Couple & relationship
Proposal, choosing a surname, vows and the talks before the wedding.
All things wedding
Plan your wedding
Bring your tasks, costs and guests together for the day.
Invitations and wording
Find the right words for your wedding invitation.
As a wedding guest
Write a personal message and choose a thoughtful gift.
Wedding anniversaries
Explore anniversary names, traditions and celebration ideas.
An introduction
Between the yes and the day lies a stretch of time nobody talks about much: you are not only planning a party, you are making more joint decisions in a few months than in the years before. Most conflicts in planning are not questions of taste but unclarified responsibilities — who decides what alone, and what genuinely belongs to both of you.
Then comes a third party nobody invited: family expectations. They rarely arrive as a demand and almost always as an assumption, and they are easiest to handle while they are not yet a promise in the room. An early "we're doing that differently" costs less than a late one.
And then there is the day itself, of which the two of you notice remarkably little if you have taken on everything. This section is about what happens between you — dividing the work, the recurring flashpoints, time as a couple during the planning year, and the question of what you each expected of the other and how much of it was ever said out loud.
The money conversation before marriage: four numbers, three models
Income, assets, debts and a spending limit: the four numbers a money conversation has to settle — plus three account...
Announcing your engagement: who to tell, and in what order
Who hears it first, who may pass it on, and when it can go online. The three circles of announcing an engagement and...
Choosing a surname after marriage: your options and the reasons behind them
Keep your name, take theirs, or double-barrel: what each option means in the UK, what the marriage certificate covers...
How long should an engagement last?
Twelve to eighteen months is the usual gap between proposal and wedding. What short and long actually cost you, and w...
Wedding planning arguments: what they are really about
Why wedding planning arguments are almost never about the thing being argued over, the four conflicts hiding undernea...
How to write wedding vows: examples and speaking time
Personal vows in five parts, an honest word count for 90 seconds of speaking, when to start writing, and the four thi...
Deep questions for couples: 30 questions for one evening
Thirty questions in three escalating rounds, the format that stops it becoming an interview, and the two well-meant r...
Star signs and lucky wedding dates: what holds up and what does not
Where the question comes from, which date customs genuinely exist across the English-speaking world, and the five thi...
Just got engaged? What actually matters in the first weeks
Newly engaged and everyone wants a date? Three decisions carry everything else, and almost nothing needs deciding in...
Mindful wedding planning: self-care, not self-improvement
Mindful wedding planning is not about improving yourself by the date. What self-care means in practice: a cut-off tim...
Engagement photo shoot: the rehearsal for your wedding day
An engagement shoot is a rehearsal for the wedding day: how the session runs, what to wear, which locations hold up a...
Doubts before getting married: cold feet or a real signal
Planning strain, cold feet and a real doubt about the decision feel identical from the inside. Four tests that tell t...