Posted by Patti Wellington on Tue, Feb 09, 2010 @ 05:01 PM
The average wedding reception – featuring passed hors d’oeuvres, a three course dinner, dessert and open bar – can run anywhere from $100 and up per person, depending on where you live, the time of day or year, and the type of food you choose to serve. Significant sums of money can be saved by holding the wedding reception during the day rather than in the evening, or at a less busy time of year.
When planning the wedding dinner, use your caterer as an ally. Together, go over each aspect of the reception – food, drink, and rentals, wedding cake – and determine how important each is to you and where you’d like to concentrate your money. To keep costs under control, consider a lower priced chicken or fish main course; save more pricey beef and lobster dishes for hors d’oeuvers.
How the wedding dinner is served will also affect the price - waiter service, surprisingly, is often similar in cost to a buffet. French service, in which guests are served from a platter at the table, requires more staff and is therefore more expensive. You can also do without the desert course and simply serve the wedding cake with some fruit to end the meal. Liquor will be billed either by what the guests drink (consumption per bottle or per drink) or by a set price that’s usually factored into the food costs.
A caterer will usually provide - and charge extra for - things such as cake-cutting service and bartenders; ask ahead of time and get quotes for each and include them in your wedding budget/estimate. It may be less expensive to let the caterer or reception hall handle everything.
Always ask exactly what is covered in the catering package and about extra charges, including tipping waiters and bartenders. Doing all these things will allow you to figure out ahead of time what the best course to take with your wedding reception, with no surprises at the end.
Posted by Patti Wellington on Tue, Dec 29, 2009 @ 10:44 AM
Congratulations on your engagement!
Here is the second in a three-part series that will provide the newly engaged wedding couple with some tips on getting the wedding planning off to a good start.
It’s now time for some shameless self-promotion – this is the moment when I highly recommend hiring a professional to assist you with your wedding planning (after figuring out how much money you have to spend). And here are some really great reasons why you should invest in a wedding planner to help with your wedding:
- Save time – Planning a wedding takes enormous amount of time; it takes the average couple over 200 hours to plan their wedding. Hiring a wedding coordinator will save you time (and energy) not only by researching and interviewing vendors but also by taking care of the many, many details and coming up with imaginative ideas to make your wedding unique and wonderful experience.
- Save money – You’ll soon find out that weddings are tremendously expensive. According to Wedding Bells magazine, the average cost of a wedding in 2009 was $19,274. Hiring a wedding planner can save a great deal of money - since wedding planners provide so much business to vendors, they are often able to negotiate discounts, passing them on to their clients. Wedding planners are great at setting budgets and sticking to them. Their vast experience will also stop you from making costly mistakes.
- Family Referee - Weddings are a very stressful time and can cause arguments between couples (and family and friends). A wedding planner can be proactive and provide advice to avoid problems before they happen; even if problems do come up, they are able to mediate disagreements. Your wedding planner can also lend a “shoulder to cry on” to support you during the hectic days.
- Experience - wedding planners have coordinated countless weddings and know exactly what works and what doesn’t. They'll act as the “go to person.” A wedding can have up to 22 different vendors - add in the wedding party and all of the wedding guests and that is a lot of people pulling on the bride! When you hire a wedding coordinator, you can simply tell others to “talk to the wedding planner!” This minimizes your stress and maximizes your fun. A wedding planner ensures that you will have a worry-free and stress-free wedding, allowing you to enjoy your day like your guests!
If you want to talk more about your plans and how I can help, e-mail me or give me a call and I'll be happy to discuss anything about your wedding with you - weddings@occasionsniagara.com
Posted by Patti Wellington on Sun, Dec 27, 2009 @ 06:08 PM
It's true, wedding day photography is expensive - often very expensive. Most DIY brides will say "Why do I have to pay a wedding photographer $2000 to $3000 for wedding day coverage?"
Lots of couples receive the following DIY solutions from their friends and family. "Just get the table cameras, have them developed after the honeymoon." Have a friend or relative that takes good pictures do your wedding photos." "Hire a photography student."
Let's discuss a few of these options - when it comes to the table cameras, something to think about is that it will cost you a small fortune to develop all of your pictures that way, and most (if not all) won't even be useable. Let's also consider that taking pictures in dimly lit areas don't come up well anyways, let alone with cheap film cameras!
You could luck out with a photography student - it may be someone with some wonderful talent or it could be a diaster. The student really needs to understand how the wedding day flows and their lack of experience could cause them to miss some very important moments of the day, moments you will cherish and would be lost forever.
And here is my perspective on having a friend or relative shoot your wedding:
Wedding vendors are hired to perform a specific job and guests are supposed to enjoy themselves. Don't mix the two! How would that friend be able to enjoy themselves if they have to get up every so often to take photos. Are you going to ask the friend or relative not to have any alchol during the event so that your photos don't turn our blurry? Ask them not to dance because they have to capture you and the groom mingling and dancing with guests. Let guests be guests and professionals be professionals.
90% of brides polled one year after the wedding wish they would have spent more on photography - that's the #1 regret. I realize it's hard to hand over a large amount of money for your wedding day photography because you start to consider all of the other things you could do with those funds. Remember you can never recreate or recapture that moment - so you really need someone professional to do that for you.
Please keep in mind that your wedding pictures are the only tangible thing you will have left of your wedding when all is said and done. A good photographer will bring out the best in you, make you look beautiful and keep those memories alive for generations. A professional photographer will capture not only what everything looked like, but the spirit of the day, the emotion of the moment and the love story behind the scenes.
Do you have any questions or want more information about wedding planning? E-mail them to me and I'll contact you with an answer. Who knows, I might even write an article on it and post it in my blog. weddings@occasionsniagara.com
Posted by Patti Wellington on Sun, Dec 27, 2009 @ 11:27 AM
One of the more popular wedding brands over the last few years has been Jimmy Choo - brides long for them as part of their wedding attire. The problem is the will the budget (and the groom) agree with the price.
The fashion world was in a tizzy early November over the marriage between fashion mogul Jimmy Choo and the popular H& M clothing chain.
What makes the Jimmy Choo & H&M wedding so different? The designer collection has been created around accessories rather than clothing. It will feature 15 to 20 unique shoe styles but will also include a variety of party attire, which have been designed to complement the Jimmy Choo accessories line.
The collection includes heels, flats and over-the-knee boots, plus suede and leather dresses, jackets, leggings, studded bags and animal-print clutches. The men's line is built around slim jackets, boots, cashmere sweaters and casual pants. Prices start at $29.95 for accessories and $59.95 for clothing.
The best part of these nuptials is that more brides can now afford their Jimmy's, without destroying the wedding budget; who knows, you could even see the whole wedding party in Choo's shoes.
Now that's a feet any woman would love!!
The Jimmy Choo collection will be sold at four outlets in Canada - flagship locations in Vancouver and Montreal, and two stores in downtown Toronto.
Do you have any questions or want more information about wedding planning? E-mail them to me and I'll contact you with an answer. Who knows, I might even write an article on it and post it in my blog. weddings@occasionsniagara.com
Posted by Patti Wellington on Sun, Dec 27, 2009 @ 11:06 AM
When it comes to wedding planning, everyone is on a budget. I've put together my top ten cost saving tips for you to consider for this upcoming wedding season:
1. Hire a Wedding Planner. They have access to all the local wedding service providers and bring volume to companies - therefore they have more buying power. A Wedding Planner will save you time and money and help avoid making a costly mistake. They are worth their weight in gold!
2. Choose to host your wedding during the off-season (November to April).I'd also suggest selecting a Friday or Sunday for your wedding.
3. Invite only your nearest and dearest to the wedding.
4. Use flowers that are in season to reduce costs
5. Hire a DJ instead of a live band
6. Get your wedding photographer's basic package and stay away from reception coverage. The reception photo's never make the final album anyways.
7. Limit alcohol; serve only wine, beer and a variety of non-alcoholic options.
8. Schedule your ceremony for late morning and then offer a lunch for a reception.
9. Instead of renting a limo for the big day, rent some fancy cars (Lincoln Navigator's) from Enterprise, Hertz or Avis. This will save you a bundle.
10. Make your own invitations. They have a variety of programs on line or you can purchase some really great paper and accessories from some local print shops.
By following through with these suggests, you'll have a lot of money left over for other things... like splurging on a better honeymoon destination or to purchase a few more new things for the house you'll soon be sharing.
Do you have any questions or want more information about wedding planning? E-mail them to me and I'll contact you with an answer. Who knows, I might even write an article on it and post it in my blog. weddings@occasionsniagara.com