Wedding Planning: Out of Town Guests

Greet your out of town wedding guests with a welcome bag or basket filled with goodies to thank them for joining you and your fiancé for your wedding day…however far they travelled!

If your guest list is filled with out of towners, make sure to reserve a room block for your guests at a local hotel close to your wedding venue or downtown (close to all the tourist attractions) and be sure to include this information on your wedding invitation or website. When guests check into their room, surprise them with a thoughtful care package or have the front desk hand them out to each guest as they check-in.
*Make sure to check with the hotel beforehand and make these arrangement, some hotels charge a fee for deliveries to each room.*

Photo credit: www.canadiandesignresource.ca

What to include:

–        Thank you Note: A hand written note thanking them for coming – how about a postcard of the city!

–        Maps: a map of the city with tourist attractions & the subway system

–        Emergency contact information: Assign someone from your family or bridal party to be “on-call” for any emergency questions or help

–        Wedding itinerary: Include information for the wedding day (ceremony time & location) and any other pre-wedding event they are a part of like the wedding rehearsal dinner, brunch, etc.

–        Food: Include a fruit or snack and a local delicacy or treat (especially if guests are coming from outside of Canada)

–        Drink: Include a bottle of water or maybe some local wine

–        Bag or basket: you will need something to hold all these goodies! A canvas or paper bag or basket works best. Include your wedding colours, wedding date or monogram!

This is a great time to use your wedding colours and theme to get your guests ready for the fabulous wedding to come!

Signature Cocktail: Chica Punch

Hosting a Bachelorette Party soon? Try this delicious punch recipe that is sure to be a crowd pleaser. Its my go to recipe…but be careful, its very easy to drink!

2 cups brandy
1 cup sugar
strawberries, hulled & quartered
1 bottle chilled champagne or sparkling wine
1 bottle chilled white wine
1 litre chilled club soda

Whisk the brandy and sugar together in a bowl. Add the strawberries, and macerate the strawberries in the fridge overnight.

When its time to serve the punch, transfer the strawberries and liquid to a large punch bowl or pitcher. Add the Champagne, wine, and club soda.

Recipe courtesy of Ingrid Hoffman’s Simply Delicioso Cookbook

Planning: You’re Engaged!…What’s Next?

Photo credit: Jean Tsai

He proposed last night and you are too excited to sleep…You’re engaged! What’s next?

1. Enjoy it! Some brides want to get started on the wedding planning right away but why not enjoy this stage and let it sink in. Enjoy the moment!
2. Call and/or email your family and close friends before making the big announcement on Facebook/Twitter. You don’t want anyone important to get their feelings hurt. Ask your parents to help spread the word to your family.
3. Start collecting all your wedding ideas in one place. Buy wedding magazines, visit wedding blogs, start a Pinterest board (if you don’t already have one!).
4. Create a guest list. Who will you invite? Ask both sets of parents for their lists.
5. Set a Budget. How much do you want to invest in your wedding? Who is paying for what?
6. Get a manicure! 😉

Planning: Writing your Wedding Speech

Once everything is planned and all the RSVPs are returned, an essential final detail most couples put off until the last minute is their wedding speech. To help with the writer’s block, here are some pointers when you eventually sit down and jot down your thoughts:

Photo credit: Renaissance Studios

Here are some pointers:

1. Start by thanking everyone for joining in the celebration of your big day, especially friends and family who’ve traveled from far to attend.

2. Continue by thanking people who’ve supported you with all the wedding preparations. The Groom should thank his Best Man & Groomsmen, and the Bride should thank her Maid of Honour & Bridesmaids.

3. Include some special words about your parents, not just to thank them for their role in the wedding preparations, but describe your relationship with them over the years.

4. Include a special word about your new in-laws; thank them for welcoming you into the family.

5. Briefly talk about how you met your wife/husband; your first impressions; things you like and didn’t like about him/her; how the relationship developed over the months/years; your thoughts on love and marriage. Turn to your wife/husband and give her/him a personal message.

Keep it simple and from the heart and don’t keep it to the last minute!

Planning: How to Ask Your Bridesmaids!

More and more brides are finding creative and fun ways to ask their (best/closest) friends to join them at the altar. You are not only asking her to stand by your side on the wedding day but you are also asking her to stand by your side throughout the entire engagement/planning. A couple years ago, my friend asked me to be a bridesmaid with a lovely card and homemade cookies. If you are crafty, this is your time to get the glue gun out and get creative!

Photo credit: Mango Studios

Here are some tips to popping the question:

• Start with a card with a personal note: There are so many ideas online, I found many different cards with cute sayings like “I’ve got the guy but I need my girls” or “Can’t say I Do without you!” or “Now it’s my turn to pop the question, will you be my bridesmaid?” Tell her why you’ve chosen her 🙂
• Get them ready for the day: Make a “Bridesmaid Survival Kit” include their role/responsibilities
  pre-wedding and wedding day, remind them of important dates/events to keep in
  mind, include photos of dress ideas you may have (with colour swatches), don’t
  forget important numbers and email addresses so they can all keep in touch (in
  case they don’t already know each other).Try this from Wedding Chicks – a “Will you be my bridesmaid?” box
• Gift them a keepsake or token of gratitude: This can be something small and shouldn’t compete with the bridesmaid’s gift. How about some nail polish in your wedding colours, a canvas shopping bag that says “Bridesmaid” or “Maid of Honour” or something sweet like cookies, cupcakes or your favourite treat in your wedding colours.

If you find yourself lost or looking for endless ideas try Etsy, Lover.ly or Pinterest!

Little Details: Place cards & Favours

When it comes to wedding favours, you can gift your guests with something edible (cupcakes, chocolates, popcorn, candy), something you hope they will use again (candle, picture frame, key chain, wine opener) or make a donation to a cause near & dear to you.

Most couples opt for place cards to show guests to their seats for the reception. They are usually tent cards with the guest’s name and table number.

Why not combine the two?

Here’s a little detail we LOVE from a past wedding. Amanda and Gary combined their place cards with their wedding favours. They had a photo booth set up throughout the night which printed photos for their guests to take home. The favour was a magnetic frame for those photos.

A great little detail!

Little Details: Bathroom Basket

Thanks to websites like Pinterest, Etsy & Loverly, weddings are getting more and more creative, crafty and full of some great little details. You don’t need to spend all your free time crafting or on DIY projects before your big day. I’m sure you have other things to do weeks/months before! Adding some personal touches to your wedding décor hardly goes unnoticed.

Here is my favourite detail from a past wedding (Thanks A+R!) where you can take a simple idea, like a bathroom basket filled with the essentials (bobby pins, mints/gum, floss & hairspray), and spruce it up in a beautiful container to make it look “fancy”.

Use something you can reuse again at home. You can use hat boxes, beautiful baskets and even cake plates to display these essential items your guests might need.

Get creative!

Signature Cocktail: Sidecar

June’s signature cocktail is the Sidecar! Who doesn’t want to serve a special cocktail on their wedding day (or next dinner party)?

SIDECAR

MarthaStewart.com

Ingredients (serves 2)

sugar for glasses
Juice of 4 limes, plus 2 wedges for glasses and twists for garnish
1/2 cup brandy
3 tablespoons Cointreau
Ice cubes

1. Moisten the rim of a martini glass using a lime wedge. Dip rim in sugar and set aside.

2. In a cocktail shaker, add brandy, Cointreau, and lime juice. Fill with ice cubes, and shake well. Strain into prepared glasses, and serve with a lime twist.

**Recipe adapted from MarthaStewart.com**

Planning: Five Ways to Slim Down Your Wedding Budget

Photo Credit: Lisa Mark Photography

Are you having trouble staying within your wedding budget? Here are five tips to consider when planning your big day:

1. Guest List
The guest list affects all of the major wedding elements: venue size, number of tables, number of centerpieces and rental items needed (like chairs, specialty linen, charger plates, etc.). The fewer guests you have, the less you spend overall.

2. Get Inside
Forget about a backyard wedding! You are essentially building your own venue and it can cost double than going to an inclusive venue. By hosting a “tented wedding”, you will need to rent every table, plate, fork/knife/spoon, glass and what about the cost for a back-up weather plan?

3. DIY Projects
Recreating something you see on Pinterest might sound like a great idea at first…but they can be expensive and time consuming. Sourcing all the right materials for each project and finding the time to put it all together months or weeks before your wedding might cause more stress than rewards. Decide how important those elements are to your overall wedding style before you add more work onto your plate!

4. Favours
Don’t sweat the small stuff. Focus on items that guests care about. There’s no need to break the bank on items like favours because if they aren’t useful or edible, your guests are going to leave them behind.

5. Wedding Vendors
Avoid paying twice! We always panic when a bride tells us that “her friend/sister/aunt/cousin is making the wedding cake”. You don’t want your wedding cake to arrive in pieces because it wasn’t transported properly. Hire a professional, pay once to get it right the first time.

hello!

Photo Credit: atfirstblush.onsugar.com

We’ve finally joined the blogging world! Check back often for tips, tricks ideas, trends and wedding everything! Feel free to chat with us by leaving a comment or two on our posts.

Hope you are enjoying your week. Happy Wedding Wednesday!

See you soon 🙂