Cocktail Party Wedding Receptions

When planning a cocktail party wedding reception, you really want to channel a 1950s/1960s retro vibe. Start planning your cocktail reception by choosing a fab 1950s inspired gown.  A strapless gown with a fitted waist and a flouncy skirt will look feminine and flattering. Tulle and organza are among the best fabrics for this style of wedding dress, and they are often accented with lace or embroidered embellishments. If you want a wedding gown with a sassy edge, choose tea length over the traditional floor length dress. Naturally, pearl bridal jewelry will be the perfect accessory for your retro cocktail party look.

Then there is the food and drink menu to be considered. Classic cocktails like gin and tonics, Manhattans, sloe gin fizzes, and whiskey sours will hit the right note. It’s always nice to have a few cocktails in fancy glasses, so to be sure to add martinis and Champagne cocktails to the bar menu. Put your own personal stamp on the reception with custom coasters and cocktail napkins to dress up the bar.

A wedding reception just wouldn’t be right without great food, and this is where a retro cocktail reception will deviate from the mid-century inspiration. Rather than a seated dinner, serve heavy hors d’oeuvres, which basically means that there will be enough appetizers that your guests will leave feeling satisfied. This is a trend which guests really like, because at most weddings, the appetizers are the most delicious part of the wedding anyway. Feature a wide variety of little bites, both passed and at stations to help your guests feel full (and to soak up the cocktails).

Of course every great party has great music, and the music of the ’50s and ’60s is perfect for a wedding. Hire a big band or a quartet which specializes in standards and swing, and set up a play list heavy on Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, as well as modern crooners like Harry Connick, Jr. and John Pizzarelli. The right music will really establish the mood of your reception, not to mention, get people dancing. With all of the elements in place, you can be sure that your cocktail party wedding reception will be a night to remember.

Wedding Sites With Meaning

When you are seeking the perfect site for your wedding, begin by looking back in time. Did you grow up attending church with your family every Sunday? Even if it not the most convenient location, what could be more meaningful than exchanging your marriage vows in your family’s church? The nice thing about using your family’s house of worship for your wedding ceremony is that it will not only be special for you, but for your entire family.

What about planning a destination wedding to your favorite childhood vacation spot? Did you go to the same lake in Michigan every summer or rent the same rustic old cabin in Vermont each winter? If so, plan to have your wedding in that locale. It is nice to have a destination wedding in a location that is not just appealing in a general sense, but meaningful to you specifically. You will also have a built-in special place to return to on your wedding anniversary each year. And just think, one day when you have kids of your own, you can continue tradition by vacationing with them each year in the place where you were married.

In some families, there is a club that has been a long standing part of their lives. If you grew up spending weekends playing golf or tennis at the local country club, it would be an ideal choice for your wedding. You will be very comfortable having your reception in such familiar surroundings. The classic style of a country club wedding goes well with other wedding classics, like a band playing Frank Sinatra and pearl bridal jewelry. If the pearl bridal jewelry belongs to your mother, it can also count as your “something borrowed”, which is a nice perk.

Many brides and grooms have places which hold special memories and meaning. Perhaps your fiance proposed to you in a beautiful park overlooking a lazy river. Why not celebrate your union by having your wedding there? If there is a favorite restaurant that you have cherished as your best spot for romantic dates, see if they will host your reception. (If it turns out that they cannot accommodate your guest list, maybe they could at least provide catering for your reception somewhere else.) It can be really fun to introduce your family and friends to the places that are meaningful to you and your fiance. By selecting a wedding site that is full of special memories and meaning, you will make your wedding more personal and heartfelt.

Wedding R.s.v.p. Options

The manner in which you have your guests respond to your wedding should make sense with the overall tone of the affair. By this I mean that a formal wedding calls for a more traditional response format, while other options might be appropriate for a more casual wedding. For instance, if you are having a very traditional wedding in a grand hotel, wearing classic pearl bridal jewelry and a custom lace gown, it would be entirely out of place to ask your guests to respond by email. On the other hand, if you were having thirty of your closest friends for a picnic in your backyard following a five minute wedding ceremony, such a response might be just fine.

One things that many brides do not seem to realize is that it is not necessary to include any type of response card with a wedding invitation. Although they are now very common, traditionally wedding invitations were issued with the assumption that everyone knows that a formal invitation requires a reply. To nudge the guests along, a discreet “R.s.v.p.” or “The favour of a reply is requested” is engraved in the lower left corner of the invitation. The guest then sends a note to the return address on the invitation envelope indicating whether or not they will be able to attend. Think this will not work? This is exactly what I did for my wedding, and I had no problem at all with guests not responding.

For those who wish to include a wedding response card, there are two basic options. There is the small card with a self-addressed stamped envelope or there is the postcard. Online R.s.v.p. requests are an up-and-coming wedding trend. It is generally not advisable to go this route if you have a multi-generational guest list, as many of the older guests will not feel comfortable with an online response format. Couples who are thinking about going this route may wish to offer it on an R.s.v.p. postcard for guests who prefer to register their attendance online. It may not save you the cost of postage, but at least you will make sure that it is possible for all of your guests to reply to the wedding invitation in a way which makes them feel comfortable.

Uninvited Wedding Guests

Showing up to a wedding without an invitation is a serious social faux pas. It would be like wearing a necklace your ex-boyfriend gave you for your wedding instead of your fiance’s gift of pearl bridal jewelry. Nonetheless, wedding crashers are a real problem, and not just in the movies. It can be a difficult issue for the newlyweds to resolve on the spot at the reception, which is why it is wise to have a plan in place beforehand should uninvited guests arrive.

The most likely type of uninvited wedding guest is not so much a true wedding crasher (unless you happen to be a celebrity), but a date brought along by one of the official guests. This actually makes the issue a bit more delicate, since presumably the person to whom you did extend an invite is someone that you care about. That means that unceremoniously chucking the intruder into the street by his shirt collar is pretty much out of the question.

If you are having a buffet dinner and there is room for an extra guest, the most gracious thing to do is nothing.  Simply allow the uninvited guest to have dinner along with everyone else and do not give it another thought. In the case of a buffet or station reception, it really won’t cost you anything more than maybe a couple of drinks. But if you do not have an extra dinner or a place to put the uninvited guest, by all means someone should inform the person that they cannot accommodate an extra guest for dinner. To soften the blow, you may invite them to join everyone else for dancing after the meal.

Much more rarely, there will be true wedding crashers, people who you most definitely do not want to have at your wedding. Typical candidates are ex-boyfriends or ex-girlfriends, estranged relatives, and maybe a crazy former roommate. There is no need to allow these people to intrude on your wedding day. The father of the bride or the best man is perfectly in the right if he lets the wedding crasher know that his or her presence is not welcome and that they must leave. Rarely will this sort of problem arise at a wedding, but at least if it does, you will be prepared to handle it so smoothly that none of the invited guests will even know that anything is happening.

“The Office” Wedding Wrap Up

Do you love “The Office”? Then the special hour long episode about Pam and Jim’s wedding was a long awaited treat, wasn’t it? Here is “The Office” wedding wrap up, including ideas that an engaged couple can use for inspiration for their own real life wedding.

Just like with any wedding, the most important question is what did the bride wear. In “The Office” wedding episode, Pam wore a very pretty simple white chiffon gown with an empire waist and spaghetti straps. The empire waist on her gown (which falls just under the bustline) was designed to hide her baby bump, of course, but it is a style that would be flattering on many brides, pregnant or not. The waistline of Pam’s gown was decorated with a sweet white floral beaded trim which was just the right amount of adornment for a bride with simple tastes. Pam’s pearl bridal jewelry was lovely with her chiffon gown.

Being “The Office”, the wedding could not be without its silly and surprising moments. When Pam was upset because she tore her veil shortly before the wedding ceremony, Jim cheered her up by cutting off half of his tie. The part that most viewers will remember is the YouTube inspired dance down the aisle that Jim and Pam’s attendants sprung on them as a surprise (hopefully this will not inspire any bridesmaids or groomsmen watching from home to try this!).

A wrap up of the wedding on “The Office” would not be complete without a mention of the crazy things done by Pam and Jim’s co-workers, especially Michael and Dwight. From Michael promising Pam’s grandmother that they would name their baby after her to him slipping into the mother of the bride’s hotel room at the end of the night, he was up to his usual tricks.  With a wedding this memorable, it should be interesting to see what life as newlyweds looks like for Pam and Jim.

How to Order a Wedding Cake

One of the most special parts of a wedding reception is the cake. Often the centerpiece of the reception, you want your wedding cake to have great style, taste good, and fit in with your budget. Yet many brides go into the process having no idea of the basics of wedding cakes. Here is how to order the wedding cake of your dreams.

There are two things that you absolutely must know before ordering your wedding cake. The first is the number of guests that you will have and the second is your budget. The price of a wedding cake can range wildly, anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand, so this is why it is important to have a firm budget in mind before meeting with bakers. You don’t want to fall in love with one of their designs only to find that it is ten times the price that you are able to afford!

The look of your wedding cake should suit the rest of your wedding. For instance, if you are having a traditional wedding, wearing a classic gown and pearl bridal jewelry, you should also have a traditional cake, such as an all white buttercream. The accents can also tie in with your bridal attire; tiny frosting “pearls” can be used to create a delicate border on the edge of the tiers to mimic your pearl bridal jewelry, or you can have the baker replicate the pattern of the lace on your gown in fondant.

Your budget will have a big impact on the shape, size, and decorations on your wedding cake. The ones that you see in the magazines that are five tiers tall and covered with a profusion of handmade frosting orchids cost thousands of dollars, which is not what the average bride will spend for her dessert. However, don’t shy away from showing your baker designs that appeal to you, no matter how fantastical they may be. If you loved the grand orchid cake but found it too pricey, a similar confection could be created using fresh flowers on a three tier cake. A tried and true trick for saving money is to have a smallish display cake made to put out at the reception, but to also have the same flavor made in an inexpensive sheet cake to cut in the kitchen and have the waitstaff serve to guests. No one will be the wiser, and you will get to “have your cake and eat it too”.

Wedding Flowers For Every Season

You are probably familiar with birthstones, the tradition that people born in each month have a special gemstone. But did you know that there is also a flower associated with every month of the year? When you are planning a wedding, it is a wonderful idea to incorporate meaningful flowers into your bouquet. It would be lovely to include either the flower for your birth month or the special blossom for the month in which you will be wed. This is a guide to some of the best wedding flowers by month.

The flower for January is the carnation. This is a humble flower, but one that can easily be elevated to modern chic by the way in which it is arranged. Mound loads of carnations in tight clusters to create nifty pomanders and centerpieces in footed urns.  March ushers in the first breath of spring, and along with it the most quintessential spring flower: the daffodil. This cheerful yellow (or yellow and white) bloom is the perfect way to chase away the gloom of winter. Mini daffodils work especially well in bouquets.

One of the most beloved of all wedding flowers is the birth flower of May, which is lily-of-the-valley. The tiny white or lilac colored blossoms make for lovely bouquets. June is known as the month for brides, and so it can be no accident that two of brides’ favorite things are also associated with the month of June. Classic roses and pearl bridal jewelry are both the symbols of June birth, and are cherished by women being wed in every month of the year.

Autumn born brides can enjoy flowers in rich fall tones. The aster is the September flower, and it is available in a great shade of red. The casual daisy-like aster also comes in pretty shades of purple and white. The flower for October is the marigold. Infrequently seen at weddings, the hardy marigold could nonetheless make a nice addition. The orange shades of the signature flower can be enhanced by pairing it with bridal jewelry created from opal colored Swarovski crystals (opal being the October birthstone).

And finally, there is the Narcissus, which is December’s flower. A beautiful bulb that is often forced in pots over the winter months, tiny pots with a single Narcissus would be fantastic as table decorations that could double as favors for your guests to take home.

Selecting the Perfect Jewelry for Everyone in Your Wedding

In many cultures, the ceremonial wedding jewelry that a bride wears is passed down as a family heirloom through generations of brides. Even if your family does not have any special wedding jewelry customs, you will still want to find just the right pieces for your bridesmaids, your mothers, and even yourself! This is how to select the perfect jewelry for everyone in your wedding.

First of all, let’s begin with the bride, who is after all, the star of the wedding day. The bride’s jewelry needs to do a variety of things. It should complement her face and hairstyle, it must match the bridal gown, and it should tie in with the general theme or style of the wedding. Most bridal jewelry is created from pearls or crystals, which are fantastic because of their beauty and versatility. Many brides like the combination because the pearls are such a classic bridal look, but the crystals can add a touch of glamor and modern elegance.

When shopping for bridal jewelry sets, you will definitely want to pick one that features at least a necklace with a coordinating earrings. Even if you do not wear a bracelet every day, it can be nice to have a special one for your wedding, which is certainly not just like any other day. The pieces can be delicate, such as airy tin cup necklaces and bracelets, which are great for an outdoor or beach wedding. Or you can go for a designer inspired look, and layer strands of pearls over a streamlined gown, just like Coco Chanel would have done.

Bridesmaid jewelry is very popular for gifts. This is the first choice for most brides when they are looking for that little something to show their appreciation for their attendants. And yet, picking out jewelry for another person can be a bit more daunting than trying to choose something for yourself. A great place to start is by looking for bridesmaid jewelry sets that can be custom ordered to your specifications. Having pieces handcrafted with sparkling Swarovksi crystals in your wedding colors is a fabulous idea.

Sometimes overlooked are the mothers of the bride and groom. It is a very thoughtful gesture for the bride and groom to give a special piece of wedding jewelry to their moms before the wedding. Look for pieces that have a style and sophistication suitable for a more mature woman. Most mothers of the bride and groom will already have the staples of a jewelry wardrobe, so more exotic choices, like black pearls, will be much appreciated. The jewelry that you select for your wedding will make a wonderful reminder of your special day every time that it is worn.

What to Expect at Your Final Gown Fitting

In the final months and weeks before your wedding, you can expect to have several bridal gown fittings. The last fitting usually takes place about a week or two before the big day, and it is the most important one of all. Here is what to expect at your final bridal gown fitting, as well as some tips to make sure that you get the most out of the appointment.

One  misunderstanding that many brides have about their final fittings is that they will leave the appointment with their wedding gown in hand. In most cases, the gown will require additional finish work after the last fitting. Unless you have made a special arrangement to that effect, you should plan on leaving your gown to have the final sewing done, as well as to have it freshly pressed in the last few days before your wedding.

Okay, so now you know what will not happen at your final fitting, but what about what will take place? This is your golden opportunity to try on all of your accessories with your gown to make sure that you like the way it all fits together. This is particularly useful for brides who did not have all of their accessories in advance; for instance, if your mother flew in the week before your wedding with her antique lace bridal veil or the pearl jewelry she wore to her debutante ball, this may be the first chance you get to try it on with your gown. It is far better to find out before the day of your wedding that your mother’s pearl bridal jewelry does not look right with the modern chandelier earrings that your chose, or that her veil looks too brown against the white of your dress.

Definitely plan to bring your mother or a friend to your final gown fitting. You will want to have the seamstress give someone a lesson on how to tie up your bustle. Each one is different, and the last thing you want is to have your maid of honor and your mother fumbling around after the ceremony trying to figure out how to deal with your train. Also, it can be helpful to have an objective set of eyes to take a look at your gown to spot anything that needs to be adjusted. After that, it should be just a matter of a few minor tweaks; before you know it you will be picking up your wedding gown just a matter of days before your wedding!

Wedding Stationery Terms

When you are shopping for your wedding stationery, you may feel like a fish out of water. Here is a glossary of the wedding stationery terms that you will need to know to make choosing the perfect invitations a snap.

Engraving: This refers to a printing process in which a copper plate is engraved with your wedding invitation wording, inked, and run through a press to print the lettering onto the stationery. Engraving is easily identified by its raised lettering. The back of an engraved invitation will have an indentation behind the words, which is an easy way to distinguish it from thermography. It is true that engraving is costly, due to the step of making a unique etched copper plate for your order, but it is also the most elegant form of lettering. For a formal wedding or traditional wedding with the bride in a classic gown and pearl bridal jewelry, engraving is the best choice.

Letterpress: This style of printing has been around for hundreds of years, but it has only become popular for wedding invitations in the last decade or so. Letterpress is a technique in which moveable pieces of type are hand arranged in a printing press, and then the paper is rolled over it with a heavy roller. It is perhaps not quite as labor intensive as engraving, but it is close, and the pricing is fairly comparable as well. Letterpress invitations are very popular with brides who want a chic and contemporary look for their stationery, while still having the fine craftsmanship that has made engraving the gold standard for generations.

Thermography: Another technique in which the wedding invitation wording can be transferred to the paper. Thermography consists of an ink being printed over a fine powder to give the lettering a raised look. It is intended to mimic engraving, although anyone familiar with fine stationery will immediately know the difference. The telltale signs of “fake engraving” include no indentations on the reverse of the paper, shiny ink, and some subtle unevenness of the lettering. Being a machine made process, thermography is considerably less expensive than engraving or letterpress, although for a discriminating bride, that may not be reason enough to cut corners on her invitations. Old-fashioned etiquette mavens will say that if you want to save money, simple but honest flat printing is better than trying to mimic engraving with thermography.

Now that you are an expert on wedding stationery, get out there and start shopping for those perfect invitations!