Spend Smarter: Successful Saving Tips for Your Big Day

People who’ve fallen in love decide daily to take the big step toward happily ever after. An average of 2 million weddings happen in the United States each year (CDC FastStats), proving even in the current economic crunch, weddings are here to stay.

Although specific tastes vary in glitz and glamour, size and expense, even brides with budgets out the wah-zoo like saving money and feeling like they are truly getting ‘bang for their buck.’ With exactly that in mind…we’ve come up a few suggestions for the budget conscious, savvy spending bride. Happy planning!

1. Hire a wedding planner! This one is always at the top of our list! Having a friend or family member handle the details of your big day may seem like a great way to save money, and a true honor for the person offering, but hiring a professional with experience, skills, and connections to superb vendors is priceless. A good planner will make certain you have a realistic budget, a well-organized event, and an attention to details, causing your big day to be breath-taking! Well worth the money!


2. Do everything in one place! Look for venues that offer enough space for your entire event without leaving the premises. Have your wedding on the lawn, a cocktail hour on the veranda, and party the night away at a reception in the ballroom! Staying in one venue during the entire wedding and festivities afterward can easily cut expenses. Plus, you limit the amount of possible snafus that can occur: getting stuck traffic in between ceremony and reception locations, losing some of your guests because they opt to go home after the ceremony instead of traveling to another place, and keeping your guests waiting who arrive at the reception site early.

An addendum to this is to consider choosing a date around a holiday. The venue of choice may be already heavily decorated (hopefully with colors and décor of interest to you!) and lessen the amount needed to spend.

3. Use a smaller bridal party! Gasp! It’s hard to hear, but true…everyone you know does NOT have to stand up for you on the big day. Most states require only the bride, groom, a member of the clergy or authorized public official, and no more than one to two witnesses to have a legal ceremony. Because “warding off evil spirits” is no longer the main duty of bridesmaids, it’s not necessary to have more than two to three. This is a hard sale, we know, but seriously, does your childhood neighbor’s cousin who share’s the same day your braces were removed really deserve a spot standing in your wedding?! We thought not…neither do your four cousins who are only close to you in age. The role of a bridesmaid, maid or matron of honor, as well as the best man and groomsmen, should be just that—a place of honor, chosen with thoughtfulness in mind. These roles should be reserved for those whom you share heartfelt moments--laughs, tears, and choice words with on a fairly regular basis—folks who are truly close to you, support you and your soon to be spouse, and truly deserve to be a witness to the miracle of your marriage!

4. Choose and buy flowers in season. Unless you just have to have a certain flower that can only be found in New Zealand during the dead of winter, it should be fairly easy to find something that suits your taste within the season of your nuptials. This is not an attempt to sway any bride or groom away from favorites or must haves, but generally wedding dates are chosen during seasons of the year that remind the couple of places, flowers, food, sounds…all the things that cause warm thoughts and feelings. If you are having a Fall wedding, what are some things you love about autumn? Leaves and their changing colors? Pumpkins, cider and hay? Or do you love the lush blooms of springtime? Palm trees and greenery, succulents in groups? Use these things! They are generally easy to find and will bring some creativity into your décor and flower scheme.


5. Cut your guest list—this is another hard one, but honestly, if you’re on a serious budget, this is one of the easiest ways to shrink costs. Revisit the thought of who should be there with you celebrating this milestone. Will it really matter in ten years if your former college roommate’s cousin is in attendance or not?

One great way to whittle down the guest list is planning a destination wedding. They are widely popular during the economic crunch (and when money isn't a factor), have allure for guests who can plan their ‘vacation’ around your date, and most of the time you can decrease the number of those in attendance to 25 to 30, dependent upon wedding locale.

Again, these are some suggestions to help your wedding BE REMEMBERED. Enjoy!

Appletini Oasis is coming...

Everyone who knows me knows weddings are my absolute favorite, but I also truly melt at the thought of a fabulous party, and especially when I get the chance to work on it! Well, 2010, especially the summer of 2010, is certainly the year of milestone parties and lots of folks are calling about ME doing their 30th, 40th, and/or 50th bashes...I couldn't be more excited to be a part of someone's celebration during these wonderful corners in life!

Speaking of...here's a peak at my inspiration board for a lady with a 'serious' party on her mind for her 40th birthday. Check out the 'Appletini Oasis,' happening soon!

For those of you getting close to your own milestone birthdays...relax, take a deep breath, and jump in head first--you only get to be 30, 40, and 50 one time!

happy planning...

~kay

The Town that Never Sleeps...

So I've just returned from a trip to Las Vegas for a bride and I couldn't have been more inspired. I'm already a sucker for bright lights, but Vegas is certainly on another level and quickly becoming a great place for modern, chic, and trendy weddings. Although still in full swing, long gone are the days when the only choices for nuptials in this fabulous town are anchored in old lace, drive-thrus, and Elvis impersonators. This wasn't my first time there, but I definitely viewed the city from a different lens, which proved to be a great focal point for the couple with plans to wed there in a few months.

Tiffany and Carlos are a cute young couple I'm assisting who love to have a good time and are looking forward to sharing Vegas with a small group of family and friends. They love designer digs and bling...we're a perfect match!

Anyway...enjoy this inspiration board I'm working from, created with cool software that includes wondeful colors from Pantone (photos courtesy of The Dessy Group). And stay tuned as this couple's day draws near...Viva Las Vegas!

~kay

Will you Marry ME?

Christmas and Valentine's Day are two of the most popular days to get engaged. After doing some light research, one site stated that close to 2.2 million couples marry each year! (That's not counting the number of broken engagements--sorry to say, but it does happen!)

With such a large number of people saying 'Yes,' there is increasing curiosity to the creative ways guys are choosing to ask that most important question. Quite a few magazines are now doing annual spreads of how men are choosing to unveil that big moment, while some sites and other media outlets are offering other ways to get involved with sharing. So, who has the best proposal story?

OneWed.com recently announced their sponsorship in the Ultimate Engagement Proposal Contest. The grand prize winner gets a great package, including jewelry and a trip to Greece! Sweet...So, who has the BEST proposal story? All you grooms-to be out there have until April 9, 2010 to tell your stories. Check out the link for official details...

http://www.onewed.com/giveaways/proposal-contest?#blog

Eat with ME Preview Next Week!

Wow! It's been a busy few months, but I'm so excited to announce the upcoming tasting happening on Saturday, February 6, 2010 at 7PM at the Remedy Hair and Body Spa in Durham, NC!

We've been given the wonderful opportunity to team up with this phenomenal group of women to showcase a few menu items and a couple other surprises as well! If you're in the Durham area next Saturday night, you don't want to miss this!

Check out the Remedy's website too, it's HOT!
http://www.theremedyhairandbodyspa.com/

Hope to see you there...in the meantime,

happy planning,
kay

Food, Glorious Food!

So we (Maximized Events) are extremely happy to offer a new menu for our catering side of the house, Eat with ME. It includes some FABULOUS items, like these too cute banana pudding dessert shooters we prepared for a recent jazz concert reception, as well as Mini Meals, Boxed lunches with our superb chicken salad, and much more! You can download the new menu on the Eat with ME page, but you probably already know that! I think we offer some pretty great packages for groups of 100 or less (if I do say so myself).

I had the opportunity to create a late night Anniversary dinner for two this past weekend which consisted of a picnic basket filled with goodies: fresh red roses, linen napkins, Roasted Rosemary Chicken and rice, fresh sauteed Haricot Verts with red peppers and fresh yeast rolls! I can only imagine the ums and ahs that followed...because of the food no less!

Food and love go hand and hand. At ME, we absolutely LOVE weddings and special events and we LOVE the food that makes those events be remembered.

Be on the lookout for our "Eat with ME" tasting events happening over the course of the next couple of months. We are planning for 1-2 in the Triangle and possibly one in the Eastern part of NC as well. Until then,

Happy planning and eating,
~kay

We're still here, I promise!

Ok, so it’s been a minute since I’ve posted anything. There has been so much going on however…new babies being born, weddings happening, people retiring, and lots of small gatherings that need what else—food!

I will post pictures soon of two weddings from this summer…until then,

Happy planning
~kay