Scroll through Pinterest for five minutes and you’ll find endless tablescapes, seating charts and floral installations. What you won’t find are generators, rubbish bins, extension leads or portaloos. Fair enough. Nobody’s pinning photos of a well organised waste collection, but these are the things you really need to think about – especially if you’re having a DIY or festival wedding!

None of this is sexy but getting the practical stuff organised is what will make your wedding a real success. Sure, guests might not compliment you on your stunning choice of toilet, but they’ll certainly remember if there weren’t enough of them or they were as digusting as the ones at Reading Festival on the Sunday might!

Think about comfort as well as aesthetics

A ceremony in the middle of a meadow sounds idyllic until everyone is standing in full sun with nowhere to escape the heat. An outdoor reception feels magical until the temperature drops and nobody packed a jacket.

Simple additions make a huge difference. Provide water stations that are easy to spot. Scatter blankets around for the evening. Create a quiet corner for anyone who needs a breather from the music. Make sure there’s enough seating for guests who can’t comfortably stand for long periods. These details allow people to actually enjoy your day as well as think its cool and beautiful.

Start thinking like an event organiser

How will your suppliers access the site? Is there enough power? Do you need extra lighting between different areas once the sun goes down? Is there clear signage so guests aren’t wandering around looking for the ceremony? Where will people park? Where will rubbish go throughout the day?

None of these questions are particularly glamorous, but they’re the reason some weddings feel relaxed while others feel chaotic.

If your venue already has plenty of clean, accessible facilities, you’re sorted. If it doesn’t, it’s 100% worth investing in really nice bathrooms before you spend another penny on personalised cocktail napkins. Companies like Platinum Potty Rentals provide luxury restroom trailers that feel much closer to a boutique hotel bathroom than the portaloos most people imagine.

The best weddings often feel effortless because somebody has thought through every tiny practical detail before the first guest arrived. And of course, these sorts of details rarely appear in the photographs.

So while those are not the details you’ll be saving to Pinterest, and your guests probably won’t mention how handy it was to have a plug for their phone or how delightful the facilities were, they are the ones that make people go home saying, “That was such a brilliant wedding.”