Buying Wedding Cakes

Since we're on a roll lately with wedding statistics...Thought you'd enjoy another one about wedding cakes! What are couples paying for their wedding cakes these days? According to The Wedding Report (wedding statistics company), the average amount spent for a wedding cake right now is approximately $350. This spending level has stayed relatively the same for the past 18 months, despite the economic downturn.



I took this wedding cake photo at a local grocery store's bakery department, where I know the bakers and cake decorators.

If you're looking for a unique, gorgeous cake topper for your wedding reception, visit our shop online section at http://www.nwweddingplace.com/shop-caketoppers.htm.

Ingenious Wedding Guest Favors!

Have you seen these? I hadn't...Until a friend of mine told me last week about Josh Hershfield's exciting new wedding business called Flipped Out Productions. They create personalized, custom photo flipbooks. But wait, there's more! He makes them right at your event! On the spot! At your wedding ceremony and reception, Flipped Out Productions can produce 30-45 flipbooks per hour. They each contain 60 business card sized pages, generated from a seven-second video. You can pre-establish custom flipbook covers that match your wedding's theme, including your wedding date, etc.

How fun is that?! Josh is looking forward to rounding out his 2009 calendar with wedding bookings. If you'd like to find out more about Flipped Out Productions services and costs, visit http://www.flippedoutproductions.com/ today! As far as I know, he can serve most of the Western WA area. Contact Josh so he can bring his special brand of fun to your celebration!

For more great wedding tips, ideas & products, visit http://www.nwweddingplace.com/!

Wedding Clearance

Special Announcement...
Pacific NW sees the sun after 4 months of overcast & rainy skies! Also, The Knot Wedding Shop has a clearance sale! One of their big sales is on mini Hershey's chocolate bars. Maybe I'm just hungry right now, but that sounds like the perfect favors to me (not to mention they'd help spruce up your reception tables)! They are even personalized chocolate bars!

Triple good: chocolate, personalized, on sale - perfect. Here is the link:

This sale ends next Tuesday, April 14th - shop fast!

www.NWweddingplace.com

Big Wedding Problem Solving

Planning a wedding with a huge guest list? There are special challenges to consider!

Potential problems:

• Parking
• Adequate number of helpers to set up/clean up/serve food
• Receiving Line
• Guests feeling lost in the crowd
• Guests not being able to hear ceremony speaking
• Amount of food at reception
• Lots of gifts on gift tables, with the potential for theft

Possible solutions to solve these issues:

• Carefully choose venue and take parking into consideration
• Hire help, or have the venue staff clean up
• Skip an official receiving line or have the receiving line pass by the 'head table'
• Give each guest a special guest favor to show your appreciation
• Make sure microphones & a sound system are used during the ceremony
• Hire an experienced caterer who can accurately plan food amounts
• Keep a trusted person stationed at the gift table at all times

Hope this helps get you thinking! Visit www.NWweddingplace.com for more wedding planning help & ideas!

On Location Wedding Report

Here are some wedding details from the large wedding I helped with last week:
Wedding colors were sage green & ivory, used in table decor, reception food tables, the bride's gown, candles, and ceremony decor.
The bride & groom chose to have a sand ceremony and communion time, while wedding singers sang two songs (chosen by the couple).
The bride & groom chose to say personalized vows to each other, and also have the pastor read traditional vows.
When the ceremony was done, the VIP (family & best friends) section was released first to the reception where "reserved" seating awaited them near the head table.
The reception was in a very large tent, set up on the same grounds as the ceremony location.
A jazz band was hired to play as background music for the reception.
A professional catering crew was hired to do the food, which included veggies, fruit, cupcakes, cookies, meatballs, fruit tarts, a cranberry punch, and other misc. small desserts.
Decor items included various sizes of glass containers with candles inside, tulle, fabric, live plants, fresh eucalyptus, white lilies, & clear glass rocks.
The bride & groom shared bites of their wedding cake, which was carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, and fresh flowers as a topper and accents.
The bride & groom left the reception in a limo approx. 30 min before most of the guests left.

Hope this information gives you some great ideas! http://www.nwweddingplace.com/

Wedding Mania - 750 Guests...

Wow - my week has been filled with wedding, wedding, wedding! I helped plan and execute a wedding Friday night which had approx. 750 guests. Big wedding! Here are some photos of the wedding (taken by photographer Amy Kassler):

In my next post, I'll give you a more complete run-down including wedding colors, ceremony flow, catering, and much more. Stay tuned! In the meantime, visit www.NWweddingplace.com for more wedding planning tips, articles, photos, shopping, & more.

Reception Father/Daughter Dance Songs

The wedding father/daughter dance... such a special moment. You want to choose a song that beautifully represents you and your dad... I've often thought about this myself, "What would be the perfect song to play when I dance with my dad?" I was randomly listening to songs one day on Yahoo, and began to hear the perfect words... "You were my first love, always there for me, you taught me how to walk and how to dream, God gave me your eyes, but it was you who showed me how to see..." It's called "Always Be Your Baby" by Natalie Grant. It's such a beautiful song, perfect for this emotional dance...

There's other songs that I've thought would be really good, especially the new one by Steven Curtis Chapman "Cinderella" . That song is sure to bring you, your dad, and all your guests to tears. :) Then there's the classic song "Butterfly Kisses" by Bob Carlisle, a sweet song I've loved for a long time. Before I decided myself on "Always Be Your Baby", I was set on "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. This song is special to me, because it reminds me of my dad. He's from Hawaii, and Israel is a famous Hawaiian singer... So when choosing your song, it doesn't have to be a traditional song, it just needs to be meaningful to you and your dad. What song would you choose?

-Ask Sarah http://www.nwweddingplace.com/

On Location Wedding Report

Hello readers,

The 3-day Labor Day weekend was a busy one for weddings. People love to take advantage of the extra day off to extend their honeymoons and make it easy for traveling out-of-town guests to attend.

I was the matron of honor this weekend at a local wedding! Here's how it went... Saturday afternoon, all the bridal party converged on a local hotel room to get ready. The bride, all the bridesmaids, flower girls, ring bearers, photographers, and helpers were packed into a room for 2 hours getting ready. It was crazy, but fun!

The bride wore a beaded A-line gown, a long one-layer veil, a gorgeous tiara, and matching jewelry. The bridesmaids wore flame red dresses, all in different styles (all available from www.NWweddingplace.com of course :-). After we all put our wedding dresses on, touched up our makeup, grabbed our bouquets, etc., we headed out towards the wedding ceremony venue. It was at a local park approximately 6 minutes away. The park has a lovely rose garden area, which is a perfect setting for outdoor weddings... Except when it's raining :-(

As we drove down the street closer to the park, the rain started. Outdoor weddings in Washington State are always a gamble - no matter what month it is! The groom and groomsmen were already at the park and had to take shelter in one of the park's shelter areas. We ended up having the ceremony in the park shelter instead of in the garden itself, but the couple seemed unfazed by that hiccup!

The reception followed directly after the ceremony, with the bridal party entering last because of the post-ceremony photo session. The reception was at a local banquet hall, complete with buffet-style catering, a DJ, dance floor, fabric linens, 3-tiered wedding cake, no-host bar, simple red and white table decor, etc. Lovely, and fun!

Eco-Friendly "Green" Wedding Reception Centerpieces

Greetings readers! We in the Northwest tend to be fairly eco-conscious. Why not bring that "green" spirit to your wedding too! When going 'green', one of the main things to consider is not wasting or throwing excessive amounts of things away afterward.
If you've been looking for some green wedding reception centerpiece ideas, here are several ideas that we've come up with:

• Use organic fruit in bowls or on tiered platters. Beautiful and dual-purpose! Decor & snacks!
• Grow your own flowers - cut them and fill vases.
• Float tealights & flower heads in large bowls partially filled with water and river rock. Always recycle metal tealight cups.
• Use tiered deserts on platters as decor. Once again, they'd be dual purpose.
• Use the glassware, wine or sparkling juice bottles, colored napkins, and simple tealight candles. Candle light and glassware can be quite elegant. Recycle empty bottles.
• Have baskets full of your guest favors as your centerpieces.
• Decorate your tables with potted plants, and then also use them as guest favors.
• Use shells, sand, driftwood, and other 'found' items, then return them to nature afterward.
• Use homemade or locally made candles with flower petals.

For more "green" wedding tips and information, please visit our "Green Wedding Tips" article at our main site - www.NWweddingplace.com/green-wedding-tips-article.htm

I'm sure some of you brides & grooms have some other great "green" ideas too. Please share!