The Planner's Corner

Holiday Table Decor Tip

11/18/2011 17:11:00

Need to add something extra to your holiday table setting? What about chargers?

Charges (or service plates) makes a great addition to your table setting. They come in a variety of metallic and plastic colors. Depending on your color scheme a metallic would finish would add a sparkle to your decor. It will add just the right touch to your table setting. Typically you would place your dinner plate to the charger during the first course. The charger plate is removed and replaced with the main entree.

This large plate, usually about 12” in diameter, serves as an underplate for the plate or bowl holding the first course. The first course is brought to the table and set on the service plate. When the first course is cleared, the service plate remains until the plate holding the entrée is served, at which point the service plate is exchanged for the entrée plate.

Holiday Tips While Visiting Family

11/18/2011 17:02:00

Visiting during the holidays is a great time to catch up and see family or friends that you have not seen in a while. The holidays are always great times to create new memories, restore old friendship and begin new traditions. While you are visiting your family or friends, keep these few tips in mind:

1. When visiting family or friends keep your visit short. The rule of thumb is three nights. Let the hostess know well in advance how long you intend to stay.

2. When family get together its time for everyone to get into your business. In an event to avoid “sharing” your personal matters with family, just redirect the question or change the subject. No need to get upset no matter how rude the person insist on being. Give them a complement on their dress or shoes. This will allow them to talk about themselves and will allow you to walk away.

3. Depending on the hostess, offer assistance in cleaning up after dinner has been served. A great idea would be to do a specific job such as sweeping the floor or washing the dishes or even removing the plates from the dinner table.

4. Everyone loves being surprised with a gift, so consider taking a gift with you when you go to someone else’s house for dinner. This can be dessert, wine or something personal.

5.If the hostess declines the offer then let it go and move on. Just don’t take it personal, as some people don’t like guests in their kitchen.

Make A Statement!

08/21/2011 15:23:00

It's All About You...

It’s your big day! Everyone wants to make a grand statement that will be remembered for years to come by family and friends. The important thing to remember is to keep your big day focused on you and you fiancée. If you aren’t into lavish, expensive things on a regular basis, why turn your wedding into that?

Pick wedding colors that are aligned with your personality. If you normally wear earth tones, stay within that color family. It’s not that you have to go the boring and safe route, but who doesn’t want their wedding day to make a statement that is all them? Stay within those earth tones you love, but spice it up by picking an emerald green for the bridesmaids dresses instead of the safe olive green that always appears in your own wardrobe.

Add a pop of color to your own dress. Pick a color that reflects your personality and who you are.

Surprise your friends and family by choosing a fun accessory to draw attention to your hair, through a fun hairpin. Or bring attention to your arms with a fun bracelet or gloves.

Hire a professional to do your makeup. Show them pictures of how you normally do your makeup. This way you will feel comfortable in what they do, but they may be able to add that pop of color or smoky eye to intensify your look in a way that is still you, but makes a statement on your special day.

Your wedding day is all about you. Make decisions that you feel comfortable with. Don’t let other people railroad your day, and don’t make decisions based on what you think will impress your guests. Impress them with a wedding day that makes a statement, but still screams you!

Top 10 Reasons Why You DO Need a Wedding Planner

07/29/2011 12:53:00

1. Peace of mind: No one wants to be stressed out on their big day. Let someone else deal with the last minute details. As we say at Above & Beyond, let us make you a guest at your own wedding!

2. Networking relationships with vendors: Experienced planners in the wedding industry will have great contacts. Utilizing these connections through them will not only give you great deals and room left in your budget, but great advice right from the experts!

3. Problem solvers, built to solve emergencies: Leave the emergencies to the experts. Wedding planners are known problems solvers. Not only are they built to solve those last minute emergencies, but they excel at it. Don’t leave any room for stress on the day of your event!

4. Help with creative ideas/fine details: Not so creative yourself? Wedding planners are more than just great with details. After years of experience in décor, they can provide you with solutions and ideas to make your wedding day unique and special.

5. Help save money: Wait, what?! Spending money on a wedding planner can help you save money?! Yes, they can! Wedding planners are great at planning within a budget. Not only that, but the experts are great at brainstorming cheap ways to make your day look perfect! Utilizing their connections with vendors and expertise in décor, you may find you have room leftover in your budget!

6. Be a guest at your own event: This is our motto at Above & Beyond, and we mean it! Hiring a wedding planner allows you to focus on the important aspect of the day, enjoying time with friends and family! Let the wedding planner figure out the small last minute details, while you enjoy your special day stress-free!

7. Impartial voice of reason: Let someone with an outside opinion, and no bias, help plan your day! A wedding planner is able to take a step back, and ensure that not only is every detail covered, but that everyone is maintaining focus on the big picture and not stressing over the not-so-important small details.

8. Keep your family/friends from trying to run your special day: Keep control over your special day! By using a wedding planner as a buffer, you are able to stop your over-bearing family and friends from trying to make your special day about them. A wedding planner can keep the cool between the family by offering suggestions as the impartial voice of reason (mentioned above).

9. Professionalism and agreement: By relinquishing your duties to the wedding planner, they can ensure that every aspect of your wedding is professional and perfect. The agreement that you sign will be able to outline every detail for them to take charge of, again ensuring professionalism all the way through!

10. No surprises! Your wedding planner will have an amazing attention to detail. Your agreement will be followed, and there will be no surprises the day of your wedding! Everything will run seamlessly, and you won’t have to stress on the small details, knowing that your wedding planner will take care of it all!

Leave it to the pros!

Wedding Favors 101

07/23/2011 10:15:00

Deciding on the details of your wedding favors can be daunting! You want to ensure that it is well-accepted by the wedding guests. Perhaps you are on a tight budget, but want to show them how much you care and appreciate them celebrating your special day with you. Regardless of your budget or ideas, we have put together 5 tips to ensure that your wedding favors fit perfectly with your wedding day!

1. Pick something useful! No one wants to spend money on a favor that will not be used by the guests, or will simply be left at the reception. Avoid this by choosing a practical, yet fun wedding favor. An edible treat is something that will be used and not turned down by many! Another trend right now are photo booths, so give your guest the favor of a frame or magnet to hold their photo memory from the photo booth in!

2. Personalize your wedding favor! Find a wedding favor that matches both of your personalities. Or choose a favorite candy, hobby or item that you share as a couple! Order M&M’s in your wedding colors with your names or faces on them!

3. Be sure to match your wedding favor to your wedding! You want to ensure that the gift matches the décor and color scheme of your wedding. Choose something neutral that won’t take away from your centerpieces and other decorations.

4. Make sure that your wedding favor is easily accessible to the guests! Place the favors on the table at each seat. Change the place cards table into the wedding favor table, and place it right at the door so that the guests will pass it as they leave. Another creative way is to incorporate the wedding favor into the place-card, so that it is a one-stop pick-up as they enter the wedding!

5. Impress your guests with a donation in their name! If you are on a tight budget and choose a small, inexpensive wedding favor a great way to go above and beyond your guests expectations is to make a donation to a local charity or a charity that you believe in as a couple. There is no need to specify the amount donated, just add a simple card to the favor, perhaps with a clever poem!

Meanings Behind Wedding Traditions

04/22/2011 22:54:00

Have you wondered why the father really gives away the bride? Why does the father walk the bride down the aisle? or why does the groom stand to the right of the bride or even has a best man? Let's explore this together shall we?

Did You Know…

Ancient weddings was all about property. Two families uniting meant more property. The man use to literately still the woman from a family. In tribal days it was easiest way to win a bride was to kidnap her.
Walking down the aisle with your father use to symbolize what little freedom she had. The father would give her to the groom and handing over ownership to the groom and his family
Witnesses make the union legally binding
Each family sits on each side during the ceremony because back in the day clans did not get along they had to be separated
Groom keeps his bride to the left because he needed his right hand to draw his sword if something jumped off and the best man got his name for being the best swords man
Bridesmaid are traditionally to help the bride to help with the wedding. However, did you know bridesmaid use to dress like the bride so evil spirits would not recognize the bride to harm her
The groom would carry the bride over the threshold to protect her from spirits that would be hidden around the doorways and under the floor boards.
Flowers were used to ward off the spirits. Strong smelling herbs were carried instead of flowers to scare off the spirits.
Clapping and klinking of glass were also done to ward off spirits because it was to believe spirits did not like loud noises.
Wearing white is the color of joy and celebration. Wearing white has less to do with purity. In 1840 Queen Victoria wore a white lace gown and women have been wearing white ever since.

Seven Wedding Tips To Save on a Shoestring Budget

02/06/2011 23:24:00

Seven (7) Wedding Tips To Save on a Shoestring Budget

In 2008, an average wedding cost nearly $22,000, according to estimates from The Wedding Report, a wedding market research firm.

Due to the effects the economy has had and is having people have decided to wait on getting married or end up going to the justice of the peace and then have a reception at a later date. By going to the justice of the peace is not saving any money of significance. The true cost is from the reception. Nevertheless, a couple can still have a beautiful reception without scarifying quality.

Here are some tips on how to cut your wedding costs:

GUEST LIST. The best way to cut cost on your wedding is to trim down the guest list. However, by doing this may cause friction with whomever you decide not to invite to your wedding.
PLENTY TO DRINK. Instead of going for an open bar with premium (Topshelf) drinks, do a cash bar for two hours after dinner, or serve just beer for the evening. Don’t worry about what your guests may think. They will only remember the time they had at the wedding.
SAVING $$$ ON MUSIC: You can create a playlist on your ipod and hook it up to a sound system.
DO IT YOURSELF. If you have a computer and printer you can purchase invitations and programs from any fabric store like Joanne Fabrics, Michael’s, Hobby Lobby (one of my favorite stores). Sign up for their ads and use the coupon to save even more.
PLENTY TO EAT. Another way to cut cost on food is to have a buffet for your guests and serve chicken. You can also serve heavy hors d'oeuvres and skip the buffet dinner altogether.
NEGOTIATE. Everything can be negotiated. In the event you cannot get a lower price, ask for something free. The vendor wants your business so don’t leave empty handed. Let them know you are on a budget.
GO VINTAGE BOUTIQUES. You can find beautiful new or once worn bridal dress. You can always alter it to make it your own customized gown or dress. Be creative.

Was That Cake Real?

01/23/2011 20:30:00

It’s true! you can have your cake and eat it too, by faking it! And the best part is no one will ever know. I know you may feel uneasy about renting a wedding cake, however, if you have champagne taste on a beer budget then this may just be the way to go.

You will still be able to cut the cake in front of everyone; however, when it’s time to serve the cake, the caterer or whomever you designated to cut the cake will remove the faux cake and wheel it to the back and the (actual cake that will be cut) sheet cake will be cut and brought out to be served. Same decorations, same icing, but at a much lower cost. The best part is that none of your guests will ever know unless you tell them.

This trend is on the rise. However, people have been doing this for quite some time. It’s the next best thing that has happened for couples on a budget. How many times have you been to a wedding or an event with an elaborate cake that was to beautiful to cut? Was it real or fake? If they did not cut the entire cake in front of you (or other guests), then guess what? It could have been fake.

Has this happened to you? You (and everyone else) were having a great time at an event, as you were dancing or mingling with other guests, you saw people leave the party but they left without their slice of cake. I’ve heard people say, “That’s a lot of cake they are going to have left over. I wonder what they are going to do with it.” Why waste money when you can go faux? This would eliminate the waste of money or cake.

Side bar: This would only happen if there were no one in place to oversee the cutting of the cut. Hire a planner or coordinator to oversee items like this.

There are many reasons why someone would have a faux (fake) cake. Let’s explore of some them below:

Many brides who choose artificial cakes do so because they want the tradition of a wedding cake but do not want to serve cake to their guests. This is often the case when a bride is serving a special dessert as part of the meal.

Brides often cannot afford their dream wedding cake, but can certainly rent one for a fraction of the cost.

Artificial cakes are perfectly suited to outdoor weddings - they will not droop or melt in hot weather and bugs are not an issue.

Faux cakes are visually identical to real cakes. They are still covered in real fondant icing and are decorated just like a real cake.

If you are not serving your cake as dessert you should consider a faux cake. Real cakes are often left uneaten if used as part of the evening buffet. Many brides have reported that most of the cake was not eaten at the end of the evening. With a faux cake you will not have unnecessary waste and expense.

Faux cakes are also light and easy to move around, although the icing and other decorations may be just as fragile as a real cake.

Faux cakes are a way to afford a cake that is larger than you actually need. You are able to have that six storey masterpiece for a fraction of the cost.

Faux cakes still allow you to have a traditional cake cutting ceremony.

Faux cakes allow you to view your cake exactly as it will appear before your wedding. There will be no surprises with a fake cake.

But it’s sill Fake…
Fake cakes, however, aren't all fondant and flowers. In the end, they are fake, and pulling out a couple of stashed slices from a secret compartment will never be as romantic as a traditional cake cutting. It shouldn't be a big deal for most brides (after all, what's a good ceremony without a few props?), but it could be embarrassing if someone discovers the truth. It probably won't happen, but wedding guests can be unpredictable -- especially if there's an open bar -- so you can never be sure. However, the risk is minimal, and if you're a budget-conscious bride having to make some tough choices, a fake cake could be the perfect solution to your wedding-planning woes. For more information about fake cakes, visit http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/weddings/fake-wedding-cake.htm

Top Tips for Attending Bridal Shows

01/15/2011 14:16:00

Bridal shows are great places to attend where you have all the vendors you need under one roof for four to six hours. But when you attend one (or more) be prepared using this tips. This is a fun experience but it can be overwhelming.

List out the things you need to accomplish for your wedding. Do you need a florist, table linens, DJ, Limo, baker, etc.? Listing these out will help you stay focused and find the vendors you need. If you need a band, don't talk with a DJ.

Upon your arrival at any bridal show, you will be handed a bag for you to collect vendors information. For the vendors you really like, collect and separate their business card by placing them in your pocket or in the side of your purse for easy access. Place all others in the bag.

Before filling out any forms, create an email address just for wedding-related info. As you walk through the fair, you will be asked to fill out entry forms to "win" something and during the registration process, you will be asked to fill out the registration form. The information on the form will be given to each vendor that participated in the bridal fair. This is called a lead list. By creating a separate "wedding email address", you keep track of all your wedding-related information without giving your personal email address.

Speaking of winning something, do your homework before you book with any vendor. Contact your local Better Business Bureau or google them to see if they had any complaints. Saving a $100 may not be worth the heartache you could possibly encounter in the long run. Also ask for references and/or to see testimonials from past clients.

Go to the show prepared. Create labels that include your name, address, number, email, wedding date to use when vendors have giveaways or ask for information. You can also create business cards using stationery from your local office supply store to drop in their box.

Ask for special pricing. Usually at bridal shows, a vendor will have some kind of discount rate. Find out what it is and ask if they price match. Also you want to know how long is the special rate for. It's usually for a week. So if you are not ready to book on that date (because you have to do your homework mentioned in #4), you will have seven days to do so and still receive the discount.

Wear comfortable shoes and wear a light jacket. You will be walking around for at least an hour and you want to make that you are comfortable and not fighting carrying your coat, handbag, and literature bag with sore feet.

Why Do Some Planners Charge Less Than Others?

01/14/2011 00:38:00

Why Do Some Planners Charge Less Than Others?

I get asked this question a lot or the reverse question, “Why do planners charge more than others?” Either way the answer is the same. For the most part, planners who are just starting out will charge less because they are trying to get noticed, build up their portfolio or just do not know how to price appropriately for services.

However, if a planner is confident in what they offer, know the value of what they offer, educated, skilled and have several weddings or events under their belt, they will start pricing competitively. The low fee planner is unsure of themselves and services they provide to a client. So it is unfair for a planner to claim to offer the same level of service and knowledge as a seasoned professional.

A skilled professional planner will educate a client on the importance and value of a planner and why they charge the prices they do for their services.

For those who do not know why they need a planner, let’s explore what a planner does, shall we? A planner comes up with original ideas based on a theme, concept, and feeling of a client. A planner will execute the ideas of a client. They make sure a client stays within their budget and will notify them when they run over. A planner makes sure that the client will have a stress-free, worry-free event or wedding and will negotiate with vendors to get the best pricing possible. They also deal with problems that occur at the last minute without the client even knowing it (if possible).

Planners or coordinators who charge $395 are more than likely inexperienced in handling the above items I just mentioned.

If you see a planner who says, “I can do your event or wedding for less than that or for $395 WALK AWAY! You will be saving yourself a headache. Planners charge what they are worth. If you want the best, then guest what, you will pay for the best. If you want mediocre, unsure about their services, then that’s just what you will get.

There are some pros and cons of a hiring planner. I have listed them below:

Pros

A planner can negotiate a contract to get better pricing.
Planners with more experience can offer unique ideas and concepts.
A professional planner will eliminate the stress of planning and will make you a guest at your own event.
A planner can help you stay within your budget.

Cons

A planner may not be necessary for a smaller wedding or event for a group of 20 people.
If you have a small budget, the planner will increase your budget based on what you need them to do for you.
You may not be able to let go of control and will bump heads with planner.
Without an experience planner, you may stress out over the littlest of things or may forget important factors.

Bottom line is before making any commitments, ask the planner about their experience and training. Find out if the planner or coordinator does this part-time, just for fun, or whenever they have time. This will definitely help you decide if he/she is an amateur.

Lastly, always shop around! Get three quotes before you make a decision. Find out what each planner offers and compare their pricing to each service. A planner may have similar prices to their competitors but they may buy from high-quality vendors, while the other planner shops at bargain stores. It depends on what you want, how much you are willing to spend and if you gel well together. A planner should be like your best friend…you should be able to feel comfortable around them and trust them with everything.

Please share your thoughts on this. I love to hear from you. For additional information or a free consultation, visit www.ABEventPlanners.com or call 716-898-0959. Next blog: Is That Cake Real?