Fun Wedding Parties

How lucky am I to be a destinaton wedding planner? Not only do I get to plan ceremonies & receptions, but I get to plan festivities! Here's a quick list of some of my all time favorites:

Casino nights- always a huge hit. We started doing these in 2005 and they never get old. You can do something as simple as a Poker table or 2 or go all out and add a roulette wheel, black jack, and craps. Be sure to get dealers- they make all the difference.

Wine, Cheese & Chocolate Tastings- YUM. 'Nough said. The trick to these events is to have a pro there to talk about what tastes so good. For wine you have a sommelier; cheese a Maitre Fromager.

Sunset, dinner, or lunch Cruises- We do these constantly because its one of those events that everyone, young or old can enjoy. You can cruise to nowhere, or cruise to somewhere fun.

Mini Carnival- casual fun is all the rage. A totally laid back party with nothing but the stuff you aren't supposed to eat but love to eat. Pizza, brownies, ice cream, chicken fingers, french fries, cotton candy, popcorn, doughnuts...you name your favorites. Try it on a manicured lawn Add a bunch of pillows, outdoor blankets, and a DJ and you have quite the shindig. Have some games available to like Cornhole, volleyball/badmitten and horseshoes.

Karaoke- This is the one party I wish more people would do. For some reason when people get away from their normal enviornment and into the celebration mode, the fear of singing aloud disappears. Don't believe me? Think about it, when you're at a wedding and the band or DJ is playing an awesome song- doesn't everyone sing along...really loud? YEP, they do. Now imagine if that's what is supposed to happen. That's right..it's even better. It's hands down the best wedding weekend party. If your budget can swing for a karaoke band- DO IT. Oh, and this one is a must have on video.

Wedding Music Playlists, Part III

For our destination wedding, we took our iPods and portable speakers and played after the reception dinner (for background see To DJ or Not to DJ).

Here is the playlist for our wedding iPod (in random order):

1. Reunion – Indigo Girls
2. Beautiful Day – U2
3. Take A Chance on Me – ABBA
4. If I Had a $1000000 – Barenaked Ladies
5. Stuck in a Moment (acoustic version) – U2
6. Long Time Gone – Dixie Chicks
7. Walk On (live version) – U2
8. Listen to Your Heart – Roxette
9. Friday I’m in Love – The Cure
10. Kokomo – The Beach Boys
11. Become You – Indigo Girls
12. Yellow – Coldplay
13. When The Stars Go Blue – The Corrs
14. Boulevard of Broken Dreams – Green Day
15. I Believe in Love – Dixie Chicks
16. City of Blinding Lights – U2
17. Anna Begins – Counting Crows
18. Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters (live version) – Indigo Girls
19. Build Me Up Buttercup – The Foundations
20. Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad – Def Leppard
21. The Boy with the Arab Strap – Belle & Sebastian
22. Take On Me – a-ha
23. Cherish – Madonna
24. A Sort of Homecoming – U2
25. Water is Wide – Indigo Girls/Jewel
26. All You Need is Love – The Beatles

Also see Wedding Music Playlists, Part I and Wedding Music Playlists, Part II.

Wedding Music Playlists, Part II

For our destination wedding, we took our iPods and portable speakers and played after the reception dinner (for background see To DJ or Not to DJ).

Here is the playlist for our wedding iPod (in random order):

1. Sullivan Street – Counting Crows
2. Big Yellow Taxi – Counting Crows
3. With Or Without You – U2
4. Nashville – Indigo Girls
5. Calling All Angels – Train
6. She’s Got a Way – Billy Joel
7. 100 Years – Five for Fighting
8. The Reason – Hoobastank
9. Bad – U2
10. She Will Be Loved – Maroon 5
11. Come Away With Me – Norah Jones
12. Stay (I Missed You) – Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories
13. Smooth – Santana & Rob Thomas
14. Favorite Adventure – K’s Choice
15. Jack & Diane – John Mellencamp
16. Miss You In A Heartbeat – Def Leppard
17. Tainted Love – Soft Cell
18. Let It Be – The Beatles
19. Drift Away – Uncle Kracker
20. When You Say Nothing at All – Ronan Keating
21. In Your Eyes – Peter Gabriel
22. American Pie – Don McLean
23. Wild World – Cat Stevens
24. Dancing Queen – ABBA
25. U Make Me Feel Loved – Zucchero
26. The Boys of Summer – Don Henley
27. We Belong – Pat Benatar
28. I Won’t Back Down – Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
29. Hold Me Now – The Thompson Twins
30. Here Comes The Sun – The Beatles

Also see Wedding Music Playlists, Part I

Wedding Music Playlists, Part I

For our destination wedding, we took our iPods and portable speakers and played after the reception dinner (for background see To DJ or Not to DJ).

Here is the playlist for our wedding iPod (in random order):

1. All I Want is You – U2
2. Montpelier – Girlyman
3. Somewhere Over the Raindow – Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
4. Rain King – Counting Crows
5. Paino Man – Billy Joel
6. Only New York Going On – Francis Dunnery
7. One – U2
8. Someday – Nickelback
9. Crazy For You – Madonna
10. Clare Island – Saw Doctors
11. Sweetest Thing – U2
12. Let Me Go Easy – Indigo Girls
13. When She’s Around Me – James Taylor
14. Bitter Root – Indigo Girls
15. Give A Little Bit – The Goo Goo Dolls
16. Gone Again – Indigo Girls
17. Meet Virginia – Train
18. If You Could Only See – Tonic
19. Fireflies – Lori McKenna
20. Share The Darkness – Saw Doctors
21. Come To My Window – Melissa Etheridge
22. The One I Love – REM
23. Point Hope – Indigo Girls
24. Come on Eileen – Dexy’s Midnight Runner
25. Margaritaville – Jimmy Buffett
26. Life Is a Highway – Tom Cochrane
27. Amaze Me – Girlyman
28. You’re Beautiful – James Blunt
29. Postcards from Mexico – Girlyman
30. My Girl – The Temptations

Covering the basics – To DJ or not to DJ

If you’re having a destination wedding with guests, you might have a post-wedding reception. Some resorts cater to this better than others (more on receptions in another topic).

At our destination, we chose to have a seated dinner in a private room. One of the options was a DJ and this led to a spirited discussion “To DJ or not to DJ.” In the end, we decided against the DJ and did it ourselves. Laura brought her iPod and we purchased a Logitech mm50
speaker at Costco. The April 2007 issue of Smart Money magazine reviews five different speakers, with the Apple iPod Hi-Fi receiving top rankings (price is $350).

Depending on where you are going, there might be a reasonable nightlife where your group can go and save on the DJ. At the Westin Our Lucaya, the resort did not have a nightclub, instead they turned one of the restaurants into a rather sedate disco (fine by us since we wanted a laid back wedding). At the Iberostar Paraiso complex on the Mayan Rivera in Mexico, they had a nice little nightclub with a large dance floor where groups were welcome. It's best to check in advance on what the facilities are like at your location.

The Wedding Budget Series, Part 1: How much does the average wedding cost?

I have tried and tried to come up with a fail safe for this question and the truth is: There's no such thing as an average cost. I can tell you where to find out the average amount spent across the USA, but in no way will that hold up when it comes to your planning. Here's why; no 2 weddings are the same. In fact, I've never had 2 that were even remotely close to each other. I've planned weddings that were hundreds of thousands of dollars and I've planned weddings that were a couple thousand, and everything in between. Let me give you an example of how 2 weddings at the same to-die-for location, with the same amount of people can be so different in cost. Let's say there are 75 guests.
Wedding A:
The bride and groom decide to have their wedding on the beach on a Sunday at 11am. That way they can enjoy the gorgeous view of the Gulf of Mexico for the entire length of the ceremony & reception. Instead of a rehearsal dinner, they invite everyone out to the beach at 7:30pm, a half hour before sunset, play their favorite beach tunes on a portable cd player, and serve ice cream bars out of a cooler as they watch the sun go down. For the reception they choose a brunch buffet, which includes Salmon, Chicken, and ziti. They decide to host a consumption bar because people don’t typically drink as much during the day. For music, they hire a really good DJ to cover the entire event, but also have a soloist for the ceremony. For décor, the bride decided to stick with all roses in just 2 colors. Since it’s a Sunday afternoon, they were able to get a good deal on photography and videography coverage. The bride and all her bridesmaids had a Pina Colada-n-Papers party and made all the save the dates, invitations, and placecards.
Wedding B:
The bride and groom decide to have their wedding on a Saturday at 6:30pm. For the rehearsal dinner, they treated all 75 guests to a sunset cruise and a clambake on a nearby island. Their ceremony is on the beach with chivari chairs covered in a sheer light flowing wrap. A beautiful sunset cocktail hour with a mojito and martini bar, cigar roller, and a sushi station. A dinner under the stars is their dream. They choose a plated 5-course surf and turf meal for their guests with a five-hour open bar and wine service during dinner. For music, they have a string quartet at the ceremony, steel pan and guitar at the cocktail hour, a 12-piece band for the reception, and a DJ for the after party. For décor, the bride brings the florist a photo of Donald Trumps wedding reception and says, “I’d like this, only in my colors”. For the wedding stationary, the bride goes to a custom stationary designer and calligrapher for the save the dates, invitations, menus, programs, and place cards.

In both cases, the couple is getting their dream wedding at their dream location. So can you see how giving an average is difficult? The cost of each of these weddings- how about I let you make your best guess? Post your estimates via the comment link and I’ll post the answer and winner tomorrow. The winner will receive the next issue of Grace Ormonde Wedding Style- since it was the winner of the last survey. This is open to everybody: brides, grooms, wedding professionals…hope to hear from lots of you!

If I see this happen one more time I'll scream

I just got back from a wedding. I was not the wedding planner. Apparently, nobody was. I have 2 things to say and then I promise I won't bring it up again.

ONE: Mothers of the brides should not have to work at their daughters weddings. Tonight I saw this poor woman doing everything. Including controlling the drunk Maid of honor, the brides sister. She also was responsible for lining up the wedding party (3 times), releasing the tables (are you kidding me?), and moving ceremony flowers to the reception. I'm sure she was also responsible for packing up the car with the 40 boxed gifts at the end of the night.

TWO: If you aren't going to do anything else, give your DJ a timeline that says when you want everything done by. You should not have 1/2 your wedding guests already gone by the time you do your best mans toast. And another 1/4 gone before you have your cake cut. I am not kidding- only 10% of the wedding guests were left for the cake cutting tonight, and the couple had to fork over another few hundred dollars to keep the photographer an extra hour because everything ran so late.

"So, are you like J-lo? Do you have that little bag?"

Truly, I get asked this at least once a week. To go ahead and get the answer out of the way, no I'm not like J-lo, at least I don't think so, because that is nothing like what my job is like. But I do have a little black bag that would put Mary Poppins big carpet bag to shame. At my last wedding here is what I pulled out for mini-emergencies:
1. Safety pins to keep the ring bearers pants on.
2. Deodorant for a bridesmaid who danced all hers off.
3. Bobby pins for the bride.
4. Double stick tape to a guest to attach a card to a gift.
5. Sharpie to the pastor who needed to make a last minute change.
6. Mints to the entire grooms party, pre-ceremony, post-smoke break.
7. 1 Mylanta, 4 tylenol, 2 advil, 3 bandaids, and a tampon to various members of the wedding party.
8. Hairspray to the flower girl who twirled and twirled and twirled in her dress til her hair fell flat.
10. 4 zip ties on the ivy that wouldn't stay put.
11. 2 AA batteries to a guest whose camera went dead.
12. Lollipop to the screaming kid in the ceremony.
13. 3 battery powered tealights for the kids table. Some crazy person put real ones on there! Hellooooo- kids table.
14. Mace onto the DJ who nearly destroyed the reception. Just kidding. Hee Hee. I wanted to, but that's another post all together.

Say No to the ipod Wedding

Okay, I tried to just bite my tongue and I can't anymore. I realize its all the rage as far as the wedding magazines are saying- but have you been to a wedding reception with a "virtual dj"? Let me tell you, it virtually DOESN'T WORK. Here's the problem; or shall I say the short list of problems:
1. Nobodys reading the crowd. A pro dj can tell what kinds of songs your wedding guests are in the mood for. If they all rush the floor when Prince comes on, he knows what other songs will keep them on the floor instead of rushing off. Because we all know- that is the worst thing that can happen, an empty dancefloor. Your ipod (or laptop) doesn't know that Jack Johnson would be perfect right now because all your college friends are on the dancefloor- a pro DJ would.
2. Technical difficulties Someone tripped over the cords and now there's no music. Hmmmm. Who's going to fix that? Your cousin Simon is suppsed to be in charge of the music, but he's in the bathroom, I mean at the bar, or is he eating his dinner? Where is cousin Simon? Wait, these plugs came out, what goes where? Uh-oh, nobody knows, because the guy who set it up isn't there. How about that.
3. It isn't a cost savings. That's right, you aren't going to save anything worth raving about. To rent the equipment, have it delivered, set up, and returned is going to cost almost as much as a pro dj. And honestly, it's a huge pain in the you know what. If you really want to cut costs, let's talk about cake and bar options.
4. Announcements. Well, you certainly can ask a good friend or family member to be the person responsible for making announcements, it's not that much to ask, right? Wrong. That person is on call the entire reception. Every time something needs to be announced, I (or your wedding planner) have to go tap this person on the shoulder, interrupt their conversation, and ask them to come to the microphone. It's just not nice, they are a guest, not an employee! Unless of course you aren't going to have an entrance, a 1st dance, a toast, tradtional parent dances, a cake cutting, a bouquet toss...

Look, chances are that you have been to a wedding where there was a really bad, corny, YMCA playing, is-this-guy-drunk DJ. They aren't all like this. I can't stand those DJ's any more than you can. Your wedding planner will steer you in the direction of a quality DJ. It really is safe. You can even make a list of songs you absolutely want played, what is not to be played, and what is and isn't to be said or announced.

Here's a great note I found from a recent DJ: "Are you looking for a Disc Jockey or an Entertainer?
When looking for your entertainment, an important aspect to consider is whether you're looking for a Disk Jockey or an Entertainer. The biggest difference is that a Disc Jockey offers very little or no interactive entertainment. A Disc Jockey will play music-nothing more, nothing less. In comparison, Entertainers are fun, creative, energetic and get your guests involved."

P.S. Can I tell you how addicted I am to the Jack Johnson cd I got for Christmas? LOVE it.

How'd it get to be December already?

It's been a month and there have been 2 really great weddings! I can't wait to share the pictures from both. Just this weekend was Julie & Phils. What a great couple. I had so much fun planning with them. For their rehearsal we had a tropical elegant dinner, beach front under a tent. The kids had their very own space- and totally took advantage of it. Finally Saturday, after a beautiful church ceremony they had a perfect Christmas themed wedding reception. Priority number 1 for Julie and Phil was the DJ. And boy did we have the perfect DJ! The dancefloor was at max capacity the whole night! It took a huge portion of planning time and a big chunk of the budget to get that DJ- but it was worth it because it was what was most important to the bride and groom. To see the photoshow, click the link on the right.

And last month was Krista & Chris's Vintage Hollywood wedding. It was amazing- by far the most personal ceremony I've witnessed. The Pro pics will be out soon, so I'm going to wait for those before I post too much more about it...something to look forward to for sure.

The Hot Trends...

This was one serious cake fight! By the time they were done, half the wedding party was covered. Just hilarious.

So as you can imagine, I get to see what so many brides are planning for their weddings. I do keep in touch with many wedding and event planners across the country so that I can keep current on what neat things are going on around the rest of the U.S. These are things you'll see in the late winter and spring weddings.


The 3-part wedding reception: 1.Cocktail Hour 2.Dinner & Dancing 3.The afterparty

Two wedding dresses: One for the ceremony & one for the reception

Coffee bars, complete with an array of flavored coffee syrups, chocolate dipped spoons, and flavored sugar cubes

Strapless dresses are still on top

A band and a DJ

Luxury or custom Linens

Big wedding cakes; The bigger, the better

Low long centerpieces on long tables

Candy buffets are still huge

The new drink- Kir Royal

Late evening ceremonies followed by cocktail and dessert receptions

Out of the ordinary rentals such as popcorn carts, photo booths, and cotton candy machines

Chef Julio got married!

Yesterday was Chef Julios wedding! It was a great wedding despite the stormy weather. Fortunately, a few weeks before the wedding we moved the ceremony from an outdoor location to an indoor one with a view. For Jen & Julios wedding, they were both hands on through all the planning. Jen literally made hundreds of tissue flowers to decorate the ceremony & reception with (she got the instructions from the Martha Stewart weddings magazine); Julio designed the wedding cake, and they both came in to the office to pick out their invitations together and went to meet with DJ together.
The ceremony was beautiful. I cried as usual. The bride wrote the ceremony herself and it included a "new family is born" piece as Jen has a daughter from a previous relationship. Jen also chose to stand on the right side, so that she could see her mom during the ceremony. I thought this was very sweet and unexpected twist on tradition. The reception was a huge party. DJ Ron had everyone on the dancefloor nonstop. They absolutely had a crowd that loved to dance. Especially the officiant- he went crazy on the dancefloor. Yep, he did the centipede, the running man, and the cabbage patch.