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Omne posted:Our caterer gave us the following piece of advice: do not alter your menu to cater to one or two people who are vegetarian. Tell the caterer and they can make special dishes for those people. Now, if you're Indian or otherwise vegetarian and a good chunk of your guests are too, then certainly cater. But for us, I know for a fact that we will have less than 5 vegetarians, so I'm not altering what I want to serve at my wedding for them. I'll make sure they have a separate plate for their meals. We chose not to serve some pretty loving tasty bacon wrapped shrimp at the cocktail hour because some of my husband's relatives were Orthodox Jews and then they didn't even come. I'm still mildly bitter about that.
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Aug 21, 2015 18:29
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:We chose not to serve some pretty loving tasty bacon wrapped shrimp at the cocktail hour because some of my husband's relatives were Orthodox Jews and then they didn't even come. This is why I love that my caterers will make me and my fiancé whatever we want for us and the head table. I can serve chicken parm to the general crowd and get 8oz sirloins for the head table. I am a big fan of anything that lets the bride and groom get whatever they want for themselves on that day.
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Aug 21, 2015 19:26
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22 Eargesplitten posted:We just need to figure out the date next, probably. Do this then let me know so you can hire me to be your DJ at a steep discount. That is, if you are still planning on the iPod wedding dealio. At the very least I can send you the playlists from this summer's weddings to give you a better idea of some cross-generational party music.
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Aug 21, 2015 19:53
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Jesus, I don't post in this thread for several months, and when I come back everyone still remembers everything about me. I'll consider it, but I think there will be a lot of resistance to the idea from my fiancee. She wants to keep this as cheap as possible, so we can just spend it all on the honeymoon.
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Aug 21, 2015 23:24
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Sorry, man, I'm just in the heat of wedding season and that detail stuck out to me. I don't mean to come off as a ding-a-ling, I just hate lackluster events. Hit me back when you lock down a date, though! 15 weddings done this season. After today I've got 7 more and then vacation!
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Aug 22, 2015 16:24
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T-minus five hours  What should I do with my groomsmen and dads while the bridal side of things does their makeup and stuff? Other than two more quick phone calls I don't have anything to do until the ceremony so we're kind of just posting up at home for now.
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Aug 22, 2015 17:27
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C-Euro posted:T-minus five hours Watch a movie. At least half of the weddings I've been in the wedding party for ended up doing that just to pass the time.
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Aug 22, 2015 19:01
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Wedding status: accomplished! The day was pretty much perfect, the weather and location were both at their best and everything went off basically without a hitch. Most importantly I'm not sure if I've ever been happier in my life than I was during our wedding ceremony  I wasn't paying attention to anyone besides my wife but apparently my vows made about half the audience cry, including the judge officiating our wedding. And as an added bonus, just as we had hoped the one single guy in attendance (my best man) ended up going home with the one single woman in attendance (one of my wife's college friends), so our wedding even featured a random hook-up despite my complaints about most of the guests being old people  Hopefully our married life will go as smoothly and beautifully as the wedding did, it was the perfect way to start things off.
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Aug 25, 2015 06:02
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Yayyy!! Congrats!
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Aug 25, 2015 14:01
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C-Euro posted:Wedding status: accomplished! Congratulations! It sounds like you really did have the perfect day and the way you speak about your wife here you can tell how much you love her.
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Aug 25, 2015 14:02
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C-Euro posted:Wedding status: accomplished! The day was pretty much perfect, the weather and location were both at their best and everything went off basically without a hitch. Most importantly I'm not sure if I've ever been happier in my life than I was during our wedding ceremony Anything day of that you went, "huh, should have thought about that before now", that you can impart to the rest of us? Congrats on finally making it past the big day too!
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Aug 25, 2015 17:43
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FYI: We had to get liability insurance for our venue since we are providing the alcohol, and ended up also getting cancellation insurance for a hundred or so more. Worth looking into if you have older relatives. (Also, the sooner the better since pre-existing medical conditions aren't covered.)
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Aug 25, 2015 18:45
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One month away on my wedding. We've overprepared for so many other things, but have neglected to decide what the hell to do during the actual ceremony. We're not religious, don't have any cultural traditions or anything we want to include, but don't want the ceremony to be super short, either. Any fun recommendations on ceremony activities? We don't plan on anyone singing or playing music, and the whole "someone does a reading" thing just feels arbitrary. On a side note, I don't know what you all are talking about when you say that people remember the food at weddings. I remember very little about any wedding food I've ever had. Most of it was kinda bland and simple. One wedding was all Chinese food. There was good asparagus at one wedding. That's all. I've never cared much whether wedding food was good or not. That said, for what we're paying, our food better be damned good.
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Aug 25, 2015 19:49
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Thanks y'all OssiansFolly posted:Anything day of that you went, "huh, should have thought about that before now", that you can impart to the rest of us? I don't remember anything day before or day of that was something I hadn't thought of before, but I do wish I had taken another look at the layout of our reception. On either end of the head table we had the cake table and the wedding favors/guest book/presents table on the other end. Both tables were by doors to an outdoor pavillion where there was a Cocktail hour before the dinner, so we figured people would walk in through both doors and go by the favors table and do the stuff there. Except everyone ended up coming in through the cake door because that's also where the alcohol was, so the favors table received relatively little attention as the night went on (and on top of that, the cake ended up being hauled outside at one point to cut pieces so it's not like it needed to be in too important a spot inside). Not really a big deal but also an easy fix if we had spent 30 more seconds examining things. Don't spend all your floor plan time figuring out who will sit with who, think about how people will approach the venue space too! E: Our ceremony was short and simple but we wanted it that way, we're at our best as a couple when things aren't overly dramatic. You could write your own vows if you want to add a personal touch, my wife and I wrote ours and they went over pretty well. I actually wrote mine ahead of time, scraped most of them a couple days before and sort of made new ones up off the dome during the ceremony, which had about half the audience in tears (but not my wife, my goal was to make her cry but she never cries about anything so oh well). Don't worry about it being too short though, your guests will most likely thank you for it especially if you are outside on a hot sunny day. C-Euro fucked around with this message at 20:01 on Aug 25, 2015 |
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Aug 25, 2015 19:51
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smackfu posted:FYI: We had to get liability insurance for our venue since we are providing the alcohol, and ended up also getting cancellation insurance for a hundred or so more. Worth looking into if you have older relatives. (Also, the sooner the better since pre-existing medical conditions aren't covered.) Even if you don't HAVE to get it I'd recommend it. I am an insurance agent and this was the first thing I did. The last thing I need is someone suing me because they got "over served" and killed a family while driving drunk. In OH it costs like $400 for a stand alone policy for the weekend, but if you get it added to your existing insurance it may be cheaper. C-Euro posted:
Yea we are the same way. We want the ceremony to be walk in, "Hi all", vows, and walk out. No readings, no poems, no singing, no written vows, etc. As my fiancé says "Short and dirty".
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Aug 25, 2015 20:04
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AlliedBiscuit posted:One month away on my wedding. We've overprepared for so many other things, but have neglected to decide what the hell to do during the actual ceremony. One thing my fiance and I are thinking about doing, which I've seen at three of my friends' wedding ceremonies, is a wine unity ceremony. Kinda like the unity candle or that unity sand thing some people do. I guess it comes from a French tradition where vineyard owners would combine their wines when their kids got married (or something like that). So one person would have white wine, the other red ... you combined them into one blush wine, and drink it. Here's a site that has a little more info on it and some typical things an officiant can say. http://www.forthisjoyousoccasion.com/wine-ceremony.html That might be a nice nonreligious thing to fill up a few minutes of time. Plus you get to drink wine!
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Aug 25, 2015 21:16
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We're 12 days away from our wedding and haven't figured out the details of the ceremony yet. It will definitely be short and sweet, as we aren't doing any sort of unity ceremony nor any readings. We are writing our own vows, but otherwise just using our officiant's generic non-religious ceremony. Our one change is at the end instead of the guests replying with "we do" when asked if they'll promise to support us etc, we're having them say "so say we all" because we're huge nerds and it's a common way to end a speech in Battlestar Galactica  We also (*fingers crossed we can get it done in time*) have friends of ours pre-recording themselves playing both our processional and recessional songs which I really like.
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Aug 25, 2015 22:04
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AlliedBiscuit posted:One month away on my wedding. We've overprepared for so many other things, but have neglected to decide what the hell to do during the actual ceremony. I've posted this in the thread before so sorry if you already read it, but we did a Memory Box ceremony. I hunted all over to find a really pretty wooden chest for our memory box. Our wedding party pitched in for a nice bottle of wine for us and my husband-to-be and I wrote secret letters to each other the night before the wedding. During the ceremony our officiant handed us the letters we'd written and we placed them (unread) and the wine in the box. Now I've put a couple more items in it like our wedding certificate, an unused invitation and a few pictures of the house we just moved into last month. And anytime anything big happens in our life we'll add it too. We'll open it each anniversary and read the letters, drink the wine and look through all the mementos that have been gathered there. Each year we'll write new letters and replace the wine (or maybe something else) I really like the idea and I can't wait to see what it contains many years down the road. For the actual ceremony we just had the officiant explain what the box was and we made a show of putting the notes and wine in and closing it up. Then the rest of the night it sat on the cake table to add to the decor. Here's a picture of it actually. Ours was the middle one which actually was just big enough to fit a bottle of wine comfortably in the bottom. 
Buggiezor fucked around with this message at 02:13 on Aug 26, 2015 |
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Aug 26, 2015 01:58
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Omne posted:Our caterer gave us the following piece of advice: do not alter your menu to cater to one or two people who are vegetarian. Tell the caterer and they can make special dishes for those people. Now, if you're Indian or otherwise vegetarian and a good chunk of your guests are too, then certainly cater. But for us, I know for a fact that we will have less than 5 vegetarians, so I'm not altering what I want to serve at my wedding for them. I'll make sure they have a separate plate for their meals. As a vegetarian, that's all I can ask for  I've had places just give me extra potatoes and vegetables, others have an alternate vegetarian dish ready, so it's certainly not something worth panicking about.
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Aug 26, 2015 02:54
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AlliedBiscuit posted:On a side note, I don't know what you all are talking about when you say that people remember the food at weddings. I remember very little about any wedding food I've ever had. Most of it was kinda bland and simple. One wedding was all Chinese food. There was good asparagus at one wedding. That's all. I've never cared much whether wedding food was good or not. That said, for what we're paying, our food better be damned good. It's not so much that people remember the food specifically, but whether it was good or bad. If the food is OK and forgettable, it will be forgotten. If it's notably bad, it will probably be remembered. We focused a lot on food and booze, and two years later people still comment (unprompted) about how good the food was. Generally, when people say focus on food/music/bar, it's another way of saying don't worry too much about the minutiae. If your centerpieces are lackluster, nobody will remember. If the music or food blows, they probably will.
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Aug 27, 2015 02:19
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LogisticEarth posted:It's not so much that people remember the food specifically, but whether it was good or bad. If the food is OK and forgettable, it will be forgotten. If it's notably bad, it will probably be remembered. We focused a lot on food and booze, and two years later people still comment (unprompted) about how good the food was. Yea this is basically it. I've been to 7 weddings in the past 6 years. If you ask me what was on the tables, what we got as table gifts, what the bridesmaids were wearing or even what the wedding colors were I'd tell you for each and every one of them "I don't know". Now, if you ask me if I liked the food, drinks or DJ I can absolutely tell you for each and every one of those weddings if I did or did not and why. For some reason people expect you to give them good food and drinks and provide them with a fun time when they go to a wedding. When you don't it affects them negatively which leaves a lasting impression. The same goes for the opposite and making them happy. The center pieces, colors, dresses and other stuff has zero emotional connections to the guests...seeing those things doesn't leave an impression because they aren't emotionally tied to them in any way.
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Aug 27, 2015 14:54
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19 o'clock posted:Sorry, man, I'm just in the heat of wedding season and that detail stuck out to me. I don't mean to come off as a ding-a-ling, I just hate lackluster events. Hit me back when you lock down a date, though! Oh, I wasn't accusing you of E-stalking me. I'm just surprised to be remembered.
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Aug 27, 2015 16:21
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Buggiezor posted:I've posted this in the thread before so sorry if you already read it, but we did a Memory Box ceremony. This is an awesome idea and totally up our alley. I just submitted the "script" for our ceremony today and included something similar to this. Thanks for the idea! 11 days (and about 300 small tasks) to go!
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Aug 27, 2015 23:08
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KasioDiscoRock posted:This is an awesome idea and totally up our alley. I just submitted the "script" for our ceremony today and included something similar to this. Thanks for the idea! I'm glad you like the idea! I'm looking forward to having all the letters we write to each other through all the years. My husband isn't a big wine drinker so I'm wondering in the future what other drink we could put in there instead. Probably going to end up with something like whiskey.
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Aug 28, 2015 02:33
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Our venue will let us bring our wine with no corkage, I had planned on buying a few cases of Charles Shaw wine since we are making it available free to guests. However today my mom told my fiance that she thought serving Charles Shaw wine was "crass", for those that may not know this is the wine that is $2.50 a bottle at Trader Joe's. The way I see it the wine tastes fine, it doesn't cost an arm and a leg, and we are literally giving it to guests for free, along with a keg of hosted beer. It seems like if they want free wine they get what we provide, its not like we were going to give them wine that tasted bad, it just happens to be inexpensive. Is my mom correct and I am just being a cheapskate, or the other way around?
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Aug 28, 2015 03:36
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Depends on your guests. Are they the type to notice you got cases of two buck chuck and snoot about it or will they just be like "yay free booze" and not notice/care?
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Aug 28, 2015 04:05
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I don't really know of anyone coming that is *SUPER* in to wine. My sister sort of is, but she buys two buck chuck and drinks it at home all the time. The rest of my family is mainly domestic light beer drinkers and whatnot, I honestly can't think of a single person that would give a single gently caress about the free wine they are getting. I think my mom is more concerned with what she thinks is proper instead of thinking about what people actually WOULD think.
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Aug 28, 2015 04:47
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I think it'd be fine then. I could only see it causing issues if you bought the cheap wine and didn't have an open bar and people had to pay a several hundred percent markup on it. If people bitch about the quality of the free booze you're giving them they're assholes. It's not like you're supplying them with a bunch of malt liquor and "wine" from 7-11.
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Aug 28, 2015 12:36
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I'd say it depends on the overall budget for the wedding and how it fits in with everything else. If you're spending big on a bunch of stuff, it will probably look out of place. If it's a scrimp and save kinda deal, then it's more reasonable. It's also a special event, and some people appreciate seeing something a bit nicer than the "everyday" stuff like two-buck-chuck. It really depends on who your guests are and their personalities. Personally I usually err on the side of excess when it comes to parties, but keeping it within budget is always important. If wine's one of the areas you feel you can skimp on without detracting from the event, then go for it. Also, weddings are one of those things where certain family members might throw you a bit of extra cash to help upgrade certain things they'd like to see you have at the wedding. Might want to float the idea that you'd like to spend more on wine, but lack the funds. If she REALLY wants you to have better wine, she can make it happen herself.
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Aug 28, 2015 12:52
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I probably wouldn't cheap out on it, since it just doesn't amount to much in the grand scheme of things. Buy 3 cases of wine, 36 bottles, spend $5 more per bottle (so it's a $7-8 bottle), that only adds up to $180. But as mentioned, it really depends on the overall budget. LogisticEarth posted:Also, weddings are one of those things where certain family members might throw you a bit of extra cash to help upgrade certain things they'd like to see you have at the wedding. Might want to float the idea that you'd like to spend more on wine, but lack the funds. If she REALLY wants you to have better wine, she can make it happen herself. Heh, yeah, we told my mom we were just going to get the big bottles of Yellowtail or something and she jumped in about picking the wine and paying for it. smackfu fucked around with this message at 14:31 on Aug 28, 2015 |
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Aug 28, 2015 14:27
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Just remember most liquor stores will let you return unopened cases of beer and unopened bottles of wine, so unless your group is a bunch of booze hounds you can get some of that money back afterwards. We served ~$10 wine, Yuengling for beer, mid-shelf liquor (Stoli, Bacardi, etc), and mid-range champagne and spent about $1000 in total and got a couple hundred back on returns after.
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Aug 28, 2015 14:51
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Trader Joe's has some really solid $5 wines as well.
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Aug 28, 2015 16:34
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:Just remember most liquor stores will let you return unopened cases of beer and unopened bottles of wine, so unless your group is a bunch of booze hounds you can get some of that money back afterwards. For how many people? We are providing our own alcohol for our wedding and we are disagreeing on how much it will cost. It'll be about 100-110 guests of drinking age
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Aug 28, 2015 16:42
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Porkchop Express posted:Our venue will let us bring our wine with no corkage, I had planned on buying a few cases of Charles Shaw wine since we are making it available free to guests. I think Charles Shaw wine looks and feels cheap for a wedding. Don't get me wrong, I'll drink it happily myself, but I would suggest going to Costco and getting a nice $8-10 wine like Bogle red blend instead. Disregard this advice if you are trying to do a wedding for under $5k total or something where budget is the #1 and #2 priority.
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Aug 28, 2015 17:06
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Well, we are trying to reign in the costs as much as we can lately because last month my fiance fractured 5 vertebrae, luckily the brace she has to wear comes off 7 days before the wedding. But between the medical costs, credit card costs to try and make up some of the difference in SDI vs paycheck benefits, I am just a little worried about overspending. Rationally I realize a few dollars per bottle won't really make that big of a difference in the grand scheme of things, I am just concerned about money at the moment.
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Aug 28, 2015 17:39
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Start with nicer wine for the beginning, switch to the cheap stuff after a couple of hours, once everyone's a little toasted.
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Aug 29, 2015 00:05
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Hutla posted:Start with nicer wine for the beginning, switch to the cheap stuff after a couple of hours, once everyone's a little toasted. If you're going with that track, invite Jesus and he might be able to work something out for you.
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Aug 29, 2015 03:45
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Writer Cath posted:If you're going with that track, invite Jesus and he might be able to work something out for you. Only thing Jesus would do is reverse the order of that advice. :P Porkchop Express posted:Well, we are trying to reign in the costs as much as we can lately because last month my fiance fractured 5 vertebrae, luckily the brace she has to wear comes off 7 days before the wedding. But between the medical costs, credit card costs to try and make up some of the difference in SDI vs paycheck benefits, I am just a little worried about overspending. Then tell your mom that it isn't in the budget to get anything "better". At the end of the day it is what it is. There is no reason to go nuts on alcohol that you aren't even sure people would drink. I don't know when the celebration is, but if you have enough time making the wine yourself could be an option (or having someone you know do it).
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Aug 31, 2015 14:53
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Omne posted:For how many people? We are providing our own alcohol for our wedding and we are disagreeing on how much it will cost. It'll be about 100-110 guests of drinking age 100 people, but we booze shopped before RSVPs came in so we were shopping for 175.
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Aug 31, 2015 18:26
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Aren't you guys thinking of paying over $1k for a DJ? Cutting back there and buying $8/bottle wine seems more preferable to me. Oh well, just goes to show to each his/her own.
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Aug 31, 2015 18:31
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