Wedding Cake Supplies

Posts Tagged ‘Planning’

There are so many things to plan and organize on the first stages of spring wedding planning. Therefore, it is important to take some time to think and scribble down some initial wedding ideas or wedding themes that you conceptualize for the big day before contacting any wedding vendors or venues.

The spring is a time for birth and renewal. It is a magnificent time for new exciting adventures that a marriage may bring. The good thing about a spring wedding is that you can avail of discounted rates, especially on sites and travel. Spring is in the distant third place behind summer and autumn and is the most popular time of the year to get married.

One thing that helps tie everything together when conceptualizing your spring wedding is to decide on your wedding colors. Selecting a color or two that you feel really speaks to you in this time of spring will help you with choosing flowers, decorations and bridesmaid dresses. Here are few of the ideas for your spring wedding:

•    If you are planning a wedding in a church, coordinate with them about their Easter decorations. It may be practical on your side by using theirs. In the spring, wedding vendors and sites may be more available. However, don’t forget the prom; it may be convenient for you to book limousines and tuxedos ahead of time.
•    A spring bridal show or two in the early stages can be an example to choose your spring wedding dresses. There are also designs available in wedding magazines. Choose for a versatile dress that you can pair with a wrap if you are chilly, yet are still light and airy. Touches of baby blue sash, an all over hint of pink or light color embroidery on your wedding dress will look perfect for a spring wedding.
•    A spring wedding menu can be celebrated with fresh young vegetables such as baby asparagus (or regular asparagus), baby carrots, sugar snap peas, haricots verts and new potatoes. You can gently awaken the Easter with a chocolate cake with coconut icing. In this great time of year, strawberries, apricots, mangoes, pomegranates and rhubarb are delicious. You should try recipes like strawberry custard or chocolate mousse phyllo cups.
•    A perfect decoration for a refreshing spring wedding is a preppy pink and green combination. You can incorporate spring icons such as blossoms, butterflies and dragonflies in your wedding design at every level. A good addition for a spring reception can be anything found in nature.
•    The spring wedding flowers in season include roses, tulips, peony, hyacinth and Gerber Daisies. Spring flowers have a wide array of meanings that would express sentiments in your wedding ceremony. They can make beautiful bouquets and look amazing as simple fresh cut centerpieces as well.

You can use the following ideas to guide you through your own wedding planning process. As you make your way through each planning topic, you can also check out AnthonyMatthewCaterers.com at Long Island, NY for making your spring wedding an enjoyable and memorable experience.

Recently, I attended a luncheon for event coordinators at the Century City Hyatt Hotel in Los Angeles. This event gave me some great party planning ideas and a recipe for a twist on strawberry cheesecake that I would like to share with you. The event décor, set-up and catering ideas from this event would also work for wedding parties or any other special event you may throw.

We were lucky enough that it was a typical sunny California day and that X-Bar, the hotel bar, has a great outdoor patio. The event décor was simple yet effective one of the party planning ideas I discuss in Budget Bash. The event coordinators from the hotel used the existing lounge furniture and created multiple seating pods for the luncheon. This is a great event décor idea for saving money because by using your existing backyard or home furniture for wedding parties or other special events, you provide comfortable seating and dining areas for your guests to mingle and eat in.

Another cool event décor element was that the hotel event coordinators used metal lighting trusses, flipped them on their sides, stacked them and then placed plexi-glass on top to create buffet displays. The triangular-shaped buffet was placed in the center making the food easily accessible to the event coordinators from where ever they were sitting. Other creative and fun party planning ideas at the event included interactive panini stations whereby the chefs served filet of beef, scallop, duck confit and mozzarella, tomato and basil paninis. These food stations are a great catering example of serving sandwiches but with updated flair, style and taste. Believe me, I went up to the panini stations at least three times in the course of an hour. These panini stations are also great for luncheon buffets at wedding parties since you can control your costs by selecting the type of panini you serve. In addition, by catering small sandwich portions on little plates, the guests will have a variety of selections and more often than not become full quickly.

The desserts were another example of creative party planning ideas. They were mini-desserts that you could easily pick up and eat without a fork. One of the concepts I discuss in Budget Bash is that sometimes you can get away with using just cocktail napkins with your catering if you are looking to save money on rentals at wedding parties or other special events. A sampling of the desserts served were peanut butter cheesecake squares, black forest cake squares on sticks (they were essentially lollipops) and a creative twist on strawberry cheesecake. The strawberries looked like chocolate covered strawberries, but when you bit into one, there was cheesecake filling in the center. Needless to say, I had to eat three strawberries to ensure that I could recommend them to other event coordinators. What’s great about this recipe is that it is easy to make yet very impressive and delicious. The catering department at the hotel was kind enough to share this recipe with me and here it is.

Chocolate Covered Strawberry “Cheesecake”

Halve 12 Driscoll strawberries

Scoop out center and fill with your favorite cheesecake filling. If you don’t have a cheesecake filling, you can mix equal parts of cream cheese and powdered sugar together to create one.

Place strawberry halves back together, and dip in melted chocolate to create a holding seal.

Gently rub or sprinkle Graham Cracker crumbs while chocolate is wet and then cool before serving.

I hope that you can take some of these party planning ideas and incorporate them into your event décor and catering for wedding parties or other special events you might plan. As event coordinators, we are always on the hunt for the next best thing, and I plan to post more of these event ideas for you to use and incorporate at your own parties. Until next time, remember to be a guest at your own event and to make it simple, fun and delicious!

You have finally said, “Yes.”  This is the start of your life as a couple.  And prior to that much-awaited big day, you, both the bride and groom have so many decisions to make and wedding-related tasks to complete.

Preparing for your wedding day need not be stressful.  On the other had, it should be fun and memorable.  And to do this, start off by putting together a wedding timetable.  

A short list of wedding-related tasks as well as a rough estimate of when the activities should be done follows. It presents tips and guidelines to keep you organized and help you think of all the matters that you must take into consideration in the course of planning for your big day.  Of course, these are mere suggestions.  All activities and schedule are still up to the couple to decide on depending on their priorities.

At the Time of the Engagement
- You must tell your parents the happy news as soon as possible that is if they don’t already know.  If you were having an engagement party, it would be good to keep your close friends and relatives in the know, too.<br>
- An organizer would be best to have in handy.  This will help you keep track of all the appointments, payments and other wedding-related activities that you must attend to.
- Have your engagement photo taken.  This would be nice to have as a keepsake of this wonderful occasion.

6 to 12 Months In Advance Before the Big Day

- The couple should have already picked and decided on the wedding date.  Do the reservation for the venue where the ceremony and reception is to be held.
- Set an appointment with the wedding officiant.
- Establish a budget for the wedding, and try as much as possible to stick to it.
- Prepare a wedding guest list.  You wouldn’t want to leave somebody uninvited unintentionally.<br>
- Look around for a photographer, florists, musicians, and a caterer.  Obtain estimates for these services.<br>
- Register at the bridal gift registry.
- Pick a wedding dress and accessories to go with it.  If you are having a seamstress make you one, this is the time to have it arranged.  Several fittings may be required for this.
- For the bride, select your bridesmaids.  Set a date for ordering dresses for them.

4 to 6 Months In Advance Before the Big Day
- Have the invitations, stationeries, and thank you notes ordered.
- The photographer, florist, musician, and caterer should have already been chosen. Go over details with each of these services to make sure that everything is as agreed upon.
- For the groom, select attire.
- Honeymoon reservations should be made already at this point.
- Confirm the delivery of the bridal gown.

2 Months In Advance Before the Big Day
- Plan your rehearsal dinner.
- If you are having out-of-town attendants, arrange for their lodging.
- Make an appointment with your chosen photographer for the shooting of the bridal portrait.<br>
- Order the wedding cake.

1 Month In Advance Before the Big Day
- The couple should decide on a wedding band set.
- Mail the invitations.
- Check the apparel for the wedding party.
- The couple attends showers.

2 Weeks Before the Wedding.
- It is time to apply for marriage license and attend to other legal matters, especially for the bride – name and address changes on bank accounts and other official documents.
- Plan a wedding hairstyle and make-up with your stylist.
- Check with the caterer and the reception venue for last minute changes.

1 Week Before the Wedding
- Do your honeymoon packing.
- Wrap gifts for the groom and attendants.
- Schedule the wedding rehearsal.
- Remind the wedding party of the exact time and place for the occasion.

On Wedding Day
- Take breakfast!  Fainting on the aisle wouldn’t be cool.
- Have your hair and make-up done.
- Shake off all your wedding details worries and enjoy your day.

Tying the knot is one of those unique occasions that is planned out to the finest detail, from the flavor of icing on the cake to number of flower petals in each bridesmaid’s hair.  Okay, some folks plan a little too many details, but regardless, weddings are typically one of the most highly coordinated events in human nature.

Thus, it would come to no surprise that the Age of Information has prompted brides & grooms to hop online to plan what could be the biggest day of their entire lives. Particularly in the United States, where individualism & independence run strong, calling on a wedding planner or an agency to take care of all the details has fallen on the wayside.   Thanks to the web, planning a wedding doesn’t have to be an outsourced job anymore.

These days, the wealth of information available on the Internet has brides-to-be eagerly surfing for their wedding planning needs.  Every vendor is out there trying to reach out to potential customers, but with the resources so vast, it can be really difficult to find the ideal wedding vendor for your needs.

That’s where Strictly Weddings, a new site for Dallas weddings, takes a different approach to online wedding planning, by simplifying the search.  At Strictly Weddings they use a long list of specific criteria and tap into local wedding experts to pick the top three vendors for each of the 21 categories on the site.  The end result is an easier site to navigate and pick vendors, a vast difference from competitors like TheKnot.com & MyWedding.com, which feature hundreds of vendors all dying for your attention.   Strictly Weddings will soon open in Chicago, New York and LA, bringing its unique approach to a national scale.

Being that approximately $75 billion dollars are spent on weddings alone each year in the States, this is an industry that is certainly alive and well.  Plus, with the 21st century’s total embrace with social marketing, sharing ideas and advice has never been easier.  Wedding planning is no exception, and sites like Strictly Weddings show through their blog and “ask us” section that the online discussion between brides is a highly valued resource for coordinating a wedding.  After all, the best way to plan an event as important as a wedding is to learn from other’s mistakes, and hope for the best.

1) Prior planning prevents poor performance

Research the date of your big day and make sure there isn’t a big sporting fixture on. The last thing you want is your guests missing the vows to tune in to their mobile radios to find out who scored that all important qualifying goal for the world cup!

2) Use protection

It does rain in August and it can snow in May. Come rain or shine, you want your big day to be a success so don’t let it be ruined if the heavens decide to open. If you are planning an outdoors wedding, why not consider hiring a stock of white wedding brollies or just ask guests to bring their own?

A sea of matching umbrellas can offer a variety of exciting shots for your photo album but ensure there is somewhere to store the wet umbrellas though!

3) Keeping numbers to a minimum

The last thing you want is for your long lost Aunt Gertrude to invite her neighbour, and their dog, along to your big day. The easiest way to ensure that this doesn’t happen is to simply say, “We are trying to keep the costs down and so are inviting closest friends and family only, I’m sure you understand.”

According to The Wedding Planner School, the only time it is bad modern etiquette to disallow a ‘plus-one’ is if the guest doesn’t know anybody else and would otherwise have to spend the day feeling awkward on their own.  If your guest has friends attending, let them come alone.

4) Take a calculated risk

Music students are a plentiful source of super-keen wedding musicians. You can discover rising talent for a fraction of the cost of an experienced professional.  You may need to ‘hand hold’ a bit if they’ve never played at a wedding or reception before but your on-the-day coordinator can keep an eye on them for you.  Just hold a thorough audition process!!  The same principle applies to student photographers, florists, hairdressers and make up artists.

5) Design, then decorate

Make sure you plan your decorating carefully so that the ‘concept’ is complete before you start buying decorative items.  Flowers are pricey and somewhat short-lived so consider using fairy lights, potted plants, sculptures and fabrics as decorations instead.  Check with friends and the venue to see if they already have items you can borrow before you splash out.

6) Keep an eye on the time

Think carefully about the timing of your day – leaving guests hanging around for an hour with no entertainment while you have your pictures taken will NOT be popular.

7) The all important rings

Avoid platinum and go for similar looking white gold or even titanium for a hard-wearing lightweight and money saving alternative.  Keep to plain designs, diamonds may be a girl’s best friend and those “I love you” inscriptions can be endearing, they bump up the cost and go out of fashion quickly.

No verbal diarrhoea please

Be strict with your speech makers – if they ramble on for more than five minutes the joyous atmosphere created during the reception will be lost.  You don’t want your guests to fall asleep, or worse, leave – so make it short and sweet.

9) Have your cake and eat it

This may seem like an obvious one, but it can and has happened – never display your cake on two tables pushed together with a cloth over the top – if someone suddenly decides to move the table your cake is going to hit the deck!

10) Human Resources

Call in favours from friends, but be careful to utilise their skills carefully and never delegate anything to people who stress you out – it’s just not worth it!  Retrieved from “http://www.articlesbase.com/marriage-articles/top-ten-tips-for-planning-your-wedding-2575530.html“