Brides UK

Advice

INTERVIEW: TABITHA JOYCE. PHOTOGRAPH: PAUL BOWDEN, ISTOCKPHOTO.COM

There’s a fine line between sharing ideas with

version from The Cheesecake Factory. One

afternoon I was banging on about the finer

soft cheese used in the recipe had been

banned in the UK – when I realised people’s

eyes were glazing over. This was the

reality check I needed to rein in the

wedding chat at work!

Your work plan

DOs and DON’Ts

Cut it out and stick it

to your computer screen!

DO keep a calendar on your desk

and give yourself deadline dates.

DON’T be tempted to swap work

commitments for a wedding

appointment. Better to play it safe.

DO use the oce printer!

DON’T make wedding calls at your

desk – you wouldn’t call your doctor

in front of everyone, so step outside.

DO use your work email when

contacting your venue or suppliers

• it’s more professional and may be
  advantageous in negotiations.

DON’T take long lunch breaks or

leave early for ttings. Your

colleagues will begrudge it.

DO make enquiries with work

contacts – if you use the oce

caterer or orist you might nd you

can wangle a discount, too.

DON’T get your email conversations

mixed up – your clients don’t want

to hear about your bouquet.

DO have deliveries sent to the oce.

Half an hour not queuing at the post

oce is half an hour for wedmin!

And DON’T leave your cake/decor

inspirations on the printer. Nothing

says ‘I’m not working’ like 50

printouts from a Brides gallery!^

OOPEN A BLANK EMAIL AT 9AM and

when a wedding thought pops into your

head, put it in there. When you have

a spare ve minutes, you can then re o

a dozen emails in a fraction of the time.

OCREATE A WEDDING FOLDER on

your work email with subfolders. at way

you won’t lose anything or waste time

searching through an overstued inbox.

OUSE YOUR LUNCH BREAK. You’ll

get more done if you focus for a moment

than intersperse tasks through the day.

OPlanning a pre-wedding tness regime?

JOIN A GYM close to your oce and slot in

workouts before or aer work. Power Plates

are a great way to tone up quickly – the

classes last 25 minutes, which gives you time

to eat and work out in your lunch break.

OMAKE THE MOST OF JOURNEYS

• whether it’s 20 minutes on the train or
  four hours on a plane, work trips can be
  a great opportunity to write a list or send
  some ideas to yourself. Ian and I wrote
  our guest list on a ight – we physically
  couldn’t get away from each other and
  there were no new emails to distract us.
  OCREATE A SHARED DOCUMENT
  that you can both access at work – Google
  Docs is great for this. Keep your guest list
  with contact details here (it will change
  daily, so you’ll both need access).

MY 9-5PM

SURVIVAL

TIPS

During your working day...

Beep, beep,

bore-radar!

HOW NOT TO LOSE (WORK)

FRIENDS AND ALIENATE PEOPLE

MY WORKMATE JULIET GOT MARRIED

JUST A FEW MONTHS BEFORE ME AND

WAS AN AMAZING SOUNDING BOARD.

EVEN IF COWORKERS AREN’T IN THE

SAME BOAT, THEIR ADVICE CAN BE

INDISPENSABLE. ONE AFTERNOON I HAD

TO RECRUIT THE WHOLE OFFICE WHEN I

REALISED MY INVITES WEREN’T GOING TO

FIT IN THEIR ENVELOPES WELL, I AM THE

BOSS!. WE FORMED A PRODUCTION LINE:

CUTTING, STUFFING AND ADDRESSING 

JUST IN TIME FOR THE L AST POST. PHEW!

RECRUIT YOUR COLLEAGUES TO HELP

Who needs a

planner when you

have co-workers?

Your wedding is about you as a couple

and just because you’ve mentioned it

in the office, doesn’t mean you have

to invite everyone. That said, handing

out those invites could be awkward.

There’s no end to guest lists, and Ian

and I discussed it a number of times,

as we didn’t want to exclude anyone.

But you have to stop somewhere and

we based ours on people that we’ve

both met and (hope) will be friends for

life. I invited two colleagues who’ve

been with me since the beginning –

after all you don’t want to look back

on your photos and have an ‘Oh yeah,

I think that’s Anne from accounts’

The invite dilemmaTHIS WILL HAPPEN TO YOU

IF YOU’RE ALREADY QUESTIONING WHETHER YOU SHOULD INVITE THAT

COLLEAGUE, THE ANSWER IS PROBABLY NO...

colleagues and boring them to tears. People

tend to be interested in the highlights but not

every mishap or struggle along the way. We

had all sorts of trouble tracking down the

perfect cheesecakes for the reception because

we wanted them to replicate the American

details – which included the fact that the exact

IENDS AND ALIENATE PEOPLE

SAVE TIME

ONLINE

LUNCH

HOUR

FOR THOSE BRIDES SHORT ON TIMEFRIENDLY WEBSITES

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designedbythebride.com

• play with
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  pinterest.com
  search ‘wedding’ for inspiration – get ‘wedpinning’; just
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• match your face
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Brides reader Sophie says: ‘My boss (whom I hadn’t got on

with) overheard me having a tricky chat with our venue.

I regretted taking the call at my desk, but when I got off the

phone she recommended a venue – and we used it! It totally

broke the ice and our relationship has never been better.’

moment. Choosing whether or not to

invite colleagues is one of the biggest

dilemmas facing many of you, as one

Brides reader reveals...

‘My biggest concern was whether to

invite my boss. I knew it would be

awkward if he wasn’t there – I was

inviting other colleagues. And when

it comes to workmates, where do you

stop? I ended up inviting a couple of

people I didn’t hugely like just to be

polite. In the end my boss came and

there were so many other guests,

I barely saw him. I wish I hadn’t

agonised over it!’ Lizzie, London

BRIDES 231

NOW TURN TO PAGE 196 TO SEE HOW JONATHAN AND IAN’S WEDDING TURNED OUT!