Bar - How Much Should I Buy?

I get asked this very question all the time! It is one of the tricky ones to answer though, as it depends on so many different variables. Is the wedding or event during the day, or late in the evening? Are you hosting a full bar, or only beer and wine? Is there a house or signature cocktail(s) being offered? Do you have a heavy drinking crowd or not? How long is the cocktail hour going to be?

All of these questions can alter how much you should plan on purchasing for your event. Some people just give the standard answer of a bottle of wine per person. That really doesn't help much, as that may be true if you are only hosting beer and wine, but if you are offering a full bar to be hosted for the duration of the night, that sometimes would not be the correct amount. My best advice, and it may sound too obvious, but run the drink calculator on Evite. The best thing about it is you can plug in all the facts; how many guests, how many hours drinking will be taking place, what you are serving, and how the crowd is in terms of heavy, light and non-drinkers. It will then calculate what you should purchase, and it usually is pretty close to what I would have come up with after a few standard calculations. As a heads up though, the beer amount tends to come out about 10-20% higher then what I would typically recommend, but if you know you have a lot of beer drinkers or it will be at a very warm location, it can't hurt to have enough cold beers on site.

No matter what you do, know that it is always better to over estimate then to run out of beverages at your wedding! I can't even tell you how many times I've sent my assistant to the liquor store (if there is one nearby) to pick up more drinks. Or, if you are serving a house cocktail, make sure you have all the right mixers and garnishes. Also check with your local stores (BevMo, Costco, etc.) on their policies on having them buy back unused cases or bottles, and ALWAYS make sure you have a designated person to take home your leftovers. It can be a lot and usually won't fit in your getaway car, and can easily be used the next day at your day after brunch or BBQ.

Happy Planning!
kathryn

Place Cards - How to Signify Meal Options

I get asked a lot of times, "how do you signify what each person is eating at the reception dinner on their place card?" We have all seen the cow and fish stickers, but sometimes, it's nicer to have it a little less obvious, and also fit in with your color scheme or concept.

An easy one that I have done for clients is simply different colored cards. If you only have two meal options, it's very simple. Say your colors are brown, apple green and cream. You can do cream for the main dish and apple green for the vegetarians, and write the names with a deep chocolate brown ink. If you have more than 2 options, you can always incorporate another color as well.

Another simple way is to punch a tiny hole at the top right or left of the card, and tie a colored ribbon. So taking the same color scheme above, you would then have all cream cards, and leave the dish with the highest number plain (for this we'll say it's fish), tie an apple green for vegetarians and a chocolate brown for the beef option. For both of these options, make sure that the colors are far enough apart so that the catering staff can easily tell the difference.

We have also used really cool stamps from places like Paper Source, tied a simple card from the back of each chair (this is best when done with the different colored cards) or put an adornment of some type on the different cards (this can be pressed flowers, rhinestones or other small objects that can be glued on).

Whatever you do, just make sure you communicate this with your caterer so they are aware of the codes, and your wedding meal will be served smoothly.

Happy Planning!
kathryn

Puppy!

Our family recently made a trip to the Marin Humane Society in search of the perfect dog, and we found him right away! He was an abandoned little Chihuahua mix breed, and his original name was "Muggles" but we changed it to "Frank." He loves his new home and us, and we can't love him anymore than we do! He's only five months old, and was potty trained after his two days of being with us. He has had a fun first week which included a day at the Fillmore office, Greek Easter celebration, dinner at Perry's, lunch at the Curbside Cafe and a USF baseball game.


I just had to share a photo of him!


Happy Planning!
kathryn

Best of Project Wedding Award - 2008

We were so happy to recently get the notification that we have been honored as one of the Best of Project Wedding coordinators for 2008. What a wonderful surprise from such a fantastic website! If you haven't checked them out yet, take a quick look at their site. They have great tips and tools for all the brides to be, and even areas to help your bridemaids with shower ideas and links to make your own wedding website.

Check them out, as they also have vendor reviews for vendors in your local area.

Happy Planning!

kathryn

Fabulous shoes!

I love shoes, and I love shopping for shoes especially when it's online. I am a huge fan of Piperlime mainly for their huge selection being all in one place (which includes my other passion, purses), but that I can also combine my order with a great new top from Banana Republic. I was happy to see in my email box this morning an email from Piperlime with a section focusing on bridal shoes, and not just for the bride, but for bridesmaids as well. They teamed up with InStyle and have photos of a few dresses and styles and match them up with certain shoes. There are stunning selections from many different designers including BCBG and Badgley Mischka, down to simple flats for $45 from Rampage. Definitely worth checking out if you're still searching for the perfect shoes for your wedding!

Happy Planning!
kathryn

Bridal Tour #3 date annouced!

I have started the planning phase of our third installment of the Dream Bridal Tour, and we have selected the date for the next tour to be on Sunday September 20th. We are excited to bring in more vendors and samplings for our participants, and will be releasing tickets in July. If you are interested in getting the pre-sale ticket information, email us and you will get priority notification on when the tickets will go on-sale.

Happy planning!
kathryn

Learn more about me on The Bay Area Wedding Soup Blog

I was recently interviewed for a feature on The Wedding Soup Blog, and thought I would share it here!

I'm off to enjoy my Sunday with friends and family!

happy planning,
kathryn