We spend so much time helping brides hire wedding vendors, find the right location and handle difficult relatives (and friends!) that sometimes we forget to offer our input on those little details that can really make your wedding extra special. Here are some of our favorite tips for throwing a fabulous wedding.
1. Convey a festive feeling as soon as your guests arrive by lining the walkway to the ceremony and reception entrance with votive candles placed in small paper bags. A few inches of sand placed in the bottom of each bag will keep it steady. It's cheap and easy. You can even cut decorative shapes in the bags for the candlelight to shine through.
2. Make restrooms more attractive by unscrewing some of the fluorescent tubes or bright bulbs and either leaving the lights dim or replacing them with soft pink bulbs. Candles can help create a more welcoming atmosphere, too. You can also show guests your hospitality and make the room look prettier by providing a bathroom basket filled with goodies -- a hairbrush, hairspray, spare stockings in various sizes, breath mints and other toiletry items.
3. Dress up your escort card table (the table that holds the cards telling guests at which table they're seated) with fun, framed photos of you and your fiance, of your family, even of your guests. If you position the table in the cocktail area, guests can pick up their cards at their leisure and you can avoid that last-minute ''where are we sitting?'' rush for cards right before dinner begins.
4. Let your caterer put on a show during cocktails or the reception; guests will love watching a chef prepare pasta or sushi, serve carved meats or make fajitas or omelets right before their eyes.
5. Don't like the chairs provided by your ceremony or reception venue? Consider renting chair-back covers or slipcovers, or decorate them yourself with satin or tulle sashes.
Next page: place cards, creative seating and menus
6. If you're using place cards (giving guests assigned seats), feel free to use first names only or even nicknames. It's a nice break from a wedding's typical formality and will make guests feel especially warm and welcome.
7. Menu cards let guests know what they'll be eating at a seated dinner or buffet. And they make nice mementos. You can include your names, the wedding date and the site at the top, list the wines that will be served (and even how or why you chose them) and list the courses. If the salad uses a dressing just like your mom's or the cake is your fiance's favorite, say so.
8. Can't afford a flower-strewn huppah (wedding canopy)? Use a flower-painted satin cloth as a backdrop and fill in with large, fresh flowers.
9. Let your theme determine reception seating. Having a beach-inspired wedding? Rent sturdy beach chairs. Serving Moroccan food? Let guests relax at low tables surrounded by pillows (for older guests, you'll want to have some regular tables set up, too, or leave the low tables for cocktails or dessert only).
10. Don't feel obligated to stand with your backs to your guests during your ceremony. If your officiant doesn't object, set up your chairs to create a semicircle and turn around and face your guests (your officiant can have his or her back to them instead).
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