Wedding Planning Tips for Brides -- from iVillage Wedding Expert Anne Chertoff

I always recommend using your location as inspiration for your guest room gifts, but your location can also inspire your wedding favor. 

If you’re getting married on or near a beach, there are a myriad of favors that you can find online.  Starfish candles or magnets, miniature-sized beach pails filled with candy, a bag of shells and of course wine stoppers topped with a shell or starfish are just a few of the many products available.

Getting married at a country club?  Handout personalized golf balls or golf tees.  If you (or your fiancé) is a dentist they sell tooth-themed (cavi-)tees at the Dental Museum in Baltimore.

If you’re getting married in a specific location, look for local foods and elements for inspiration.  Getting married in France?  Give each couple a champagne bottle for two.  Having a Las Vegas wedding?  A deck of personalized playing cards or chocolate poker chips are sure to be a huge hit.

If you’re not sure what the city or town is known for just ask your vendors.  You can also turn to the local Chamber of Commerce for ideas.   

 

The white chocolate shells featured here are from ChocolateFantasies.com. The company sells a variety of shell shapes and colors, including: dark and milk chocolate, marbled (as seen here with white chocolate), pink and mint green. Package them in favor bags or boxes or adorn your wedding cake or dessert plate with them.

I just heard from the casting director for Rock the Reception - that new show on TLC I wrote about earlier this week.  As one of the readers posted, they are looking for two couples getting married next month (July 2008) in or around Los Angeles, though they would consider couples in other areas of the country if their application is great. 

Between the program, seating card and wedding favors, (not to mention menu cards, table numbers and place cards), you could spend a lot of your budget and time on personalized touches.

While no element is mandatory – except maybe seating cards, but I’ve been to weddings where a waiter stands at the door and tells you which table to go to – there are ways to cut costs while still having all of the details you want.  How?  By combining the pieces. There are a variety of ways to combine the different elements, and here are some ideas:

• Program and seating card
• Menu card and place card
• Menu card and table number
• Program and menu – I’ve seen couples print the menu in the back of the program

And pretty much everything can be combined with your wedding favor: 

• Program: You can print your program on a fan or print information regarding a charitable donation on one of the pages
• Seating card: Print or write seating information on the packaging of the favor
• The same idea works for place cards
• Centerpiece: You can create a centerpiece that comes apart and each person takes an element with them
• Entertainment:  In addition to music, couples are renting photo booths and creating craft tables to entertain their guests and also give them a keepsake from the wedding
• Dessert: Instead of serving a dessert course with your wedding cake, treat guests to cupcakes, mini-pies, cookies or candy.  Arrange for boxed items to be available for guests as they leave or set-up a bar for guests to make their own goody bag.

 

 

 

 

Many brides and grooms select a wedding theme to help them coordinate all the details of their wedding.  You don’t have to have a theme, but if you find that all of the elements you’re selecting for your wedding don’t really compliment each other, a theme will help you coordinate all of them.  A favor is a simple way to bring your theme into the details of your wedding.

 

When deciding on a favor that has the look and feel of your theme, think about the other elements you have already selected.  Could you incorporate your wedding flowers into your favor?  How about your wedding’s color palette? 

 

Remember to keep your budget in mind when selecting your favors, and think about what your guests will like as much as you do.  A fan may be appropriate for a summer, garden or Asian-themed wedding.  If it fits the theme, and the weather is hot, guests can use them to cool off.  Another idea is a wine stopper, which would fit a vineyard wedding theme, and is definitely something guests can use at home.

 

The images above are themed wedding favors I found while searching beau-coup.com.

 

 

Coming tomorrow:  Combining wedding details

Over the past 6 months I’ve posted over a half dozen first dance videos from Thriller to Dirty Dancing to Baby's Got Back.  If you and your fiancé would like to perform a show-stopping dance at your wedding reception, but don’t know how to choreograph your first dance, you can apply for the new TLC reality show, Rock the Reception.

 

The show will pair engaged couples with “top notch choreographers who will turn your first dance to an unforgettable production.”  To apply, send the following information to CASTING@BNENT.COM:

 

• A picture of the Bride & Groom
• Bride's name, age, & contact info
• Groom's name, age, & contact info
• The date of your wedding
• The city you live in
• The city your reception will be in
• How many people will be in the bridal party?
• What's your ideal first dance song and why?
• Briefly describe yourselves & tell them why they should pick you for this amazing experience
  

Good luck!

iVillage is not a sponsor and is not responsible for the casting of Rock the Reception.  For additional information, please email casting@bnent.com.