Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Setting the Scene at your Wedding Reception

By remaining completely organized throughout the whole process of your wedding planning you will bring together a cohesive package that sets the scene for a wedding that will be memorable for not only you and your partner but for all your guests.

By creating an overall plan and then fine tuning every stage of the plan you will be treating your wedding organization like that of a well tuned business where the outcome will always be positive.


You will be able to look at all aspects from the flowers, lights, music, table settings and anything else that is required at the reception to all blend in with one another and complement each other.


The reception is a time where people congregate and mix with one another. Depending on the style of your wedding, your guests will be spending most of their time will be in the reception area so a lot of thought needs to go into making that a pleasurable experience for them.

If your wedding photographs will be taken while your guests wait for you at the reception area, then make sure you have organized music, drinks and even some light snacks to help them pass the time while they are waiting for you.


Create an atmosphere at the reception that you find pleasing to yourself as this will be an extension of your personality. As the people attending the reception will be close family and friends they will appreciate the fact that the decoration and theme shows your true personality.

Depending on where the reception is being held these decorations can transform an austere looking area into a place of harmony and unity with the inclusion of things as simple as some nice flower arrangements or potted plants placed about the venue.


Whatever you do at the reception area will generally be dictated by your finances, but that still leaves plenty of opportunity in most cases to create something that you will be proud of with a little imagination.
Reception Gift Card Holder

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Keep it Simple to Reduce Wedding Costs

It is possible to have a perfectly good wedding without all the additional frills and expenses that go with a traditional wedding.

One way to reduce costs is that you might decide to not have any bridesmaids, a best man, flower girls or other members of the wedding party.

While people traditionally have other members in the wedding party, it is not essential and a lot more people are choosing not to have them these days simply to reduce the expense that is involved.

Any additional features that you have in your wedding will involve more expenditure; such as flowers and dresses for the bridesmaids and flower girls, and renting tuxedos and shoes for the best man, groomsmen and ushers in the bridal party.

If you're working to a budget you should also consider reducing the number of people that you invite to your wedding and don't feel obliged to invite people with whom you haven't been in contact with in some time.

Having a theme wedding can also add costs as all aspects of the wedding will need to tie in with that theme from the clothing to the decoration and even down to the invitation cards.

There is usually a lot more work and planning involved with a theme wedding so if you're working on a budget you need to consider whether this is an important aspect of your wedding not.
Be sure to check out what's On Sale at The Knot Wedding Shop.

One benefit of reducing the costs in other areas of the wedding preparations is you will have more money to spend on yourself and your partner and as you two are the whole focus of the wedding that might be a better use of your time and money.

On Sale This Week at The Knot Wedding Shop

Monday, March 8, 2010

Wedding Cakes

A wedding cake can be as simple or as extravagant as you like and accordingly can be relatively inexpensive or enough to break the bank.

The reason wedding cakes are often so expensive is due to the intricate work that is involved and the many hours of labor that are required to create the decorations.

For some people this is an expense that they feel is unnecessary and a simple cake or alternative form of 'symbolic food' such as a favorite dessert or something similar can be used.

More often than not, however, people prefer a traditional wedding cake and in keeping with the rest of the theme of the wedding it is generally decorated in colors similar to those of the flowers and any other decorations at the reception.

Certainly by reducing the size of the wedding cake it can help to keep the costs down and also by keeping the cake less intricate in its decorations you can save yourself a lot of money.

You can also use your flower arrangements or other forms of decoration that are more cost-effective to enhance the look of the wedding cake and keep the cake itself relatively plain and simple.

It really is a case of weighing up the expense with the importance that you put on the style of cake that you prefer and whether you can save money elsewhere to get the cake you desire.

Once again do your research and get some prices from various different suppliers of wedding cakes and also consider asking your friends and family if they know anybody who does cake decorating as many people do it for a hobby and will be only too willing to help out on the special occasion.

Often you can get somebody to create your cake for the cost of the materials alone and this can be their gift to you for your wedding rather than paying for something else.

One important thing that you must remember however is to check their work to see if it is up to a standard that you would be happy to have at your wedding and don't feel obliged to use their services if you aren't satisfied.




Interchangeable Cake Topper Interchangeable Cake Topper
All brides and grooms certainly don't look alike -- so why should all cake toppers? Now you can mix and match ethnic representations with these cake-topper options. Choose from the following: Caucasian, African American, Asian American, and Hispanic American. Then position your couple on the base. Total height of the hand-painted porcelain topper is approximately 7".

All brides' veils are made of ribbon-edged tulle. All grooms sport white shirts and black bow ties. Caucasian brides and grooms have light brown hair; the rest have black hair. A bouquet of shiny and matte roses connects the wedding duo by their hands.


Thursday, March 4, 2010

Finding a Good Wedding Caterer

People will always remember the food at a wedding and while you don't need to go overboard with the expenditure, good planning can ensure that your guests will be impressed with the food without breaking the bank.

Where finances are tight consider changing the time of day and the type of meal. People won't be expecting to get quite so much food for a wedding brunch or lunch as they would for an evening meal.

You can do your own catering if you've got the time and people with the ability to prepare good food that you can trust to be reliable and come through when needed.

You can also spend varying amounts of money on employing caterers who are accustomed to servicing weddings.

Wedding catering is big business these days and there is a lot of competition in the market, so you have a lot of choices to suit most budgets.

The first step is to do some calling around just to get an idea of the estimates for the number of guests that you have attending.
Often reception houses will have their own caterers or recommended caterers that they use and can be relied on.
This can be an easier solution and more often than not the best solution both financially and for the quality of the food as they will be familiar with preparing and displaying the food in familiar surroundings.

Talk to the places that you are considering having your reception and see what sort of package they can come up with for the venue and the caterers combined.

By having a theme wedding this will often dictate the type of food that you will be having and that can determine whether it will be expensive will not.

A theme wedding might also dictate your choice of caterers and might reduce your available alternatives.  This can often push up the price and will need to be taken into consideration.



The Knot Wedding Shop has the perfect products to make your wedding reception truly unique.