Wedding Etiquette

So I got this great idea to write about this blog because I am planning my own wedding and there are a lot of decisions that I am unsure of. I always turn to the web to answer questions I have so I thought I would share some of the things I have learned so far in my wedding adventure. 

BUDGET
As most of you may know, the times have changed and weddings now are not mostly paid for my the brides parents (well most of the time). As for the families involved in my wedding we decided to divide it up equally. Now this did take a lot of time to figure out and to tell you the truth this was one of the HARDEST things to solve! First of all it makes it difficult when their is divorced parents on one side. Each parent had a budget in their head and let me tell you, everyones was different. But we decided in the beginning that everyone would pay equal shares. My parents paid half, his mom paid a fourth and his dad paid a fourth (his parents are divorced). Now is this correct? I think so. We are not back in the day when the wedding was only about the bride. I believe that for today's weddings to work, we need to all work together!


Now that the boring stuff is over, lets get to the fun stuff!


PICKING THE WEDDING PARTY
Many would this that this would be easy, but friends stay and friends go. I thought I had my wedding party picked out for the longest time, but you loose touch, so you have to change your plans. I decided to do something different. I have two best friends! I could not pick between them. I mean we do EVERYTHING together! So why not two maids of honors? Yes I said two!! Well I of course went to the computer and started searching. I actually found it is not that weird after all. I was so relieved! No choosing for me! Also, I have 6 girls on my side and my soon-to-be husband has only 5... hmmm.. Is this a problem? No. Since I have two maid-of-honors we are going to have both walk down the aisle with the one best man! Let me tell you he is going to love this! Also, since I do have two maid-of-honors, I am going to delegate the tasks out to them equally. One will stand next to me and the other will sign the marriage license. Also, what is better than having 2 besties plan your wedding shower and bachelorette party! I say have fun with choosing you wedding party.. It is YOUR day! Who says there are rules! ;)

INVITATIONS

Wow. who knew there were so many do's and don'ts to this topic! First of all depending on the type of event you are having (casual vs. formal) there are certain ways to word your invitation. Check out this site for examples on wording for your invitations! Also, another thing I found out is that you are not suppose to put where you are registered in your invitation. I know its not polite to ask for gifts, but everyone wants to know where you are registered. Ever site I looked at said DO NOT DO THIS, but I don't know what the big deal is if you slip a small card in the back with the invitations. I think this will take out the hassle of trying to find where the couple is registered for your guests. Again, times have changed!

Now I feel like I could go on and on about different things I do and do not agree with but I think I will stop here! Again, this is YOUR day and you can do what you want! Times have changed and traditions change along with it.  

Social Networking is Taking Over!

Having learned so much about social media and realizing how important it is today. It is so beneficial for your event to use Social Media to promote it to everyone!


There are so many options!!

Now if your event cannot find a site to advertise your event, your not looking very hard. You first need to decide how much time you want to spend on your social media sites. Twitter for example takes a lot of time and you need to make sure you are tweeting regularly. If you do not think you have enough to tweet about then maybe you should use Facebook and update statuses about your event and promote your event by posting pictures of last years event. Also, flickr is another great site that you can use to upload pictures for everyone to see. If you let people see how fun or exciting your event is, it could get more people to come!

Since many events have a very strict budget, social media is a great thing to use because many sites are free and if you can find someone to do this for you for free it would be so beneficial for your event! 

First of all, you need to make a presence in your social networking sites! Start getting friends on Facebook or Following people on Twitter. You can promote your event to so many more people than traditional advertising. Think about, how many people actually saw that sign you posted on the wall of a restaurant last year? Probably not many! But with social networking, your reach is endless!

According to Constant Contact Survey,  "A full 78% of survey respondents believe that social media is an important marketing tool for their events. Roughly the same percent (77%) currently use social media to market and/or promote their events and another 14% pan to do so in the next year."

^^^ If your that 14 percent. You need to just on the band wagon now!!

My suggestions to promote your event are to make sure you research your social media options! Even though Facebook and Twitter are the most popular today, don't worry if they don't fit your goals. Do what you think is right!

How to set up your tables

So everyone might think tables at an event are just something you can figure out later, but for every event there is a certain way to put your tables. I found this great website to help you figure out how to set up your tables. Whether it be a conference, wedding, or training; this guide will help you.

The most common table arrangement is circle tables in rows. This is great for any event that might include a meal or reunion. One trick with this is to make sure you do not put your table too close together.

Next you have your rows of banquet tables with a head table at the front. This is great for a small area to fit a lot of people. You can use this for a meal or wedding as well and put the head table at the front. This is also great if you want people to interact more. You can also do this layout with round tables as well if banquet tables are not available to you.

Here is a great layout for conferences or a teaching sessions. These layouts allow everyone to see each other and interact well.

Finally here are two great layouts for a speaker at your event. It gives everyone a great view of the front and can be done in almost any room.

For more layouts for exact sizes of tables, here is the website! I have used it multiple times to figure out what is the best layout for my events!

Decorating and flower tips for any event!

So as you know from a past blog I am getting married in August and the stress is really starting to pile up! I first want to apologize that I have not had any blogs lately and it is because of my wedding planning is taking over everything I do! It was was last spring break a week ago and all we did was wedding planning. I wanted to give some of the tips I learned about decorating and how to pick the perfect florist for not only a wedding but any event you might be planning.


First of all, decorations! When planning your event you first need to decide on a theme that you are going to stick with. So for my wedding I am sticking to the summer theme and using my two favorite colors (Malibu and lime green) as well as other fun bright colors intermingled into the mix of things. Now I am definitely a clearance shopper, so for any event I am be planning I don't just buy everything in one stop. I shop all the time for new decorations. By doing this you will definitely save money in the long run but make sure you are sticking to your theme because you do not want to buy a bunch of random decorations and they won't go together in the long run!

Also, I went to a decorating rental shop and they gave me some good ideas, but if you are like me and are a clearance shopper and are creative I would suggest not using a rental facility. To rent table runners at the rental shop was $2 each but we found silk on sale for only $1.50 a yard at Hobby Lobby and we can get about 5 runners a width of each yard. Way cheaper and I can even try to sell them after the wedding! PERFECT! Also, I they were going to rent silk flowers to me for a $1 each! That is ridiculous to me when you can buy your own at Hobby Lobby for 89 cents!! My advice CLEARANCE shop!! It is definitely the way to go for any event and you might even be able to make a profit after your event if you want to sell it all!!


Now for flowers! We shopped around for flowers like crazy! We wanted to stick to our budget and we found out a perfect way! Flower are perfect for any event and will give your event some color and life! Call me crazy but there was no way I was going to pay $1000 for flowers! We decided are are going to make our own bridesmaid bouquets out of silk flowers and get the rest in real flowers. By doing this we are saving about $300 !!! My bridesmaids don't really care what they carry and they will look perfect! My tip is to not just settle with the first place you visit especially if you are on a budget! I loved most of the florists we visited but I am sorry $1000 is crazy even for a wedding! 

So remember to shop around when planning your event and don't just settle for the first vendor you visit or the first decorations you see! 

Here is a great video on some great ideas for centerpieces for any event! Check it out!

Spring has arrived

So I have been really busy lately and I haven't been able to blog! With spring in the air it has really gotten me thinking outside and being active. I love running and I love helping plan and attend races.

You have to be really careful when planning a race because you have to make sure you get the right help and of course the weather is always a concern. You need to make sure you have medical help available at your race just in case an emergency would come up.

I found this great website that gives you a timeline of what to do each month of your upcoming race event. The website is the RunnersEdge. Here is some tips on how to make your race successful!

8 Months before your race plan a committee and secure your sponsorships.

6 Months before- confirm your race day, design entry form for race, get permission from facilities, order bib numbers

4 Months before- publish your event and identify race course

2 Months before- order t-shirts and prizes

1 Month before- Inform the media of your event to help get a public annoucement

1 Week before- organize a meeting for the volunteers

Race Day!!!

Now depending on your size of your race some of these dates will need to change. This just gives you a good idea of what you need to start to do.

Races are best to do in the warm months (April-September). There are races during the cold months but are not as popular and people are not always in shape. If you want to have a successful race I suggest planning it in the spring or summer.

Now with all this take about running, I am going to go for a run! Good luck with your race!!

Biggest day of your life!

So I have been doing a lot of planning for my wedding lately, so I thought it would be a perfect time to talk about some of the tips and tricks I have come along with. My wedding is in 6 months and I am starting to feel a little pressure to start getting things done! I feel like I have most of the big things done, like picking out the venues, cake, caterer, DJ, and things like that. 

One of the biggest things that I have noticed while planning my wedding is do not let people walk all over you. I have noticed a lot of people wanting to put in their voice, but I have come to realize it is almost easier to not tell many people your plans until they are finalized. I mean don't hesitate to ask for advice from people but don't let them change your mind! This is YOUR day not theirs!!

One of the first things I did to begin planning my wedding was setting up a budget. Granite this will change some, but having some kind of idea will help you. Make sure all the parents who are contributing have a say in how much they are willing to pay. I found this to be very difficult, because every parent had a different amount they wanted to contribute and different ways they wanted to divide it up. Just stay calm and talk through this with your finance!

The next major thing is setting your date. Now some might think, okay lets just pick a date and go for it. However, this is not the case at all. You need to pick your date from the dates your venues has available. I originally wanted my wedding to be this June, but with wedding booking so far in advance now, we are having our wedding in August. Another thing to remember with dates is it to think about major events happening in your live during the time you want to have your wedding. Now that I look back at the date I wanted, I am very relieved it is later in the summer. I will be graduating from college, starting a new job and moving all in the month of June! I couldn't imagine a wedding in that mix too!  

Now for the fun stuff! Start exploring different websites, blogs and magazines to help inspire you! I am sure like most newly engaged women, I ran out the week I got engaged and bought every wedding magazine out there! I have found that the website theknot.com has been a huge help! I swear they have everything on their site. I even made a wedding website for my finance and I!! Check it out! zach-kristin.ourwedding.com. 

When selecting your theme, think of who you are and your style! Don't pretend to be someone your not! Think about what your favorite colors are and go from there. No offence but I am sooo sick of the black and pink/ black and white combos!! Do something NEW!! Have people talking about your wedding! Also, think of the time of year, summer choose bright colors, winter choose warm colors. I actually went to a home department store and went to their paint section and looked at all the colors. It was so easy to mix and match colors and see what looks really good together! Here is a great chart to look at some awesome colors and get some ideas! Start exploring!!

I feel like I could go on and on about wedding planning, but I will stick you with the essentials right now! I will plan to write another blog soon with more details and update you about my wedding!!

Start planing the day of your life ladies!!

 

Back- up Plan

So I thought this would be a perfect time to write a blog about having a back-up plan since I am sick and I could not imagine throwing a large event feeling the way I do now. So foremost importantly, HAVE A BACK-UP PLAN!


Life is not always perfect and there always seems to be a bump in the road whenever life hits you the hardest. So, instead of having to freak out the day of your event, have a plan and know what to do. Don't just have a back-up plan for a rainy day, think about other things such as YOU! If you are the event coordinator, you are one of the most important people at your event and if you get sick, you are going to need help, so plan ahead. To play it safe, plan your event with another person. Even if nothing does go wrong, at least you have someone else there that can help you out!


For your back-up plan, make sure you have an informational guide book if you are planning a very large event, so if you cannot attend your event at least others will know what to do. If it is a small event, have a reschedule date on your invite so people can plan ahead as well, if you do have to cancel or if weather interrupts your event.


Now, so you don't have to cancel for your important event because you are sick, keep yourself healthy! Don't stress out before you event, it will cause your body to freak out! Believe me I have been there! Take your vitamins and stay calm!