The Wedding Experience of Your Dreams

You’re getting married! And you want to have an experience that is totally different than any you’ve ever attended or ever heard about or ever read about. You want a wedding that years afterwards your friends say, “I just want to have a wedding exactly like yours!” So the challenge is how does one do that without a wallet as thick as Donald Trumps? It’s not easy but let me tell you about a successful attempt to produce a wedding ‘experience’ that is still talked about.

Keep this in mind as you plan your special week. This is probably the only time in your married life when this particular group of people are together. Use this opportunity to ‘blend’ the families together. Try not to end up with the “the Hatfields and McCoys” camps; but more along the lines of “Ozzie and Harriet.”

First, determine what you want to ‘hear’ from your family and friends years from now. Do you want to hear that that was the most beautiful wedding they’ve ever attended. Or that the reception was the ‘wildest’ they ever went to? Let’s say you want to have a really unique wedding week and you realize that you have two families that really don’t know much about each other. How do you take advantage of this opportunity?

The ‘to die for’ wedding experience could start months ahead of time with your ‘Save The Date’ card. We send out the card along with the request that each potential guest send in a favorite recipe that they wanted to share with new bride and groom. It was specified that it was not to be ‘gourmet’ but one that the newlyweds could enjoy…something from your family to theirs. It is required that it be “ready to be duplicated” and hopefully includes a photo of their family including one or both of the Bride and Groom. These are then assembled into a family cookbook perhaps following the cover of the ‘Joy of Cooking.’ Then print them off and get the ready for the wedding reception.

This bride and groom assembled a CD of their favorite tunes including their college alma mar tar favorites (which, most of the immediate families had attended and still worshipped.) We’ll come back to these later.

As the date gets closer….reserve three or four lanes at your local bowling alley for your close family, friends and out-of-towners that are coming early. It’s a casual time for special members of both families to get together and mingle. Just ask the manager to put your group together…give him your credit card so that people can just ‘get’ shoes or a beverage from the snack counter. If you have someone that can make a banner to hang even better… Perhaps with an announcement “ Congratulations Mike and Marie “ or “let’s get the party rolling!” Then just mingle, bowl a little, laugh at the poor performance or watch the least likely guest roll strike after strike! It will provide a casual opportunity for both families to be together without the pressure of meeting ‘the other family.’

The day before the Grooms and male guests had a golf outing. The girls did a bridal brunch. The rehearsal and dinner. At the dinner it is very moving for the fathers to take a minute and welcome their new ‘child’ into their family. The conversation and repartee’ was filled with the experiences of the 24 hours.

The day of the wedding. Now it’s the traditional stuff. Girls getting their hair done. Guys just hanging out. The wedding is the wedding.

Reception is all about love, family and having a good time. After catering hundreds of receptions it’s not the number of appetizers you serve or what type of wedding cake you have, but it’s more about the feeling of the room or the mood of the evening. One of the neat decorating ideas was to take recent photographs of the bride and groom and have them enlarged and mounted on 4 x 6 foam board. These where placed along the wall on either side of the head table. Big photographs result in a Big Bang! As guests entered the room they passed a table filled with the ‘family made cookbooks’ and found one with their name on it! As they came to their assigned table (remember to blend the two families together when your assigning tables!) they’ll discover that special CD at each place setting.. Then you’re off. Remember the DJ or Band is almost more important that the meal! Long after your guests have forgotten the Lemon Chicken entrée they’ll remember Grandma doing the hooky pokey!

We’ll that’s it… most of these ideas take more effort than money. Use them as an idea starter. It’s all about big love; not big budgets! Enjoy the ride!