Your first dance as husband and wife.
Will you dance like you did in high school? Or will you WOW your guests with a few moves? During your first dance at your wedding reception you will have everyone's eyes and attention. What will get your guest hootin', hollering and clapping will be a very simple thing.......
What will that take? Not much, just a few moves. It can be a grand finish with a big "dip", or a few box steps. A couple of dance lessons will do wonders: for one, your footwork, second, your confidence if your not a dancer, three, your guests will LOVE it.
To the left, you can watch a few choreographed first dance video's which are tons of fun, but you don't have to go to that extreme.
A wedding reception with friends, family, costs thousands. A romantic, intimate dance between husband and wife, priceless.
Do You Want To Dance?
Children At Weddings
Having children at your wedding can be fun but they can also create havoc at the reception. If you are using younger children as flower girls and ring bearers, you (and their parents) must understand that if a youngster refuses to walk during the processional or cries or throws a hissie fit, don't try to force them. It just is not worth the stress to you, the child, the parents or your guests.
Some ideas for children at the reception:
1. Ask your venue to place a table in the corner. You can supply various activities such as games, puzzles, markers, paper, crayons and small toys to entertain the children. Consider hiring a teenager to engage the children.
2. Offer baby sitting services to the parents. This plan is most effective if you are using a hotel for your reception. Reserve a room and supply movies, games, pizza and enough qualified sitters to care for the children. Parents can enjoy the reception and check on the children as often as they wish.
3. If only a few children will be in attendance, prepare a goodie bag for each one. Make the items age-appropriate and place the bag at each child's seat. They will be delighted to find their surprises and their parents will appreciate your gesture.
4. Some brides put "adult reception" on the invitations and that clearly indicates children should not attend.
Submitted by Susan & Sandy, Wedding Coordinators, Wedding Belles, Inc.
Don't Mess with Mother Nature !!!
When planning your ceremony outside..... it does not matter if you are on a mountain top, on the beach, in a park or under a tent in the back yard. ALWAYS respect Mother Nature. When outside events are planned, consider the season: hot or cold. Rain, Snow, Hurricane, Lightning.......know the weather! Have a plan B......always!
Mother Nature does not care if your bridal party is fair skinned. She does what she does best, Weather. Windy days, sound does not carry, hair blows, veils fly, isle runners - run, candles melt, plates and food become air-borne. Have sunscreen for guests. Containers for bottled water, paper hand fans, parasols or umbrellas.
Exotic locations: Keep in mind elderly grandma Nana......weather, uneven footing, grass, hot sand & bare feet.......some locations can be hard to walk to, if walking is hard for elderly or handicapped.
Know the weather! Have a plan B......always! Photo by Picture Perfect Photography, FL
So You Want A Photo on Your Invitations?
While some of us can afford to hire a professional photographer, some of us are forced or tempted to save money by asking a friend or family member to do our photography for us. To help these people get better pictures, here are a few of the suggestions to catch a variety of good looking poses for your invitations.
For those taking outdoor shots, take your pictures in the late afternoon while the sunlight is getting softer but not gone yet. Whether indoors or outdoors, avoid patterned clothing; stick with simple solids. For action shots, try getting on a bike together (tandem or her on the handlebars) or in a canoe. Play chess together (but don't fight over who gets to look like they're winning!) or visit a park and swing together. Dance together--get a shot of her in the middle of a twirl or a dip. For more subdued shots, lie down in the grass and prop yourselves up on elbows, deep in conversation, or capture the elegance of feeding her grapes, or clink glasses of wine (and make sure the ring shows), or for a winter shot, sit in front of a fireplace holding steaming mugs of hot chocolate.
For photos of just the two of you without props, try laughing together, capture a stolen kiss with eyes closed blissfully--on the cheek, the forehead, or the traditional, sit side by side with her head resting on his shoulder or with her hugging one knee, capture a piggy-back ride, or focus on her ring against his shoulder as she holds him. For scenery, try an amusement park, or a reading window, or standing on a bridge pondering the water running beneath, or go for the elegance of silhouettes against a gorgeous sunset.
These are just a few suggestions to get the imagination started. Any of these would make a wonderful addition to your wedding invitations. You'll find a longer list of suggestions on my website, and I welcome more suggestions in my guestbook. Posted by: Melanie, MP Creations Custom Invitations
Tis The Season
Are you looking to save a few greenbacks? If you are, then think of having your wedding on a "off peak" day of the week. Saturdays are at a premium and cost the most. If you change your wedding day to say, a Thursday, you will save money just by uttering the word.
Most wedding vendors will offer discounts for "off peak" days. ALL you need to do is ask. Hotels, Caterers, DJ's, Photographers, Limos and others will make hearts skip a beat when you say "I'm getting married on Wednesday". Mornings can be less expensive then evenings. The month of December is MOST expensive, due to holiday parties and corporate events.
If you're planning your wedding for December, book the date EARLY in the year, January or February are best to beat the rush for those prized weekends. TIP: Verify with your reception venue on how many events are planned for your reception date. Some will book events back to back. For all wedding vendors, get a signed contract and pay with a credit card!
TIP: Check the local happenings around your wedding city..... Airshows, Concerts, Craft Fairs.....many brides have almost missed their wedding ceremony due to traffic jams, no parking or large crowds.
Music is Like Food
If you offer only Sushi on your buffet, half your guests won't eat it. Same rule applies to song selections.
Large groups of people with varying ages need a wide variety of song types / genres. Brides and Grooms who choose to micro-manage their musical menu at their reception often make it difficult for their DJ to satisfy all of the guests. I tell all of my brides that they can best utilize our songlist by highlighting several thousand songs, even though a DJ can play only about 55 songs at a 4 hour affair.
The highlights give us many choices to choose from and tell all about their musical taste. I go on to tell them if there is a song they MUST hear they should put a checkmark by it. Any highlighted song with a checkmark becomes a MUST PLAY, however, if there are 25 or more checkmarked and highlighted tunes then the guests will be unable to make requests. This situation can be detrimental to the overall success of the party.
After all, music is what DJ's excel at and in 99 out of a 100 circumstances having the discretion to play what is necessary (within the guidelines of music types set forth by the bride and groom of course) will result in a more gratifying experience for the guests, which is usually the ultimate goal of the bride & groom. Music can make or break a reception. Celebrations DJ's
Groomsmen VS Ushers
Groomsmen: A groomsmen is someone who is important to the groom, and whom the groom wants to be a visible part of his wedding. He may be a close friend, brother, cousin or father. But a groomsmen does more than stand around and look pretty. He also serves as advisor to the groom, beforehand, helps the groom be organized, aids with any wedding planning details he can, and helps seat guests at the wedding if there are no ushers.
Ushers: Ushers serve as the official greeters of all guests at the ceremony and as such should be in place one hour before the ceremony begins. Very often a head usher is appointed to oversee the ushers, which relieves the best man of both having to attend to the groom and keep watch over the ushers.
Many weddings use the groomsmen as ushers as well.
