Playing games at your wedding

Everyone likes games, and what better time to play some then at your wedding?

Typically hosted by the MC or DJ, wedding games are planned to get the guests interacting with one another, the wedding party and with the Bride & Groom.

The most popular game you'll see at a wedding is the "kissing" game. There are all kinds of ways to get the Bride & Groom to kiss other than the typical clinking of the glasses. I've seen a mass game of scrabble, a spin wheel similar to Wheel of Fortune and trivia about the newlyweds.

I've also seen "Photo Scavenger Hunts" at weddings. This is the game where the Bride & Groom have left disposable cameras on each table with a list of images that must be captured. Think about all the things that can be witnessed at a wedding; first dance, toast to the couple, sleeping flower girl, drunken groomsmen...the list goes on.

Another game that I personally like to watch, but think that it's risky to play is the game where the Bride & Groom swap shoes and answer questions about one another. "Who is most likely to snore?" "Who said 'I love you' first?" This game is very amusing to watch, and the questions can sometimes get quite personal and risque, therefor, I sometimes cringe when this game is played. I'm a big believer that you shouldn't embarrass the happy couple on their special day - and this game might just do that.

What kind of games have you played at weddings? Games are fun, and get people laughing. Be sure to play some on your special day.

Save $100!!

For the past 2 years we’ve offered $100 off our Day of Coordination services during the month of December, and this year we’re doing the same, only with a bonus!! Book Day of Coordination services for remaining 2012 dates before December 31st, 2011 – we’ll give you Bride & Groom T-shirts! These shirts are perfect for your Stag & Doe or to wear while you’re getting ready on your wedding day.

The Day Of Coordination Package includes:

• A complimentary coffee & chat to discuss your wedding day requirements

• An hour long meeting to finalize all details, logistics and plans for your wedding

• Continuous support via phone or email 2 months prior to your big day

• Coordination of wedding rehearsal* (optional)

• Wedding day management (set-up, ceremony, photos & reception)

This package is approximately 25+ hours of service, with 8-10 hours being executed on your wedding day. The Bride's Butler will devote their time on your special day to the fine details so you don't have to. It is extremely reassuring to know that a trusted professional will ensure that your day feels like a fairytale.

*travel fees may apply

Book before December 31st to save!

Taking care of your vendors

Attention almost newlyweds! We know that a wedding is a major expense, and the planning process can be a major pain in the you know what – but, you should be sure to think about how you’re going to treat your vendors.

Sure, they are there to provide a service for you, and they are being paid for that service, so what more do we want, right? Well…there are a few things that vendors are very appreciative of.


There is no such thing as too much information.

Especially if you have a Wedding Coordinator. We want to know all of the details, the timing and your big picture plans for your special day. We want to know who’s where, when and for how long. We want to know who needs to be paid, how much and for what. We want to know your weather back up plans, your set-up plans and your tear down/clean up plans. We want to know it all – and please, tell us!

We will provide you with helpful tools to keep you organized and to help you relay this information to us, but I always tell all my clients – “there is no such thing as too much information.”


Tips.

Tips aren’t always manageable, especially if the couple is on a tight budget, but they are always welcomed.
Be sure to check your contracts as most vendors roll in gratuity in the final bill. If not, it is always nice to say "thank you" to the vendors that go above and beyond your expecations.

Here is a guideline from Real Simple, and if you're still unsure, ask your Wedding Planner/Coordinator:

Bartenders: 10 percent of the total liquor bill (to be split among them)

Catering manager: $200+

Coat check attendants: $1 to $2 per guest

Hairstylist: 15 to 20 percent

Hotel chambermaids: $2 to $5 per room; $10 to $15 if you used a suite as your dressing room

Limo or bus drivers: 15 percent

Makeup artist: 15 to 20 percent

Musicians: 15 percent of fee for ceremony musicians; $25 to $50 per musician for reception

Photographer/videographer: If you’re paying a flat fee with no overtime, $100

Wedding planner: 15 percent of fee

Fuel the engine.

Your vendors are working hard for you, so be sure to give them the fuel they need by providing them with a meal. If your vendors are on site during dinner, then they should eat too. You don't have to serve them the same meal as you serve your guests, but do provide them with something. Also, make sure they know how they can get a drink (non-alcoholic, any good vendor will not drink while on the job) so that they can stay hydrated and alert and execute fabulous services for you.

Also, note that your Wedding Coordinator will most likely want to sit in the room that your dinner and speeches are occuring in. We know that this isn't always possible as seating is limited, but it is beneficial to help us keep a watchful eye on the time. So, it's best to have a vendor table for your DJ, Photographer, Videographer and Coordinator. But, like mentioned, if you don't want them in the same room, be sure that there is a lounge or somewhere they can sit and grab a bite to eat.

Saying Thank You.

Yes, you gave them a tip, and you fed them, but a really great way to say 'thank you' is to include your vendors in your list of cards to be sent out. A lot of vendors use these cards in their portfolio or display them in their office/showroom/store. If you don't want to mail them an actual card, send them a nice email telling them how they helped you on your special day and include a photo too if you have one!
Saying thank you the old fashioned way goes a long way.


Referrals.

In keeping with saying 'thank you', one of the biggest ways you can do this and show your appreciation is to recommend them to a family member or friend that is getting married. We always love booking new clients who've been referred to us from previous clients. It's a pat on the back and confirmation that we left a positive impression and did a good job.
Plus, we always love seeing clients from the past at the wedding of the referal.


*Blog post is generated from personal opinion. Picture provided by Diane Morris from Kelly & Mike's wedding 2010.
*Tip list formulated by Real Simple. Visit their website for more suggestions as some were removed for this post.

Planner vs. Coordinator

You're getting married and you're not sure if you need a Wedding Planner or a Wedding Coordinator because you don't know the difference. Here is a little information about both to help you seperate the two.

A Wedding Planner is someone that assists you in planning your entire wedding. This service is typically called Full Wedding Planning. Planners keep you within budget, they source your vendors and they guide you every step of the way - and are also with  you for your rehearsal and wedding day. Wedding Planners can be your negotiator, decision maker, therapist and friend. A Planner is typically booked 12-18 months before your set wedding date.

A Wedding Coordinator is someone that aids you near the end of your planning process. You've planned your wedding yourself but you want a professional to execute all of your hard work and plans so that they are just so.  A Coordinator guides you with timeline preparation and logistics about 2 months before your big day and is typically with you for your rehearsal and about 10-12 hours on your wedding day. Most Coordinators are booked 6-12 months in advance, and the service is typically called Day of Coordination.

What about a Venue Coordinator? Refer to a previous blog post about the difference between them and a Wedding Coordinator here.


Hopefully knowing the difference between Planners and Coordinators will help you when searching for the right service for you for your wedding day.

Book 'Day Of' for 2012 today!

We just completed our last “Day of Coordination” for 2011 and are really looking forward to the weddings we have booked for 2012!


If you haven’t booked services with us for next year, we suggest that you do it before the year comes to a close as we’re making some changes to our services and prices.

“Day of Coordination” is our most popular service and we’ll continue to offer it, but our rate for 8-10 hours of Wedding Day Management including additional hours for meetings and assistance will increase – so book today!




A more detailed look into some of the things we take care of as your Day of Coordinator:

- Set-up (escort cards, place cards, money box, guest book, gift table, favours, cake table, etc)

- Clean- up (packing up gifts/cards into a vehicle or hotel room or lockable area and removing minor décor)

- Communication with vendors 48-24 hours prior to your big day to ensure that you get the services you agreed upon and are paying for

- Distribution of balances for vendors arriving on the day of (DJ, Photographer, Limo, Cake, etc)

- Timeline – we keep you on time and stress free. We prompt you for all of the event logistics like the speeches, cake cutting, etc

- We’re there working for you as your personal Bride’s Butler – forgot something? We got it. Need more of something? We can take care of it.



Call or email us so that we can meet for a complimentary coffee & chat to discuss how you can benefit from “Day of Coordination” services.

Working with vendors....

specifically a Wedding Coordinator can be like learning a foreign language for some...daunting.
It doesn't need to be that way.

There are a few vendors that like to show up to an event, do their thing and leave. Some haven’t worked with a Coordinator, therefore don’t know what to expect. Others have and loved it, and others have and hated it.

When a Wedding Coordinator is onsite, it’s their job to make sure that everyone is doing what they were booked and paid for doing. Our job is not to be bossy, but to help keep things on track and to avoid as many mishaps as possible.

With executing a major event like a wedding, there are lots of logistics and key players involved. A Wedding Coordinator is there to be your point person, your extra set of hands, your runner and your friend. We are not there to make your job more difficult, but a whole lot easier.

It’s always best when I get to work with wedding vendors that I’ve worked with before. This way, we know how each other work, how we like to be talked to and handled. Vendors that appreciate the hard work that a coordinator does are always welcomed in our books. All vendors are there to work for the couple and to provide top notch service, but it is us that make sure the newlyweds get what they planned for and ultimately paid for.

Prior to the wedding, we sit down with the Bride and go over every last detail. We cover the timeline thoroughly, focusing on things like setup & delivery times and the execution of key events like the photo shoot and bouquet toss. If the Vendors are all on the same page (timeline) then it’s a win/win for us all, including the newlyweds. Wedding Coordinators are the middleman between the vendors and the couple. Vendors should know to come to us first for questions or concerns, for most of the time we have the answer or a solution. The couple have hired us so that they can enjoy their special day without many interruptions and without having a boat load of people asking them questions. Come to us, we’re here to help.

Vendors, when you’re approached by a Wedding Coordinator prior to the wedding (as most of us drop an email or phone call prior to the day to introduce ourselves) please welcome us with open arms and not a roll of the eyes and a grunt. We will do our best to stay out of your way if that is how you prefer to work, or we will be right alongside you if that’s what you need to go above and beyond.

So, I guess what we’re saying here is – let’s all work together to provide the best service we can for the couple. If they didn’t book you from a referral, they have no idea how you work and what kind of service you will provide...and that can be scary for some Brides. Most Brides that hire a Day of Coordinator are Type A personalities. They are organized, detail oriented and want what they want – and we love them for that!

A Coordinator is your friend, not your foe. Plus, we’re also great for referrals for future clients, so if we work well together, there may be future bookings.

To learn more about what exactly a Wedding Coordinator does, check out Ehow’s article here.

Facebook Wedding Etiquette

Facebook has more than 800 million active users. That's a lot of likes, wall posts, photo uploads and tags.
Like most things in life, there are certain rules to follow for certain tasks.
Do you know how to properly use Facebook during your planning process?

Here are some guidelines when using the popular social media site:



Announcing your engagement.

It's totally normal to want to shout it from the rooftops and Facebook is the perfect platform to do so. Update your status to "we're engaged" or "is gonna be a Mrs!" to tell all of your friends about the proposal. You can also upload a picture of your diamond, or if you've got pics or video of him popping the question, by all means share it.

Sharing some of the details.

Feel free to share your wedding date via a status update, but be sure to keep it simple and to the point. Not all of your 100+ friends on FB will be invited to your big day, so be a little sensitive to that. And of course, change your relationship status from "in a relationship" to "engaged!!"

A lot of Brides like to keep everyone in the know about their planning process, and again, feel free to do this with your status, but be sure not to go overboard with Bride Brain.

Sharing a countdown to your special day is okay too - just try to stick with the landmarks of one year, 6 months, 1 week and 1 day. Seeing a constant countdown for most, is annoying.

Proper etiquette would be that you don't post your Registry information online. Getting a gift for getting married is a privilege, and not a right. If people (guests) want to buy you something, they will ask you, your fiance, a family member or a friend.

After your wedding feel free to brag a little. Heck, brag a lot. Post your pictures, thank your guests and  change your relationship status from "engaged" to "MARRIED!"
Just make sure to keep everything positive, do not complain about guest behaviour, or how much your new mother-in-law got on your nerves.

Wrap up all your wedding talk within 6 months, or less. As much as you're stoked to now be a Mrs, there are other things that should be important in your life as well.

Invitations.

Do not by any means invite friends/family/co-workers to your wedding using Facebook. Send out a proper invite with an RSVP card for them to reply.

Bridal Showers, Stag & Does and Bachelorette/Bachelor Parties can have Facebook Event pages to keep everyone in the loop, but we still advise that you send out proper invites or personal emails to all invited.



Incorporate FB into your Bridal Shower with customized cookies!

 Vendors.

Use Facebook to help you find vendors - that is if you don't have a Wedding Planner. And be sure to "like" the Fan Pages of the vendors you book with. Not only does it show support, but you just might see your wedding crop up in their status updates or albums.

While we're chatting about vendors, make note that it is a big no-no to post anything negative about your vendors through the social media site. We know that planning a wedding can be stressful, but please do not use Facebook to bad mouth anyone. Send an email or pick up the phone and make a call instead if you're not happy with their services/products.

On the day of.

Do not log on Facebook on your wedding day. You can change your status and upload photos the day after, or even when you get back from your honeymoon. Enjoy the day and stay offline.

Posting as a guest.

Most of your guests will post pictures from your big day on Facebook and tag you in the pictures. If this bothers you tell your friends that. Some people are private and do not want memories from their special day to go viral. There's no harm in placing a small note on your ceremony programs that you wish to be shown any pictures prior to posting - or that pictures simply aren't posted. Remember though, you can't control what others post, but you can ask - there's nothing wrong with asking and making that request.

However, as a guest - do your best to be respectful to the newlyweds and only post pictures that display them in their best light. Do the same for members of the wedding party - no one wants to see the Best Man making out with the Grooms sister. Tisk, tisk.

Now, go on....log on to Facebook and "like" us - The Bride's Butler.