It can be easy to forget to make plans for after your wedding. There’s such time, energy, and excitement involved in preparing for the day itself, that we sometimes forget all about what comes afterwards. And that includes one of everyone’s favourite topics — cleaning up!
Between the ceremony and the reception, as well as anything else you have planned for the occasion, your wedding will be large affair. Like any event of this size, it will generate a certain amount of mess. This mess, of course, will need to be cleaned by someone. Linda Curtis of Loving Invitations gives her top tips on how to handle your big wedding tidy up.
Communicate With Your Vendors
Chances are you’ll be hiring suppliers to help during some stage of your wedding. Make sure you communicate effectively with them so you have a clear idea of who is responsible for cleaning up. If you’re hiring a venue and a separate caterer, these will usually do their part of the clean up. However, you need to be clear about this and ensure you know exactly who is responsible for what. You don’t, for example, want a situation where your venue and your caterer are each expecting the other to take care of a particular job. Something like this could lead to unecessary stress and work for you, which we’re sure you’d rather avoid the morning after your celebrations.
Be Considerate of Places of Worship
If holding your wedding ceremony in a place of worship, be mindful of the fact that there is often limited cleaning staff available. If you’re adding your own decor, make sure that you have a clear idea of who’ll be responsible for removing it. Have a discussion with the custodian to find out how much cleaning up will be required, and how much help you’ll need to provide. You may need to assign some of your friends and family to assisting with any tidying that’s needed.
Respect the Outdoors
Outdoor spaces belong to everybody, and they should be treated with respect. If any portion of your wedding takes place outside, make sure that the space will ultimately be left as you found it. In particular, confetti, streamers, and ribbons must always be cleaned up. If left in place, these constitute litter and you could potentially be fined.
Remember to Recycle
Recycling is one of the best things you can do for the environment. After your wedding, there’s likely to be a great deal of recyclable materials around. From drink containers and glasses, to paper plates and plastic balloons. Make sure you have a clear recycling plan for any and all waste collected at your ceremony venue, reception venue, home, and any other location involved in your weddings festivities.
– By Linda Curtis
