ALCOHOL BAR – HOW MUCH TO SERVE AND WHAT TYPES OF BARS

If you are setting up your own bar for your wedding reception or are just confused on the different types of bar options there are, here are some tips and descriptions to help you.

Listed below are averages for 100 guests for about a four-five hour reception:

Beer: 2 cases
Whiskey: 1-2 liters
Bourbon: 1-2 liters
Gin: 2 liters
Scotch: 3 liters
Light rum: 2 liters
Vodka: 6 liters
Tequila: 1 liter
Champagne: 1 1/2 cases
Red wine: 8 bottles
White wine: 1 1/2 cases
Dry vermouth: 2 bottles
Sweet vermouth: 2 bottles

CHAMPAGNE NOTES

• For toasts, one bottle will serve six to eight guests
• Deep, narrow glasses (flutes, tulips) retain the bubbles longer than saucers, which allow the champagne to go flat more quickly
• The best champagnes and sparkling wines have tiny bubbles that rise in a steady stream from the bottom of the glass
• A magnum is 1.5 liters, or two regular bottles
• A jeroboam is three liters, or four regular bottles

THE OPEN BAR
This is the most courteous option, but will be the most expensive option.  Guests should never pay for anything to attend and enjoy your wedding and reception.  With this bar, guests can order any drink, but you will be paying at the end.  Since this type of bar is usually unlimited, guests may drink like there's no tomorrow. 

THE LIMITED BAR
This is probably the more popular option.  You may offer only beer and wine and possibly a small selection of specific drinks.  You can also set a specific amount of time the bar is open - maybe for the cocktail hour, throughout dinner and then close it one hour prior to the end of your reception.   Or, you could have waiters pass drinks to save guests from having to go up to the bar.

THE CASH BAR
Don't have one.  Really.  Do you have guests over to your house for dinner and charge them for their drinks?   I didn't think so.  Don't do it for your wedding either.  You can cut costs somewhere else.  Believe me.  Guests do not like having to pay for their own drinks at a wedding.

A DRY HOUSE
This is certainly a viable option if you, your families or most of your guests don't drink.  You can serve non-alcoholic drinks, soda, sparkling water, etc.  If you still want something bubbly for your toast, serve sparkling cider.   

Dear brides:  What kind of bar will you be having at your wedding?  Do you have other ideas?  Share and comment.

Planning - Ten Biggest Pre-Wedding Mistakes

Even the smartest, most organized couple can make mistakes during wedding planning. Below are ten things you should keep an eye on before walking down that aisle.

1. Budget, what budget?
If you have started planning your wedding, you know it can cost a lot of money. Many excited brides start booking wedding professionals and making purchases without having a real budget, and then they're shocked to discover they've spent all of their money (or their parents' money) and still don't have half the things they need. If you bounce checks, don't have the money to pay your deposits, or make your final payments past your wedding professionals’ deadlines, your wedding will not happen as you have planned. The flowers won't be delivered, your cake will not be decorated, and the band will not play all night -- unless you don't pay up. Planning a wedding is serious business. Make a budget and keep track of your expenses.

2. Wedding gown/bridesmaid dresses ordered too late.
If you are not going to buy your gown “off the rack,” then you need to place your gown order six to eight months prior to your wedding. Most gowns are made to order.  If you wait too long before your wedding date to make your selection, you may risk the gown not arriving on time. Bridesmaid dresses should also be decided upon during the same time period, but only after your gown has been selected. You want to make sure your ladies have enough time to get measured and find accessories. 

3. Not hiring wedding professionals.
Seriously.  Would you have a friend fix a plumbing problem?  Of course not.  You would want a professional plumber to come in and do the job right.  Same goes for your wedding.  You want professionals who do this for a living – photographers, videographers, florists, wedding coordinators, etc.  They have the experience and skills to help you have the wedding of your dreams.  Don’t risk your friendships by depending upon them to do a professional’s job.  There are wedding professionals that fit every style and budget.  Rely on them to keep you stress-free.

4. Marriage license application woes.
Since every state has their own set of policies for marriage licenses, brides are bound to make mistakes. Be sure to investigate time restrictions well in advance of your wedding date. Get your license 31 days before in some states -- and you won't be able to legally marry on your wedding day because it may be valid for only 30 days. Go for your license the day before your wedding and you may not get it in time, because some states have a 48-hour waiting period. Another common mess-up if you're remarrying: not having official divorce papers in time to get the certificate.  Be sure to check your state’s marriage laws.

5. Out-of-town guests have a room?
Brides often leave blocking out hotel rooms for out-of-town guests until the last minute. If you're marrying in a city (particularly one where conventions take place) or in a resort town and you don't investigate hotel availability in advance, you can literally end up with not a single room for any of your guests to stay in. Your wedding might go on -- but no one will be able attend. Reserve a room block as early as possible, up to a year in advance, in some cases.

6. Inviting too many guests.
Make sure your guest list and your reception site match numbers-wise. You can't invite 400 people assuming only 250 will RSVP with a yes (because your “must-have” reception site can only hold 250).  What if 300 happen to say yes, you may have to turn 50 away at the door.  Some sites may not be able to add several more tables, as fire laws limit the maximum number of people in any room at one time. To avoid this, assume 80% will respond "yes" and limit your guest list accordingly.

7. Beauty treatments scheduled too late.
Many brides think that scheduling chemical peels the week before their weddings will leave their skin looking angelic on their big days. Others think having their teeth bleached within days of their weddings will leave those pearly whites sparkling. Thinking of tanning the day before your wedding? Remember that scene in “The Wedding Planner?”  You may end up with blisters instead of sun-kissed skin. Last-minute beauty treatments can lead to breakouts, mistakes, or -- even worse -- serious infections. Start a long-term beauty regimen months before the big day and save the heavy-duty beauty treatments (i.e. chemical peels, micro-dermabrasion, extracting facials, deep-tanning sessions, teeth whitening, and so on) for at least two weeks before the big day, or you could risk ruining all the hard work you've done to make your wedding -- and photos - perfect. (Never mind putting your health and happiness at risk for the most important day of your life.)

8. Invitations – didn’t put enough postage on the envelopes?
You'd be surprised how many brides just stick a 45-cent stamp on their invites and drop them in the mailbox.  All but a few wedding invitations require additional postage. The postal service will not take pity on you -- your invites will be returned (and rubber-stamped with that ugly "insufficient postage" message) -- and it will take at least two weeks (never mind the additional $$) to get them back out the door.  Always take a complete invitation to the post office to be weighed before purchasing all your stamps.

9. Ignoring religious restrictions.
Think your rabbi didn't mean it when he said you needed to cover your arms in the temple? Guess again. If you plan on marrying in a church, synagogue, etc., you need to abide by their rules. Wearing inappropriate attire or not completing pre-wedding requirements could be grounds for your Officiant to stop your wedding before it begins. As soon as you get engaged, be sure to contact your house of worship to find out about any potential issues. Some houses of worship won't let you marry on certain holy days; make sure to check your wedding date with your Officiant before putting down any deposits for your reception site or wedding professionals.

10. Rain or shine?  Don’t ignore weather warnings.
Brides marrying outdoors often test fate and just wish for the best when it comes to bad weather. Always have a backup plan, or else you may not have a place to marry at all -- or your guests (and you) may be in misery at the hands of Mother Nature. Temperatures normally around the balmy 70-degree mark may unexpectedly turn into a boiling 100-degree debacle – have fans available for guests and it wouldn’t hurt to have bottles of water, too.  A hurricane, flashflood, or gale force winds may visit on your wedding day; make sure you have an interior alternative or a tent as a back-up location.

Dear brides:  What is frustrating you in planning your wedding?  Have you made any mistakes in your wedding planning?  Please comment and share.

World's Longest Wedding Dress Train

This train made history on March 20.  It was entered into the Guinness World Records for the longest wedding dress train.  The picture shown above is the history-making train.  It measures more than 9,022 feet!  Can you imagine?  I thought Princess Diana’s was long at 25 feet.  Wow!

This made me wonder.  How did the tradition of having a train on a wedding dress come about?  As with the white wedding dress, the train also came from the era of Queen Victoria.  Kings and Queens had long worn coronation robes that trailed regally behind them, so it only seemed natural Queen Victoria’s wedding ensemble included an 18-foot train of satin and lace.  This addition to the gown was an immediate sensation and soon after, Victoria’s designer, Charles Worth, was inundated with requests from the high society across Europe.  This long train tradition remained popular until the styles of the 1920’s started opting for shorter, simpler styles and successive styles since then have threatened it several times.  However, whenever fashion changes, as it always does, the long, elaborate gowns begin to reappear as well as the train. 

What about you?  Are you having a long train on your wedding gown or opting for a shorter version?  Please comment and share.

photo credit:  www.today.msnbc.msn.com

Introducing Black by Vera Wang for Grooms

For those of you who know me or have read my blog over the years, know one of my favorite wedding gown designers is Vera Wang.  I was so excited when she introduced affordable wedding gowns called White by Vera Wang for David’s Bridal.  Well, now she's done it again.   Vera Wang has just launched Black by Vera Wang – an affordable rental tuxedo collection found exclusively at Men’s Wearhouse.  Now, you and your fashion-conscious groom can be outfitted by Vera Wang.

This collection offers the highest quality of rental tuxedos.  Your guy will be able to choose from two modern tuxedo styles in classic black or a fresh gray.  Not just for grooms, the Black by Vera Wang collection can also be rented for the ring bearer as well as accommodate the big and tall sizes.

Find a Men’s Wearhouse store near you and reserve a Black by Vera Wang tux now.

photo credit:  Vera Wang

ENTER ADORN's "FUN COUPLE" PHOTO CONTEST FOR CHANCE TO WIN AN ADORN JEWELRY RENTAL, A SWAROVSKI HAIR COMB AND ART DECO MIRROR RING

Do you and your fiancé frequently hear, "You're a fun couple!"? Maybe you're known as the couple that's always sharing a good laugh. Maybe you have that inner connection and complete each other's sentences with the same punch line, deepening your bond in the process. If this describes you and your fiancé's relationship, then this is the contest for you.

Winner will receive three fabulous prizes: Free rental of earrings from Adorn.com, a beautiful Art Deco Mirror Ring from Meghna Designs & stunning Swarovski Crystal Hair Comb from Brides Head Revisited.

Please Click here to enter the contest.


source:  Adorn.com

Happy Valentine's Day!

In honor of Valentine's Day, I thought I would post a little history on how Valentine's Day came about.


Enjoy!

The Legend of St. Valentine

The history of Valentine's Day--and the story of its patron saint--is shrouded in mystery. We do know that February has long been celebrated as a month of romance, and that St. Valentine's Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. But who was Saint Valentine, and how did he become associated with this ancient rite? 

The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death. 

Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons, where they were often beaten and tortured. According to one legend, an imprisoned Valentine actually sent the first "valentine" greeting himself after he fell in love with a young girl--possibly his jailor's daughter--who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter signed "From your Valentine," an expression that is still in use today. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the stories all emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic and--most importantly--romantic figure. By the Middle Ages, perhaps thanks to this reputation, Valentine would become one of the most popular saints in England and France.

Origins of Valentine's Day: A Pagan Festival in February

While some believe that Valentine's Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine's death or burial--which probably occurred around A.D. 270--others claim that the Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine's feast day in the middle of February in an effort to "Christianize" the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus. 

To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at a sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. They would then strip the goat's hide into strips, dip them into the sacrificial blood and take to the streets, gently slapping both women and crop fields with the goat hide. Far from being fearful, Roman women welcomed the touch of the hides because it was believed to make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city's bachelors would each choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage.

Valentine's Day: A Day of Romance

Lupercalia survived the initial rise of Christianity and but was outlawed—as it was deemed “un-Christian”--at the end of the 5th century, when Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine's Day. It was not until much later, however, that the day became definitively associated with love. During the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in France and England that February 14 was the beginning of birds' mating season, which added to the idea that the middle of Valentine's Day should be a day for romance. 

Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages, though written Valentine's didn't begin to appear until after 1400. The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. (The greeting is now part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London, England.) Several years later, it is believed that King Henry V hired a writer named John Lydgate to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois.

source:  http://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day

Finding the Perfect Site

For this last Beginning Planning Tips series, I am going to focus on finding the perfect site for your wedding and/or reception.  Ask yourself what site is right for you and your fiancé.  What are you exactly looking for in a site?  What should you ask before making an obligation to a particular site?

When visiting potential sites, ask yourself, “Could I see myself getting married here?  Will my guests be comfortable, create an intimate atmosphere, or be dazzling?”    What meaning would you be conveying to your guests with your choice?  Today, you have so many numerous and assorted choices from beautiful estates to destination weddings.  However, no matter where you decide to have your wedding, there are really only two types of locations:  in-house (all inclusive) and off-site.

In-house (all inclusive) means just that.  The site provides pretty much everything from food and beverage to linens, china, tables and chairs and service personnel.  These sites would be your hotels, country clubs, etc. and are perfect for you if you want the convenience of having everything under one roof, so to speak, in order to coordinate things in one fell swoop.

Off-site venues usually provide very little, if any, services.  You basically just rent the space and you are left to fill “in the blanks,” meaning you would have to hire vendors separately, such as the caterer, rental supplies, décor, etc.  This type of site would be perfect for you if you want the liberty in choosing your own vendors, decorating pretty much the way you want, etc.

However, your ceremony site might determine your reception site.  This would hold true particularly if you marry in a house of worship.  If this is true, your choice of reception site will be limited because it would be most ideal to have it located close to your ceremony site to allow your guests ease in traveling.  The ideal situation would be to have your ceremony and reception held in the same location.  Besides making it very convenient for your guests (not having to travel to another location), it could also save you time and money with your décor, flowers, etc. that could be used for both events.

Here are some questions you should ask when visiting potential sites:

o        Do you have my wedding date available?  This may be an obvious question, but remember there are other brides competing for the same time on a Saturday

o        What are the restrictions, policies, etc.?  Many sites have written rules about décor, parking, etc.  Make sure you read everything before signing anything.  You don’t want any surprises.

o        How many guests can the space accommodate?  Usually, you’ll receive two numbers:  one for a buffet (or standing) reception and one for a sit-down (seated) dinner.  Don’t forget to ask about including a dance floor.  This and other tables (buffet, etc.) takes up space.

o        How many hours does the rental fee include?  Ask about overtime charges.  Is set-up and clean-up included in the stated hours?

o        What else is happening at the site the day of my wedding?  Some sites will book more than one event on the same day.  The best, of course, is to have the site exclusively.  But, if that is not possible, be sure there is ample time between the other event and yours to set-up, etc. and so as not to confuse your guests by possibly ending up at the wrong event.

o        Are there any hidden costs?  You want to be sure you are aware of any additional costs, such as valet parking, cake cutting fee, or a corkage fee if they allow you to bring in your own wine.  Depending upon your guest count, or minimum you have to meet, you may be able to negotiate some of these charges.  Better to find this out now rather than be surprised at the end.

While looking at various sites for your wedding and/or reception, remember to have fun.  Think of it as shopping.  Who doesn’t have fun shopping?  Well, maybe not your fiancé but he’ll probably enjoy this type of shopping. 

Have fun!

I hope you have enjoyed this little series of Beginning Planning Tips.  Feel free to comment and share with your engaged friends on Facebook and Twitter.

What should I talk about next week?  What are your frustrations, questions or thoughts as you are planning your wedding?

photo credit:  Love to Know.com