How to Store the Top of Your Wedding Cake

Quite often young couples ask how to save the top layer of their wedding cake. It is a tradition to save the top tier of the wedding cake to eat on their first year anniversary. It can be fun to revive the memories of the big day one year later. It is a romantic way for a young couple to celebrate their first year together.

So how do you save the top layer of the wedding cake so that it will last until your first anniversary? First, you are not really trying to save the top layer of the cake instead you are trying to save the top tier of the cake. A standard wedding cake with three cakes stacked one on top of the others is a three tiered cake. The layers are in each individual cake. With that clarification, there are two good answers to the question:

The first answer is, don't do it. Do not bother saving the top layer of your wedding cake. Instead order your wedding cake with enough servings to feed your guests and then plan on returning to the bakery to order a six or eight inch cake in the same flavor and filling as your wedding cake – you could even have them place some (or all) of the same decorations on your anniversary cake (you could even break out your cake topper and your special cake knife & serving set for a fun presentation of your anniversary cake) so it will look like the top tier of your wedding cake.

The advantages of this approach are multiple but we will deal with the three most significant:

• First, you will be eating fresh cake on your anniversary rather than frozen cake that has been thawed and fresh always tastes better than frozen.
• Second, this approach will save you money on your wedding cake. By not saving the top layer of your wedding cake for your first year anniversary you will not have to order as much cake and since most bakeries charge based on the number of servings that can save you a significant amount of money in a time when money is tight.
• Third, you save freezer space.

For those who would really like to save the top tier of their wedding cake this is how...

Continue reading, "How to Store the Top of Your Wedding Cake"

Wedding Reception Focus

Someone asked why such a focus on wedding receptions instead of talking about the ceremony as well. The reason is simple. Every tradition tends to have very specific requirements for the formal portion of a wedding. Unless you are one that has cast off most traditions (no one manages to shed them all) and are planning to get married dressed as Princess Leah or a pair of Elves for the most part the ceremony itself is pretty well prescribed either by traditions or religious significance.

It is not our place to be suggesting anyone cast off their traditions as that would indicate casting off the things that define their lives.

The reception, however, has many less prescriptions. Indeed, most traditions in North America allow great flexibility in the celebration. It's your opportunity on your wedding day to make your celebration personal.

The problem is, that the prescribed nature of the ceremony makes it easy to fall into the trap of trying to gather the items you need for your wedding reception without taking a moment to plan it - and that is the recipe for either a ho hum wedding reception or a lot of wasted money.

If, on the other hand, you take a few minutes to plan your beach wedding, winter wedding, or any wedding decor in between you can often plan your purchases so that your celebration will reflect your personality and stretch your budget.

That is why we focus primarily (not totally, see my article on adding Grand Entrances for one example of a focus on the ceremony) on wedding receptions when we talk about wedding planning.

After Your Wedding Reception

Some newly married couples choose to stick around after the wedding reception and revel in the opportunity to have all of their dearest friends and relatives at their side. And why not? For most of us, it is a rare day when our closest friends and family are at our side rather than scattered all over the universe. But, without paying for more hours for the entire reception facilities to extend your wedding dance what options do you have for an intimate celebration after the wedding reception?

Bond Fire on the Beach

If you are having a beach wedding and live in an area where you are allowed to have a bond fire on the beach, this can be a wonderful way for close friends to wind down and enjoy each other's company. Just invite your guests to bring a change of more casual clothes to change into after the formal aspect of your wedding reception is done so they can feel comfortable as your (potentially more intimate) group moves on to the next phase of your wedding celebration - your beach bond fire.

Intimate Coffee House After Reception

If you have the resources and the contacts there is nothing like a late night with your dearest friends hanging out in a coffee house. There are several ways to do this. The obvious option is to find a coffee shop that you can rent out for a couple hours after they would normally close for the night. Unfortunately, that might not be a realistic option depending on your budget.

However, what if I told you that you could achieve a similar after wedding reception get together all while ending up with ... continue reading, "After Your Wedding Reception"

Setting Your Wedding Date

The process of setting the wedding date is not a difficult one, but it is filled with hazards. Much like a golf game, your task is to find a way to drive down the center of the fairway, avoiding as many of the sand traps, roughs, and water hazards as possible. But, also like the game of golf, finding yourself in the long grass of setting your wedding date is not the end of the world. It will just slow you down.

Choosing the date of your wedding can be accomplished in primarily three possible ways:
The first, though not recommended, is to just choose a date that sounds good to you. This is somewhat akin to walking up to the tee on a golf course, putting on a blindfold and swinging in the general direction of the hole. In theory, the duffer might even get a hole in one, but most likely they will end up in trouble.

The second approach to setting your wedding date is to plan based on...

Continue reading, "Setting Your Wedding Date"

How Your Venue Affects Your Wedding Color Choices

In a perfect world the task of choosing wedding colors would be as simple as choosing your favorite combination and leaving it at that. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world. Neither do we live in a vacuum. And the practice of choosing our favorite combination forgets that our wedding colors have to work in our wedding venue… as many brides have discovered after it was too late to do anything to remedy the situation.

Let me illustrate with the story of some friends of ours who were looking to redecorate the interior of their house (stick with me; this is incredibly relevant to your choice of wedding colors). They started off where everyone says you should start, by dreaming about what they wanted. After much discussion the settled on a color scheme, but there was just something that still did not feel quite right so they found a local company that provided free access to a design consultant.

The meeting with the design consultant was a real eye opener. The colors they had chosen went beautifully together – but not in their house! If they were building a new house or renewing absolutely everything in the house the combination could be stunning – but those colors would not work with the red oak flooring of their house, or the tile work, or....

Likewise, you can choose an incredible combination for your wedding colors but if you haven’t taken into consideration the colors already present in your wedding venue then you run the risk of creating a look that you would not wish on your worst enemy’s wedding, much less your wedding day.

Remedy for This Wedding Color Dilemma

As illustrated above, the process of choosing your wedding colors begins with... continue reading, "How Your Venue Affects Your Wedding Color Choices"

Trends in Wedding Planning

Two thousand six and two thousand seven's big wedding trends were built around monograms. During these last two years monograms were found just about everywhere - incorporated into the design of the wedding cake or as cake tops. Monograms were found stuffed in floral bouquets and on walls. Frankly, it is a beautiful look. I am certainly not tired of it.

Interestingly, I have read some big names in the wedding industry saying that the monogram trend in wedding design is only beginning. Maybe they are right. Like I said, it can be a beautiful touch especially when it is done with crystal wedding cake jewelry - a form of cake toppers that make a great keepsake for after the wedding when placed in a shadow box.

Perhaps, building on the monogram wedding theme trend in wedding planning, is the move towards using silhouettes in decorating. To envision what I mean, imagine a white wedding cake at a spring wedding cake accented with small pastel flowers and the silhouettes of butterflies landing and taking off. Or imagine a tropical colored cake with the silhouettes of orchids.

Of course, using silhouettes in your wedding decor is not limited to your wedding cake. Imagine a centerpiece of a candle in a holder which features the silhouette of a boy and a girl kissing. Imagine commissioning a focal point from a local wood worker or metal artisan for your wedding reception celebration that features a silhouette of whatever you have built your theme around such as doves, hearts, the Chinese double happiness symbol, bicycles, or even castles.

Buying a Wedding Gown: One Common But Disastrous Error

We have all heard about brides who order their wedding dress one or two sizes too small in the expectation that they will manage to drop a couple of dress sizes before the big day. They want their big day to be perfect. They want to look drop dead gorgeous in their wedding gown. They want to be sexy in that special lingerie they picked up for their honeymoon. So they buy a wedding gown that they will only fit into if they loose weight.

Here is the problem with buying a wedding gown like that:

It rarely works.

Period.

And while a wedding gown can be taken in, they can rarely be let out which might mean that the bride is left without a dress on her wedding day.

Yikes!

There are many reasons why... continue reading, "Buying a Wedding Gown: One Common But Disastrous Error"

Free Weight Loss Tips for Brides

The best free weight loss tip that any bride should heed is to consider your diet and decide if the food that you consume on a normal basis is nutritionally healthy.

If a bride’s diet is made up largely of junk food then there is every likelihood that she will put on weight over time rather than losing weight in time for her wedding because most junk food is nutritionally lacking.

A second free weight loss tip is to drink enough water throughout the day to remain hydrated. This will allow the bride’s body to remain in a healthy zone with her digestive system and elimination system working optimally.

Third, brides should refrain from the temptation of fad diets where you refrain from eating food or quantities of food for a period of time. Trying to diet in this way makes weight loss difficult and will lead anyone to putting the weight they worked so hard to lose back on again – regardless of all the free weight loss tips you receive.

Furthermore, allowing yourself to fall prey to this kind of weight loss temptation is to put yourself in serious danger of not achieving your weight loss goal in time for your wedding, not to mention that constantly losing and adding weight is very bad for your system and will, over time, causes you to gain increase weight.

Instead, most brides need – not another free weight loss tip – instead, they need to find a comprehensive weight loss plan that will teach them how their metabolism works and how to make it work in their favor. They need a plan that considers the unique challenges of bridal weight loss. Check it out. All a bride has to loose is the weight – and is that not the point?

Planning Your Wedding Reception Decor: The Details

Once you have addressed the big issues involved in planning your wedding reception decor - issues that build the foundation for your decor such as how your venue will help your decor, first impressions, and your focal point - it is time to turn your attention to the details. Do not make the mistake of thinking the details are not important, in most cases you have to address both the big issues and the details to make a reception decor come alive.

Tables: Your choice of tables is not limited to round tables with eight occupants. Long tables can be elegant - especially if they fit the layout of the room. Likewise, smaller round tables might fit a coffee shop or French sidewalk cafe wedding reception decor much better than the standard ‘family sized’ round tables do.

Choose your Centerpieces: The focal point of your individual table decorations for your wedding is your centerpieces. Make it appropriate and do not hesitate to think beyond flowers and candles. For example, a wonderful winter wedding center piece can be made by...

Continue reading, "Planning Your Wedding Reception Decor: The Details"

Building Your Wedding Reception Decor: The Big Items

Your wedding is about your public commitment to each other, but it is truly the wedding reception that is the true celebration of those vows. That is where most of your time on your wedding day will be spent. As a result, that is where you want to spend most of your money when it comes to wedding reception decor. This party after the ceremony is where, for most people, your wedding theme will come alive. So here are four tips to help you plan the overall decor of your wedding reception.

Concept: The old adage applies. If you don’t know where you are going, you will never know it when you get there. But it gets worse when you are planning a wedding reception: If you do not know where you are going, it is usually obvious to everyone who cares to look that you did put enough thought into your choice of decorations.

It is simple really; all you have to do is narrow your focus. Instead of garden wedding, plan a butterfly themed garden wedding. Instead of a traditional white wedding choose a baroque style wedding. This will make every other decision;

1. immensely easier and
   
2. save you from wasting money on decorative items that detract from the theme you are trying to achieve.

Location: Ideally you... continue reading, "Building Your Wedding Reception Decor: The Big Items"

What Factors Should You Consider Before You choose your Wedding Date?

This sounds obvious. But unless you actually do a little digging it's easy to find yourself in a jam as a direct result of your wedding date choice. So what is this mystery? What could possibly get in the way of my wedding other than the obvious holiday's etc?

The answer is really quite simple. Community events can and often do create difficulties for weddings scheduled at the same time.

Fortunately the solution is equally simple. Check with your community's tourism board before you choose your wedding date. See if there are going to be any large conventions in town that might limit hotel space or drive up the price of your wedding rehearsal dinner or make it difficult for your out of town guests to get hotel rooms. Likewise, check to see if any civic events are planned (like a community picnic or a parade) that might make it difficult for your guests to attend your wedding ceremony.

Second, think twice before choosing a wedding date that falls other than a Saturday. Sure, you might get a large discount on your venue, but in some cases that discount will be off set by higher prices or lack of availability from other vendors. One wedding I am familiar with opted for a wedding date that was not on Saturday and the staff on duty at the venue hosting the occasion were quite obviously less than completely trained in hosting a wedding.

More importantly, the advantage of a Saturday afternoon or evening wedding is that people traveling from out of town have time to do so on either side of the wedding without taking an excessive amount of time of work (that they may, or may not have to take).

Customizing Wedding Cake Toppers

Wedding cake toppers come in virtually every style, or theme you can imagine. You can find tops that feature the bride and groom on a motorbike or near a wishing well. You can have your cake crowned with a crown made of burnished metals, porcelain, or glass. Many people still enjoy the humorous figurines that depict the bride dragging her groom to the church. Other’s choose porcelain or glass figurines of doves, dolphins, or some other animal. Some go for glamorous and elegant cake jewelry while others prefer themed wedding cake toppers that depict their wedding theme or even their ethnic or religious identities.

Whatever their style preference, most women dream of their wedding day… and they usually have a pretty vivid image of what their wedding cake will be, and one of the most important aspects of a coming up with a wedding cake design is integrating the wedding cake topper to make a single, coherent centerpiece for your wedding.

Create Perfection

While shopping for your wedding cake topper you will probably come across several that would have been perfect. Perfect, that is, if it were not for one little thing.

But why should you give up that perfect cake top because it is not exactly what you are looking for? The next best thing to do if you can not find perfect is to create perfect.

Simple Fix

Once you have found that nearly perfect top, why not...

Continue reading, "Customizing Wedding Cake Toppers"

Off Season Beach Themed Weddings

October is here. That means beach themed weddings are out until next summer. Right? The sentiment is understandable. Unless you are fortunate enough to be able to marry in Hawaii, the on the Mediterranean coast, Mexico or one of the Caribbean isles the weather seams to preclude a beach themed wedding.

So it would seem.

Actually, with little consideration of the wealth of possible theme variations, accessories, and all the beach themed wedding favors available there is no basis to believe you can not construct a beach wedding that fits your passion and style - even in Boston in February! Of course in most cases it might have to be indoors, but that might even be an advantage as you work through the process.

Just like anything else, a beach wedding can take many different forms. Far too often, brides never think beyond the word beach and then afterwards wonder why their beach wedding theme never really had the zing they were hoping for.

Consider Your Beach Wedding Theme

Your beach wedding theme is obvious isn’t it? It’s the beach! Okay, but what do you think of when you think of the beach. If you know that you can cut out everything you might otherwise do or buy that does not bring you closer to your dream of building a beach wedding in the off season.

Let me show you what I mean...

Continue reading, "Off Season Beach Themed Weddings"