Be aware that many other wedding courses indicate that a topic is covered, but then only scratch the surface.
Our course is 345 A4 pages with an average 488 words per page. No other course in the UK comes close!

UNIT 1: BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE

TOPICS

• Introduction
• Decline in marriage rates – an analysis
• Recent marriage statistics
• Your skills
• The benefits
• Introduction to setting up in business
• Reasons for failure
• Reasons for success
• Pros and cons of working for yourself

UNIT 2: SETTING UP YOUR BUSINESS

TOPICS

• Home office / working from home
• The perfect office – a tick list
• Backing up important files
• Choosing a business name
• Logos
• Insurance
• Moonlighting as a wedding planner
• Guide to managing your time efficiently

UNIT 3: VITAL SKILLS

TOPICS

• Administrative and organisational skills
• Which software should I use?
• An outline of the wedding planning process
• Venue and supplier databases
• Skills development
• Wedding Time Line
• On The Day Schedule

UNIT 4: LEGALITIESS

TOPICS

• Legalities concerning marriages in England & Wales
• Civil ceremonies
• Church of England marriages
• Roman Catholic marriages
• Jewish weddings
• Muslim weddings
• Other faith weddings
• Civil partnerships
• Costs & documentation
• Legalities concerning marriages in Scotland
• Changing names

UNIT 5: THE VENUE

TOPICS

• Considerations: setting the tone and style
• Wedding formalities
• Venue sourcing, shortlist and selection
• Sample venue questionnaire
• Importance of databases
• Overseas venues
• Client requirement questionnaire

UNIT 6: CATERING

TOPICS

• The wedding breakfast
• Recommended caterers & recommended suppliers lists
• Guide to sourcing suppliers - How to source a first class caterer / or any other supplier for that matter!
• Wedding catering – Your preliminary considerations
• Guide to wedding catering
• Seated service or hot fork buffet
• Themes
• Drinks
• Corkage

UNIT 7: WEDDING CAKES

TOPICS

• History & traditions
• Choosing a cake
• Calculating the correct cake size
• Flavours, icings and colours
• Transporting, setting up and cutting the cake
• Storing the wedding cake

UNIT 8: FLORISTRY

TOPICS

• Introduction
• Decorating factors to consider
• Selecting a florist
• Questions to ask a florist
• Coordinating the floral decorations on the day
• Seasonal flowers
• Popular flowers for weddings 2011-2012
• Required flowers checklist
• Sample florist’s quotation

UNIT 9: PHOTOGRAPHY

TOPICS

• Styles of photography
• Background to identifying a photographer
• Coffee table photographic books
• Questions to ask a photographer
• Drawing up a shortlist of photographers for the client
• Popular photographic shots

UNIT 10: VIDEOGRAPHY / FILM CREWS

TOPICS

• Recent history of videography
• Introduction to modern videography
• How many cameras and operatives to use
• Advice on selecting a videographer / film crew
• Top wedding videography tips
• Questions to ask a videographer

UNIT 11: MUSIC

TOPICS

• Ceremony music – achieving the right balance
• Factors to consider

RELIGIOUS WEDDINGS

• Church ceremony music
• The main interludes and choice of music
• Hymns for the service

CIVIL WEDDINGS

• A guide to civil ceremony music

MUSIC DURING THE RECEPTION

• Music for the reception
• Sourcing musicians
• Live music
• DJs
• Questions to ask a DJ
• Guide to selecting a band or DJ
• Standard DJ quotation – what to look for
• Sound & lighting options
• Popular first dance songs

UNIT 12: ADDITIONAL ENTERTAINMENT

TOPICS

• Popular wedding entertainment options
• Additional wedding entertainment options
• Guide to selecting an entertainer
• Children’s entertainment

UNIT 13a: COLOUR SCHEMES AND WEDDING THEMES

TOPICS

COLOUR SCHEMES

• Developing a colour scheme
• Top 10 hot colours for 2012
• Recent popular wedding colours
• 40 popular colour combinations that work well together

WEDDING THEMES

• Working with a wedding theme
• A selection of popular wedding themes
• Conclusion to themes and schemes

UNIT 13b: DESIGN & DECOR AND LIGHTING

TOPICS

DESIGN & DECOR

• Introduction
• What to decorate
• Major decorative considerations
• Creative guide to designing and decorating
• Utilising specialist event design companies

LIGHTING

• Guide to lighting a wedding venue
• Some top lighting tips

UNIT 14: WEDDING STATIONERY, THE GUEST LIST, THE GIFT LIST & GUEST INFORMATION SHEET

TOPICS

STATIONERY

• A brief insight into wedding stationery
• Sourcing stationery for a client
• Tips for choosing stationery
• Types of wedding stationery
• Invitation time line
• Finer details
• Wording the invitations

GUEST INFORMATION SHEET

• Drawing up a guest information sheet

GUEST LIST

• Steps to take on deciding the guest list

GIFT LIST

• Gift list
• Problems with gift lists
• Alternative gift lists
• Traditional gift lists
• Top tips for your clients

UNIT 15: WEDDING DRESS

TOPICS

• Selecting the wedding dress – factors to consider
• The styles and shapes to choose from
• Matching body shape to wedding dress
• Wedding dress trends for 2012/2013
• Wedding dress terminology
• Agony and ecstasy of choosing a wedding dress
• 120 leading wedding dress designers
• Trains
• Veils
• Shopping for the perfect dress
• Tracking down a specific dress
• The ultimate online database of dress designer and their collections

UNIT 16: TRANSPORTATION

TOPICS

• Guide to organising transportation for wedding party and guests
• Forms of transportation
• Top tips for selecting the right service
• Styles and types of wedding car
• Questions to ask a car company
• Sample transportation questionnaire
• Booking the required transportation
• Delegating responsibility

UNIT 17: WEDDING RINGS & ENGAGEMENT RINGS

TOPICS

• Origins of the wedding ring
• Your role
• Popular metals
• Customs
• Important factors to consider
• Engagement rings
• Diamonds

UNIT 18: MISCELLANEOUS ELEMENTS

TOPICS

• The engagement
• Groom’s attire
• Bride & groom gift ideas
• Bridal emergency kit
• Children’s requirements

UNIT 19: STAG & HEN WEEKENDS

TOPICS

• Background to stag & hen parties
• Party guidelines
• Popular destinations to head for
• Popular stag activities
• Hen party ideas

UNIT 20: THE HONEYMOON

TOPICS

• How to choose a honeymoon specialist
• Leading honeymoon destinations and best times to visit them
• Honeymoon: a checklist of items to take
• Useful tips to ensure your client has a safe and hassle free honeymoon

UNIT 21: GETTING MARRIED ABROAD

TOPICS

• Guide to identifying the perfect overseas wedding location
• Legal requirements and considerations
• Factors for the client to consider
• Popular overseas destinations
• Where the celebrities got married
• Overseas wedding: top tips

UNIT 22: WEDDING PARTY RESPONSIBILITIES

TOPICS

• Bride and Groom
• ASIDE: Advice – beware the micro-managing bride
• Mother of the Bride
• Mother of the Groom
• Chief Bridesmaid & Best Man
• Bridesmaids & Ushers
• Flower Girl & Ring Bearer
• Father of the Bride
• Celebrant & Registrar
• Toastmaster
• Wedding services & suppliers

UNIT 23: WEDDING ETIQUETTE

TOPICS

• Bride and Groom
• ASIDE: Advice – beware the micro-managing bride
• Mother of the Bride
• Mother of the Groom
• Chief Bridesmaid & Best Man
• Bridesmaids & Ushers
• Flower Girl & Ring Bearer
• Father of the Bride
• Celebrant & Registrar
• Toastmaster
• Wedding services & suppliers

UNIT 23: WEDDING ETIQUETTE

TOPICS

• Newspaper announcements
• Financing the wedding
• Time line refresher
• Invitations & guest list refresher
• Traditional English wedding format
• The Ceremony
• The Reception
• Toastmaster
• Seating plan
• Top table
• Receiving line & seating order
• Speeches and toasts
• Cake cutting
• First dance
• Bouquet toss
• Bride and groom depart

UNIT 24: THE WEDDING DAY

TOPICS

• Introduction
• Importance of a walkthrough
• Tasks to undertake during the final week
• Rehearsals
• On the day
• Itineraries & order of events
• Speeches, toasts and cake cutting
• Back up plans
• Post wedding tasks and analysis
• Attaining references

UNIT 25: MEETING POTENTIAL CLIENTS

TOPICS

• Preparing for meetings with potential clients
• Where to meet
• Undertaking a formal client consultation
• Communication skills
• Questions to ask
• Your services
• Meeting questionnaire
• Client information sheets
• Drawing up a quote

UNIT 26: THE BUDGET

TOPICS

• Managing suppliers invoices
• Overseas client budget management
• Setting a budget
• Sourcing and booking venues and suppliers
• How much does that cost?
• Venue and supplier negotiations – the art of negotiating
• Attaining discounts via networking
• The importance of asserting yourself

UNIT 27: MARKETING

TOPICS

• Attracting new clients
• Popular forms of marketing
• Online advertising
• Printed materials
• Importance of a website
• Increasing your exposure
• Email scams – fake/fraudulent clients with dodgy credit cards

UNIT 28: BUSINESS MANAGEMENT & CONTRACTS

TOPICS

• Introduction and advice for further information
• Setting up a small business
• Guide to drawing up the business plan
• Fees
• Accounting, tax and banking
• Credit control
• Legal issues and insurance
• The contractual agreement

UNIT 29: TRADITIONS

TOPICS

• Wedding traditions, superstitions and customs

UNIT 30: THE WEDDING PLANNER’S BIBLE, Intro

TOPICS

• A shortlist of excellent venues, suppliers and services to get you started