Wedding Trends That Take The Cake

Before booking your wedding reception, you should gather a list of questions to ask the site manager. Use these suggested questions to get you started:

Ala Carte Reception Costs

Reception sites have different ways of breaking down their costs. Avoid any confusion when comparing wedding reception sites by requesting an itemized list of fees you’ll use for your event. (Tip: Have an idea of your guest count beforehand since your count will influence the estimated costs.) Questions to ask:

• What is the facility rental fee?
• What is the food cost?
• What is the beverage cost?
• If you want to hold your ceremony at the site, what is the fee?
• Is there a set-up and breakdown fee?
• What is the staffing fee?
• What is the fee for security personnel?
• Is there a parking/valet fee?
• What is the overtime fee?

Wedding Packages

Some locations offer wedding packages, which can be both cost-effective and convenient, but make sure to inquire about exactly what’s included and not included in the package. Questions to ask:

• What basics are included in the wedding package?
• Is the wedding cake also included? If so, can the design be customized?
• Does the package include floral arrangements? Can they be customized?
• Are linens included in the wedding package?

Booking Terms

Make sure that the site contract meets your needs by asking these questions:

• What is the length of the facility rental?
• Is there an overtime fee?
• Will you have use of the entire reception site?
• What is the deposit?
• When is the remainder of the fee due?
• What is the cancellation policy?
• Are there any music or noise restrictions?
• Does the site have any decorating restrictions?
• Will there be another party during, before or after yours? If so, how will this affect your event?

Essential Services

Determine which of these services the site provides and which you’ll need to contact on your own. Questions to ask:

• Is there an in-house caterer? If not, can the site refer you to a caterer? Do they have caterers that are under exclusive contract to the site?
• Does the reception site have a list of recommended vendors?
• Can the ceremony be held on site? If not, are there suitable locations nearby?
• Is an on-site staff available (coordinator, waiters, bartenders, etc.)?
• Does the site provide tables, chairs, plates, silverware, glasses and other essentials?

Amenities

Some of these important extras may help you determine your perfect venue:

• Are changing rooms available for the bridal party?
• Does the site offer guests accommodations?
• Are there hotels that are convenient to the reception site?
• Are there on-site locations for photo opportunities?
• Are there sufficient restroom facilities?
• Is there a coatroom?
• Is the facility in a desirable location?
• Is there adequate parking available?

When planning for your wedding, don’t forget to order your Rehearsal Dinner Invitations from Best Little Wedding Shop.

Lisa Bakewell

There are several things you should consider when choosing your wedding reception location. Shopping for your site is a lot like finding a mate–you obviously want charm and personality–but make sure that all of your needs are met. Looks aren’t everything! Use these tips to help you to find your perfect match.

What’s your budget?

If you’re planning a wedding reception of about 200 – 300 guests, you might expect to spend between $10,000 – $16,000 for the reception hall, your food, your bar service and any additional reception hall rentals. Use this handy budget guide to create a realistic budget for your wedding and reception.  Once you know how much you have allocated to spend, you’ll be able to shop around for the best location within your budget.

What is the size of your guest list?

First, make sure the room is large enough to accommodate the number of people on your guest list. The space will look large, when empty, but wedding essentials–such as tables, chairs, a buffet, a bar, the band or DJ and the dance floor–will take up a lot of space. Also, you’ll want to make sure that your guests have plenty of elbowroom. To get an idea of the actual “living space” of your venue, ask if you can visit the reception site while another wedding is being set up.

What’s your style?

When considering reception site, consider the color palette of your party. Your site doesn’t have to be done in the exact colors as your planned decorations, but it shouldn’t clash either. Also, consider your theme. Besides the basic banquet hall, you might consider a country club, a mansion, a museum or other venue that suits your wedding reception theme a bit better than the typical site. Last, try to visit the reception site at the same time of day that you’ve chosen for your reception, so you can get a feel for exactly what the lighting will look like.

Do any of your guests have special needs?

When choosing your venue, take into consideration any special needs that your guests might have. If you have elderly guests or guests in wheelchairs, make sure that there are bathroom facilities available to them. You don’t want them to have to travel up and down stairs to get where they need to go.

Are there enough parking spaces?

Make sure your reception site has ample parking or is near a parking garage or a street where it’s legal to park. If parking is a problem at your ideal location, look for other ways to get your guests to the reception. Your site might have a shuttle or van service available to take your guests from wedding to reception and back. If not, you’ll have to make these arrangements yourself.

Read next week’s post, “Wedding Reception Planning: Questions to Ask before booking your Location,” for great tips on what to ask your potential reception site managers.

Check out Best Little Wedding Shop for Discount Wedding Invitations.

Even the best laid wedding plans can go awry, as seen in these “Wedding Disaster” videos from YouTube.  Enjoy!

Here are a variety of wedding disasters…some are hilarious!

Trying to pick out your wedding gown? You may want to avoid these…

Remember…wedding vows are a serious matter. Apparently these brides forgot…

Feeling a little stressed? Check out these Bridezillas…

Ladies…don’t let your man make a grand entrance. At least not one like this!

Here, on the other hand, are some GREAT entrances…

Finally, here are some potential “Wedding Disasters” that you’ll have no control over, but if this happens at your wedding,  you’ll end up with your own YouTube viral video to share.

You might not be able to avoid every “Wedding Disaster,” but you can get started on the right foot by ordering your Affordable Wedding Invitations from Best Little Wedding Shop.

Lisa Bakewell

Photo Credit: aus_chick

As a soon-to-be-bride, you eat, sleep and breathe your wedding plans, and you’ve become a super-sponge for ideas. Well, for great ideas and programming you’re going to love, check out WE tv, TLC and the Style Network’s reality wedding shows! They’ll help you with your plans, give you some great ideas AND they’ll teach you what “not to do” in order to avoid being called Bridezilla by your friends and family.

WE tv

Girl Meets Gown

Girl Meets Gown takes a behind-the-scenes look at the Dallas area’s premiere bridal salon, Stardust. Each week you’ll hear stories of real brides and their quest to find the perfect wedding dress!

Platinum Weddings

Imagine a wedding day in which no detail is too miniscule, no wish is too extravagant and no request is unattainable. It’s a dream come true for any bride-to-be. View the ultimate wedding show that captures the drama and decadence of wedding planning on an extraordinary budget!

Amazing Wedding Cakes

Four bakeries are ready to raise the bar! These incredible designers are pushing the boundaries of what wedding cakes can be, breaking the mold with more bold, beautiful and creative cakes.

Bridezillas

Tune in to watch what can happen to a woman somewhere between “will you marry me” and “I do”– complete with meltdowns, confrontations and shocking revelations.

My Fair Wedding

WE tv brings in a dream team, led by celebrity party planner David Tutera, on behalf of beleaguered friends and family members, to transform what could be a disaster wedding into a platinum style affair.

Rich Bride Poor Bride

What does it take to pull off the “perfect” wedding while still managing to stay within your budget? In each episode, follow the journey of one couple and their wedding planner to see what happens when costs collide with expectations. No matter how big the budget, is it ever enough?

Wedding Central Presents

Go inside the magic of weddings, and get a behind-the-scenes look at the amazing, the funny, the unpredictable and the touching side of planning a big day. From the people who make it their business to create, plan and execute some of the most exciting trends, to the couples who want to make their big day an unforgettable celebration.

TLC

Four Weddings

Four weddings and one dream honeymoon. Who will win?

Say Yes to the Dress

The Kleinfeld staff members try to make each bride completely satisfied on what may be the single most important day of her life.

Cake Boss

Buddy Valastro, one of the most successful and renowned wedding cake artists, aims to make Carlo’s Bake Shop a household name.

Masters of Reception

Robert and Jerry Frungillo make dreams come true. Weddings are in their blood, no matter how big or small. And this is a true family business.

Wedded to Perfection

Follow the owners of Fete Events, spouses Jung Lee and Josh Brooks, as they plan high-end weddings and events in New York.

Style Network

Whose Wedding is it Anyway?

The bride may get all the gifts, but the planner’s the real star of the show. Stressed out wedding planners try to pull off picture-perfect weddings for their clients.

Lisa Bakewell

You’re engaged, and you’re ready to start planning for your big day! The best place to start? Right here…with these 13 Top Wedding Resource Sites!

Best Little Wedding Shop: The Best Little Wedding Shop has been serving brides across the country since 1995 has decided to make their top-quality product line available to brides across the world. In this fast-paced world, brides find it easier and faster to shop online for their Wedding Invitations & Bridal Shower Invitations, Wedding Accessories and Wedding Favor needs.

Team Wedding : Team Wedding wants to be a part of your wedding planning team. Just name a wedding topic, and they can help you with it! Browse by category or state for some terrific planning tips and resources.

Brides.com : Brides.com has a wide range of galleries and topics for you to research, and they have tools that you can use such as budget, to-do list, guest list, and seating chart guides.

The Knot: The Knot has tools, great articles, videos and honeymoon ideas. Check out their photo galleries and wedding planning tips, plus peruse “Grooms + Guys” and “Maids + Moms” for some specific wedding strategies.

MyWedding.com: MyWedding.com offers and “Ideas and Trends” blog, free wedding websites and over 100 local wedding guides to help you plan your wedding.

Perfect Wedding Guide : At Perfect Wedding, you can find vendors, get ideas, go shopping and attend events. This is a terrific comprehensive online wedding guide for brides and wedding planners.

Green Elegance Weddings : Offers eco-friendly wedding tips for couples who want to leave a small green footprint when they get married. They offer wedding contests and green wedding news too.

FrugalBride.com: Canada’s number one online wedding magazine, FrugalBride.com,  is a great resource for brides that offers wedding bulletin boards, frugal wedding crafts and budget tracking worksheets for weddings. They also offer a “Bride’s Planner,” a “Groom’s Planner” and “Vendor Tips.”

GayWeddings.com: If you’re planning a non-traditional wedding, GayWeddings.com discusses gay and lesbian wedding questions that you may have. They also offer products, resources and information networking to same-sex couples seeking to affirm their life-long commitments to each other through commitment ceremonies, civil unions, domestic partnerships, civil marriage and other alternative weddings.

InStyleWeddings : Want to plan a classy, celebrity-style wedding? The InStyle Wedding website can help you plan your dream wedding. Even if you can’t afford a lavish wedding, you can get fabulous tips and ideas here.

WeddingChannel.com: If you’d like the answers to all your wedding planning questions, WeddingChannel.com is a great resource, and they also provide tools like bride checklists and budget calculators.

WeddingSolutions.com: WeddingSolutions.com offers “Real Reviews from Real Brides Like You,” “Celebrity News and Gossip,” wedding registries and a multitude of wedding resources and advice.

DestinationWeddings.com : DestinationWeddings.com offers a full service “one stop shopping” approach which has one goal in mind–to make the planning and coordination of your Destination Wedding as simple and stress-free as possible.

Lisa Bakewell

Woman Offering Colorful Present --- Image by © Royalty-Free/Corbis

As stated in Part 1 and Part 2 of  “Bridal Shower Theme Ideas,” a bridal shower should celebrate…and accentuate…the bride’s personality.  As the party planner, in order to come up with a great theme, make a list of all of the bride’s “loves.” Maybe she loves wine, maybe she loves the color red, maybe she’s a homebody and can’t wait to decorate her home, or maybe she’s super-excited about her honeymoon. List everything that you can think of that helps describe the bride. Once you have the list in hand, use these Bridal Shower Theme Ideas to help you plan the perfect get-together for the bride-to-be.

Garden Shower

Is the bride-to-be an avid gardener? Then why not hold a garden party! Gifts for the bride and groom might include a variety of plants or gardening tools. Not sure what to buy? Gift cards from a local nursery would be great. How about having a tree planted in the couple’s yard or a pot, if they don’t have a home yet. Favors could include seed packets, fresh flowers, or garden tools.

Tea Party Shower

A tea party is a timeless theme. Serve tea along with finger foods, and for a bit of fun, have each guest wear a fancy hat and gloves. This type of shower is less involved than a dinner party, and the theme would be perfect for a mid-afternoon celebration. Bridal gifts might include dinnerware, glasses, place settings, teas, etc. Favors could include a small teapot or teacup with a small assortment of tea.

Honeymoon Shower

Whether it’s an exotic beach location, a camping trip or a different locale, a honeymoon shower should celebrate the couple’s honeymoon destination. Gifts should follow the theme, so let guests know what the couple’s needs are for travel. Luggage would be a great gift for this type of shower, as well as gift cards for the bride’s favorite boutiques. Excellent shower favors would be beach towels, if the location is beach-themed or candles or lanterns, if a camping trip is in order. The favor should be relevant to the theme and may be used as part of the shower décor.

Pajama Party Shower

Want a girl’s night in? Have a pajama party…complete with P.J.s! Everyone should arrive in their cutest pajamas and bring gifts to pamper the bride. Activities might include manicures, pedicures, facials and massages. Fun party favors for the girls might be personalized gifts such as spa slippers, toiletry bags or cosmetic cases.

Scrapbooking Shower

Have your guests get creative, by bringing photos, recipes and other memorabilia of their friendship with the bride. Provide each guest with a blank page or two of the scrapbook to decorate as they wish. The bride will end up with a great book of memories! Party favors could include monogrammed photo albums or picture frames.

Photo invitations are a great way to announce your wedding and are a great keepsake for your invitees.

As stated in Part 1 of  “Bridal Shower Theme Ideas,” a bridal shower should celebrate…and accentuate…the bride’s personality.  As the party planner, in order to come up with a great theme, make a list of all of the bride’s “loves.” Maybe she loves wine, maybe she loves the color red, maybe she’s a homebody and can’t wait to decorate her home, or maybe she’s super-excited about her honeymoon. List everything that you can think of that helps describe the bride. Once you have the list in hand, use these Bridal Shower Theme Ideas to help you plan the perfect get-together for the bride-to-be.

Couples Patio Shower

If you’re getting couples together, host an outdoor patio shower! Fire up the barbecue, entertain outside, and have guests bring a gift for the couple’s patio. Super party favors for your guests might include a bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce and a monogrammed chef’s apron and mitt.

Couples Home Improvement Shower

This shower is great for the do-it-yourself couple! Even the man-of-the-house will appreciate the gifts when guests give you tools and supplies to fix up your home or apartment. If you don’t know exactly what the bride and groom need, request gift cards to their favorite stores. A nice take-home gift for your guests would be an engraved tape measure, so that you’ll guest will think of you whenever they use it.

Bed & Breakfast Shower

Host this shower in the morning and serve a breakfast buffet. Have your guests bring gifts for the bedroom and kitchen. Linens, bath luxuries, candles, kitchen utensils, condiments and gourmet foods would make great gifts for the bride and her man. Guests could be given candles, linen sprays and bath salts for their own romantic bedtimes.

Kitchen Shower

Gather up all of the bride and groom’s friends and family and have them give them their favorite recipes and a gift for their kitchen. Have the guests’ recipe “match” the type of gift they’re bringing. If they bring a recipe for a cake, cake pans are in order. If the recipe were for soup, a stockpot would be the perfect gift. A great present for your guests would be recipe cards with their name on them, so as they pass a recipe along, the recipient will remember where it came from.

Christmas Shower

If the bride and groom are having a winter wedding, why not have a Christmas shower? Ask your guests to bring Christmas ornaments for your first tree and other holiday decorations that have meaning to them. You might reciprocate by giving guests their own Christmas ornaments with your wedding information on them.

Room to Room Shower

The newlyweds are gonna need help with every room in their home or apartment, so why limit the gift list to the bedroom or kitchen? Assign guests a specific room of the house or yard. Each guest should bring a gift for their specific room. A nice gift for your guests might be a nice 5” x 7” picture frame.

Stock the Pantry Shower

Similar to the kitchen party, the pantry shower will get the bride and groom ready to get things cooking! Have your guests bring a recipe and all the dry ingredients needed to make it. With cooking made this easy, the bride and her man will be off to a great start. A great gift for your guests? Again, the recipe cards with their name on them…or your wedding info…would be a great idea!

Next week, we’ll give you even more bridal shower ideas in Part 3 of “Bridal Shower Theme Ideas.”

Plan ahead by ordering your Rehearsal Dinner Invitations from Best Little Wedding Shop!

Lisa Bakewell

A bridal shower should celebrate…and accentuate…the bride’s personality. As the party planner, in order to come up with a great theme, make a list of all of the bride’s “loves.” Maybe she loves wine, maybe she loves the color red, maybe she’s a homebody and can’t wait to decorate her home, or maybe she’s super-excited about her honeymoon. List everything that you can think of that helps describe the bride. Once you have the list in hand, use these Bridal Shower Theme Ideas to help you plan the perfect get-together for the bride-to-be.

Wine and Cheese Tasting Shower

If the bride loves wine, arrange an afternoon or evening of wine tasting. This shower can be held at the bride’s favorite winery or someone’s house. Include different kinds of wine and  add cheese for guests to sample. Shower gifts might include wine, wine glasses or other wine-themed gifts. Guests can take home their wine glass charm as a party favor.

Makeover Shower

Inviting a small group of friends to the shower? How about doing makeovers? You can either invite a makeup consultant to do the makeovers, such as a  Mary Kay or Avon representative, or you can have a do-it-yourself party. Gifts for the bride might include lovely lotions, nail polishes, facial creams and body washes. Guests might go home with a small mani/pedi kit.

Naughty & Nice Shower

If the bride is all about fun and games, you might hold this type of shower. Each guest should bring one naughty gift for the bride’s honeymoon, and one nice (normal) bridal shower gift. All of the naughty gifts can be collected and placed in a satin pillowcase for use on the couple’s honeymoon night. As party favors, you might fill another satin pillowcase with some naughty and some nice small gifts, and have each of the guests reach in to pick one. Could be great fun!

Stock the Bar Shower

Ask guests to bring their favorite alcoholic beverages and/or mixers to help the bride stock her bar. For a stress-free, mess-free time, consider holding this shower at the bride’s favorite bar or restaurant. For party favors, guests might receive cocktail shakers, monogrammed cocktail glasses or wine glasses.

Lingerie Shower

The groom will love you for this one! If the bride and her guests aren’t shy, why not plan a lingerie party? You can set the mood with candles, cocktails and chocolates, and ask each of the guests to bring a gift of lingerie for the bride. A great guest party favor might be a scented sachet, scented candles or a fabulous linen spray.

Save the Date Wedding Magnets are a great way to keep your wedding date in plain view for your guests!

Lisa Bakewell

Looking for a great way to relieve the stress and tension of wedding planning? Why not consider including one of these classic wedding movies as part of the wedding preparations?

27 Dresses (2008)
After serving as a bridesmaid…27 times…Jane (Katherine Heigl) struggles with the idea of standing by her sister’s side (and planning her sister’s wedding) as she marries the man that Jane secretly loves.

Father of the Bride (1991)

Steve Martin and Diane Keaton star in this romantic comedy about a dad’s struggle to let his “little girl” grow up.

Fools Rush In (1997)
A Las Vegas chance meeting with an American construction worker (Matthew Perry) leaves a Mexican photographer (Salma Hayek) pregnant. They meet again three months later, and Isabel Fuentes lets Alex Whitman know that she is going to have his baby. In the rush of the moment, he follows her and they wed. A clash of customs and ideas soon follows.

Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
Hugh Grant and Andie Macdowell star in this romantic comedy. Charles, a confirmed British bachelor, unexpectedly meets the perfect woman, Carrie, at a wedding and falls in love. His inability to express his feelings, though, prohibits the relationship from blossoming…until they meet again and again at four weddings and a funeral.

My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997)
Julianne (Julia Roberts) falls in love with her best friend (Dermot Mulroney) the day that he decides to maryy someone else (Cameron Diaz).

My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
Based on the real life experiences of Nia Vardalos, a Greek Winnipeg-based actress, this romantic comedy was originally a one-woman play.  In this romantic comedy, a young Greek woman (Nia Vardalos) falls in love with a non-Greek and struggles to get her family to accept him while she comes to terms with her heritage and cultural identity.

Runaway Bride (1999)
Julia Roberts stars in this romantic comedy about weddings that don’t happen. Her character is so afraid of commitment, she keeps leaving her grooms at the altar…until Ike Graham (Richard Gere) arrives on the scene.

The Wedding Planner (2001)
Jennifer Lopez plays a very successful wedding planner who falls in love with the fiancé (Matthew McConaughey) of her client…breaking her biggest rule.

The Wedding Singer (1998)
Robbie (Adam Sandler), a wedding singer, and Julia (Drew Barrymore), a waitress, are both engaged to be married…but to the wrong people. Romantic good fortune intervenes to help them discover each other.

While you’re watching a chick-flick or two with your wedding party BFF’s, why not fill out your Save the Dates from Best Little Wedding Shop?

Lisa Bakewell

Photo Credit: aus_chick

Looking to shave your wedding budget? Then look no further than your guest list. Trimming the fat here can save you hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars! Use these tips to keep the dough from flying out of your wallet.

Can’t decide? Then don’t! It’s that easy. Sure, you may feel like the bad girl if you don’t invite certain friends and family, but if you have doubts, face it…the person doesn’t mean that much to you.

Use the rule of  “thirds.” Split your guest list three ways…A third of your guests should be from your family, a third from his and a third should be friends that you and your guy want to invite. If your family…or his…wants to invite more than their third of the guests, ask them to pay.

Invite them all or none at all. If you and your man aren’t going to invite all of your co-workers, don’t invite any of them…especially if your workplaces are small. If you do decide to invite your co-workers, though, make sure the boss is invited, as well.

Invite them to both events. If you invite a guest to your wedding, you MUST invite them to the reception. You’ll look cheap…and like you’re hunting for gifts…if you try to invite guests to the wedding only and not the reception.

Make your wedding a no-kid zone. This might not be possible for immediate family, but friends and extended family should understand. The kiddies won’t be drinking your alcohol, but they’ll still need to eat. And don’t they tend to waste the food anyway? Keep your wedding kid-free, where possible.

Haven’t seen someone for years? Might want to leave them off the list. Unless it’s a “must invite” family member, you may look like you’re “gift shopping” if you reach out to someone you haven’t seen in a long time.

Will they actually travel to your wedding? It might be as easy as making the call. If your friend or a family member lives a considerable distance from where your wedding will be held, ask them if they’ll be able to attend. If not, take them off your list and just send an announcement once you and your man have wed.

Weddings aren’t a reciprocal event. Just because someone invited you to his or her wedding, doesn’t mean that you have to return the favor.

Leave off plus-ones. This might be tricky, but if you really need to shave serious money off of your budget, you may consider leaving off “and guest” on your wedding invitations. Sure, you might feel that this is a little tacky, but could save you a bundle. Plus, who knows? Maybe a couple of your “single” guests may hook up and have a really great time.

A couple of caveats:

• Be sure to consult with your parents before cutting people associated with them. Some of your parents’ friends may be offended if they’re not invited, and this may put a strain on their relationship. If you’re not sure…ask!
• Limiting dates may help lower your wedding expenses, but be sensitive when it comes to spouses, life partners or long-term relationships. These guests should always be allowed a “plus-one” invite.

To shave even more money off your wedding budget, order Discount Wedding Invitations from Best Little Wedding Shop!

Lisa Bakewell