Vikki is stood facing the camera wearing a blue flowery dress in front of the entrance to a barn style wedding venue

This is me!

The most common question I'm asked when meeting new people is how I became a wedding planner. So, we're going to take a deep dive into my wedding planning journey to this point.

I've been an avid list-writing organiser my entire life. From creating my own library numbering system with my book collection as a child, to planning our holidays, I've always been the one to organise things. So, I shouldn't have been surprised to be asked to set up and run two venue wedding services, because planning and organising is what I do. It's in my DNA.

After university I worked professionally in the theatre industry as a stage manager, which if you don't know is primarily about running rehearsals, sourcing props, sets and costumes and co-ordinating the final production for however long it may run. I also worked hands-on building sets and props from scratch. As well as learning to make and mend costumes on the run. I had the pleasure of working with some fantastic teams in high pressure and often emotional environments; not a million miles away from what it's like to work on a wedding.

I went on to work in marketing planning promotional events, as well as creating newsletters among other things. Eventually I went on to join the team that set up the reincarnation of a once failed arts centre and helped to boost its income through venue hire. My experience in theatre made me an easy fit for the reinvigorated arts centre as it meant having knowledge of the requirements for shows and a willingness to help upcoming arts professionals. The arts depend on team support, so everyone pitches in when needed to get the job done. Another similarity to weddings.

Venue hire management eventually lead to the set up of my first wedding service at a museum, which has been running for over 9 years now and was a huge turning point for me. It afforded me the opportunity to set up a wedding service from scratch, which I'd never done before, and meant that I could really work on the fundamentals of wedding planning. It was a steep learning curve to start with but I soon came to realise that I had all the necessary planning skills and loved working so closely with couples as they went about arranging their big day.

Then I was involved in the plans for the redevelopment of another museum in the organisation, looking at ways to utilise the marvellous new rooms for corporate and private hire, including the idea of small-scale intimate weddings. Museums present their own unique set of challenges compared to other venues, due to the number of fragile and priceless objects you have to care for as well as the potential to navigate around the needs of a visiting public.

Being involved in the creation of both services gave me the opportunity to research other venues, to find out about the latest trends and most of all to get to know what couples want and need on their wedding day and plan the services accordingly. Being a super practical person, I was able to offer suggestions that would help both couples and the venues to prevent issues down the line, but also to offer the best possible service to suit everyone. It also put me in a position to identify where couples were struggling and needed a little extra help.

Many couples have no problems planning their own wedding, often with the help of friends and family, but for those that aren't natural planners, don't have a support network to rely on, or just get overwhelmed in the details, I saw need of just a little bit of guidance. And I came to realise that the kind of help I wanted to offer would be better suited to being outside of a venue. That is where the idea of Your Wedding Friend came from. I wanted to offer unbiased, non-judgemental, friendly support for those with a need and aspirations they feel unable to achieve alone. To be a defender of the 'daft' ideas or even a referee for the family feuds that always seem to occur during wedding planning.

So, this is me, Vikki Your Wedding Friend - a different kind of wedding planning service where YOU are firmly in charge and I'm here to assist and guide, to help and support when needed for however long you need it. If you think you might need a little (or a lot of) help with your wedding, follow the link below to set up a FREE no obligation wedding planning zoom call chat. I adore talking about weddings and would love to hear your ideas.