No, your toast does not have to include Champagne

Big Tips: Ever been to a wedding and looked around after the champagne toast? What do you see? Yep. A bunch of still full champagne glasses. If your guest list isn't full of Champagne drinkers, consider an alternate drink. At one of our mini weddings this summer we served Sanibel Sunsets and they were a huge hit.
Photo by Julie Goodacre

A couple more ideas:
Tequila. The presentation on this can be amazing with salt and lemon, and the pictures even better!
Amaretto. Yum. Just yum.
Ice cold Vodka. As long as its good Vodka, and very cold, its great served in a super mini martini glass.

Didn't hit your minimum?

Most venues require that you spend a minimum amount of Food & beverage in order to retain your function space. What happens if you book the space thinking that for sure you're going to have 80 guests and then when all the RSVP's come back you only have 72? Hopefully you've set up your RSVP's to come back early enough that you can still decrease your guest count without a penalty (read the fine print!). So let's say your price per person is $160, and that price includes 4 passed items and a 3 course dinner. Suddenly, you have $1280 that you have to pay to the venue, no matter what. Well, rather than lose it- spend it! Add something extravagant that you only didn't order because of the additional cost. How about a sushi bar? Maybe a fresh donut station? Ooooh- a lobster tail to each plate? How about making that 3 course 4, add an intermezzo of sorbet, a champagne toast served to each guest with a strawberry, Dark and White Chocolate fountains...oh the possibilities!

Subject: Random Question #2516

Client:

Toasts for RD and Reception…
I’ve read it’s tradition for the groom’s parents to toast the bride’s parents at the RD, and for the bride’s parents to toast the groom’s parents at the reception…. Is that true?

Me:

Oh my gosh, you are so hilarious. I just realized you're numbering the questions. THAT is so funny.
There's tradition, and then there is what really happens. Tradition, yep- just what you said. What really happens...depends on the style and formality of the wedding and the kinds of guests you have. Here is what I will say for sure. Get as many of the toasts out of the way at the Rehearsal dinner. Ask everyone you think will want to say something, if they plan on saying something- before the weekend comes. Then ask them to do it at the event that you feel is most appropriate. This way you'll probably have more time to party/dance at the Wedding. Toasts and speeches on wedding night, on top of the other traditions (cake cutting, parent dances, bouquet toss, pictures, etc.) really cut into the time you actually get to just let loose and have a good time.

The new wedding toast drink: TEQUILA!

Move over champagne, here comes something newer. Yep. It's new and very cool. I love the idea. This new celebration toast is a toast that the bride and groom give to their guests to say "We're so glad you came to celebrate with us- let's have a blast!" Its a great surprise for your guests, and really gets conversation going, and for sure will produce awesome photos.
What I recommend:
*Use a really good tequila, like Patron.
*Serve it in mini shot glasses with a lemon slice and salt on the side. A full sized shot is not necessary.
*Do the toast right after your 1st dance, before dinner. That way you have everyones attention and they'll be eating right away.
*Have the servers take the shot glasses and used slices away as they drop the salad course.

If I see this happen one more time I'll scream

I just got back from a wedding. I was not the wedding planner. Apparently, nobody was. I have 2 things to say and then I promise I won't bring it up again.

ONE: Mothers of the brides should not have to work at their daughters weddings. Tonight I saw this poor woman doing everything. Including controlling the drunk Maid of honor, the brides sister. She also was responsible for lining up the wedding party (3 times), releasing the tables (are you kidding me?), and moving ceremony flowers to the reception. I'm sure she was also responsible for packing up the car with the 40 boxed gifts at the end of the night.

TWO: If you aren't going to do anything else, give your DJ a timeline that says when you want everything done by. You should not have 1/2 your wedding guests already gone by the time you do your best mans toast. And another 1/4 gone before you have your cake cut. I am not kidding- only 10% of the wedding guests were left for the cake cutting tonight, and the couple had to fork over another few hundred dollars to keep the photographer an extra hour because everything ran so late.

Crying at and about a wedding

I cry at every wedding. Seriously, every single one. And its always at the same times:
When I see my bride in her dress.
When I see the look on the grooms face when he sees his bride the 1st time.
The 1st dance.
The father of the brides toast (and sometimes the dance too).
When I have to say goodbye.

Saying goodbye is the worst though. I can't tell you how many times I have sat and outright sobbed with a bride. I do get attached to my clients. Usually we've been working together for nearly a year or longer on the most important day of her life! How could I not get attached?
So yeah, I get pretty excited when the photographer releases the pictures. And I can't wait to share them with everyone and hang my favorite in my office. And I just love when they get video and the videographer sends me a copy. I get such a kick out of watching everyone so happy. I pop popcorn, call in my girls, and we watch together. Emily (she's 4) doesn't understand why I cry when I watch the wedding dvd's. But she does love to dance along with the reception highlights. Madeline (she's 8), she cries with me. I guess we're both romantics.

Weddings are so great.

Say No to the ipod Wedding

Okay, I tried to just bite my tongue and I can't anymore. I realize its all the rage as far as the wedding magazines are saying- but have you been to a wedding reception with a "virtual dj"? Let me tell you, it virtually DOESN'T WORK. Here's the problem; or shall I say the short list of problems:
1. Nobodys reading the crowd. A pro dj can tell what kinds of songs your wedding guests are in the mood for. If they all rush the floor when Prince comes on, he knows what other songs will keep them on the floor instead of rushing off. Because we all know- that is the worst thing that can happen, an empty dancefloor. Your ipod (or laptop) doesn't know that Jack Johnson would be perfect right now because all your college friends are on the dancefloor- a pro DJ would.
2. Technical difficulties Someone tripped over the cords and now there's no music. Hmmmm. Who's going to fix that? Your cousin Simon is suppsed to be in charge of the music, but he's in the bathroom, I mean at the bar, or is he eating his dinner? Where is cousin Simon? Wait, these plugs came out, what goes where? Uh-oh, nobody knows, because the guy who set it up isn't there. How about that.
3. It isn't a cost savings. That's right, you aren't going to save anything worth raving about. To rent the equipment, have it delivered, set up, and returned is going to cost almost as much as a pro dj. And honestly, it's a huge pain in the you know what. If you really want to cut costs, let's talk about cake and bar options.
4. Announcements. Well, you certainly can ask a good friend or family member to be the person responsible for making announcements, it's not that much to ask, right? Wrong. That person is on call the entire reception. Every time something needs to be announced, I (or your wedding planner) have to go tap this person on the shoulder, interrupt their conversation, and ask them to come to the microphone. It's just not nice, they are a guest, not an employee! Unless of course you aren't going to have an entrance, a 1st dance, a toast, tradtional parent dances, a cake cutting, a bouquet toss...

Look, chances are that you have been to a wedding where there was a really bad, corny, YMCA playing, is-this-guy-drunk DJ. They aren't all like this. I can't stand those DJ's any more than you can. Your wedding planner will steer you in the direction of a quality DJ. It really is safe. You can even make a list of songs you absolutely want played, what is not to be played, and what is and isn't to be said or announced.

Here's a great note I found from a recent DJ: "Are you looking for a Disc Jockey or an Entertainer?
When looking for your entertainment, an important aspect to consider is whether you're looking for a Disk Jockey or an Entertainer. The biggest difference is that a Disc Jockey offers very little or no interactive entertainment. A Disc Jockey will play music-nothing more, nothing less. In comparison, Entertainers are fun, creative, energetic and get your guests involved."

P.S. Can I tell you how addicted I am to the Jack Johnson cd I got for Christmas? LOVE it.

Holiday Surprises!

This has been such a great holiday season. I have to tell you about my Christmas because it ROCKED! Christmas morning we woke up to one of my wedding day 2-way radios, "Mom we're awake. Can we come out?" Explanation: last year our kids got up and saw all the stuff Santa brought and we didn't get to see the looks on their faces. So this year, before they went to bed, we gave them a radio. We told them to radio us when they woke up and we'd come get them- not to leave the room! Needless to say, it was hilarious. Even at 7am.
So at Christmas dinner at my sister-n-laws house, she announced she was finally having a baby! It was just the greatest thing to hear. I cried of course. All of my clients who are newlyweds know that I am forever crying- totally water works factory. I honestly didn't think it could get better. I was wrong.
After dinner, we went to our best friends house for a Christmas party. I'm telling everyone the great news about my sister, and one of our closest friends says, "Guess what! I'm pregnant too!" I screamed, and started crying again. They're due just 2 weeks apart. Great night huh? Believe it or not, that wasn't the end of it.
An hour later, my best friend makes a toast to the pregnant friend, and at the end of the toast says, "And I have one more surprise. Follow me out to the dock." We get outside, and our other set of friends (who I set up exactly 2 years ago this week), is on the boat with Reverend Chris. It was a surprise wedding. I immediately broke into tears- again. Actually, by this point I'm completely sobbing.
Ok, so maybe I was a little sad about not getting to plan even a little bit of the wedding. But getting to watch as a guest was priceless.
Happy holidays everyone, and I hope yours are as special as mine.