How to plan the perfect Cambridge wedding

With so many couples getting engaged over the Christmas holidays, Jane Telfer, a wedding co-ordinator at Trinity Hall, shares her advice on planning the perfect wedding day.

Christmas and new year are officially the most popular dates for couples in the UK to get engaged. It’s not long into January before many couples start planning their big day and choosing the perfect wedding venue is the biggest and most important decision they have to make closely followed by selecting the many suppliers, from the florist and musicians to the photographer who will support them and make their day so special.

I’ve been fortunate to have planned more than 250 weddings in the UK and USA at a range of exclusive venues such as Pebble Beach Resort in northern California, an Elizabethan manor house in Essex, and Trinity Hall in Cambridge, one of the oldest and most beautiful of the Cambridge colleges, where I enjoy my current role as a wedding co-ordinator and deputy conference and events manager.

Working with budgets ranging from a few thousand pounds up to the hundreds of thousands, I’ve overseen a real variety of weddings incorporating all sorts of themes including Indian ceremonies where the groom arrives on a white horse and the ceremony lasts almost two hours.

One of the most remarkable sights that I’ve seen has been an Elvis impersonator who officiated a ceremony complete with blue suede shoes. And one of the most romantic weddings I’ve overseen involved hiring a horse and carriage which had to be escorted from the church to the reception by the California Highway Patrol – we quite literally stopped traffic!

As a wedding co-ordinator at Trinity Hall, I love being able to turn our wedding couple’s dreams into a reality. Our stunning riverside grounds and beautiful historic architecture offer an idyllic wedding venue. A recent bride wrote to me to say that her wedding day with us “was just like being in a movie,” and that “the day was absolutely perfect and exceeded our expectations in every way!”

It’s an honour and a privilege to have such a personal involvement in a couple’s big day.

There isn’t a definitive way to create the perfect wedding, but I do believe it has to be personal. Those weddings that stand out for me are undoubtedly those where the personality of the couple has permeated the celebration, often from quite subtle elements incorporated in their day to the grander and more theatrical gestures of love.

For those newly engaged over the festive period, I’d be delighted to share some of the advice that I give to wedding couples at Trinity Hall.

Always start with a budget. Whether it is £100 or £100,000, everyone needs to know exactly how much they can spend. When you know your limits you can prioritise where you want to spend it. It might be food and wine, or decor and flowers.

Think back to all the weddings you’ve attended and remember what left you with the best memories. A wedding day should be made up of a series of memories.

Don’t overlook the little details – they inevitably will be the things that your family and guests will remember most.

Traditions are lovely most of the time, but not all traditions suit all couples so don’t be afraid to do something different which matches your personalities.

To find out more about weddings at Trinity Hall or to arrange a viewing with Jane and the team, email events@trinhall.cam.ac.uk call 01223 764444 or visit trinhall.cam.ac.uk/conferences/weddings.