Blog

 Happy New Year everyone! We think there must have been lots of festive engagements as well as some new year resolutions from newlyweds to finally sort out their wedding wares as we have had our busiest two weeks (ever!) with thousands of you visiting our site and joining our preloved community.

We have lots of exciting plans in the pipeline. These include making some changes to the website based on your feedback.  Probably the biggest change is that we will be introducing a reminder email which will go out to sellers after six months, prompting them to either list their item as sold, or to think about reducing it, this will then relist their item so that there is nothing on the marketplace which is older than six months meaning we can be confident that all the items are still active and for sale.

So stay tuned.

We were recently approached by a magazine to submit our predictions for what we thought was going to be big in weddings this year. So we looked at recent trends we have started to see being listed on our marketplace, and included links to items that you may want to buy.

Natural elements

We predict that wood, moss and foliage will continue to be popular this year. From floral crowns and headpieces to natural styled centrepieces and hanging décor.

Industrial

A contrast to the natural element trend yet one that works well alongside it, is the industrial look, with touches such as festoon style lighting, metallics and geometric shapes.

Luxe 

Luxurious fabrics such as velvet, sequins and metallics. There will be an emphasis on the bigger the better with everything from bouquets to centrepieces increasing in size and grandeur.

Metallics

Will continue to be popular with gold, rose gold, silver and pewter detail worked into the theme from the invite through to the tablecloths and décor.

Showstopping

Elements that immediately create an Instagram worthy shot. From an elaborate floral arch at the entrance to the church, to props such as bicycles and cocktail trolleys.

Personalisation

Brides will continue to add personalised elements to their day, looking for individual elements and details that will set their wedding apart from the others that they have seen in magazines and blogs. 

Doing it the modern way 

Traditional aspects such as wedding guest line ups, who makes the speeches and what side guests sit at continue to decrease in popularity.

Media blackout

Encouraging guests to put their phones away and to enjoy the day. I think discouraging guests to immediately post every element of your wedding day onto social media even before you have reached the alter will continue. We have seen lots of great examples of how brides are doing this, by displaying signs which say 'Live for today upload tomorrow.'   

Paper décor

Fabric bunting as the go to wedding décor of choice has been replaced by paper hanging décor from lanterns, pinwheels, fans, birds. pom poms and geometric shapes and this will continue to be popular this year, with an emphasis on the more the merrier.

Tweed 

For the groom, tweed will remain popular with English Gentleman inspired touches such a pocketwatches, hankerchiefs, bow ties and waistcoats.

What do you think? Are you a 2016 Bride? What elements or themes are you working into your wedding?

Becca x

Photo credits: Top image / Ally Byrom Photography

All other photos taken from seller Tulsi's wedding which is for sale here.

We're delighted to be the first listing featured in the 'Preloved' category over on the very pretty Want That Wedding directory. We're proud to be featured alongside many other fabulous wedding vendors and businesses - come take a look around.

Becca x

My good friend Laura aka the fabulous lady behind the Budget Bride Company has just launched a fabulous new business which is designed to take the stress out of the hideous post wedding admin and form filling to do with changing your name after marriage.

Laura and I first met at the Rock n Roll Bride's School of Rock in Sheffield back when we were both starting our little businesses.

The Budget Bride Company has grown into a fantastic resource for the budget savvy bride and I am equally excited by this new venture which I so would of signed up for back when I was going through all the form filling of changing my name from a Miss to a Mrs.  

Anyway, let me hand over to Laura to introduce - My Married Name Change...

Changing your name after marriage is an exciting step in your journey as a newlywed. It makes  everything seem official and you can finally start using your new married signature! But changing your name after marriage can also be a massive time drain and you can even wonder where on earth you should start with this daunting task. It was with this in mind that we created My Married Name Change. It's the service specifically created for UK newlyweds who are going to be changing your name after marriage and are looking for this to be a quick and easy process.

My Married Name Change makes changing your name after marriage a breeze. By filling out our straight forward, no jargon Quick Form which only takes around five minutes to fill in, you can select every Company and Organisation that you are associated with. We then email you your Personalised Name Change Pack, which contains specific and easy to follow instructions for how to let each Company and Organisation know that you are
changing your name after marriage.

What your Personalised Name Change Pack includes:

• Contact details for each Company and Organisation that you need to advise that you are changing your name after marriage.
• Specific advice on which method of contact each Company and Organisation prefers.
• Advice on whether each Company and Organisation requires you to send a copy, or an original of your wedding certificate (or none at all).
• Where the preferred method of contact is fax or letter, we will include a copy populated with all of your details ready for you to print out, sign and send.
• Where the preferred method of contact is email, we will include a ready to copy and paste email, ready populated with all of your details and confirmation that you are changing your name after marriage.
• Your Personalised Name Change Pack has a clear checkbox layout, so that you can tick off each Company and Organisation as you go through and complete the process of changing your name after marriage.
• We will even include blank templates for you to use for smaller Companies and Organisations such as Universities, Doctors and Vets so can advise them easily that you are changing your name after marriage.

We have researched hundreds of UK companies, so that you don't have to! Our service makes changing your name after marriage a simple and straightforward process. Spending five minutes on our Quick Form can save you hours of post wedding admin and sitting on the phone trying to find out who and where you should be sending details to about changing your name after marriage.

We can't wait to help you with changing your name after marriage! You can read more here 

Laura xx

PS: If you're looking for an original and helpful wedding gift idea, we also provide eGift cards that make an ideal wedding present!

We'll soon be adding a 'Made to Order' search function so you can search for items handmade by our fabulous wedding vendors. Speaking of which, we're delighted to welcome HaPoly Ever Afters ​to our marketplace.  HaPoly Ever Afters make these super cute cake toppers.

Place your personalised order *here*

Becca x

Unfortunately, there are some very annoying people out there that target re-sale marketplaces like ours, with fake enquiries, even the big marketplaces like Gumtree and Autotrader haven't been able to completely stop scammers from using their websites.

Although they are pesky and an inconvenience the good news is that they are normally easy to spot. The best way to protect yourself is to educate yourself about the common signs of a fake enquiry, so that if you are approached you will be able to spot the signs.

Fake buyers who have recently targeted us alongside other UK resale sites are brown.amanda001@gmail.com, Richard.woolley.woolley@aol.com, Emmabaxter1000@gmail.com and watmary07@gmail.com.

Remember...

• Always go with your gut instinct.
• If it sounds too good to be true it probably is?
• Bad grammar and spelling is a common sign of a scammer.
• Alarm bells should ring if someone offers higher than the asking price.
• Scam artists often get in touch about high value items such as wedding dresses, rather than small value items.
• The majority of our buyers are women - ask yourself why would a man be in touch about buying a wedding dress? 
• Wedding items are very personal and as such there is often lots of lovely dialogue and interaction between the buyer and the seller.
• Asking questions which are clearly indicated in your listing is a warning sign that is may not be a genuine enquiry.
• Why would someone pay you hundreds of pounds to post a dress and then ask you to refund them via a different method?
• It is most likely that if someone is buying a wedding dress they would like to see or try the dress on.  If you are happy for the dress to be tried on, you should always encourage this as you should be able to gage if the enquiry is genuine.
• We always recommend using PayPal in order to protect both parties. Always check that money has been received in your PayPal account before sending or delivering items.

We are working hard to make our website as secure as possible. We have a registration process in place in order to deter those who are not genuine buyers from making an enquiry and unlike other marketplaces we do not give out your email address to buyers, as the first enquiry is always through our website. 

We have a spam catcher in place and have just installed a hidden spam checker. Unfortunately, huge companies like eBay haven't even managed to stop scammers yet sadly.

We are not aware that someone is not a genuine buyer until it is brought to our attention so would continue to advise you to contact us at hello@sellmywedding.co.uk if you think that someone is not genuine. We will then delete their account contact their email provider (for example gmail or hotmail), PayPal and the UK's online fraud organisation - Action Fraud.

We also post the details of the scammer on our Facebook, Twitter and Blog pages - so if you are ever unsure it is sometimes worthwhile 'googling' the email address or mobile number they have given as it may appear on other marketplaces or online fraud websites.

The majority of our buyers are genuine buyers who are looking to pick up a preloved bargain for their wedding.

For further information visit our Safe Selling page.

Best wishes,

Becca x