Do I Really Need Video at My Wedding?

One thing I discuss with all Willrich brides is that on their wedding day they will see less of their wedding than anyone else. No matter how much I go over this, it rarely sinks in until after the wedding day. Then they either can’t wait for their professional video to be finished or if they didn’t purchase one, they are desperately calling around hoping guests just happened to have taken some video on their cameras.

Don’t be in the desperate category. Either go with a professional video (definitely your best choice) or at least have someone you can count on to video all the special moments for you.

Remember as the bride, you will be getting ready when your guests arrive, so you won't see anyone entering the church. Yes, you will have some pictures, but pictures are not the same as video where you see reactions and hear voices of your loved ones. You won’t see and hear guests exclaiming over your beautiful flowers you so carefully chose. You won’t see anyone walk down the aisle, not your mother, not your bridesmaids or groomsmen, not even your flower girl and ring bearer. You won’t see your or the grooms’ parents light the unity candle.

Since you and your groom are the first out of the ceremony, you also probably won’t see anyone leaving. While your guests are enjoying your cocktail hour, you’ll be taking pictures so not only do you not see the room but you don’t see the guests enjoying it. All those plans you made for the cocktail hour will go unseen by you or the groom. If you have only one photographer, there might not even be any pictures. In general, the whole night will pass so quickly for you that the next morning it will almost seem like it didn’t happen.

Keep this all in mind, when deciding that you might skip on that video. Remember years from now, when your children are grown they can watch your wedding video and not only see but hear those that have passed away. What a great gift for your children and generations to come.

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A Cute Idea for Your BBQ Reception

Let’s say you are planning a bbq for your reception dinner. Well here’s a cute idea for another place to put your personalized monogram or logo. Why not print them on wet naps/moist towelettes? Set in containers or spread out on guest tables would not only be cute but convenient for your guests when they get sticky fingers enjoying your dinner.

There are lots of places online where you can order these.  Here's a link to one I found http://tiny.cc/sry93  where you can purchase them. 

Even Mother Nature Couldn't Stop This Wedding at Twigs in Greenville, SC.

It’s taken me a little while to write about the wedding we had this past weekend. We’ve just been so busy, but now finally I have the chance.

We were lucky enough to get to help Nicky and Ben with their wedding plans and be there on their big day. The wedding took place at Twigs and the day started out clear and beautiful, but the sunny skies did not last. As guests started to arrive, the sky opened and it started to rain. No, rain is not the right word; it started to pour, along with thunder and lightening. Willrich Bridal always carries a large number of umbrellas with us, so we just pulled them out and used them to help guests keep dry as they found their seats under the tent. The bride and groom are both very easy going and didn’t let the rain bother them at all. The rain also didn’t seem to faze the guests either. The site was packed with people who loved the bride and groom.

The bridesmaids wore tiffany blue with black sashes and the groomsmen were in black. The ceremony was set with black chairs and the aisle was dotted with candles with blue ribbons. The bride and groom had a beautiful sand ceremony as part of the service. The bride’s sister sang a solo during the ceremony.

Cocktail hour was enjoyed by the guests (it had stopped raining by then) as the wedding party completed pictures. This was followed by a buffet dinner. Tables were dressed with black and white linens. Blue and green flowers floated in shallow bowls as the centerpiece on half the tables and the other half had the beautiful bridesmaid’s bouquets as their centerpiece. Blue and black stones and crystals were sprinkled on each table. It was really quite beautiful. The cake was white with blue and black piping. The stand was clear glass and the glass support columns were filled with blue stones and daisies.

After dinner the guests were up and on the dance floor and rocked the night away. I think everybody was dancing. The bride and groom were obviously having a ball. After the garter and bouquet toss the bride even changed into a short white party dress and continued dancing.

At the end of the evening the guest lined up and gave the bride and groom a bubble send off. It was a beautiful wedding even with the rain. It just goes to show that even if things don’t go exactly as planned, with the right attitude the wedding can still be a wonderful event for everyone.

Vendors:

Wedding Planner:  Willrich Bridal and Special Events

Site and Flowers:  Twigs Tempietto

DJ:  Party Machine

Photographers:  Photography by Dennis and Yvette

Makeup:  Patsy Glunt

Cake:  Holly's Cake

Pew Cards – What are They and Why Do You Need Them At Your Wedding?

Program and Pew Card on Guest Chair at Wedding

As a planner I learned many years ago, after a groomsman set guests in the family row, that pew cards are a great idea. We always do them. It’s just a simple card with the name of the family member or special guest printed on it that is placed on their spot on the pew. They are a great insurance policy that the right people are seated in the correct spot.

For a Willrich Bride we make them and place them on the seat before the wedding starts. The bride and groom have already informed these guests that they have a special seat reserved. The guests tell the usher as they are seated that a spot is reserved for them.

Another way to do this is give a card to the guest to hand to the usher as they are seated on the wedding day. This lets the usher know where the guest is to be seated. The card can be sent in the invitation, or given to them any time before the wedding. I personally prefer just telling the guest before hand and having the cards on the seat. We have found that guests rarely remember to bring the card with them on the wedding day.

You can also have the family section roped off or marked with flowers if there is money in your budget for this.

Willrich Bridal Presents Setup at Your Wedding Reception

Here's a cute little video we put together of setup of a typical wedding reception.

Understanding Teardown After the Wedding Reception is Over

Gifts packed in a car at the end of the reception

Now let’s talk about teardown, or break down or clean up. Whatever name you call it by, it all means the same thing. It is what happens after the party is over. It is all the cleaning up that takes place once the bride and groom have left for their honeymoon.

For planners and other vendors, teardown is when the hard work really starts. You’ve been there all day hard at work and on your feet and now you have to pack back up everything that was brought to make the day special for the bride and groom.

A lot of couples never gave a thought to this part of the day. They just assume someone will do the cleaning up. Not true. First thing you need to do is check your contract and be sure what clean up is expected by your venue and what your vendors are willing to do.

Let’s go through a typical clean up

• Bride and Groom leave.
• Guests gather up their items and leave .
• Planner or someone packs gifts, left over cake, personal items into cars for newlyweds.
• Caterer picks up china/silverware/crystal and food and starts rinsing dishes to pack them up to go back to the rental companies (make sure this is covered in the contract).
• Someone must remove flowers/centerpieces from tables, empty water, clean vases and pack and load them into transportation (usually done by the florist for a fee).
• Someone must remove tea lights, menus, extra favors, etc. that are on tables and pack up or throw away.
• Caterer/planners or design team start removing linens and napkins to pack them up for return to the rental company. Linens and napkins must be counted so correct amount is returned to the rental company.
• Tables must be taken down and chairs stacked for rental company pick up. If there are chair covers or pads, these have to be removed. (Remember, some venues require pick up to be the same night as the reception, some will allow you to schedule pick up on Monday following the wedding. Most in the Greenville area do allow for a Monday pickup.)
• Venue space is swept or vacuumed.

Still More Gifts To Go Into The Car

 You and your vendors need to know who is responsible for all of this. Read contracts, know what is covered and what is not. Don’t expect Mom and Dad to do it. They are exhausted and busy saying goodbye to guests. Don’t just assume your wedding planner does it. Friends may offer to do it, but at the end of the night they tend to forget or don’t want to stay and get dirty (it is dirty hard work). I can’t stress enough make sure you have a plan in place that has been discussed with all vendors.

Setup on Your Wedding Day - What Does It Mean

Let’s talk about the terms setup and teardown.

Setup – means organizing and arranging everything needed for the ceremony and reception on the wedding day. Your ceremony (non church site) and reception site normally starts off as a large empty room, totally empty. Someone has to, following the layout you have decided upon, set up all your tables, all your chairs, including tying cushions on the chairs. Your gift table, your cake table, your dance floor and your dj table or band staging has to be put in place. Once this is done, someone else comes in and places your linens on your tables. Someone else comes and sets out silverware and china. Your florist comes and sets up your flower arrangements. Your baker arrives and sets up your cake. Your dj arrives and sets up his speakers and computers for your music. All the personal items you are adding to your ceremony and reception site need to be set out (programs, menus, flutes, cake serving set, favors, table numbers, escort cards, place cards, etc.)

Some brides get into trouble because they just think someone (not sure who, but someone) will just handle all this. Sorry it doesn’t work that way. You need to make absolutely positively sure that you have all these needs covered. This will probably involve paying some setup fees. Ask your site if they will put tables and chairs in place. If not, you will need to pay the rental company a fee for setup. Does your caterer put linens on your tables, fold napkins, put out place settings? If you don’t know for sure, you better find out. Who will put all your personal items out on the wedding day? If you have a planner, they will handle this; if not make sure you have someone in place to handle this. No, you can not do it yourself, you will be getting ready for pictures, and the same goes for Mom and Dad. They will be to busy to handle it.

Your wedding is not the day to leave things to chance. Make sure that you or your planner has planned out every detail so that your day runs as smoothly as possible.

Next we'll learn all about teardown.

Delivery and Pickup Fees on Your Wedding Day - What Does It Mean?

Let’s talk delivery, pickup, setup and teardown. If you pick a venue that is not a hotel or does not include tables, chairs, linens or china you are going to be learning a lot about these terms.

Delivery:

Delivery is pretty standard. Your florist will have a delivery charge for delivering your flowers, you baker will have a delivery charge for delivering your cake, your rental company for your rentals and so on. A lot of brides think they can save money by picking items up themselves. No, and I mean NO this is not something you want to do. You can not pick up a three tier cake and put it in the back of your car or truck and drive it to your site. Same goes for 200 chairs or 20 floral arrangements. Pay the fee, it’s worth it.

Pickup:

Pickup fees are just what they say; a fee to pick up items after your wedding is over. Again, most times this is something you want to pay. It is pretty obvious that you don’t want to pack up and return 200 chairs after your wedding but it may seem that picking up linens yourself and returning them after the wedding would be a good way to save some money, but think again. If you’re taking linens back you will have to pull them off of tables at the end of the night, meaning you or someone has to be there after tables have been cleaned off, and florals removed so you can gather up the linens. Now, these linens are dirty, food has spilled on them, cake is squashed into them and drinks have been spilled on them, probably not what you want to put in the back of your car. Same goes for rented floral vases. If you decide not to pay a pickup fee, then you are going to be removing flowers, carrying the vases to a sink somewhere and pouring out the water, drying them, loading them in a car and praying they don’t break. Forget it, just pay the fee and let the experts pick them up. I promise you will be glad you did.



Next we will talk about setup and teardown.