

Contacts of the Mandarin Oriental

The registration will be held in the Westminster Register Office. This official registration office has all necessary licenses and documents. The registration will be held in the ceremony room of the Asian House. This room can accommodate all the guests as its capacity accounts for 100 persons. Also, Asian House is “an oasis of calm and elegance” (‘Asia House’ 2015). The address of this ceremony room is the following: 63 New Cavendish Street, London (‘Asia House’ 2015).

2.5. The Content of the Event

The content of the current wedding will be both effective and cognitive (Bladen, Kannel, Abson & Wide 2012, p. 63). On the one hand, this event will be exciting and inspirational. On the other hand, it will raise the issue of orphans and the necessity to help them.

3. Wedding Theme

Determination of the concrete theme of the event is very important, because it can “provide a “hook” that grabs members’ attention and creates a buzz” (Vogel 2004). This event will be connected with the presentation of paintings and writings by London celebrities. The spirit of this wedding will be artistic, romantic, and a little bit dramatic. This will be reflected in the decoration of the venue, clothes of the groom and the bride, music, invitation cards, etc. Elements of the wedding will reflect the purity, unbroken spirit, and endurance of life challenges.

As has been mentioned above, a lot of artistic personalities will be invited to this wedding. Consequently, every detail of this event should be thoroughly selected for raising positive impressions (Barker 2015). Even such a small detail as the invitation card should be attractive and unusual. At the same time, invitation cards should contain all the necessary information: name of guests and time and place of the event (full address), as well as the time of the response to the invitation.

4. Wedding Planning

The organization of any event (including wedding) consists of several steps: setting concrete objectives, determination of the theme, concepts and aims, planning, organizational procedures, running of the event, and assessment. The process of the wedding planning will be visualized on the WBS diagram, the Gantt chart, and organizational chart. Thorough visualization of the organization of the wedding is necessary because this event consists of numerous processes and actions. Breaking down of these processes into smaller sections enables more effective performance and eliminates the possibility of forgetting something.

4.1. The WBS Diagram

The WBS diagram helps to capture the tasks of the event and present them in an organized manner. This diagram helps to coordinate the processes and show the important aspects o the even planning. The WBS diagram for the wedding party is presented on the figure 6 (Gordon 2015)

4.2. The Gantt Chart

The use of the Gantt chart for the management of the organization has numerous benefits. Understandable task relationships and simplicity make preparation to the wedding easy and enjoyable. Also, the use of this chart enables tracking of the performance. It is considered to be one of the most effective methodologies of maintenance of timescale-based tasks (such as preparations to wedding) (Nishada 2012).

The preparation to the wedding will last for 11 months. The bride and the groom want to have enough time for thorough planning and organization of one of the major events in their life. The Gantt chart for this wedding will be presented in the table 2. 

Table 2.

The Gantt chart

After the wedding, the couple should also perform several actions. Some of them should be done immediately (such as settling outstanding balances with suppliers and returning them their items, as well as collecting the décor items and flowers). Other actions shown in the table 3 can be performed within a certain period of time.

These actions are visualized in the table 3. 

Table 3

After – wedding actions

4.3. The Organizational Chart

The organization chart shows the key participants who will be engaged in the wedding process.

4.4. Wedding Day Schedule

The wedding day is considered to be among the most emotional and exciting days for the groom and the bride. Special wedding schedule helps to plan this day and not to forget something important. Also, the time schedule will help the guests to come in due time. The wedding day time schedule will be presented in the table 4.

Table 4

The wedding day time schedule

4.5. List of Suppliers for the Wedding

Table 5

List of Suppliers for the Wedding

4.6. The Wedding Budget

The described wedding is a rather costly event. As it has been mentioned above, the groom and the bride have their own business. They want to organize the most notable event in their lives and have been collecting funds for two years. The groom performed the financial planning and thorough control over the expenses. It should be noted that the cost of this wedding is higher than the average cost of weddings in the UK (about £25,000) (Brides 2014). The couple chose rather expensive reception venue and the bride’s dress. The wedding breakdown budget is shown in the table 6

Table 6.

The wedding breakdown budget.

4.7. Legal Issues, Risk Management, Health and Safety

Current wedding will be performed at the established venue. Consequently, there is no need to manage safety and health requirements. The groom and the bride just checked whether the venues fulfill the established official policies (Chidzey 2013). Major responsibilities on the event lie on the couple, the transportation company, and the venue. The venue should have necessary licenses (including licenses on alcohol selling and music performance). Drivers should have driving licenses. The couple should perform thorough organization of the wedding process and sign contracts with venues and transportation company.

However, the bride and the groom should pay attention to other risks to their wedding and take necessary precautions. The first risk is unsuitable weather (for example, rain or cold). This risk is however minimized because the wedding will be held in August. Also, the couple should organize the transportation of guests. One more risk is the size of the suit and the dress. They are usually purchased beforehand. However, the preparation to the wedding is rather stressful process. Thus, the groom and the bride can lose weight. The risk that the suit and the dress will be oversized is medium. The couple should therefore wear their wedding clothes within several weeks prior to wedding in order to ensure that their clothes are at good fit. Another risk is food poisoning. The chosen venue has very good reputation. Hence, the risk of food poisoning is relatively low. In any case, the couple should ensure that the venue complies with the official food and health regulations. One more risk is the risk of accident during the transportation of the couple or guests. The couple signed the contract with the transportation company with good reputation. Consequently, this risk is low.

The couple wants to make their wedding environmentally friendly. Thus, the bride chose potted flowers for decoration of the reception venue. After the wedding, all the plants would be replanted into the garden of the couple. It should be noted that all the decorations are made from the materials which can be recycled. Even candles are made from soy: they are cleaner and longer burning.

5. Measurement of the Success

The success of this wedding will be measured by the satisfaction of the couple and guests. Much attention will be paid to the amount of unexpected situations and their influence of the performance of the entire event.