Did you know that the average wedding in the UK now costs '17,000? I dread to think how much that is an hour!

Of course, no-one wants to deny the bride her big day and nowadays you can quite literally have what you want. If you want personalised wedding rock as favours, a chocolate fountain, a snow machine, your own wedding website, bespoke jewellery or bridal shoes dyed to order you can have it all. But, weddings don't come cheap and sadly so many companies are making too much money on bride's big day!

When planning our own wedding recently, we felt that companies were 'cashing in' on brides and their often extensive budgets! Why do people think that bride means 'loaded?' I don't know many engaged couples who have a spare '17,000 under their mattressesdo you?

When sourcing photographers, venues, bridal dresses, bridal shoes, caterers and stationers, we were horrified to discover how much people were charging, and how much people were obviously prepared to pay. We also found that many companies did not have helpful staff at the end of the phone. Unless we were physically making the booking there and then, we were left feeling undervalued and unimportant.

Have times changed so much that companies only deal politely with customers who are bearing a cheque book?

If so, that's such a shame. I think many companies forget that being helpful to customerswhether they are buying or enquiringcan be the difference between future business or not. When did everyone become so sales target driven? When did people stop just 'talking' to customers? Most future brides spend an entire 18 months talking incessantly about weddingsusually driving their nearest and dearest mad. Brides love having new ears to bend!

Recent years have also seen an explosion in internet sales. More and more people are choosing to buy over the net. We also found ourselves trawling through so many different wedding websites and to be honest, found so many of them very difficult to navigate. Equally, sites that were well publicised often had very limited collections. Products were either stunning but overpriced or cheap and nasty; there was no halfway-house.

Whatever budget a bride is working towards, no-one wants to pay over the odds, yet we all expect quality, especially on our big day. Also, everyone knows that when it comes to weddings, a bride knows exactly what she wants and there is no room for compromise!

It was through planning our own wedding, that we identified a gap in the market. The gap was for good quality wedding favours and wedding accessories at realistic prices. We made it our mission to provide brides with a simple-to-navigate website containing a extensive selection of quality products. The products range from traditional to modern and there are favours to suit all types of bride and more importantly, if you want to call us, then you are guaranteed a friendly voice at the end of the phone.

Good luck with all your wedding plans and remember to enjoy it. It's supposed to be your dream day, not an over-priced nightmare!