4 Tips On How To Make Your Guests Happy

Last August I attended one of my friend's weddings at a beautiful golf course in Portland. The ceremony and reception was gorgeous and I was very happy to be there. If I remember right the ceremony started at 5pm and the invite said to arrive 30 minutes prior. We got there in plenty of time and so did the other guests. We were all just standing around unsure what to do. It was 93 degrees outside and we all were sweating. It soon was 5pm, and there was still no sign of the bride and groom. Finally 5:15 rolled around and the groom came out. Tip 1: Start your ceremony on time. Guests don't want to wait around for you especially in the middle of August. After the ceremony we found our place cards and sat at our designated table. There was again a lot of waiting around for the bride and groom to enter so they could be seated and we could begin the dinner. If you are going to be serving dinner you should consider giving two options for dinner. I really liked that my friend did this so they aren't stuck with something they don't like. So Tip 2: Give your guests an option if you are serving dinner at your reception. They also gave out two drink cards per guest to redeem for alcoholic beverages or whatever you wanted besides water. Most weddings I've been to also only have coffee, water or lemonade. It is nice to be able to get a soda or alcohol and not have to pay extra for it. After dinner, we were all unsure what was going on. I had never been to a reception where there was so much waiting around time. Tip 3: The less waiting around time between dinner, speeches, dances, cake etc. the better. After sitting at the table for about 45 minutes, we were being greeted by the bride and groom and thanking us for coming. They took the time and went to every table-every guest to say thank you and greeted them. I have been to many weddings where the bride and groom don't even talk to most of their guests. Tip 4: If you are not going to have a line where guests can greet you, you need to go around to each table and thank your guests so they know you care and appreciate them coming.

Hopefully you can take away from this some valuable tips on how to make your guests happy.

Social Media At Weddings

The trend of social media at weddings is becoming more and more popular. Brides are choosing to have signs at their weddings letting guests know to use their hashtag for pictures, posts etc. via Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. 

In fact, New York City's W Hotels are now offering brides and grooms the ultimate social media experience for only $3,000. The social media concierge live-tweets the ceremony and reception, uploads pictures and videos to Vine and Instagram, and encourages the guests to use the specified hashtag. 

I have helped couples set up blogs and websites for their wedding, but now they are wanting even more social media at their wedding. Currently W is the only company on the market today that has a designated concierge for social media. However, the wedding industry is confident that this will be the next big thing to come.

I personally see the benefits of having a sign at your wedding/ceremony with your wedding hashtag. It will allow you to create an instant, easily accessible photo album of your entire wedding. All the pictures will be freely donated by your guests, all you have to do is encourage them to use it. 

Arnie & Shantae Anaya

One of my long time friends Shantae got married last month, ( I know I'm a little late posting.) I've known Shantae since my senior year of high school when we worked at Bally Total Fitness together. When I found out she was engaged in September, I was so happy for her and wanted to help plan her wedding. Thankfully she gave me permission and we immediately started planning. It was such a fun wedding to plan and be apart of, and Shantae was a perfect bride to work with. However, due to some unforeseen circumstances I wasn't able to be apart of the big day, but it turned out (of course) to be a beautiful wedding and I wish I could've been there.

The wedding ceremony and reception was at The Falls Event Center in St. George. It is a beautiful place to have a wedding. They have indoor and outdoor areas and you get access to all of it. They let you choose your own caterer, and all outside vendors which is nice so you have freedom to choose what you want. They set up the ceremony chairs for you as well as give you linens to use. I know Shantae enjoyed working with them and they were extremely helpful through the whole process.

Shantae and Arnie chose perfect spring colors: light pink, dark pink, and grey and wanted to give off a flirty, fun theme and turned out perfectly. They had yard games for their guests that her and Arnie made and they looked awesome. The food, flowers, cake, guest favors, decorations, everything all turned out great. Shantae made a gorgeous bride and I am so happy for her and Arnie.

Adrian Vanderhoof Photography

Picking Out A Men's Wedding Band

Now that the most important ring is decided on it's time to think about your groom's ring. Traditionally not much money is spent on the groom's ring. Some things to consider when picking out his ring is his everyday style. If he's a laid-back guy you might want a classic band or if he's more of a flashy guy maybe he would like some bling of his own.

Most men these days are all about tungsten rings. For one, tungsten is a hard metal. This is good if he is active and works with his hands frequently. Though tungsten is not scratch proof it is very scratch resistant. Tungsten is traditionally a dark grey metal but comes in all shades of grey. The styles vary greatly whether you want plain tungsten all the way around or one that is inlayed with another material. My husband's ring has carbon fiber in the center. It can be fairly inexpensive (his was free with the purchase of my ring). Any jewelry store will have tungsten rings and they range in price from $30-350 depending on the quality and style. It is a safe, great pick. It is my style of choice and is popular especially with our generation.

Since yellow gold is hot and trendy right now maybe you want to consider that. It is a bit pricier but it is a cool look and you can fall anywhere from very simple to heavy on the "bling". This was hot when our parents got married maybe your dad has a gold ring like this.

Silver or white gold rings are the classy and traditional ring that can start at $40 for silver and $200 for white gold and go up from there. The styles again range from simple and plain to one or multiple diamond studs. You could even go with some black diamonds or get a band that looks more like yours if you're into that sort of thing.

Other options include platinum, titanium and ceramic. Titanium rings are resistant to bending, and is scratch resistant and has comparable prices to silver. Platinum is known for its ability to almost never break and will remain in better shape than silver or gold over the years, however it is very pricey. Ceramic has a similar look of tungsten. It looks like it's always polished and is the least inexpensive  of all.

As you can see there are a lot of options. If you aren't quite sure what your husband would like ask him-there's no harm there.

Ceremony Etiquette: Everything From Processional Order To Recessional Order (Formal)

It is important your bridal party knows the processional order (walking into the ceremony) and recessional order (leaving the ceremony) to avoid any chaos and confusion. You will practice this at your rehearsal dinner and your wedding planning (me) will walk you through it.

For the males that are escorting it is a general rule of thumb that you keep the woman on the left side of you unless they are going to be sitting on the Groom's side (right side) of the alter.

Processional Order:
- Groom's father's grandparents (seated on the right side)
- Groom's mother's grandparents
- Bride's father's grandparents
- Bride's mother's grandparents
- MOG escorted by Groom or her husband
- MOB escorted by a son or FOB
- Wedding Party:

• First the officiant will walk in and the Groom will follow. Or you can have them come in a side door if available.
• Groomsmen and bridesmaids will walk in pairs starting with who will stand farthest from the Bride and Groom and ending with the best man and maid of honor closest to the Bride and Groom.
• Ring bearer and or flower girl
• Finally the Bride escorted by the FOB. 

Recessional Order:

- Bride and Groom

- Ring bearer and flower girl

- Maid of honor and best man

- Bridesmaids and groomsmen

- MOB and FOB

- MOG and FOG

- Grandparents 

At a later date I will go over song choices that are good to play during the ceremony as well as how a traditional ceremony is conducted.

Who's Invited?

It's a good idea from day one of being engaged to start thinking ahead and asking yourself, who is invited to our wedding? You want to start making a guest list as soon as possible because you'll be surprised how long it will take to compile this list. I remember adding people to the guest list weeks before my wedding because my parents had accidentally forgotten some people.

Here are a few suggestions, rules and tips for proper wedding etiquette: 

As far as who is invited start adding anyone and everyone you would want to include and once you finalize venue arrangements and food plans you can slowly start removing people from the list.  Consider all family-even second cousins, friends of your parents, co-workers, people from church etc.

To organize this list instead of writing it down on some random piece of paper that you will end up losing, you should put it all into an excel file with the name of the person: Example: Mr. & Mrs. Tyler O'Bryant or if you are going to address less formal Tyler & Jocelyn O'Bryant. You could even choose to add family at the end if the whole family is invited to attend. Then make sure you add their full address. You can even make this list in a Google document so it's all in once place, which might be easiest so that multiple parties like your parents and fiancé can view the list and add to it as well.

If you are sending out save the dates then you really do need to have a good idea of who is invited. If you do decide to invite other people last minute then you can send out announcements/invites. Just because you're doing save the dates doesn't mean you should ignore sending out announcements/invites. There is no rule to this so it is up to you in the end. But it is a good idea so you don't have that awkward oh I forgot you phone call.

Make sure to send everyone in your immediate family a save the date/invite if they live in a separate home than you. (This includes brothers and sisters who are already married if you have any.) Don't assume, "Oh, they're family and will just come." Especially if you're having a summer wedding. That is the busiest time of year and most families make plans and have prior commitments.

Since Ty and I got married in the summer and wanted everyone in our family to be able to come we called/texted/emailed them the date right away so they could plan accordingly and make travel arrangements.

Happy wedding planning :)

How To Pick A First Dance Song

Choosing a first dance song isn't always the easiest decision, but it shouldn't be THAT hard either. If you two have a "song" then maybe you can slow it down and use that or if it's already slow you're in good hands. It's not something that you need to be super stressed about either. You will find a song that you are both excited about, trust me.

Here's some questions and tips to help you think of some if you're really struggling.

1. Jog your memory. Was there a song playing in the background the night you met, when you first said I love you, or when you he proposed?

2. If nothing jumps out at you think about your personality as a couple. Do you like sweet and romantic? country? rock? a little Usher?...

3. Google 'first dance song options', and listen to your normal music. Something will jump out eventually. Set a time to listen to a bunch of songs with your fiancé until you finally agree.

4. Pay close attention to the lyrics. Make sure there isn't any appropriate language-because that could make an awkward first dance.

5. Make sure the song is not too fast and not too slow. Practice dancing to a few songs. I have mentioned before I think it's wise not to dance to an entire song because people don't care to sit and watch that for five minutes. At my wedding I had all my dancing songs edited to around a minute so my "audience" didn't get bored.

6. If you are having a band or DJ ask them for some good ideas. They will have plenty of options. That is what they do for a living.

7. There are tons of songs to pick from. Don't leave it to the day or two before your wedding. If that's the case maybe you should skip the dance part because it goes to show you obviously didn't care much about it or you would've found something a long time ago.

Hope these suggestions help. I have some good ideas too if you're really struggling... ;)