You're engaged!! Now what?

Hi everyone!

Eighty percent of engagements during the year happen between Thanksgiving and Valentines Day.  Approximately 2 million people get engaged in a year so that breaks down to about 1.6 million in that short time frame.  I know it's been true with the people in my life this year.  My mini-feed on Facebook went crazy on Christmas morning with friends announcing their engagements!

So now you are engaged.  You have the ring, now what?  There is so much planning to do but each step has a specific time period in the process of which to do it.  Here it is:

1.   Enjoy being engaged!!  Kiss each other a million times and jump up and down : )

2.  Tell your parents/closest people to you.

3.  Set the date.  This way you know what day you are shooting for and you can plan the rest of the pieces accordingly. 

4.  Announce your engagement.


5.  Choose the feeling you would like to have at your wedding.  Do you want it to be traditional, modern, fun, low key.  Whichever you choose, this step will set the scene for choosing your venue because they book up quickly!!

6.  Choose your attendants.  Also mandatory before you choose a venue so you know what size you are looking for.

7.  Choose a venue.  Most venues book up a year in advance.

8.  Research vendors.  Set up appointments with florists, cake bakers, DJs, photographers, to look at their work.  In this step, its also very helpful to ask around.  Who have others used and did it work out?  Not only was the good or service great but was the vendor a problem solver, good at communicating, easy to get ahold of?

9.  Purchase dresses and tuxes!  Here's the fun part : )  About nine months before, try on wedding gowns, pick out and order bridesmaid dresses and order tuxes.

10.  Reserve the vendors you chose.

There is many more things on the list but these 10 are the first, and most important.  You can find all the other steps and everything in between on tons of websites.  My favorite, and the most detailed and accurate is the calendar on WedAlert.  The link is: http://www.wedalert.com/content/planning/calendar.asp

Congratulations and good luck with your wedding planning process and please let me know if you need any advice!

Stay fab,
Lauren

The Ultimate Eat-Off

When planning a wedding, there are hundreds of choices you have to make.  You choose your dress, the bridesmaid dresses, the tuxedos, the tuxedo shirts, the venue, the photographer, the invitations, the limo service, how you want your hair, how you want to decorate, the flowers.  But one of the biggest decisions you will make is the food you will serve.  Believe it or not, what kind of food you serve and how you serve it will set the overall feeling of the wedding.  So do you want a sit-down meal with filet mignon and lobster?  Or a chicken buffet?  Only you can decide but here's some help.

If you answer "yes" to these questions, a sit down meal is for your wedding.
1. Do you want your reception to be formal and elegant?
2. Are your guests mostly the elderly or children?
                A sit down meal will make the night easier for the people looking after them.
3. Are your guests traveling long distances?
                It's appropriate to feed your traveling guests a full meal to make up for their trouble.

If you answer "yes" to these questions, a buffet is for your wedding.
1. Do you want your reception to be more laid back and relaxed?
2. Are you looking to save some money on this part of the wedding?
                ... then you have more money to buy a stunning gown : )
3. Would you like your guests to have more of a variety to choose from?

If you answer "yes" to thes questions, appetizers are for your wedding.
1. Are you really struggling with your budget
                This is the cheapest of the three options.  Also, if you serve hearty appetizers, your guests will feel well fed without the extra expense.
2. Do you want to be creative with the food you serve?
                 You can choose a theme, like tiny cheeseburgers and miniature hot fudge sundaes.
3. Do you have a wide range of people from ethnic backgrounds and lifestyles coming to your wedding?
                  You can provide something for everyone- the vegetarians, the low-carb dieters, etc.
4. Do you want people to mingle?

I just went to a holiday party last Friday night and I loved how they served food.  The venue was two rooms: the room in the front was a large dance floor with a band, two open bars, and a few tables around that held finger foods with mini plates and napkins so the guests could serve themselves.  The back room was set with about 25 tables and then there were buffets set against the walls serving crabcakes and sirloin and a creme brulee desert table.  In my opinion, it was the perfect party!  The people who wanted a sit down meal were in the back and the people who wanted to snack and party were in the front.  Two giant door ways, one on either side of the separating wall, allowed party-goers to easily flow from one room to the next.  What a great party!

Happy wedding planning and stay fab!
Lauren