Manolo says, please allow the Manolo to present to you the latest addition to the Manolosphere: Manolo Jewelry!
Edited by our good friend, and the long-time commenter at the blogs of the Manolo, La Petite Accadienne, who will be certain to provide you with much jewelry-based entertainment.
And now you must go and leave our friend La Petite Acadienne the comment welcoming her to the world of blogging.
There’s nothing quite like trying to figure out which eight wedding guests to place at which round table. Will this one be offended that he’s not closer to the head table? Will that one balk at having to sit by her sister? Does every table need to include four women and four men? Jeez, no wonder there’s so much seating chart software out there.
And who can blame brides and grooms for waiting until the last minute to complete this less than fun wedding planning to-do? Not me! I cheated and let guests sit where they wanted to – anyone looking for a seating chart would have been disappointed – which funnily enough resulted in pretty much the table assignments we would have created ourselves.
BUT before you brides and grooms go this route, let me caution that my wedding was more casual than most and I have been to at least one wedding where the lack of a seating chart left some guests feeling like the odd men out.
Some brides and grooms approach the creation of the perfect wedding seating chart with vigor. For some, it’s easy (no, really), and for others, it’s a challenge to be faced head on. Others, like yours truly, simply bury their heads in the sand, make the reception a seating free-for-all, and hope for the best. For those who are currently shaking with dread at the thought of putting together a seating chart, I’d like to offer up another option:
Banquet style seating. In other words, long rectangular reception tables.
While not every reception venue space lends itself to two very long or three shorter rectangular tables in a U shape, when it works, banquet style seating can work very, very well. Wedding guests often feel closer to the newlyweds, even if they’re sitting quite far away. And you, the mighty wedding planner, don’t have to worry as much about who is seated near whom, as everyone is seated near lots and lots of different people. Especially when the tables are placed in a U.
Other banquet style seating pros include: the ability to fit more people in your reception venue (in some cases), a more intimate atmosphere, you may need fewer centerpieces or be able to use smaller centerpieces more dramatically (like this), and the ability to use repetition to your advantage in your reception table decor – helllooo buying in bulk.
So my take is that banquet style wedding reception can simplify your reception planning. Yes, you do still have to make a seating chart – unless you’re a wussy bride like me – but there’s a good chance this particular wedding planning to-do will get checked off a lot sooner and with a lot less stress.
What kind of seating scheme are you planning for or did you have at your reception?
Image via Style Me Pretty
The usual assumption is that weddings are about two people. Sometimes, though, they involve more. Two, three, four, or even more than that. No, I’m not talking about polygamy. I’m talking about when one or both new spouses already have children.
If the kids involved are old enough to have a good idea of what’s going on, it’s a good idea to involve them in the process, if they’ll participate. But how to go about it?
The first key is to follow the child’s lead about what (s)he is comfortable doing. Some kids are happy to take a very public part in the wedding, while others are too shy even if they are privately happy about the upcoming marriage.
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I read somewhere recently that one of the next big things at weddings will be the self-serve cocktail bar. Fair enough. But just because something is big doesn’t mean it will be popular with guests (as we learned just yesterday). Personally, I have been to at least two weddings with self-serve cocktail bars, and wasn’t bothered at all. And not just because I had The Beard to fix up my cocktails for me. Both couples had plenty of alcoholic stuff, from beer to wine to liquor, along with mixers and non-boozahol for those abstaining.
Having a self-serve cocktail bar at your wedding reception doesn’t have to mean setting up a bunch of bottles of liquor, an ice bucket, mixers and glasses willy-nilly on a table somewhere near the buffet, though it obviously can. And that is how it was done at one of the aforementioned weddings, though don’t take that as an endorsement since the domestic wine came gurgling out of a box. A DIY cocktails table might have a small selection of pre-mixed custom cocktails in beautiful spouted pitchers. Or you can have a smaller selection of ‘ingredients,’ along with menus telling guests what they can make.
Keep in mind, that having a self-serve cocktail bar at your reception has its pros and cons. On the pro side, you don’t have to spring for a bartender, and you only have to pay for the basics (look into bulk order deals when you talk to liquor store owners) if you keep it simple. And you can take it all back to your hotel if you’re planning a late-night afterparty. On the con side, it’s now up to you to figure out how much of everything to buy, you may have to set it up, and if you’re not having that afterparty, it’s up to you to figure out what to do with all the leftovers. And you won’t necessarily save money on the cocktail supplies themselves, since your caterer may have inroads with discount suppliers.
All in all, the self-serve cocktail bar seems like a simple way to save a little money when it comes to your reception, provided you keep things simple and make it easy for your guests. I like the pre-made mixed drinks idea more than the put everything out and let guests go nuts idea, especially since it seems like there’s a lot more potential for style and individuality on the one hand and a lot more potential for spilled scotch on the other.
Photo by Frank Ross Photographic
Ever notice that there’s a lot of negativity in the wedding world? I feel like once upon a time – maybe before my time – you could have a wedding, and if you said your vows, fed people, had some music, cut the cake, and the newlyweds behaved graciously, people wouldn’t worry too too much about the specifics. But now, oh, now! It’s getting to be that the poor brides posting on message boards are so afraid to offend anyone with their choices that they’re too terrified to actually make any! And that’s on top of brides fearing that someone will judge their weddings not swanky enough, tacky, or whatever.
No matter where you turn, someone is making fun of something that somewhere, a bride-to-be is probably thinking of doing. And since we’re all doing everything on the Internet, there’s a pretty good chance that said bride-to-be will encounter someone putting her ideas down. In an article on Brides.com, April Winchell (of Regretsy fame) outlines a few “‘Money-saving’ Ideas That Will Cost You Your Dignity”, and I have to admit the piece made me rather sad. Here’s a sample of the aforementioned ideas that are apparently dignity drains.
“Toast with white wine instead of Champagne: Champagne can get expensive, and not everyone likes the carbonation.”
I’m sure lots of people will strenuously object to toasting your marriage with Champagne. “How was the wedding?” “It was okay, except for the carbonation. That was a downer.”
You know, some people don’t like dressing up, either. Maybe you should ask everyone to come in sweatpants, and you can all eat pizza over the sink.
“…do away with alcohol altogether and have a coffee bar! Guests can get cappuccinos, espressos, or even decaf.”
Sheet cake and decaf! It’s like Saturday night at the nursing home, only not as fun.
And now that you’ve ruined dinner, how about saving the planet?
Okay, okay, I know the article was more than a little tongue-in-cheek and Winchell even says outright that not everyone approaches saving money in the same way…”My reasonable expense might be your ridiculous extravagance. Your sensible cost-cutter might give me a headache from rolling my eyes.” But really, I have to go with hate on this one. I don’t hate the article, of course. It makes some great points about prioritizing and not trying to overdo the budget wedding substitutions. What I hate is the mean-spirited attitude behind it, which seems to be so pervasive in the world of weddings.
You don’t have a tiered cake? That’s not wedding cake! You’re not serving alcohol? Guess your dry reception will suck. You’re walking down the aisle to what now? Don’t you respect tradition? Your father isn’t giving you away? You’re doomed to divorce! You hear these things everywhere, from brides-to-be, former brides, and people in no way associated with any current weddings, but by gum, they’re going to weigh in.
My guess is that none of you lovely people reading this is going to say you love nasty bridal snarking. But does this get your goat, too? Or am I being too sensitive?
Gorgeous image via The Sweetest Occasion
Manolo says, please allow the Manolo to introduce to you the latest addition to the Manolosphere: the blog edited by our good friend Glinda, and devoted to helping you look your best through the beatifying arts, it is : Manolo for the Beauty!
Can I just say that in some games of wedding this-or-that, I have no opinion other than SQUEEILOVETHEMBOTH. So it is in the case of traditional bridal bouquets and alternative bridal bouquets. I just happened to have faux flower bouquets at my own wedding, but I would have been equally happy with, say, feather bouquets and
origami bridal bouquets.
And why not? Pretty much all the alternative bridal bouquets, from flowers made of ceramics to crystal and wire to seashells (for real), are just as heavy as flowers (sometimes heavier) and still somewhat delicate. Plus, they’re awesome. Right now I am salivating over all of the beautiful paper flower bouquets out there.
Aren’t they sweet? A paper bridal bouquet can look as much like or as little like the real thing as you want. I have a soft spot in my heart for the paper flowers made of old book pages from Danamazing’s Paper Flowers, maybe because I’m just a book addict. But the others are lovely, too: A spooky, crisp paper bouquet from My Bohemian Summer, a stylized origami bouquet from 3D Cranes, and a pretty, girly paper flower bouquet from Desicra.
P.S. – I keep reading lately about carnations making a comeback, so I just wanted to toot my own horn and say that I wrote about the new wedding carnations almost a year ago. Ha!
