One very exciting week is ahead of us – it’s just a handful of days to the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

A royal wedding is no longer just exciting for royalty enthusiasts. By choosing life partners from outside the royal realm and breaking one or two cardinal wedding rules, Prince William first, and now Harry have managed to create a lot of buzz around their nuptials. Despite Meghan being a TV star, both her and Catherine are women we all identify with, and so their weddings have become a sensation everyone is intrigued to follow.

Some of us wished that Harry would really go against the grain and surprise everyone with a secret elopement in some tropical private island. Sadly, he hasn’t! But we are still very pleased that the gossip around Harry and Meghan’s wedding makes it feel more like a large, luxury wedding than a royal affair – something that will no doubt inspire many of next season’s brides and grooms.

Among the UK Alliance of Wedding Planners, we have lots of planner and supplier members who specialise in luxury events. So we have asked them to provide their experienced tips on how to recreate a truly luxurious wedding.

Before we share their advice, however, let’s clarify something: “royal” doesn’t necessarily mean“luxury”, and “luxury” isn’t necessarily a synonym of “opulent, extravagant, or high budget” either. This is how some of our members describe their definition of a luxury wedding:

“For me luxury is all about the experience that is created and the feelings associated with that. It is not ostentation; visuals are of course important but it’s more about creating something totally unique and immersive for your guests.” (Helen Eriksen Weddings)

“Luxury, for me, is not always about how much money a wedding costs. It’s about thoughtfulness, elegance and spending time on the little things that will make your guests feel welcome and looked after and that the couple will remember.” (Stylish Events)

“For me a luxury wedding is completely bespoke and personal down to the smallest detail. Couples having a luxury wedding want a totally unique experience, and are willing to pay for the best.” (The Wedding Film Makers)

With that in mind, what are some of the ways you can give your wedding that luxury feel?

Our very own member Vicky Morrisy of Two Became One, tells us: “Make sure those guests are visually and mentally stimulated at all times. Be prepared for the unexpected, and make sure you have a detailed plan to hand. And most importantly, make sure your security is working just as hard as you are.”

And if you are planning for a luxury destination wedding?

Vicky says: “In my opinion, the most effective way to handle language barriers is to work with a bilingual wedding planner. Whether the person is based in the UK or in the destination country is a matter of choice, but ensuring that at least nothing is lost in translation during the planning and on the day is essential.”

Jennifer Sime of Raspberry Bespoke Events, who specialises in creating imaginative, opulent and immersive weddings, tells us something some brides and grooms may not expect: “My tip for creating a Royal Wedding would be to keep it simple. As with any wedding, the main focus should always be about the bride and groom. With a royal wedding there is even more emphasis on this. Keep the decor and colour scheme timeless and effortlessly chic – remember a royal wedding will be immortalised in history for generations to come!”

 

Yes, you’ve read that right – that luxury, royal feel isn’t necessarily achieved by being extravagant. More often than not, timeless and effortlessly chic decor is all it takes to create that perfectly balanced aesthetic that gives your wedding the grandeur you’re after.

On a more practical note, international wedding planner Elisabetta White Events suggests a touch that is truly naturally luxurious: “To make your wedding a luxury experience, the key is to think about how you want your guests to feel throughout the various stages of your day. One of my favourite ideas is to pick one perfume that you can use to scent the whole event: from wedding stationery to the reception room, all you need is a little spritz on some of the elements (paper, fabrics etc). It’s a fairly easy idea to implement and in the grand scheme it’s inexpensive too, but it will gift your wedding guests with a really lush experience. Just one word of advice: choose a perfume company that uses natural oils rather than heavy chemicals, and don’t overdo it! It needs to be really subtle to be effective.”

And on the note of stationery, one thing most wedding planners will tell you is that your Save the Date cards and invitations are what set the tone for the whole event. A luxury experience starts from the moment your guests receive the envelope through the letter box. So if a luxury wedding is what you want, paying attention to your paper goods is just as important as choosing your flowers, or picking your wines.

Our wedding stationery designer member Vaishali of Ananya Cards provides some helpful and practical tips on how to zhoosh up your wedding stationery: “To add a luxurious royal feel to stationery, it’s all about enriching the stationery with intricate and meaningful details, whether it’s in the design, the textures, or the wording. A save the date or invitation sets the scene for everything to follow. This can then be the aesthetic narrative for the menu, place cards, seating plan, and so on – and you can explore options with matching, complementing, or even contrasting the elements within the suite. Detailing like this can tie together different rooms, sections, or goals of your event, as well as eloquently conveying your professionalism and aesthetic vision. There are various finishing touches that you can add to really wow your guests: calligraphy, embellishing cards with 3D elements, hand tearing, wax sealing, envelope lining. No detail is too small to be worthy of attention and beautiful design, and all together these details combine to create a brand that tells a cohesive story across all the touch points, guiding your guests as the event unfolds around them.”

We can’t wait to see how Harry and Meghan’s wedding will look like and whether they will be setting new trends or influence couples’ weddings from all over! Whatever you decide to do with your special day, we hope you will find these tips on how to inject a touch of luxury to your wedding useful.

If you need more advice for your luxury wedding or are considering hiring a luxury wedding planner, visit our Wedding Planners Directory here: www.ukawp.com/destination-planners/ or our Wedding Supplier Directory here: www.ukawp.com/wedding-suppliers/.

Alternatively, get in touch with any of the planners mentioned above.

With thanks to:

• Helen Eriksen Weddings
• Stylish Events
• The Wedding Film Makers
• Two Became One
• Raspberry Bespoke Events
• Elisabetta White Events
• Ananya Cards

Image credits: top image by our UKAWP supplier member, wedding photographer Phil Drinkwater // middle and bottom images by Roberta Facchini from an inspiration luxury wedding shoot by our UKAWP wedding planner member Raspberry Bespoke Events, with Fabienne Egger Luxury Events and Wedding Flowers, Duchess & Butler, Over the Top Linen Rental, Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium, Botias Hair & Makeup, Morgan Davies London, Alessandro Bordoni, our UKAWP supplier member, wedding stationer Ananya Cards and Wedding Day Hire.