Recently one of our guests ask the question – Champagne or cheaper fizzy wine?    

We say there are several options available that can be done. Budget as in most “normal” cases seems to always be an issue, so suggestion #1 to help keep cost down you can do a Signature drink that is served to everyone and have Champagne for the traditional toast(s).  This way you can help to reduce the bar costs.

Suggestion #2: You can serve only wine (of your choice – 1 or 2 only) to everyone and eliminate the bar cost all together.  Don’t do champagne at all. 

You could use Sparkling Cider for your toast(s).

Take also into consideration the time of day.

Having a morning event, then neither may be appropriate.  You could then have sparkling cider in this case.  Yes, it might be 5 o’clock somewhere, but not at your event, so why muck things up with drinking.

Early afternoon events, you  may want the Champagne only or include the wine for those guests who really want to drink, but limit the choices.

Now when you are talking an evening event, this is where it starts to get expensive.  Most of you guests will ”expect” some type of alcohle!  This is where a signature drink can really help the budget and then serve Champagne for the toast(s). 

We can tend to be on the budget conciouse side of things, so signature drinks work really well when you are having your event at a venue.

No let’s talk elsewhere for a quick moment.  Say you are having your wedding and/or reception in a family backyard, then beer, wine & champagne would be great.  No bar tab or bar tender fees (unless you are having one). Get it done cheap.  But now if that same theme is at the Country Club, not so much – they will usually have a portable bar & bar tender for you upon request.

You have to do the math.  No we are not back in school, but alcohol can make a major dent in your budget – sometimes as much as 30%-40%, so watch out.  Remember to consider the time of day, your guest list and the mood you want to set for your event.  It’s not to say a “drunken” party can’t be fun, but if that’s not who you are, then consider not having alcohol at all.

Look at your budget & then you have to make the decision for what is right for you and your guests.

Best of luck with you upcoming wedding.

The other day I saw someone who had been using the planner for a while and had done a few things to make it even more helpful. I thought I’d pass these ideas on to you.

1. After you’ve interviewed the vendors in a certain category and made a decision about which one you’ll hire—remove the pages from the ones you didn’t hire. This will make it easier to find the info for your selected vendors in a hurry.

2. When you’ve signed a contract with a vendor, punch 3 holes across the top (the 8½ “ side) and insert the contract into your planner in the appropriate section next to the interview information.

3. You can use one of the “notes” pages as a calendar to mark down the times and dates for your appointments with the people you’ve chosen to hire.

Happy Planning,
Alice

So today you’ve decided to find the perfect cake topper for your wedding.  You begin with the usual wedding stores and just can’t find it.  Where do you go from here you might be asking yourself.

A specialty store, the baker where you purchased your cake, a florist shop or the attic and you decide to use your mother’s from so many years ago.

What about something different?  What you might ask, well there are cute “rubber ducky” cake toppers dressed as bride and groom, there are little manequins that look like cartoon versions of yourselves.  What about the bride dragging the groom to the alter, no that’s kinda funny.

What about having a custom topper made?  Have you thought about that?  Now I can tell you it probably isn’t going to be cheap, but it will be well worth it if done right.   We (or should I say
“I”) decided that I was going to surprise my daughter & soon to be son in law and have a special cake topper made.  Many of you know that she is getting married at the beach, so I wanted something that would be unique and beautiful that they could display in their home after the wedding.

I looked high and low for a design that would work and couldn’t find anything, then genius came to me and I decided that it should be glass and have sea shells on it.  I went looking for a glass blower that understood my design and got it.  Well it turned out beautiful.  I contracted with Kevin Fulton in Bend, OR for the project, he tried & tried and finally got EXACTLY what I wanted. 

My suggestion is for you to “think outside the box”!  With wedding and traditions being so far and wide spread these days, ALMOST and yes I said almost anything goes.  Start your search now because if you want something specially made like I did it may take several months.  My whole ordeal from conception of the idea to actually getting the beautiful cake topper took 6 months.

Enjoy your planning and discovery.