Elegant Events

Bridal Shower Ideas

2010-01-04T04:26:00.000-08:00

When you throw a bridal shower, you know typically for whom the event is for: the bride to be. Bridal showers are a wonderful time for female friends and family of the bride to be to spend time with each other, celebrating the upcoming nuptials. Most bridal shower hostesses are a bride to be' s friend, relative or co-worker.

There are times when a bride to be has more than one bridal shower by these people.

No matter who is in charge of throwing a bridal shower for the bride to be, it' s not an easy feat to pull off. As hostess, there is much to take into consideration. However, if you plan to throw a bridal shower, there are some things that can help you throw the best bridal shower party that guests are sure to remember.

Four Things To Ensure a Successful Bridal Shower Party For The Guests

There are four things that ensure that you, the hostess, throw a successful bridal shower. Without one of these four things, the party could be dull and lifeless; something you don' t want to be remembered as. What are these four things? They are:

- Theme
- Food
- Games
- Gifts

Theme – If you' ve chosen to be the hostess for a bride to be' s bridal shower, it's time to get things together. To help you out, try to come up with a theme for the party. A theme will set the tone for the event. When you have a theme, other items seem to come together quite easily. There are all kinds of themes for you to pick from. You can focus on a particular food, gift, etc. or make it colorful. If you choose to go with a theme, be sure everything you get matches it as much as possible. While it' s not always easy to do, this can be done.

Food – If you settle on using a food theme for your bridal shower theme, you already have this step cleverly taken out of the way. A table can be setup with enjoyable finger foods that can go with the food theme. You can also do a food spread of different kinds of foods that guests are sure to want to try and eat.

Games – It' s always good to have some bridal shower games for guests to enjoy while they converse with other females at the party. Games can be wonderful icebreakers for people who don' t know each other. There are many games you can play that are suitable for anyone of any age. Make sure you have game prizes for guests who win your games. You certainly want enough games to play so be sure to plan for as many as you think you will need. You don' t want your guests bored at the party, where talking is the only fun thing to do.

Gifts – While the majority of bridal showers contain gifts for the bride to be, hostesses should never exclude gifts for the guests. Great gifts for the bride to be include lingerie or kitchenware. However, guests are happy with items of the personalized nature including handbags, soaps, etc. These are often called party favors. There are many items that can be made into a bridal shower party favor.

New Years Resolution

2009-12-01T10:26:00.000-08:00

Hello Brides and Grooms…..

Want to wish everyone a wonderful and safe holiday season. Hoping that all your travels are safe and fun!

I have been neglecting my blog a bit, and it is my New Year’s resolution to have a weekly, if not daily, update. I hope to provide good tips and valuable information to make sure your wedding planning is stress-free, just leave it to me!

My tip for this week is to make sure to take some time with your honey during the holiday season. Either spend a night together in front of a fire, a day in the park, nice scenic drive, or spending the day in bed; without wedding or Christmas planning….just relaxing. Take time to remember all the reasons you love and enjoy each other.

During holidays and wedding planning, couples tend to have small disagreements about issues and they can either turn into big blow ups and/or increase stress. I am here to be a sounding board for you when it comes to issues about planning. Feel free to contact me and put all the stress on me…that is what I am for!!

Most of all….enjoy all this, and make the most of the season. Below is a great movie quote…hope you enjoy it.

When you kiss someone, everything around you becomes hazy and the only thing you focus on is that one person. And you realize that person is the only person you’re supposed to be kissing for the rest of your life and for one moment you get this amazing gift and you want to laugh and you want to cry cause you feel so lucky that you’ve found it and so scared that it’ll go away, all at the same time.

---- Never Been Kissed

Remember, I am just a phone call away….

Your Wedding Planner,

Angie

Wedding Reception Money Saving Tips

2009-07-09T23:15:00.000-07:00

A little girl grows up dreaming of her wedding day with a perfect picture in her mind on how it is supposed to be. Then we grow up, get engaged and become shocked at how expensive everything is. Things become crazy and we get stressed out wanting everything to be perfect but wondering how to pay for it all. A wedding should not put you in debt. Debt is not a good way to start a new life with the person you love.

The reception can be the most expensive part of your wedding; the location rental, the food, the alcohol and other beverages, the DJ or band, the flowers, the place settings, etc., etc. There are ways to cut costs. First of all it is your reception; do not worry about pleasing your guests. They are supposed to be there to share in your special day, not to critique the food and the decorations. I’ve been to many, many weddings and receptions and I can’t remember ever thinking that anything they did was tasteless or tacky. I don’t recall caring whether or not they had extravagant decorations or simple centerpieces. That was not why I was there.

One of the easiest ways to cut the expense of your reception is to cut all the extras. Unless you can get a great package deal that includes all the bells and whistles, you don’t need them. You can choose to have your reception earlier in the day so you don’t have to provide guests with dinner. You can have hour devours and finger foods along with your wedding cake. You can skip the alcohol or just have the champagne toast and shots for the dollar dance. Giving shots for the dollar dance works to your advantage because if guests want the alcohol they have to pay to dance with you to get it. Another option is by having a cash bar, let guests pay for their own alcohol while you provide just tea, coffee, punch or soft drinks. If Uncle Fred or Aunt Jackie wants to get toasted, they can do it on their own dime.

If you really want to have a dinner reception check your area for culinary arts schools or cooking schools, sometimes they will cater an event for just the cost of food. You could even have pot luck. Have close friends and family each cook a special dish for your reception. You are bound to have great food without the cost of a caterer. Skip the fancy linen tablecloths, china, and silverware settings. I about had heart failure when I found out how much rental for those items would be. Plus I would have had to wash everything before returning it, except the tablecloths. Paper plates and plastic silverware are fine. No one will be insulted because you didn’t have fancy table settings. If you think someone will be insulted maybe you should consider not sending them an invite. You can coordinate the plates, napkins, and silverware with your wedding colors and it will look very pretty. You can also use plastic or paper tablecloths.
Everything will be disposable and you won’t have to worry about returning rentals when you should be enjoying your honeymoon.

If you want decent entertainment, check out local colleges for bands or DJ’s. With modern technology and computers many college students have excellent music skills. Music can be downloaded from the internet and saved on an MP3 player or burned onto a CD. You can get a techno savvy person to play music at your reception. Just give them a play list of certain songs you want played at certain times and make sure they have plenty of your type of music on hand. Give them a list a head of time so they can download any specific songs you may want.

Be creative when planning your wedding and reception and find ways to cut costs. Remember it is your wedding and if anyone has any problems with what you are planning ask them if they would like to pay for it to be done their way. If not remind them it is your wedding and your money you are spending.

Info from All Wedding Ideas

Wedding Wows....

2009-06-23T21:42:00.000-07:00

Some "WOW" items for your wedding are:

Step 1

Consider your blank canvas: the restroom at your reception site. If it's a simple set of toilet stalls and sinks, you must get creative. If it comes complete with a lounge area, granite sinks and pretty baskets of rolled organic towels, you may not need to do much.

Step 2

Make courtesy baskets. Take a basket, tie a ribbon on it and for the ladies' room, fill it with tampons and sanitary pads, breath mints, bobby pins, tweezers, hair spray, deodorant, a hairbrush, laundry pen and maybe even a bottle of perfume or extra pair of nude pantyhose. For men, the basket could contain mints or gum, deodorant, a razor, comb and perhaps condoms.

Step 3

Assess whether there will be small floral arrangements at the ceremony site that could be relocated to the restrooms during the reception. If you have room in your budget, you also could ask the florist to prepare small arrangements. Plants surrounded by tea light candles also are a nice touch.

Step 4

Purchase decorative paper guest napkins to be placed by the sink, if the reception site only offers an electric hand dryer or a paper towel dispenser. You might consider bringing a nice bottle of hand soap if the reception site's soap is the typical industrial pink variety.

Step 5

Appoint a decor-savvy bridesmaid and groomsmen to place the baskets, flowers and napkins in the restrooms. The attendants also can bring an assortment of candles to add to the ambiance.

information from ehow.com

Welcome

2009-06-10T21:27:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to the new blog for Elegant Events!

As we move into the busy season for weddings and parties, I would like to thank all my past, present, and future brides, grooms, and partners for having faith in me to make sure that your weddings are memorable and stress free.

To my wedding vendor partners...Thanks for your excellent service and value to my customers.

This blog will be updated regularly with valuable information and helpful hints...I hope that you benefit from this blog, and remember...I am just a phone call away!!

Have a great day!

Angie