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From private jets for dogs to a British Pullman train transporting guests, when it comes to weddings, Mark Niemierko has truly seen it all.
Regarded as the go-to luxury wedding planner in the UK, Mark specialises in high-end weddings costing between £500,000 and £750,000, with some of his clients forking out millions on their big day.
His company, Niemierko, which he founded in 2005, runs on ‘military-style precision’, with Mark believing ‘no detail is too small and no task too big’.
Among his notable former clientele are Julia and James Corden, as well as Rochelle and Marvin Humes. His team has also planned weddings attended by royalty.
While some might think it’s an ‘easy and frivolous’ job, Mark tells Metro just how much effort goes into planning such grand-scale weddings – and the things many couples overlook when planning theirs.
For Mark, it’s the little things that matter – and often leave guests with the biggest impression.
‘I think loos generally are the most important things,’ he says.
‘Whether you’re at an airport or a nightclub, we all need to go for a wee. It shouldn’t be an experience of “Oh my God! I need to go for a wee, but I need to get out of this room so quickly”.
‘It should be “Oh my god, this is insane. I want to stay in here all night.’
Mark doesn’t hold back when it comes to styling the bathrooms at his weddings, adding everything from scented candles to tarot card readers to pleasantly surprise guests.
One simple tip? He says: ‘Get yourself crystal decanters, fill them up with mouthwash, get little paper cups and put them on the side.
‘There’s nothing more fabulous than being on a night out and thinking, “I almost feel like I’ve brushed my teeth”.’
Obviously, Mark adds, don’t be stingy on your choice of soap, and if you can, add personal touches. ‘I love doing a sweet jar full of every different coloured vaseline.’
And, if he finds out which perfumes the couple wears, he might add little bottles of them in the bathroom. ‘But, just beware. They’re going to get nabbed,’ he adds. ‘A guest is going to take them. Someone will steal them.’
Mark's favourite type of wedding? 'Leave your wallet at home'
With over 20 years of experience, Mark has pulled off some truly elaborate weddings. He calls his favourites ‘leave your wallet at home’ weddings, where every detail is taken care of and guests don’t have to worry about spending a penny.
‘If you can afford to do this, it’s what makes a wedding great. It’s called a “leave your wallet at home wedding”. Once you RSVP, the next thing you know your flight has been booked for you, and cars take you to and from the airport. Your hotel room’s booked. You could even drink the minibar many times and it would be paid for.’
Some hosts keep their guests entertained all day, even before the main event. ‘If the wedding starts at 4 or 5 o’clock, there’s a question of what guests are going to do during the day. Some clients say: ‘No, no, we should do a lunch for them all, we should do a breakfast or tell them to go to this restaurant. Everything’s taken care of.’
Next on Mark’s essentials list? The bar. And not just what’s in it, but where it is.
‘You could not be a drinker. But you still need a drink. So the bar is going to need to be fully stocked,’ he says.
‘If you can’t afford to water and feed all of your guests, then don’t invite them. Have a fully open bar if you can afford it.’
You want to make sure it’s close to the action. Mark advises: ‘Don’t have it separate from the dance room, because you’ll end up with a split group, and you want it closer to where the dancing is.
‘Not on top of the dance floor, but close enough to make sure it’s flowing and whoever’s managing it doesn’t run out of glassware. It needs to flow.’
Logistics are everything, according to Mark, and that even includes catering for guests who smoke.
‘It’s not good for you, but people are smoking big time. So you’ve got to factor that in on your dance floor,’ Mark says.
You don’t want an empty dance floor. He explains: ‘Say you’ve got 100 guests. You’re going to have five or 10 in the loo at one stage, you’re going to have some dancing and maybe 20 smokers.
‘Next thing you know, you’ve got 20 people at the bar. You’ve got five people on the dance floor. You need to keep it all really close together so that it isn’t a long walk to go for a cigarette and to the loo.
‘I always think logistically about that. It’s not necessarily creative. It’s about logistics.’
You might assume it’s all over when the music stops, but Mark wants guests to be surprised until the very last moment.
He’s even set up a Shawarma kebab stall for guests to enjoy on their way out.
‘Can you imagine what the guests are saying to each other when they leave that wedding? They’re drunk and they’re turning to each other, probably talking with their mouths full, going, “Oh my God! This is the best wedding I’ve ever been to”.’
Some standout weddings Niemierko has pulled off
Battersea Power Station (pre-renovation) – one of Mark’s early large-scale projects was held at Battersea Power Station when it was still derelict in 2012. He turned it into a grand-scale rock-and-roll wedding. He says: ‘It’s funny going back there now and it’s all so polished and beautiful.’
British Pullman Train – in 2012, Mark transported guests to a countryside wedding at Blenheim Palace via the Belmond British Pullman Train. ‘Everyone got on the British Pullman, and we had a fabulous dinner on the train. Then you arrived in Woodstock, and your hotel was taken care of,’ he says.
The British Museum – Mark orchestrated the first-ever wedding at the British Museum for just 20 guests in 2018. ‘Guests didn’t know where they were going,’ he says. ‘We did a very simple registry office and then they got in cars to a mystery venue and pulled up at the British Museum. It was like Night at the Museum. Totally empty. And then you walked to the Egyptian galleries and that’s where we had a dinner. It was quite epic.’
Private jet for dogs – Niemierko has gone the extra mile for all sorts of guests. ‘There’s obviously been private jets for dogs, he says. ‘We can’t say where they were flying from, but we had to make sure that dog was somewhere else and they pretty much flew with a staff member on a private jet.’
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