20 THE QUEENS COURIER • BRIDAL • JUNE 25, 2015 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com GETTING EVERYTHING RIGHT FOR THE BIG DAY s bridal Niki Got has 29 years of event and home styling experience nationwide and internationally. In her fi rst monthly column with the Courier, she offers these tips on preparing for a perfect wedding day. Wedding preparation • Before beginning to look at venues, estimate how many guests you will have. That way you’ll know if the venues you are considering can fi t the number of guess you are inviting. • Check your dates before booking your date; make sure that it is not a holiday or a local event. • Consider that 10 percent of your guests usually Find the perfect caterer online Do you want a simple way to address your catering and event planning needs? Caterbid.com provides an easy and effi cient way to ensure that catering all of your most important events is seamless and hassle free. Simply log on, post your event and have the caterers come to you. It’s that simple! Caterbid has helped many satisfi ed customers with their catering and event planning needs. The Caterbid team is on stand by to provide you with the white glove service that you deserve for all of your events and best of all, it’s free! Caterbid.com is the easy and effi cient way to handle your catering and event planning! can’t arrive for different and sometimes unexpected reasons. • Fridays and Sundays usually cost 20-30 percent less than Saturdays. • Make a list of who will be your maid of honor, bridesmaids, groomsmen, fl ower girls, etc. • In my experience, it’s better to have the wedding ceremony in the same venue you will hold your reception. In some events, the ceremony takes place in a church and after 3-4 hours the event takes place in a different location. Consider doing everything in the same venue in order to minimize your guests’ need to travel. • Check in advance to see what hotels are close to your venue. • Hire a wedding coordinator if you can, or have someone you trust can be in charge the day of the wedding. Introduce them to the banquet manager in your venue. Make sure that this person will have all of the vendors’ information and they are available to reach during the day for on-the-go questions or decisions that needs to be answered. Make sure that the vendors receive that person’s information as well. • When printing your invitations, include a map and directions to the venue and add the name, phone numbers, and the full address of the location. • Consider printing: Save the Date cards, RSVPs, place cards, thank you Cards (for after the wedding) and menus (if needed) at the same business – this might lower your costs. • Today, RSVPs are sometimes emailed rather than mailed. Most couples open an email account with their initials and the date of their wedding, and the RSVP’s have options for electronic responses (email) as well as traditional mail responses. • Knowing how many guests actually plan to arrive at your wedding can make a big difference in the event cost. To this end, you can hire a company – or even a couple of good friends calling as a company – to call each guest and get a verbal confi rmation for their attendance or non-attendance fi ve to six days for the event. • Guests enjoy mingling during the cocktail hour. See that you’ve ordered enough hors d’eurves both in stations and in passing (with waiters passing by holding trays of hors d’eurves). • When booking a DJ or a Band don’t forget to go over a list of music and give them the details regarding the different music you want for the ceremony and most importantly the details for the Bride and Groom’s fi rst dance! • Take some dancing lessons! You want to be prepared for your fi rst dance. • Prepare speeches, toasts, blessings (Motzi), and your vows! Who will say what? Make sure that there are no surprises. You’re wedding coordinator, banquet manager and the DJ/band should know the names of the guests that are involved for when they are call them to speak. • Marriage license: Take care of your license in advance and remember to bring it to the ceremony. • Brides: When buying new shoes, be sure to wear them at home – walk with them for a couple of hours, in many cases when the shoes are new they hurt and make you feel uncomfortable during your event. Always Remember: • Get a good night’s sleep the night before your wedding. • Do not leave anything for the last minute so you can enjoy the week before your wedding stress-free. Remember that your guests don’t know the details you’ve planned: If something happens differently from the way you planned it, no one will know! • Enjoy your event! If you feel nervous or stressed before the ceremony, drink half a glass of wine, but not more. Start drinking when the party starts (after your fi rst dance). After so much planning, the day of the event will pass by more quickly than you can imagine. Have fun and congratulations!!! I would love to hear your thoughts and answer any of your questions. Send your emails to [email protected]
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