A wedding is an expensive affair.

Even if you're keeping it small, with minimal fuss and an intimate guestlist, as soon as the 'W' word is attached to plans and purchases the price tag tends to soar. With so much to pin down, from dress to decor to dining, it's hard to know what items you should flex your budget for and where you can make cuts. According to a top Irish wedding planner, however, there's one thing that should take precedence above all else when you're putting together your wedding: entertainment. Zoe Kelly, founder of MBZ International, says that well-chosen entertainment can set the vibe for the day from the minute your guests arrive.

"I would cull everything else and just have amazing entertainment. Nailing that is key, and without it you won't get the party atmosphere that a wedding needs."

Zoe says that, when brides- and grooms-to-be start making plans for their weddings, entertainment is not always seen as a priority.

"When I start working on a wedding I will ask the couple to separately write down their top three priorities for the day. It's my job to merge those together to create a wedding that's for them both. But I'm often surprised that entertainment is left out of those lists. "Instead, the focus is on making the day look really pretty. You can have a beautiful venue filled with peonies but without good entertainment your guests will arrive and say: 'It's stunning. Now I'm bored.'

Zoe laughs that every couple she meets with says that they want to do something different for their wedding - but, again, makes the point that very few think of entertainment as a focal point for the day.

"A lot of venues are really decorative so there's no need to change that. Instead, you could use your money to have a band greet the guests and then march everybody in together and get the party started."

Having worked as a high-end events organiser in London for nine years, Zoe returned home and founded MBZ International Events & Planning in 2016. She specialises in luxury weddings and offers full wedding planning as well as wedding co-ordination services. Many of her clients are Irish expats coming home to get married, as well as overseas couples who want to travel here for their Big Day. Whatever their budget, she says that a couple can benefit from the services of a professional wedding planner. "There's a good amount of venues in Ireland and the style is fantastic. Many of them offer really good packages too. However, if a package includes a wedding planner that means it's for the venue alone, and a lot of people don't realise that. They feel lost or overwhelmed, so they come to me for help with the dress, flowers, music and everything else."