It was a nice surprise and I wasted no time starting to organize our Big Day.

If you follow my simple check list you can also get things organized - I made it simple.

I always knew that if I ever get married - even if we live in the UK - I wanted the Reception in Hungary and ideally by the Lake Balaton. The additional advantages of having a wedding abroad is often the price difference compare to the UK.

So I got started planning our Hungarian Wedding Reception.

WEDDING VENUE

I started with the venue - the most important if you ask me. As long as you know what area you want, and the style - i.e. barn style, beach wedding, castle theme - it is then just the matter of searching. I asked 4 hotels for price quote in the capital of Balaton, Siofok and chose fairly easily the one that had the most value for the money. The chosen hotel quickly pulled the contract together, included room hire for the dinner and party, food & drink, ceremony support such as audio, etc. and discounted room prices which was also a bonus as most of us were going to be coming from abroad & wanted staying more than just one night.

WEDDING INVITATIONS

I designed the wedding invitations myself on Vistaprint. If you have your own ideas, creativity will help you to do it yourself. There are plenty of templates available if you don’t know where to start.

WEDDING DECOR

I started looking for wedding decorators on Facebook & Instagram and through my photographer friend eventually I found a very popular professional whose style I loved the most.

I am aiming for a rustic boho style and Andrea’s work has really impressed me.

WEDDING MUSIC

There are options depending on what you imagined on your wedding party but for us the DJ was the only one. Our guests have a very wide range of taste in music and we’d rather have a good selection of different styles performed by a DJ as opposed to a live band which could be a little limited in style and risky unless of course you know the band from experience.

Make sure you book the DJ or band well in advance - they can be booked up for months and months ahead.

I also started a wedding music list on my phone - whenever I hear or remember a music that I knew we would love it on our wedding, I add it to the list. I will send the list to our DJ before the wedding party and the music basically will be the mix of our favorite tunes.

WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER

One of the most important character at a wedding!

Make sure you chose a well researched and talented photographer, someone that is reliable and turns up - you will not want to end up with photos taken by mobile phones about your Big Day! It is important that you check out of his/her portfolio so you like the style of photos and his/her work.

WEDDING DRESS

I’ll be honest, I haven’t found one yet - I have an idea which always helps to start with. I would like to wear a beach / boho style wedding dress and there are so many options on the internet so I will take this photo collage I made to the wedding dress shop and I will go from there…it’s on my ‘to do list’.

WEDDING CAKE

The wedding cake is the easiest to chose! I researched the local cake shops and found this amazing place - went through their portfolo and I was sold.

Yet again I made a photo collage and will get the cake ordered when we have chosen our favorite.

HAIR & MAKE-UP ARTIST

OTHER IMPORTANT ‘STUFF’

I have not mentioned a few other details but also important to consider and plan for:

• Wedding Rings

• Groom and Bridesmaids outfits

• Wedding presents

• Formal Ceremony booking | minister or official person

• Wedding Venue

• Wedding Invitations

• Wedding Decor

• Wedding Music

• Wedding Photographer

• Wedding Dress

• Wedding Cake

• Hair & Make-up

• Wedding Rings

• Groom / Bridesmaids outfits

• Wedding presents

• Formal Ceremony

If you need help with the planning & perhaps for a Hungarian Wedding by Lake Balaton reach out me