The Venue & The Veil

Venue, food, dress, flowers? Budgeted. Hangers, supplier meals, bridesmaid gifts and three rounds of hydrafacials? Probably not.

This week Charlotte and Meg go through the hidden costs of planning a wedding. These are the small extras that quietly add up to a surprisingly large number. We cover skin and beauty prep, hair and makeup trials, getting your bridal party ready, wedding morning gifts and cards, confetti, corkage fees, supplier meals and price rises between booking and the big day.

You'll hear it from both sides: the venue side and the bridal boutique side. We've also both been brides, so there are a few honest "we didn't see that coming" moments.

It's funny, practical and very Northern. Pop the kettle on and bring your spreadsheet.

Join The Veil Club on Substack for planning tips and trends: thevenueandtheveil.substack.com
Follow us on Instagram: @thevenueandveil

Your wedding budget has a plan. Your credit card has other ideas.

In episode five, Charlotte and Megan get stuck into the bit nobody wants to talk about at the engagement party: money. From credit card debt — and when it's actually fine to use it — to using AI to budget and forecast your payment plans, they're covering the real financial side of planning a wedding: where to cut corners without anyone noticing, and where it's genuinely worth splurging.

This one's about making your money work as hard as you do:

Credit card debt and weddings — when it's a useful tool and when it's a trap

Using AI to budget, forecast payments and stay on top of your wedding plan without the spreadsheet stress

Where to cut costs on your wedding — and where it's actually worth splurging

How to make your wedding savings earn you a bit extra, so there's money left for the pre-wedding treats

Megan's a cash-in-envelopes kind of woman. Charlotte's over here with AI, stocks and shares. Naturally, they disagree on almost everything — so we want to know: are you team cash-in-envelopes, or team stocks-and-shares bride?

No fluff, no filter — just two wedding industry insiders talking through the stuff nobody else says out loud.

Follow along:

Instagram — instagram.com/thevenueandtheviel

Substack — thevenueandtheveil.substack.com

Healing Manor — healingmanorhotel.co.uk

Coates Couture — coates-couture.co.uk

New episodes every fortnight. Subscribe so you don't miss the next one.

#WeddingPodcast #WeddingBudget #WeddingFinance #CreditCardDebt #WeddingSavings #GrimsbyGirls #TheVenueAndTheVeil #WeddingPlanning

Welcome to The Venue and the Veil - the wedding podcast you didn't know you needed, even if you're already married and still living in your wedding blues.

Episode 4 is for anyone who's turned up to a wedding dress appointment with their mum, both grandmas, three bridesmaids and a second cousin they haven't seen since 2019 - and wondered why the shop ran out of chairs. This time it's Meg's world: Charlotte and Meg get properly into wedding dress shopping - how many people you actually need in the room versus a full coach party with nowhere to sit, the great debate over having a second (or third, or fifth) dress, and the return of blush and colour down the aisle. They also share the most sentimental dress either of them has ever had on set - one remade for a daughter from her own mum's wedding gown - and settle, once and for all, whether that's a yes or a no. (Spoiler: strong yes.)

In this episode:

* How many people to actually bring to your dress appointment - and when it tips into a coach party with no chairs for bums on seats

* The comeback of blush and coloured wedding dresses

* One dress, two dresses, or five - when extra dresses stop being about the wedding and start being about the photoshoot

* The most sentimental use of a wedding dress Meg's ever seen - remaking a mum's dress for her daughter, and why she's a strong yes

Welcome to The Venue and the Veil - the wedding podcast you didn't know you needed, even if you're already married and still living in your wedding blues.

Episode 3 is for anyone who said yes and suddenly found their phone convinced they needed fifteen marquees, three hundred flower arches, and a choreographed first dance by lunchtime. Charlotte and Meg get properly into wedding planning overwhelm - how your algorithm clocks you're engaged before you've even told your own family, and why Pinterest, gorgeous as it is, is basically a highlight reel dressed up as a planning tool. They also make the case for committing to a decision and actually closing the door on it - no more re-opening tabs at midnight over napkin colours.

In this episode:

• Why your social media feed changes the second you get engaged, and what that's actually doing to your planning
• Pinterest vs. reality - the gap between the aesthetic and an actual wedding day
• How to make a decision and stick to it, without the 2am re-Googling

Welcome to The Venue and the Veil - the wedding podcast you didn't know you needed, even if you're already married and still living in your wedding blues.

Episode 2 is the one guaranteed to start an argument in your family group chat: should kids be at your wedding? Charlotte and Megan go in from opposite sides and neither of them backs down - no summary, no compromise, just two very opinionated women making their case and leaving you to pick a side.

In this episode:

• Charlotte and Megan go head-to-head on whether kids belong at your wedding
• The etiquette of a childfree wedding - and how to actually tell your guests without the fallout
• Real stories from the venue and the dress shop of how this plays out on the actual day
• Why neither of them budges by the end (there is no neat verdict here)

The Venue and the Veil is hosted by Charlotte, venue owner and ex-celebrity stylist, and Megan, bridal shop owner and dress-fitting expert. Between them, they've planned their own weddings, survived the chaos, and worked on hundreds more. Expect honest opinions, real stories, and zero filter on the stuff brides actually think about but rarely say out loud - budgets, family drama, bridezillas and everything in between.

New episodes every two weeks. Follow us on Instagram @thevenueandveil and TikTok @thevenueandtheveil so you never miss one.

Welcome to The Venue and the Veil - the wedding podcast you didn't know you needed, even if you're already married and still living in your wedding blues.

In our very first episode, get to know Charlotte: how she quit uni to style celebrities at a young age, how that led her to owning Healing Manor (a countryside wedding venue running 60+ weddings a year), and why she's built a reputation for giving brides the honest opinion nobody else will. You'll also hear the story behind the podcast's very first inside joke - yes, there is a dead swan involved - and the most unhinged answer to "what's your last meal on earth" you'll hear all series (a spicy margarita, neat, no food required).

In this episode:

• How Charlotte landed in fashion and celebrity styling, and how it led to running a wedding venue
• The dead swan story that proved she and Megan could actually do this together
• Why "no" is sometimes the "yes" a bride didn't know she needed
• A first taste of the honest, no-nonsense energy this show is built on

The Venue and the Veil is hosted by Charlotte, venue owner and ex-celebrity stylist, and Megan, bridal shop owner and dress-fitting expert. Between them, they've planned their own weddings, survived the chaos, and worked on hundreds more. Expect honest opinions, real stories, and zero filter on the stuff brides actually think about but rarely say out loud - budgets, family drama, bridezillas and everything in between.

New episodes every two weeks. Follow us on Instagram and TikTok @thevenueandveil so you never miss one.