Wedding Favors

When it comes to wedding favors,  it’s easy as a bride to overthink the perfect favor. She may even become overwhelmed with if their guest list is growing because in reality, it’s easy to consider skimping on costs in this arena. Favors, though, are a great way to add a personal touch so that your guests can walk away with a little something special from the evening. Of course these costs can add up as you think that you may want to do something unique, but keeping it simple here is the way to go! Your guests won’t neccessarily expect anything, but a simple token of appreciation can really make a sweet and lasting impression.

We’re flooding our Pinterest Board with lots of great ideas but here are a few of my favorites. Are you following Marrily!?

Mason Jar Jam or Honey. Perfect to beat the expense by picking the strawberries yourself and learning how to jam! (consider planning ahead for a late summer/fall wedding as you can start this process in the spring or early summer!) If you’ve never done any jamming, now’s the time to learn! While the process is a little bit tedious, it could make for a great Saturday with your beau and it will be rewarding knowing that you two actually DIY’d this tasty treat for your guests. Find some pretty fabrics and ribbon and tie the jars up with a pretty finishing touch! Picking out a cute name for the label is even a great way to incorporate your wedding logo if you have one!

Going Green: Miniture succulants or even tiny plants and/or herbs are adorable ways to have your guests walk away with something that will last. A cost effective route would be to create seed packets!

Last but not least, these are some neat ideas to consider as well!

No matter what you decide, plan ahead! These fun crafts may take a little time but keep things in perspective. Be realistic and attempt an easy DIY so you can take a little pride in knowing your adorable project will impress your guests!

Happy Planning!

xo,

Meg

You Gotta Treat Cake Like a Lady

Via SMP

Wedding cakes come in all shapes and sizes these days. Whether you’re going with a classic look or with something a bit more modern, all cakes have something in common: the sweet factor. Making sure your slice of confection heaven is finger licking good is almost just as important as the way the cake will look. The great thing about what goes inside the cake is how many options you can have. For example, for my own wedding, we had a vanilla cake with fresh strawberry filling & a vanilla layer with oreo cream filling. In addition to that, on the third tier, we had chocolate cake with chocolate mousse. It was great to have options that could make most people happy. One savings tip is to actually have your cake baker create a large sheet cake instead of adding in another tier. They’ll typically keep it in the back/kitchen and your guests won’t know the difference.When it comes to budgeting a cake, you can also aim to count for less than your actual guest list. Most likely, not everyone will eat a slice and slices can be cut slightly smaller if you ask. Your cake may end up coordinating flowers with your florist so make sure they’re in communication for measurements and quantity. Be sure to ask if your baker has their own cake stand or see about renting one or getting creative with that as well.

Aside from that, you’ll want to make sure you research your cake maker’s designs and research reviews. The last thing you want is for your cake to end up here! Unfortunately, that could be the case when a family friend has the best intentions. If you or a family friend or family member are going to DIY your cake, be sure to practice several times and you may want to try to keep it as simple as possible! Sometimes the simpler cakes can be the prettiest!

Via SMP

Enough with the chit chat here, though. Here’s some deliciously sweet eye candy:

Via SMP

Via SMP

And if cake’s just not your thing, remember to check out Wedding Cake Alternatives, thanks to Simply Bridal!

Happy Tasting!!

xo,

Megan

Hiring a Wedding Officiant

“Marwiage is what bwings us togetha today!”

The Princess Bride

Wedding officiants play a huge role in your big day. The ceremony aspect of your wedding may very well be the most important and significant portion of the day as you and your fiance share your vows and profess your love and committment to each other. As your officiant will essentially lead the ceremony, it’s important that you take the time to hire the right one for the both of you, based on your beliefs and personalities. Depending upon your backgrounds and current situations, you and your partner should decide if your wedding day will be religious based or secular.

I’d recommend meeting your officiant (whether it’s a Justice of Peace, clergyman, or an ordained friend) to make sure you’re comfortable with them. Sometimes it may be obvious to you who you’ll be asking to partake as this role-perhaps it’s your minister in your church or even a minister you grew up knowing. It may be a relative or even a family friend who you’ve asked to become ordained. Maybe it’s an official wedding officiant that you found from a local vendor research. You’d want to ask them some questions prior to the wedding so you can be on the same page about your ceremony. A few questions that I’d recommend asking would be-

How can you make this personable for the two of us? What types of stories or information would be beneficial from us so you can celebrate our love and make this special?

Are you open to marrying us in our preferred location? If you’re talking to a minister, make sure they’re OK with the ceremony location if it isn’t in their church or house of worship.

What do you need to know about our faith? If we’re of different faiths, are you OK with proceeding?

Do we need to go through pre-marital counseling with you?

What sort of structure do you normally go with in your ceremonies? Is there a homily? Will it be short and sweet?

Will you allow our friends/family to sing, give readings, or take communion?

I’d also recommend going over the vows. Are you writing your own? Does your officiant have scripted vows that you may want to review?

If you’re going the route of finding someone who is ordained, or even considering asking a friend or family member to become ordained for the occasion, be sure to check with your county clerk or your Secretary of State to make sure that it would be recognized where you’re located! You want to make sure they take the proper steps in doing so and also that they’re up to the responsibility!

Without the officiant and the license, you can’t officially get married! Make this a priority early on, brides, and your “I Do’s” will come true.

Happy Planning!

Megan

The Wedding Feast

The next ‘to do’ we have for you, dear Brides, would be to find a caterer and start considering your menu! Food is definitely an important aspect of your big day, whether you’re serving simple pick-up foods or a six course meal. This is one area you may get really creative with and your groom may actually be interested in helping! When it came to my own wedding menu, my fiance (at the time) and I definitely knew we wanted our food to reflect what we found to be southern staples and old time favorites–fried chicken, mac n cheese, beef brisket, southern vegetables, and naturally, some sweet tea to wash it all down! Of course the gourmet details and the fancy twists dressed up our meal to please our guests and raise the standards for a special evening! Southern hospitality was our goal. Our guests were well fed and even walked away from the night with to-go bags and biscuits from our biscuit bar!

image: Nancy Ray

Picking out our menu was easy for us, as it was the same sort of Sunday after church feast we both were used to, but some couples may not have a special meal they find to be nostalgic. It’s fun to consider stations with a variety of options, mini food, or even a fare that reflects your new life together. Moving down south? Why not go for a crawfish broil or a fancy gumbo? Maybe if you’re starting your life up north, a surf & tuf with lobster and steak fits the bill. I’d love to see a fiesta styled reception in person, to be honest! Food trucks and midnight snacks are trending right now, but there’s always the option of going classic with stuffed chicken and glazed vegetables.

When interviewing your caterer, make sure he/she is open to your individual style. See what they may come up with based on your personality. If you’re going with a caterer who has standard options, you may not have much wiggle room for creativity, but maybe you have already been able to taste the food and you know it’s delicious! Working the budget and the guestlist is important for your contract. Catering costs will most likely change closer to the big day once you’ve finalized your headcount, but you don’t want any major surprises when the RSVP’s start coming in. If you base off cost per person off an average number, you’ll be able to see where your cost may rise or depleat. Say, you’re inviting 180 guests, but you expect that 20-30% won’t be able to make it. Base your food costs off 150 people so you can have an understanding of what you may be looking at when it comes to the bottom line. Be sure that head count cost includes your tips, fees, and anything you may be renting so there are no surprises!

averyhouse via Style Me Pretty

Food costs will not only include the actual meal, but also the wait staff, the beverages, the bartenders, the meat carvers, and then set up and break down at the end of the night. Sometimes your caterer may even throw in dishes or flatware and maybe even food risers and display options for your buffet or stations. It’s important to understand that costs may be high because they’re catering to you, for one night, for your event. It’s most likely going to cost more than it would for a restaurant dinner because they’re not serving a steady flow of tipping guests throughout the course of an evening.

image via Collin Cowie

Be sure that you’re going to get a tasting included with your catering contract! This was a fun evening out with my groom to be and my parents because we got to experience the amazing menu creations our caterer designed for us. It’s important to note, too, that our menu options changed a few times before the tasting. What we initially started out with ended up being a bit over budget, so we had to cut out a carving station and we had to freshen up some of the passed hors d’oeuvres. Our caterer was so flexible with us and was OK with us cutting things out to bring our costs down. We were really grateful because he cared about us being happy, rather than us costing him money. I would say that it paid off, because I’ve sent two other brides over to him for their weddings in the next year!

A Bryan Photo via Southern Weddings (food by Cru Catering)

You may want to ask your caterer what exactly he/she includes in the contract: from glassware to coffee to sodas and lemons for waters. Sugar for coffee? All of the little details shouldn’t be assumed. It’s custom to tip your caterer at the end of the night, as well! Be sure to see if that is something included in the contract, or if that will be additional. Ask about traveling costs. Arrival times, kitchen space needed. Your caterer may do a walk through of your venue to see if it’s possible to work in that space with the amount of guests you have invited.

Michelle Turner via Style Me Pretty

Once you’ve finalized your details of the catering contract, you can then get more of an idea of your specific menu items. I’d say, that’s the fun part! My mouth is watering just looking at all this yummy food, y’all.

Bon Appetite!

xo,

Megan