Tips For An Outdoor Wedding

Here’s a tip. When you plan an outdoor wedding ask what is going on around the site? Is there a football game that day? Is there a concert? Student’s moving into or out of campus? Is it on a bus route? Are the sprinklers turned on and off at a certain time.

Just because you think the site should know better than to plan an outdoor wedding the same time that something else is going on, does not mean that it does. Is there parking? Anything going on that will be taking up parking? Since most outdoor sites are on campuses, country clubs or restaurants there are a lot of possibilities of things that can be going on at the same time. Is there another wedding going on nearby? This can lead to confused guests and crowded parking.

Also, think about the weather and the time of year. You may have considered rain, but in the South you need to consider heat. Remember your guests are going to be there 30 minutes before the ceremony starts and during the ceremony. That’s a long time to bake in the sun, if no shade is available. Don’t forget, mosquitoes, sand flies, gnats and other insects that your outdoor wedding or reception will be subjected to. Sometimes what looks beautiful in a picture is not so beautiful in life. Remember icing and gnats do not make a good combination!

Also, remember you will need available restrooms. I have not been to a wedding yet, that guests arriving did not ask about the restroom. Telling a guest that they have a half mile hike to the nearest restroom, is not going to leave your guests remembering your wedding as a fairytale come true.

Going Out With a Bang or When to End Your Reception

Knowing when to end your reception may not seem like a hard thing. You have the reception space rented till 11:00, so the reception ends at 11:00 right? Wrong!

Think about parties or receptions that you have attended and left thinking it was a really great party. If you are at a really great party, reception, concert, anything and it ends with a bang, everyone up dancing, clapping, having a great time, you walk out thinking what a great party that was. If you are at a party, that all the guests have slowly slipped away and at the end you look around and it’s just you and a few drunk partiers in the corner, you and your guests are not walking away with the same feeling.

With a wedding reception timing is everything, including the timing of your exit. You want to go out with a “bang”, so that your guests remember it as a great party. Imagine you’re up on a full dance floor, everyone having a ball, the DJ announces your last dance, everyone steps back to watch your dance and then moves out to line your exit and cheer you to your car. You have left your guests wanting more, not glad it’s finally over.

Keep in mind when planning your timeline, that once dinner is over and the cake is cut your guests will begin thinning out starting with the older adults. Close the bar and you have maybe 15 minutes till the place is nearly empty. Keep an eye on the party, when it starts getting harder and harder for the DJ to get the dance floor full, it is time to end the party, even if there is an hour of rental time left. As I tell brides, you don’t want your exit photos to be a few drunken stragglers blowing bubbles at you. Timing is everything!

Clemson Carillon Gardens Wedding

Willrich Bridal and Special Events did a beautiful outdoor wedding at Clemson this weekend. The ceremony was held in the Carillon Gardens and the reception was held at the Hendrix Center. Christy, the bride, picked pink and brown, one of my favorite color combinations, as her colors and everything looked gorgeous. The ceremony site was set up with white wooden chairs, shepherd hooks holding baskets of flowers and two large garden arrangements up front. It was beautiful.

The reception at the Hendrix Center was done in browns and pinks also. She had brown overlays on the tables to set off the pink carnation centerpieces. She had one of the prettiest programs and napkins, I’ve seen yet.

Flowers were done by Kaye at Just Weddings. Cake was by Susan at Couture Cakes and Robert from Life of the Party was the DJ. Emily Waggoner provided the wonderful ceremony music and pictures were done by Fort Mill Photography.

Congratulations Christy and Will.

Wedding Reception Layouts

Let’s talk about floor plans or room layouts or room designs. Whatever name your site calls them, you need to be sure your site gives you one.

This is a diagram of how your room will be set up for the reception. Some, depending on what kind of computer program your site uses are very detail and drawn totally to scale. Others are just a quick sketch your sales coordinator draws out. Either way you need to see this. It should show you exactly where your tables will be placed, your buffets, your cake table, dance floor, DJ, etc.

You need this for several different reasons. First of all it gives you an actual picture of what your room will look like. Lots of time what you have in your head and what the sales coordinator has in theirs are not the same. Maybe you see your grand entrance through the double doors in the front. But your sales person may plan to have those doors blocked with tables. Maybe you want the buffet line to run down both sides of the buffet, but the site is going to push the buffet against the wall, allowing for guest to only go down one side. These things will become obvious to you, once you see the layout.

You are not the only one that is going to need the layout. Your planner of course needs it. This will be one of the items she lives by on the day of the wedding. You will not be around to check on the ceremony and reception set up. If your planner is a “Day Of”, she really needs this layout to make sure everything is exactly like you want it. Your florist will ask for this. It helps them decide on the overall flower design. That includes things like which tables need tall centerpieces, which the short arrangements, what type of buffet arrangements are needed and where they will be placed. The DJ will need to know where he is setting up in relation to the dance floor and guest seating.

So remember to ask for a drawing of the room setup and make your life and your vendors easier.

Bridezillas

Ok I admit it, I watch Bridezillas. I have to. The first words out of people’s mouths, when they find out I’m a wedding planner is “do you watch Bridezilla”? Followed quickly by “have you ever had a bridezilla”?

My answer to this is no, I haven’t had one. If you think about it, the major reason these girls are going crazy is that they don’t have someone they can depend on to help with their wedding. The second reason would be that they don’t pick vendors that are good reputable wedding vendors. The third would be that they aren’t following a timeline of when items need to be completed to avoid problems. All these complications are avoided when a bride has hired a good wedding planner. I know these girls think they are saving money by not hiring a planner, but is it worth what should be the best time of your life turning into the worst, not to mention the alienation of your friends and family.

Now every bride is entitled to a breakdown. They all have them. I’ve seen brides cry over just about anything. That usually boils down to a bad case of nerves. But true Bridezillas happen because the bride feels like she has lost all control of the situation. (Ok, some on that show may be just plain crazy.) If a bride has a planner and listens to the planner (that’s important) Bridezilla should never be a name anyone calls her.

Congratulations Monica and Josh

We were the wedding planners for a beautiful wedding in Greenville this past Saturday. The ceremony was held at Locust Hill Baptist Church. The bride had originally wanted an outdoor ceremony, but when that didn’t work out we translated her dream of a garden wedding into the church.

Dave McMillan of Memories by McMillan once again did a beautiful job. The front of the church felt just like you were in a garden courtyard. It couldn’t have been prettier. Jana Candler of Jana Candler Photo was the wedding photographer and also did the beautiful pictures of the Furman fountains that were shown on the screens. The screens were a tie-in to the wonderful reception that followed at the Furman University Younts Center.

We had a buffet, carving station, martini mash potato bar, and ice cream bar. Believe me, not one of the 410 guests went hungry. And these guests really knew how to party! With the help of the fabulous DJ, Robert Batson of Life of the Party DJ everyone and I do mean everyone was on the dance floor.

It was a really great wedding! Congratulations Monica and Josh.

Bathroom Baskets

Let’s talk about bathroom baskets. Bathroom baskets are small baskets of essentials that brides put together and place in the bathrooms of the receptions site. Granted this is an added expense that you can do without and I do suggest skipping them if the restrooms in your site are not private to your party. But if you can afford them and have the time to put them together, they are a really nice gesture for your guests.

The baskets contain travel size items of things such as mouthwash, mints, hairspray, clear fingernail polish for repairing runs, spray on deodorant, hairpins, safety pins and Band-Aids. Anything a guest might need in an emergency. I can’t tell you how many times guests have commented on what a life saver the baskets were. I even have the cutest poems available to frame and place next to the baskets, explaining them to the guests.

The picture above is a beautiful basket put together by one of my brides. Monica, you did a great job.