Simply perfect

11:47am Monday 28th January 2008

Gill Oliver meets a TV news reporter-turned-wedding guru who is trusted by celebrities to ensure their marriage ceremonies are . . .

Working as a TV news reporter and presenter on Central News proved to be the ideal grounding for Sarah Haywood's career as a wedding planner.

Sarah, who was known in those days by her maiden name Pitcher, believes that organising a big wedding and putting on a live news programme have many similarities.

"There's a running order, you have to work to a budget, be creative, have an eye for detail, be meticulously organised and have a back-up plan," she explained.

She began planning weddings ten years ago as a sideline while still working at Central News.

But as the commissions became more frequent, she decided to concentrate on her wedding business, which she runs from her Abingdon home.

Sarah, 44, has masterminded high-profile celebrity weddings, including those of GMTV presenter Kate Garraway and former EastEnders star Shane Ritchie.

Abingdon-born Kate Garraway's nuptials to ex-political-lobbyist-turned-psychotherapist Derek Draper in 2005 provided something of a challenge, since Sarah had only six weeks to organise it.

To add to the pressure, the event was covered by OK! magazine and guests included famous faces from the media and politics, including Kate's co-presenters Fiona Phillips, Penny Smith, John Stapleton and Andrea McLean.

When Shane Ritchie's wedding to dancer Christie Goddard took place in Buckinghamshire last summer, Sarah was faced with a different problem - much of Oxfordshire was flooded.

"We used Cotswold suppliers and a chap delivering stationery to me whose journey should have taken about one hour, ended up taking nine," she remembered.

Sarah was tasked with planning a party for 450 of Shane and Christie's family and friends, this time all featured in Hello magazine.

The guest list featured actors Pauline Collins, John Alderton, Barbara Windsor and Steve McFadden comedian Bobby Davro, TV presenter Richard Keys and pop star Matt Willis.

Sarah has learned over the years to be ready to deal with last-minute hitches, and to stay calm.

"You've got to be able to live on your wits, because things don't always go according to plan," she explained.

"One bride ordered live peacocks without telling me. The wedding was in a stately home and the florist had arranged flowers on mirrored pedestals.

"A peacock saw his reflection in a mirror, thought it was another bird and went ballistic.

"There were flowers and drinks all over the floor and guests running in every direction," she recalled.

"I've also seen swans land in a swimming pool and then not be able to get out again, and doves doing their business over guests.

"With things like that, I might say That's not a good idea' but sometimes clients are determined," she said.

"At a wedding last summer, a vintage car carrying the bridesmaids broke down before it had even left the garage.

"We had a back-up car but that wouldn't start initially either. When it finally did, we put £50 cash into a taxi driver's hands and told him to follow it to the church, in case it failed again.

"He did a runner and the car did break down. Luckily, a colleague came along and was able to stop and rescue them," she recounted.

Sarah's bubbly personality and presenting skills mean she is frequently invited onto TV and radio to talk about wedding etiquette and dispense advice to anxious brides-to-be.

She appears regularly as The Wedding Doctor on Jeremy Vine's Radio 2 show, as well as on Channel Five's The Wright Stuff, Colin & Justin's Wedding Belles and Celebrity Wedding Frock Ups; ITV's Confessions of a Wedding Planner and Sky News, BBC News 24 and LBC.

She is also the author of best-selling tomes Wedding Bible and Wedding Bible Planner, stylish guides to organising a wedding.

She dreamed up the idea six years ago while engaged to husband Tim, a dentist practising in Oxford.

She later teamed up with photographers Susie Barker and Harley Evans and designer Yvonne Macken to publish Wedding Bible.

"The turning point was the first time I guested on Jeremy Vine's Radio 2 show," she remembered.

"When I went on air, Wedding Bible was ranked 1,500 on Amazon, but half an hour later, it had leapt into the top 100 and stayed there for five days. We haven't looked back since," she added.

Last year the Wedding Bible business extended into stationery with a range of greetings, invitation, place name and thank you cards.

The front cover image of Wedding Bible was shot at Sarah's stepdaughter Charlotte's wedding three years ago.

And, naturally, when her other stepdaughter, Kate, 34, got married to Dev in 2006, she orchestrated their big day too.

Sarah focuses on the exclusive end of the market, witnessed by the fact that she is currently organising two which each have a budget of a quarter of a million pounds!

But she's quick to point out that spending more does not automatically equate to a happier day.

"Weddings are about people, not pounds and pence. All you are doing is creating a backdrop," she said.

Although Sarah won't take on more than five weddings a year as she believes it would be impossible to offer a top service otherwise, she works a 72-hour week.

"I love what I do but I need my work/life balance back," she said.

"Tim and I have bought a house in Portugal. He's 60 this year and we want to spend more time there," she explained.

When there is time, she plays the flute, enjoys listening to music, going to the theatre and swimming.

Does she have a favourite among all those nuptials she has carefully choreographed?

"I believe every wedding I do is the best. I genuinely do. I think I've peaked. What am I going to do next?' she admitted.

But brides-to-be won't be phased by this. They know the Wedding Doctor Sarah Haywood is creative, has an amazing eye for detail, is meticulously organised and always has a back-up plan.

n For more information visit the websites: www.sarahhaywood.co.uk www.weddingbible.co.uk

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