Planning Tips & Advice Archive

Kristin Kaplan of Simply Stunning Events wrote this article about helpful hints for creating your wedding-day timeline. See excerpt below!

Photo by Justin Wright.

• Never assume anything! I try to make our timelines as detailed as possible and include the when, what, where, and how for each item. Never assume that the vendors know which church it is or that the band knows what to play for the first dance. Most likely they do, but it’s always helpful to list those sorts of details in the timeline JUST IN CASE.
• Know what time sunset is. It’s amazing how many couples don’t consider the sunset when deciding on a ceremony time. Especially if you are planning to take a lot of photos outside after the ceremony, you need to be sure there will be enough light!
• Along those lines, discuss with your photographer the best times to shoot outdoor photos. Typically the worst time is between 11 am and 3 PM when the sun is going to be the harshest. Plan to start photos a bit later in the afternoon and the light will be much prettier.
• Consider having a “first look”. Nothing makes a wedding day run more smoothly than a bride and groom seeing each other before the ceremony. Everyone is much more relaxed, you won’t have to worry about the logistics of making sure you each don’t accidentally run into each other before the ceremony, you’ll have much more time to get all of your portraits taken since you’ll be able to do so before the ceremony, and you’ll probably even make it to your cocktail hour! This topic can be its own post in an of itself but seriously consider it as it’s worth it!

I don’t know if you’ve been outside lately, but fall is definitely on its way! From pumpkin spice lattes (yes, they’re here!) to sweet potato pie and all that yummy comfort food that happens as soon as the air chills and bonfires start popping up every Friday night, ’tis the season. Ashley’s Bride Guide’s got the expert seasonal food advice from Chef’s Market! See excerpt below!

Tablescaping and Design:

Wanting their guests to feel at home, couples have long been breaking free of the tendency to think that a fall wedding reception has to be formal or traditional. The trick is to make it comfortable and elegant at the same time. A stylish look for table tops and food presentation for the autumn 2011 season is what I call “rustic bohemian”. The look is clean and earthy, incorporating farm house tables, antique baskets, wooden cutting boards and using roughly torn brown butcher paper as under-liner for food. In the past, this style might have been accented with an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables on the tables for a farmers’ market look — no more. Cleaner lines are in. A look of abundance is a must, but it should come from the prepared food, not the props or randomly thrown fodder. Decor should have function (i.e. fresh herbs in rustic pots with silver scissors for guests to snip and add to their food).

Colors:

I love the warm, comfortable colors of fall — ivory, taupe, black, eggplant, marigold, browns, and copper. These hues are classics that have long been on autumn wedding inspiration boards and are still popular. The surprising color I am seeing this fall is red, a bright red, and it makes sense. What color is your eye drawn to when seeing a hillside of trees with turning leaves? Vibrant red. In the past, I have played it safe with a rusty red, but this year I’m taking a clue from Mother Nature and throwing in cherry red.

Food:

Because couples really want a comfortable environment that’s not stuffy or pretentious for their guests, comfort food continues to be on trend. But there are new trends in comfort food, such as grits, boneless beef ribs, savory cupcakes, and home-style desserts.

Grits: Shrimp and grits have been around receptions for a while…for so long now that it was just added to Shoney’s menu. In other words: Bye, bye shrimp and grits; it was fun while it lasted. However, we’re not ready to give up on grits just yet. A grits station where guests pick from a smorgasbord of grit features can make the whole concept a fresh idea again. Maybe Lobster and Brie Stone Ground Grits, Smoked Gouda Grits, or Wild Mushroom and Gruyère Grits, with an awesome display of toppings like apple wood bacon, caper berries, and fire roasted corn for guests to garnish however they’d like to the reception site.

To see the rest, click here!

~ Kelly

Ashley’s Bride Guide recently featured some sound advice from Crumb de la Crumb on “Easy Ways to Save On Your Nashville Cakes & Desserts!”

From ABG:

“The first thing is to be honest and upfront with your budget. If I know what your budget is, and I know we can’t meet it, I don’t want to waste your time. If a client doesn’t put a budget on our info form, we encourage them to do that so that we can know whether or not we can work with them up front.

If a client still wants to work with us but we can’t do exactly what they originally wanted, there are a couple of options we can offer:

~ We can make a simpler cake with fewer details and embellishments that will bring the cost down a bit.

~ Or, we can make a smaller cake that will feed up to 100 people.

~ If a couple is having more guests than that, they can get our smaller custom cake and then cupcakes or a kitchen cake (a basic sheet cake without design that is pre-cut in the kitchen). That will save about half on the remaining servings.”

If you’d like for us to set you up an appointment to meet with Crumb de la Crumb, email us at leigh@studiowed.net or come visit us!

Amy Lynn Larwig recently posted a new Two-Minute Tutorial on her blog!

Check it out!
~ Kelly