Ok, Clever Couples, we have managed the proposal, acquired a "yes," hired a consultant, selected a date, picked a city- and now you are struggling with the guest list.
This is no easy task. A great many factors come into play- most notably budget. As I suggested before, you need to schedule an appointment with your consultant. Once a budget has been established and an amount of money allocated to your food and beverage- the location needs to be determined. Does your budget fall in line with the food and beverage minimum for the date you have selected at the venue you have picked?
In case I am not being clear- lets set up a scenario. You have selected June 6, a Saturday evening for your wedding. As I’ve stated, June and October Saturday evenings will come with a premium or high minimum for services for all of your vendors. You have your heart set on Hotel XYZ. Once you have set your budget you find you have $50,000 for food and beverage. However, the Saturday evening in June minimum food and beverage price for Hotel XYZ is $75,000. Your options at this point are to select another hotel for the reception, switch your month or day of the week and see if this will fit in line with your budget or increase your budget.
Or, anticipating the food and beverage minimum for Hotel XYZ, you allocated $75,000 from your budget for food and beverage and plan to spend less on décor and entertainment. However, when you are done compiling the guest list you find you have more than 500 guests and Hotel XYZ can only accommodate 450. Start cutting guests.
Or, if you realize that at 500 guests, $75,000 only allots $150 per person for dinner and in order to get the appetizers, seated dinner and alcohol package you desire- it will cost $250 per head. You either cut guests or increase the budget.
This is principally how these three aspects of the wedding work in tandem. It’s at this point the term “something’s got to give” comes into play.
All parties who are going to invite guests need to draw up their list prior to the meeting. It needs to be as comprehensive as possible. The good news here, your respective parents lists will likely have some duplicate names on it so don’t panic until you’ve scratched all the duplicate names off.
Now- parents are going to want to invite people you may or may not know, and if they are paying the bill, it is their right. If, however, you and your fiancé have determined you will be paying for your own wedding, in theory you can limit each parent to the number of guests you are willing to pay for or you can tell them you’ve decided to keep it to family ONLY.
I’ve seen the budget managed very creatively. You can have an intimate ceremony and lovely dinner for immediate family and the next night has a huge party somewhere fun and drastically less expensive. Having your wedding on a Friday night, Saturday afternoon or Sunday will drastically decrease the minimums for everything from photography to reception venue. Even having a wedding in September is a completely different price point than October or June. Be Clever. There is no reason to WASTE money to have your dream wedding. EVERYONE wants to get married on a Saturday evening in June. Isn’t that the whole premise of the movie “Bride Wars?”- boring. Let’s get creative and CLEVER and throw one hell of a party without all the superfluous expense.
OK- enough about weddings- let’s talk Super Bowl! I talked to Erin Hogan and it seems we are diametrically opposed. He called Saints early in the season and is sticking with it. Regardless, he says of the fact Peyton Manning has redefined the role of quarterback. Peyton has elevated the play of the position and turned it into an art form not unlike that of Mario Lemeiux at the role of center for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Erin actually cited Wayne Gretzky, but I’m not sure why, and he followed it with this acronym G.O.A.T- which I understood as Greatest of all Time- so I knew he must mean Mario- silly Erin.
So, he is taking the Saints and I am taking the Colts. Erin's taking the over on 4.5 camera shots of Kim Kardashian and I am going to take the wayyyy over on that. He is taking the over on 5 shots of Archie Manning and I am with him on that- but wondering if that is every quarter? Surely.
I’ve been giving some thought to a few things- What is sexy? Oh, and how to tell your friend they are dating the wrong person.
Spring is coming and I am hoping upon hope we are done with the Gladiator sandal concept- first of all, it looks ridiculous, second of all, I have yet to see one pair that looks good on anyone. The Gladiator look is something that evolved. Slowly and gradually we added more leather and created shoes and boots- and took away leather to create cute sandals- but we were never meant to return to the Gladiator “boot” or “shoe” or “sandal.”
This is surely an instance of designers sitting around laughing their asses off as they see people walking around looking absurd in these silly foot ornaments. Right behind this is the jean mini-skirt/UGG combo. When Britney Spears is the pioneer of a fashion movement- move in the opposite direction. Most likely she was drunk when she got dressed or forgot her meds.
OK- count on radio silence from me until Monday. I am attending Super Bowl parties, so I'll be full of commentary first of the week. For more Clever wedding planning articles- check with Clever Couples Wedding Planning Tips on this blog or go here.
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