Your wedding is the most important day of your life: Don’t compromise it by missing a few critical details. After producing countless weddings, we have distilled a few key points you won’t want to miss:

1. Get the right team. We strongly suggest allowing an experienced event company handle your wedding day plans and execution. If you can afford it (get a quote or two) you will be both relieved and relaxed on your wedding day. It is a big enough event without wondering if your mother in law coordinated the catering with the rentals as you are walking up the isle. If you do the numbers and get a couple of bids, and you are sure you can do an adequate job for much less money, then cross your fingers and build your team: When wonderful and terrible things happen in your life, your true friends shine, and others that you thought were your closest allies don’t show up. Make sure you entrust critical elements of your special day to those in your life who have already demonstrated their ability to stand up and go to bat for you. In addition to reliability, make sure competency is in the equation. This is a delicate situation when working with your friends: If your best friend will do your flowers at cost, be sure to ask her to bring a sample to your bridal shower, and/or state innocently that that sounds like a wonderful idea, and you would love to see pictures of other floral designs she has done to get an idea of what you want. If she can’t come up with the goods, just pass it off, and hire a professional. Some of the elements you may be able to enlist your team for:

Day of Event Manager Flowers Food if it is an ethnic party or you have a friend who is a professional caterer. Help finding a venue Help picking a wedding dress Help finding a cake vendor.

2. Pick the right venue Here are some critical factors in picking your venue:

First and foremost: Does your venue allow adequate load in and out time? If you plan on having lighting, draping, or other décor, you will need to give your vendors at least three hours, and preferably five hours to set up. Some venues give you 5 or 6 hours for your event, but that includes the set up time, and may charge you hundreds more for every extra hour needed. Is your venue near the majority of your guests? Make sure you did not pick a beautiful, impractically located venue. Many of your guests may be driving an hour or more to your event, so after a long day of your wedding, don’t ask them to drive long distances. Are there steps or other difficult load-in issues? Remember, rentals companies and event caterers will often charge premiums for difficult, time consuming and labor intensive load-ins. Vendor friendly: Make sure your venue has a nice kitchen if you are having caterers that are cooking on-site. Make sure there are enough outlets, and at least 3 to 4 breakers for the outlets in the main room if you are planning on having wedding lighting (strongly encouraged). If you are doing lighting, pick a venue with light colored walls so you can make the room the color theme of your wedding using lights. Dark walls will not allow for this. Is there an on-site manager who will help your vendors if a circuit blows or you need a mop? Do they offer Tables and Chairs included? If you are having a large group, that could save you hundreds! Remember to hire crew to set them up and put them away though. How much is the deposit? If you are running a tight ship, and they are keeping a large deposit, this could drastically affect your wedding budget, or force you to max out your credit cards. Any hidden fees? Many venues require insurance and charge you for an on-site manager, security, clean up, use of the kitchen, etc. Curfews? There is nothing worse than forgetting to ask the all important question: Are you in a residential district? If so, what is the latest that my reception can go until? Many venues in residential areas must finish their events by 9 or 10pm. This might be way too early for your crowd.

Catering: tables/ staff/ gratuity/ Buffet vs. seated, passed appetizers vs. stationed

3. Get your catering right: Here is a list of issues to consider in keeping your catering costs in check and having a quality event:

Hidden fees. Once again, look for TOTAL out the door cost. It is critical that you get a final cost quote in invoice format from your caterer BEFORE making any decision. A $30 per person dinner can easily sky rocket to $70 per person after adding in staff, gratuity, tax, travel charges, and rentals. Appetizers: Passed vs. stationed. My favorite is a combination of passed and stationed appetizers. As a guest at events, I personally hate being at the will of the prep cook and wait staff as to when the next morsel will meet my lips. For your hungry guests, allow them to fill a small plate (and only provide small plates or napkins) at an appetizer station. On the other hand, if you are deep in conversation with Aunt Edna, it may be just too rude, even if desirable, to exit your conversation and head for the appetizer stations, so that passed appetizer may just save you. When deciding on catering, it is always a delicate balance between paying for the food or the staff. Both are costly, and obviously more staff with minimum 6 to 8 hour shifts will cost a pretty penny, just to have a lot of passed appetizers. On the other hand, loading up food stations with expensive individually made Horse devours is an expensive prospect as well. Passing limits the consumption, while stationed limits the staff requirements. Try a hybrid. You will thank me. Dinner: Buffet Vs plated. I am a fan of the buffet. I will readily admit that the buffet has the distinct disadvantage of not being as elegant and requiring more food per guest. However, the logistical nightmares and intensive staffing that it saves, makes it a great choice. A nice served dinner requires one wait-staff per every 10 people or so. If you have 150 people, you will need 15 staff. At $150 to $200 per staff, this adds up very quickly relative to the 3 to 5 staff needed at a buffet (one to two at the buffet and 2 to 3 to bus/ replenish). It also greatly reduces the back end kitchen staff. Have you ever attempted to plate 150 meals in a ten minute duration? Don’t! The other major issue with plated dinners is the issue of ever changing minds. Many a time my clients have gotten RSVPs, made table tags, and assigned food preferences for each guest, only to find out that after countless hours of labor and coordination, many of their guests decided that they weren’t vegetarians after all, once they saw their neighbor get the fillet of sea bass. This will lead to many of the guests that did order a particular dish, not getting it, as it is impossible for the caterer to buy two of everything for all guests. If you must have a plated meal, I strongly suggest doing one split meal. Offer plate with surf and turf or fish and chicken, and let your couples barter at the table if one wants fish only and the other prefers beef. If you are brave enough not to hire a planner, I suggest you let the caterer get all of the rentals. You may or may not save a couple of dollars by getting a separate rental company, but it will be minimal if the caterer is fair, and you will not need to spend countless hours on spreadsheets, calculating creamers and napkins. Caterers get a 10% TO 20% discount from the rental company so generally, they don’t mark it up above retail. They are able to make their margin from their discount, not from marking it up above retail. In fact, sometimes the caterer will be picking up the rentals via will call, or may own their own linens and china, and will not charge you the delivery fee a rental company will.

4. Party Timing: Timing is everything as they say, and this is certainly true with events. Keep your event at four hours. Vendors may not tell you this, but this is the industry standard. Go under this magic number and it will cost you the same as if you kept your event at 4 hours. Go over it and you will be paying for overtime. From Venues, to DJs/bands to caterers, and more, you will find this the case.

5. Vendors: There is nothing more telling than the old event planners adage: you are only as good as your vendors. Follow these tips and you will reduce your chances of ending up with a lousy vendor, which will make a lousy wedding. This is probably the single best reason to hire a tried and true professional: They will know who to bring, and more importantly, who NOT to bring to your event.

As is true in most other aspects of life, it is doubly true with event vendors: You get what you pay for. This is a service industry, and you just can’t take shortcuts and get away with it. If you get a cheap caterer, DJ, or cake, that is exactly what it will appear like. Get 3 quotes if you are doing it yourself: don’t take the cheapest. Go for the middle or the highest. Be a detective. There are two things in life that all products and services are judged on: Price and quality. Your job, if you are venturing into the unknown land of finding vendors for your wedding, is to source the most reliable sources for your special day. After you have selected your best candidate, ask them for three references. Preferably ones that have used them more than once. Call up their references, and make sure to ask the hard questions, such as: “I know you think they are great, and I am sure they are. However no one is perfect. This won’t go beyond you and me, but if you had to change one thing about vendor X, what would it be? ”

6. Rentals: Event rentals are literally a world of their own. In order to not get taken, I suggest one of the following: Get your event planner to manage this or get your caterer to handle it. If you are absolutely determined to have a go at it yourself, then roll up your sleeves and make sure to take care of the following issues:

Load in/out windows. Most rental companies offer a 3hr window for their standard delivery fee. This means your rental items are guaranteed to come any time in a 3 hour time frame. If you have just 3 hours to load in to your event, this little detail could melt down your event. Imagine your guests standing around as table cloths and chairs are being set up by sweaty rental employees. If you have a limited load in time, make sure to ask the rental company to do a one or two hour load in window. Try and negotiate with the venue for a 3hr load out the next day, if at all possible. If not be prepared to pay for a short load out window and/or late night after hour fees. Also keep in mind, if your event is on a Saturday, some rental companies charge premiums to load out on a Sunday. Stairs, elevators, long carry ins. Make sure you do not have any of the above. If you do, tell your rental company, and get a quote before you commit. Extras. Never order exactly what you need. Always bring at least two additional tables and 10% more flatware, glasses and napkins than your guest count. Did you remember that the DJ needs a 6 foot table, or that the bartender needs both an 8 foot table (with risers) and a 6 foot back bar? Do NOT wait until a couple of days before your event to make final guest count changes. Most rental companies will not make any changes 48hrs before an event. Give yourself a week before the event to finalize the RSVPs. Who is setting up the rentals and breaking them down? Did you consider this? The rental companies will not do this, unless they are paid additionally for it. If your group size is 120 people or less, it is usually cheaper, and always easier to have the event rental company set up the tables and chairs, while your caterer will often set up the linens and fold the napkins, set the plates, etc.

7. Load in times: Make sure that you thought through all of the issues with vendor load ins.

Is there only one loading dock? Did you coordinate the load in so the same vendors are not trying to access the venue at the same time? Did you coordinate the load ins with the venue accessibility, and calculate load outs for best price based on venue and vendor requirements and charges?

8. Day of event planner: Remember, without a day of event planner, you will be compromising your special day. Ultimately if you hire a good event company, they will come with one. Our Day of event planners will cost you just $300 to $400 if you use our services, compared to the $1,200 to $1,800+ that a day of event planner normally charges. If you must have a friend do it, make sure they make up a form with all of the vendor names, phone numbers, load in start times, finish times, and load out times on one sheet. Be certain they get the vendors cell phones and office phones on the sheet so that if there is any issue, it will be easy to track. They should have the venue managers phone number on that sheet as well, and know where the broom, mop, etc. is.

9. Lighting: No event is complete without lighting. Lighting transforms a dismal space into a dynamic atmosphere. Although lighting a venue is not cheap, it is considerably less than decorating it with draping and other elements, and has a powerful impact on the emotions elicited, which will shape how the evening evolves. By incorporating lighting and draping, you can colorize any room to your event theme. Keep in mind there is no good way to only partially light a room. In order to have up-lights, cake lighting, and dance floor lighting be visible, you must turn down the ambient lighting of your venue either off, or to 25% of the normal lighting. This will allow the colors of the lighting to saturate the space and create the “glow” that you are looking for. When you do this, the bar, buffet, speeches on the dance floor, gift table, and anything else you need to have visible will disappear. It is important to make sure all of these elements are well lit by your lighting company. The impact of this is dramatic: a room glowing with every important event element at your reception. Take a look at some lighting packages to get an idea of what types of event lighting to look for: http://www.inspiremyevent.com/lighting-sounds.php

10. Set up and clean up. It is easy to get so involved in each of the event elements, that you forget the event basics: Set up and clean up. Although your caterer will be setting up the linens and the table settings, if you are doing other décor, putting out votive candles, or needing other elements, make sure that you have defined crew who do not need to be at the ceremony to do that. It is not fair to ask your friends to look great for your wedding, and set up the reception. You will run them ragged! Remember, the same goes with breakdown. Most venues require all loose items to be picked up off the floor, and if you are using their tables/chairs, they must be put away. Your caterers will not be expecting to do this. Again, don’t ask your loved ones to do these jobs in an evening gown. A turn key event company like inspire has dedicated staff for such jobs, or if you are doing it yourself, either make sure to make a deal with your caterer or hire specific staff for that purpose.

I sincerely hope these priceless tips and tricks will make your wedding day a wonderful one. If you enjoyed this information and would like more of the same or advice on different issues, please email us on the ‘contact us’ link on our site mentioned below and we will be happy to share more valuable insights into the complicated and exciting world of event planning.

With the summer wedding season fast approaching and many couples looking for ways to cut back on the cost of their nuptials, outdoor weddings are enjoying resurgence in popularity.  Not only does an outdoor event drastically reduce the amount spent on church and reception hall rental, but it also opens up a multitude of other cost cutting opportunities.  With that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of five easy ways to save money when planning your outdoor wedding.

1. Choose a month other than June.  June is by far the most popular month for weddings, and with good reason; the weather is usually beautiful.  But June isn’t the only calendar month with nice weather, and by choosing an earlier spring date or a fall date, you can save a lot of money with various vendors.  Many photographers, caterers, and rental suppliers will charge a premium for weddings during the busy month of June, simply because demand is so high.  If the date will work for you and your fiancé, consider an April or October wedding instead.

2. Consider a morning wedding.  Most weddings are held in the afternoon or evening, but there’s no reason you can’t have a wedding in the morning.  Morning weddings are often a great way to cut back on expenses, for several reasons.  First, you can serve breakfast instead of dinner.  This eliminates the need to worry about expensive appetizers and alcoholic beverages.  Generally speaking, breakfast foods are less expensive anyway.  Furthermore, you may be able to negotiate some discounts with your service providers, since morning weddings aren’t that common, and you may also have an easier time booking the providers you want.

3. Choose a low cost outdoor venue like a friend or family member’s backyard.  While it’s true that outdoor weddings are generally less expensive than indoor events, some outdoor venues can be pricey to rent.  For example, if you were hoping for a very popular state park with a scenic overlook, don’t expect it to come cheap.  By holding your event in a smaller or less formal outdoor space, not only can you save a lot of money on the location, but it can also afford you more flexibility with decorating.

4. Plant some flowers!  Assuming you have chosen to hold the wedding in a space where you have some flexibility and control, consider planting some flowers a few months before the event to cut back on the florist’s expense.  Planting flowers is also a great way to ensure that you’ll have exactly the variety of colors and textures you want when your big day arrives.

5. Buy decorations that can be used in your new home after the wedding is over.  Outdoor weddings are often decorated with items that can be reused later in the couple’s new yard.  For example, consider a large wedding arbor or pergola as the backdrop for your photos or the focal point where you’ll recite your vows.  Garden trellises can also make a nice backdrop, as can large urns of flowers or planter boxes.  If you have the ability to set these items in place a month or two in advance, go ahead and do so and plant some climbing flowers and vines like morning glory or nasturtium that will grow up the structures before your event.  When the wedding is over, the items can be used to landscape your new home’s yard, and over the years, they will hold a very special sentimental value to you and your spouse.

These are just a few of many ways you can save money on outdoor wedding planning.  With a little creativity and thinking outside the box, you can plan a beautiful and memorable wedding without breaking the bank.

I’ve been with my boyfriend for more than five years. We love each other very much, and we’re happy to live together. We thought happiness was more important than marriage, so we didn’t care about getting married for quite a long time before. But now, something has upset our plan. I am pregnant! I’m going to be a mother in months, which means we should get married as soon as possible before my belly is too big for a wedding dress. The situation is urgent, but we don’t have much money. See, the wedding ceremony, the wedding dress, the decoration of our house, the honeymoon, the fee for the coming baby and so on. Money is going to kill us! But the happiness of the coming baby has prevailed over the trepidation of the lack of money. We will try our best to fulfill our wedding using as little money as we can.

My friend Wendy suggest us buy some wedding things online, which can save us a lot of money. I think it’s a good idea. Usually, buy wedding dress onlinethe things online are cheaper than those in the big store more or less. So why not buy the wedding dress online? In fact, I don’t think it’s necessary to cost a lot on the dress; cheap plus size wedding dressafter all the dress will be stored forever after used once. So a cheap and simple dress is all right for me. After surfing online for quite a long time, I found a good website, which selling a wide variety of wedding dresses. Its products are simple and generous, the most important, not expensive. It’s to my taste. Finally, I decided to buy this a-line sweetheart sweep tulle wedding dress. Now I have received my dress, nice and cheap. The most important, it fits me well! I am so happy that I can save more money for my little baby.

I believe some friends have the same situation as me. If your wedding budget is a little tight, buying stuff online is really a good idea, which can save you time and money. But make sure the website you choose is a good one with relatively good reputation. Here is my suggestion. I hope my experience could help you.

Wedding is one of the biggest and important events of your life. It marks the beginning of a new episode in your life. The major step of wedding ceremony is fixing a date. Once the date is fixed people start thinking about the other aspects of the wedding such as wedding venue, design of the invitation card, guest list, wedding dress, reception party, wedding ring, decorations, arrangements and food. And generally people want everything to be perfect in their marriage especially the food which you serve to your guests. Because if the food is not good then your guests will start complaining and you will never want this to happen in your special day.

Therefore it is very good idea to hire wedding caterer who offers the best catering service in your city. But catering your wedding ceremony is costly as compare to other aspects of your wedding plan. Hence if you are budget oriented then you must focus to the catering area.

The best way to manage your budget is to control the size of your guests. You can invite only your close friends, relatives and your dear ones. There is no need to invite everyone in your wedding party.

Wedding cakes are always expensive if you purchase it from wedding cuisine caterer. So if you want to save your money then you can purchase it by your own from any grocery store.

You can select an alternative for an open bar to save your hard earned money you can buy alcohol by your self and can hire bartender or you can also serve champagne only with your wedding cake.

You can also keep your appetizers simple but always remember that the presentation should be attractive. The presentation is very important and here only the best caterer will shine. You can also limit your items if you want. The most important thing is that the dishes you offer to your guests should be fresh and of good quality. Make sure that the ingredients used in the dishes are fresh and the food is prepared in clean, neat and tidy environment. You can arrange for buffet other than the traditional arrangement. By offering buffet dinner you can save lot of money.

You can set the date of your wedding ceremony for off-peak time this will help you enormously. You can arrange your reception party at that time of the day when the guests are not expecting for full meal.

Arranging a wedding party is expensive and if you want then by working on few things with your expert wedding caterer you can save your hundreds of dollars. By considering few points you can make your day special and memorable for everyone and that too in your budget.

With all of the wedding planning you have to do before the big day, knowing when to send out save the date cards, wedding invitations, thank you cards, etc can be a huge hassle.  Here’s a handy guide to fill you in on when, what and how to handle all of your stationery needs.

Save the date
Sent up to six months in advance of the wedding, these cards can be a fun way to kick off your engagement and wedding plans. If you’re planning a destination wedding, these cards are essential heads-up notices to guests who’ll need some lead time for making travel plans. The look of these cards can hint about the style and formality of the coming wedding or not–it’s up to you.

Wedding invitation
A wedding invitation is often not just a card in an envelope but a small suite of cards, enclosures and envelopes. The idea behind this more-is-more strategy is two-fold. First, the more information your guests receive to help make their wedding day experience wonderful, the better their chance of having a great time. Second, those little extras (the inner envelope, the matching enclosures) help create that this-is-something-very-special feeling.

A classic wedding invitation includes

The invitation A lined inner envelope for the invitation Enclosure cards – These might include the invitation to your wedding reception, a valet parking notice, a pew card (for certain guests for whom you’ve reserved special seating), etc. If you’re having a destination wedding, use these cards to invite guests to other pre-and-post-wedding get-togethers, too. The response card – This is the ‘RSVP’ for your guests to fill out and return to you. This card should be enclosed along with an envelope pre-printed with your address and stamped. Note: don’t stamp those response card envelopes going to guests living outside the US. Map card – These helpful cards can be printed on the same paper as your invitation with the same ink to match the invitation. The outer envelope – This should be printed with your return address. Then you write out, by hand, the addresses of your guests or hire a calligrapher to do it for you.

Informal notes
Many stationers offer informal notes–essentially extra cards the same style and size as your wedding invitation’s response card with matching envelopes. These handy blank cards can be used for thank you notes, gift enclosures, and, importantly, for special hand-written personal notes for special guests. You may want to enclose one of these cards in the invitations you send to your parents, your future in-laws and everyone in the wedding party, for instance.

At home cards
These cards bear the address of your new home and when you’ll be moving in. They can be enclosed with your wedding invitations.

Wedding programs for the ceremony
Shaped like a large card, a brochure or a booklet, these programs are given out to guests at the wedding ceremony. A wedding program usually contains a schedule of the ceremony but can also include special notes about the members of the wedding party and other information that might help make your guests’ ceremony experience all the better. If your ceremony will be conducted in a language not all your guests are familiar with, consider adding a translation of the important parts. The wedding program doesn’t have to match the look of your wedding invitation but it should reflect the same formality and theme.

Place cards and menu cards for the reception
These cards give you the opportunity to add a stylish flourish to every place setting at the reception. Again, these cards don’t have to match your wedding invitations but they should reflect the tone of your overall wedding theme.

Thank you notes
You’ll be using these practically from the moment you announce your engagement. Consider getting two styles of notes. Order a set that matches your wedding invitations for sending thanks for wedding gifts from guests. Order a second, uniquely designed set for shower gifts and sending to all those wonderful people who made a special effort to make your day unforgettable.

Planning a wedding can be a daunting task, but visit GetMarried.com for the best wedding planning ideas including real wedding videos, blogs for brides, wedding invitations, wedding dress galleries and so much more.  Visit Get Married online at http://www.getmarried.com or tune in and watch on Lifetime at 7:30 EST Monday through Friday with your host Colin Cowie and co-host DeAnna Pappas.