Wedding Planning Tips: Your First Dance

Traditionally, newly-weds choose sentimental songs about love and romance for their first dance as a married couple. Recently, more and more couples have been choosing choreographed upbeat songs and dances to surprise their guests at their wedding reception. This new trend has been picked up by a new television show on cable channel TLC called “Rock the Reception“. The show’s casting crew scouts engaged couples nationwide to star in their shows. The show begins with the chosen couples meeting with the dance instructors for the first time and continues through the dance practices and finally to the actual dance at the wedding. [Read more]

Wedding Planning Tips: Guests

Planning your guests does not end after you’ve finalized your guests list.  Do you know that the first 2 minutes of a reception or event is the most important? This means engaging your wedding reception guests as soon or even before they arrive at your reception venue.  Here are some wedding planning tips to keep your reception filled with happy guests who will remember what a great time they had at your wedding.

Get your guests involved even before they come to the wedding reception. 

Get your guests excited and involved by requesting them to come dressed in attire appropriate to your wedding theme or formality.  For example, asking your guests to come dressed in red, white and blue for a  July 4th wedding; or in long formal gowns for ladies and black ties for gents for a “celebrity” style wedding theme; or flowery shirts or dresses for a beach wedding theme.  You get the idea. [Read more]

Your Perfect Wedding Reception Venue

Looking for the perfect place to hold your wedding reception requires time and effort. To minimize your travel and reduce stress, the first place to start your search of venue is through the Internet. Some of the many locations to consider are: restaurant, hotels, private estates, banquet facilities, country clubs, community center, museums, parks, yachts and historic mansions. Most of these locations offer both indoor and outdoor reception areas. Many brides, especially those holding their receptions in moderate climate areas, choose to have their reception outdoors — to blend with their “green” wedding theme or simply because they love nature and its beautiful, natural ambiance. One word of advice for those brides who want outdoor reception, make sure that you have an alternative location for bad weather. You do not want your guests to get wet in case an unexpected rain invades your well-planned wedding reception.

Questions to ask before visiting the wedding reception venue:

Some of the tips below can be done through the email or over a phone, so you do not have to visit the venue, if it did not meet your basic expectations. [Read more]