Bridesbook.co.uk

The saying goes, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. You just need to look at a certain auction website to see thousands of listings showing designer pictures where the dress is for sale as low as £4.99 or even 98p! Brides go in to high street bridal stores looking at dresses then are amazed to see those same dresses on the auction website or other independent websites being sold for hundreds of pounds less than they saw in bridal store. Some brides then purchase these dresses maybe thinking that they are being sold at trade price and are expecting a genuine designer dress to arrive as the seller was using a designer image. Imagine the brides horror when her ‘dream dress’ is delivered to her house in a cushion cover or jiffy bag. Then she takes the dress out and instantly notices that it is a nasty fake copy. Can you imagine the look on the brides face when she realises that she has been misled by the seller and basically robbed of her money. Some people may say well ok the dress was only £4.99 plus £80 shipping charges it’s no big deal. But to the bride it is, her dream of a perfect wedding has collapsed around her. I must add that I have seen fake copy wedding dresses being sold for up to £700! Imagine that, a bride can pay £700 for a fake copy when she could pay that price or less for the actual designer dress in an authorised high street bridal store! I have seen the fake copies that brides can receive. They are utter rubbish and only fit for the rubbish bin. As the Company Director of Bonny Bridal UK Ltd, I have received many telephone calls from the shops that my company supplies where the store owner is looking to purchase a dress immediately because she has a distressed bride in tears who had received a fake copy dress after buying it online thinking she was going to receive a genuine designer dress. I am in a position to warn brides about the dangers from purchasing their bridal attire online. In 2005 I created a website called Brides Aware. This is a data base website where suppliers, shops, and brides can leave their horror stories from buying online to warn other brides. You can view this at www.bridesaware.co.uk  I also created Brides TV. This too can be viewed online. On here are videos of me showing the difference between a counterfeit fake copy and original designer dress. You will be shocked. These fake copy wedding dresses have no beading at all compared to the originals, the embroidery is terrible, and the dresses are made from cheap fabrics. View this website at www.bridestv.co.uk  Other fake copies can come with zips that are not sewn in straight and odd sized panels. When buying a dress online from other countries, these can be sent to the bride declared as a ‘gift’. The seller does this so that the bride does not receive a huge charge in respect of the Customs Duty and VAT charge. By doing this the dress enters the country illegally because the commercial value has not been declared. Customs & Excise can then enter the bride’s home and take the dress. It is also against the law to purchase counterfeit good. So not only has a bride wasted some of her wedding budget on a counterfeit dress, she may risk having her home raided by Customs & Excise. Not a good start to getting married! Designers do not sell their dresses online, let alone allow them to be sold on auction websites. I must state that brides will sell their genuine dress on auction websites therefore I will not commit myself by saying that only fake copies are sold online. But it is easily noticeable if the seller is a bride or a counterfeiter. All bridal stores have a sale rail. The dresses on them are usually ex samples. These can be purchased for half the RRP. Some stores may even offer a payment plan so that brides can pay for their dress in instalments. Brides also receive the guarantee and protection from the store and designer.

As any 21st century bride knows you need to 'try before you buy'.  Increasingly, couples decide to live together before they get married.  The only downside to this pre-nuptial bliss? What gifts to ask for! But what do you do if you don't need a new steam iron or cotton sheets but the thought of asking for cold hard cash fills you with dread? What are the other options?
There is something that any bride and groom would find hard to refuse: the honeymoon of their dreams! A honeymoon gift list works in a very similar way to a traditional department store gift registry, but instead of kitchen implements or fresh towels, you put together a list of experiences and activities for your honeymoon.
Imagine champagne chilling in your upgraded hotel suite, a gourmet meal in the flickering candle light as the ocean laps nearby.  It's all so much more appealing than a blender - and so much more appealing for your guests, too, who'll feel that they've given you a really special treat instead of merely contributing to an anonymous pot of cash.
Some honeymoon wedding list services operate as extensions of travel agencies, forcing you to book your honeymoon travel and accommodation through them in order to use the registry service. Others cater to the independent traveller, but charge a commission on anything reserved through the site, so that your guests are funding the service directly from their gifts.
Buy Our Honeymoon (http://www.buy-our-honeymoon.com/) is the UK's leading honeymoon wedding list service, and takes a different approach. The site charges a one-off fee of £55 and allows you to receive payment for any gifts reserved from your list in whatever way suits you best - in cash on your wedding day, by cheque through the post, or online using a credit or debit card into your own PayPal account.
You can choose from a variety of beautiful design themes, personalise your wedding list pages with your own photos, and add absolutely anything you wish to your online list.  Buy Our Honeymoon offers dedicated telephone and email support to you and your guests, together with 70 customisable registry cards as part of the package.
The site was borne out of the founders' hopes for their own dream honeymoon road trip across the Deep South of the USA:
"We realised that we really didn't need any of the things traditionally found in wedding gift lists. We'd been living together for years, and had cultivated a fine habit of buying each other kitchen implements as Christmas presents. A normal gift list would have been slightly redundant and, frankly, a waste of our guests' money," says Shelley Green.
"We'd heard of people asking for money towards their honeymoon but didn't want to ask our friends and family simply to do that. We thought it would be much better if people knew what the money was for. So, we thought we'd ask our guests for specific things we were planning for our honeymoon: theme park tickets, a car upgrade, a cabin in the Smoky Mountains, meals, champagne."
And as for whether their guests approved... "We were surprised by how much our guests loved it, many of them going well beyond the call of duty in their generosity. We had been concerned that some of our older guests might feel that we were simply asking for cash and consider us rude. We needn't have worried, though: our guests each felt that their gift was the specific experience or activity they'd reserved and not the cash value we'd assigned to it."
For more information on how to make the most of your honeymoon gift list, visit Buy Our Honeymoon at http://www.buy-our-honeymoon.com/ or call 0845 224 0189.

A recent survey undertaken by Bridesbook.co.uk of over 3,000 Wedding Suppliers from all over Britain indicates that the Wedding Industry is optimistic about 2010. 

More than half of all Wedding Suppliers surveyed said they felt increasingly positive about the prospects for their own businesses, and nearly 70 per cent were positive about growth within the industry in general. 

There is no denying that, thanks to the credit crunch, the last year has been tough by anyone’s standards, and the Bridesbook.co.uk survey agrees with this as more than 50 per cent of all replies stated this year was financially worse than 2008. 

A contributing factor to the tough trading conditions was that Brides and Grooms were looking for deeper discounts than ever.  The survey indicated that 65 per cent of all suppliers had been approached to reduce their prices.

The survey does not indicate whether fewer couples were getting married in 2009, although 52 per cent of suppliers were involved with fewer weddings. In total however this means that over 47 per cent had either seen no change or had attracted more business than last year.

As with all things, there were still some exceptional performances as 28 per cent of Wedding Suppliers had seen their businesses grow over the last twelve months and 16 per cent saw no financial impact on their bottom line.  In fact overall, 55 per cent of suppliers had seen no decline in the average spend on the wedding services they provide.

One of Bridesbook.co.uk's 'Ask The Expert' panel members, Julia Munday from Perfect Day Bridal stated "It was a tough start to 2009, but I have just recorded excellent October sales figures and I feel confident and excited, not just for Bridalwear, but the entire Wedding Industry as a whole."

Most people, when starting to plan their weddings, are quickly overwhelmed at how expensive it will become. At this point, they frequently start trying to save money. But here's a word of advice: Don't skimp on the wedding favors.

In fact, basic wedding etiquette requires you to show your appreciation in some way to those who help make this day special. And wedding favors are one of the best ways of acheiving this. Having said that, wedding favors come in a variety of cost ranges. They don't have to expense your wedding out of existence. Just remember that wedding favors must be simple, they must convey something about the new couple, and they should be something that will always tug the guests' memories near to the day and week of the wedding.

As you're planning your big day, it's helpful to keep lists so you're sure to pick up all of the needed wedding supplies. Wedding supplies include the big things, such as flowers and decorations, all the way down to the fine things such as invitations. You may want to include the following on your record of wedding supplies: cake topper, cake servers, a ring bearer pillow, guest book, flower girl basket (along with flower petals) bridal garter, handkerchiefs, candles, candle holders, wedding rice, and wedding favors. There are any number of other wedding supplies to include, so be sure to hold a brainstorming session. As you're working on your list, be sure to include all the requisite wedding accessories. By wedding accessories we're referring to things that aren't absolutely essential, but that some people choose to include to make their wedding even more special. Some popular wedding accessories include wedding napkins, a guest volume and pen for the guest book. Some other wedding accessories that aren't as common, but that you might consider to make your wedding stand out from the rest, include a wedding box, frames, place-card holders, bottle stoppers, wine gifts, drink coasters, and for your wedding favors, some wedding tags.

After you've compiled up a catalogue UK of all the wedding accessories and wedding supplies that you consider you might need, take the catalogue to someone who's already been through the process, a close friend or family member. Ask if she can think of anything else. Once you're sure you've got your register of wedding accessories and supplies complete, it's time to start searching for the best deal. Fortunately the Internet can help with this. Just do a search for wedding accessories and you'll find the best possible deals.

Welcome to Bridesbook, we have the most comprehensive guide to Wedding Venues & Suppliers in the South West of England!

Bridesbook is a quick and easy way to find, store and share information about hundreds of Wedding Venues and Suppliers near to where you live. We want to save you hours of time searching for Wedding Suppliers by providing you with the most comprehensive guide to all kinds of suppliers in one easy to use website. You can create your own Bridesbook to help you decide who will make your big day the most magical of your life. Whether you are looking for Wedding Venues, Wedding Dresses, Wedding Cakes or Reception Disco's, we'll be able to show you suppliers close to where you live, giving you more choice, and a stress free way to find your perfect suppliers