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Wedding Planning |
| All your wedding details: Choose a style, reception site, food, flowers, photographer, and tunes. Plus, get the goods on registering. |
The Wedding Banquet
A wedding banquet, traditionally celebrated in the company of the friends and family of the bride and groom, is the feast which follows the wedding ceremony. After the official ceremony is over, the married couple, along with the guests, head over to a special location chosen for the reception. |
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 Questions & Answers |
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| Q: I love candles, flowers and the rainbow; how can I incorporate all of them in my wedding? |
A: Candles can be a very beautiful thing if placed correctly. Imagine a dim room filled with candles, all sizes and shapes, on the tables on tall stands, on short stands it sounds almost surreal. Well, you can't go wrong with candles; a little, a lot, they almost always look good. A nice touch for a candle centerpiece is a mirror base. Its a round or square mirror that goes in the center of a table (mirror-side up) and with a candle arrangement placed on top of it, can makes for an extraordinary centerpiece. Candles are also fairly inexpensive, so go crazy, put candles everywhere! In your case, where you want to incorporate flowers, I would use the candle centerpieces for the cocktail hour tables and have floral centerpieces for your reception. Most florists have stands that incorporate candles or some florists can create centerpieces that have a few long tapered candles in the middle of them. Make sure to reiterate to your florist and/or caterer that they MUST light the candles just before your reception as many events go by without the candles ever getting lit.
When you say "rainbow", I picture soft hues of blues, lilacs, greens and yellows, and that's exactly what I would put into my centerpieces. Too many colors can seem overbearing but if they are all soft shades they can mix together wonderfully. If you really want to make your love of the rainbow known, this is a cool trick, but only if your dress has a tulle skirt. If you go to a large fabric store where there is a large selection of tulle you can get different soft shades of tulle like the ones in your centerpiece, have a seamstress (definitely someone you can trust, after all this is your wedding dress we are talking about here) add these soft colors of tulle underneath the topmost layer of tulle on the skirt. These soft colors will come through your skirt and can add a really nice touch to your dress. Consider this idea if your dress is a bit on the contemporary side and won't look silly with this creative modern touch. You could also dress each bridesmaid in a different soft shade of colors that match your theme. Have them carry a candle down the aisle instead of a bouquet; this will add a romantic touch to your ceremony (but make sure that each has a candle holder to prevent hot wax from dripping on their skin or dresses, which would be a disaster). Candle favors seem to go well with your theme so save yourself the headache of looking for expensive favors. Just stick with your motif and be consistent with it, you and can't go wrong. Good luck! |
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| Q: I am confuse when it comes to tipping. Who should I tip and who I should not. What is the percentage I should give each person? For example, my makeup artist and hairdresser, the florist, the photographer, videographer, DJ/band, Maitre D', etc...I don't want to worry about this the day of the wedding. Please help me. |
| A: I would leave the responsibility of tipping to the best man. If the best man is tipping, you aren't thinking about it, and vendors won't be distracting you when you need to be enjoying your day. The tips really depend on how much you are paying for the service. If you are going to a fancy salon and paying $150 for your hairdo, I would tip about $20. The same goes for makeup artist; if your paying $85 for your make-up, then $12-$15 should be a sufficient tip. As far as the rest of your vendors like the florist, photographers/videographers, DJ's, etc.; I would only tip their employees here and there, like the photographer's assistant (considering that the photographer is the owner of his/her business and they make the profits from your event anyway) about $20-$30 since they are spending all day with you. If you can afford more then anywhere up to $50 would be enough. For the florist's employees, I would tip them around $10 - $20 each. Again, these tips are not necessary, just an extra thank you, I'm sure they aren't tipped at every party so they should appreciate what they get when they do get a tip. As for the DJ if he is the owner of his company then just tip his employees, the lighting crew or anyone he brings with him. I think $20 each sounds about right. With the Maitre Ds it varies, you can ask your caterer for a suggestion and go from there. I think an average tip for a medium-sized affair, if there is only one Maitre D' working I would give about $100-$150. You might think some of these are too much or too little - that's why tipping is always optional. Everyone is different - if someone did an outstanding job and you want to give them a bigger tip, that's fine, or if someone didn't meet your expectations, you are not required to give them anything. The easiest way to prepare for this is to split the tips into labeled envelopes, give them to the best man, and just forget about it. Good Luck! |
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| Q: I have 2 matron of Honors no bridesmaids and 1 flower girl. My finace has 1 best man and 1 grooms men. How should I pair them? |
A: Depending on how important it is for you to let it be known that your girls are matrons of honor, and the best man is ... well the best man, I would simply pair the ladies with the gents and save yourself a headache. Otherwise your only option would be to have each walk alone. Either way your wedding program will be the only thing explaining who's who and if anyone in your bridal party gets offended by your choices then just have one pair walk out first during the ceremony and have the other pair walk out first for the reception. Fair enough? As far as the flower girl, I would have her walk just before the bride comes out, so she can drop the petals for the bride to walk out on. Good Luck! |
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