MARRYING ON A HOLIDAY WEEKEND

Here’s a few tips to remember if marrying on a holiday weekend is part of your wedding plans!

• •       Plan WAY in advance
• •       Book the venue and vendors early  (12+ months in advance)
• •       Send out save the dates (8-12 months in advance)

How to Save on Catering

•       Do not have a sit down dinner; instead choose a brunch, afternoon tea, desert or late-night cocktails.

•       Have your guests choose their meal choice in advance.

•       Choose liquors priced at the mid-line.  Don’t go for the most expensive.

The Traveling Cocktail Party

In one of my past Blog Posts,  I mentioned a Traveling Cocktail Party in the tips from 1000 Best Wedding Bargains about the wedding size.  It’s exciting and has a different mingling factor to it.  Here’s how that works:

•       Have champagne and hot hors d’ oeuvres on the terrace for one hour

•       Have a hot buffet in the banquet room for two to three hours

•       Enjoy cake and champagne and other desserts on the terrace

*It’s a known fact that cocktail parties can save you 15-45% in per-guest charges!

Google Gone Bridal

Visit Google's wedding site for some handy spread-sheet tools to help in the planning of your big day.

Note to the Wise: they're a little confusing if you are spread-sheet familiar!


www.google.com/weddings

Main Task: DECIDE ON A DATE

All of these fabulous tips were take from 1000 Best Wedding Bargains.  It’s a great book filled of 1000 (yes that’s right – 1000) best wedding bargains.

1.     Avoid May to September as this is peak wedding season

2.     Winter has lower prices, and makes for wonderful snowy photos

3.     You are less likely to compete with family and friend’s weddings in off season times

4.     Be wary of holidays – many places choose to charge more just because it’s a holiday

5.     New Year’s Eve/Day and Valentine’s day are the most popular wedding holidays, prices with be much higher and vendors will be hard to find

6.     Avoid super bowl Sunday – it will spike the price of your bar tab.

7.     Holidays can also increase the prices of travel for guests

8.     Choose other days besides Saturday, you’ll be amazed at how much you can save

9.     Save almost 20% by having your reception between 1pm and 5pm on a Saturday

10. Fridays are becoming more popular for weddings, but also allow a savings between 15-20%

11. Have a luncheon or afternoon tea on Sunday as your reception

12. Save 30 to 40% by choosing Thursday nights (best when all friends and family are in town or it’s a holiday weekend)

Wedding Formality

There is no better book for tips on anything and everything when it comes to wedding planning.  1000 Best Wedding Bargains has planning tips from all topics A-Z. Here’s some tips for the Formality of the wedding.

•       Don’t compete with a friend or family members wedding – it will never turn out the way that you wanted

•       Location will tell you the formality

•       Have a formal engagement party with fewer people and a more informal reception for all your guests.

Stay Tuned for more tips from “1000 Best Wedding Bargains” by Sharon Naylor.