Bridal craziness!

He says:

January is always the season for all the future brides of the world to start booking their weddings, and this year is no different. The phone has been ringing off the hook with brides wanting to get married during our beautiful Okanagan summer.

I would like to send a message to all brides-to-be: there is a minimum amount of information that catering companies will need in order to give you a quote. But the most important information is when is your wedding...the actual day that you wish to say “I do”? I get many inquiries where the groom and/or bride gives almost no information and ask for a menu and a price.
Here are a few things to tell your potential caterer:

1 - The date is your main concern, if you wait too long someone else will come and take it away. Give a deposit as fast as possible so that you don’t lose that day.

2 - How many people are you expecting is also a pretty important fact. There is a big difference between 50 and 300 hundred guests. You may even get a better deal based on how many people are coming.

3 - What time do you wish to eat? Is this a lunch or dinner? If you were thinking of a mid-afternoon meal, remember people won’t eat that much after lunch and before dinner...do not plan for too much food.

4 - Buffet or plated. There is a big difference in how much food will be cooked, and these two different set ups cost different amounts. If you don’t want people to be standing, then lining up for a buffet is not the best thing. Table service for a large group takes longer for everyone to be served.

5 - How many vegetarians? Most vegetarian people can find food on a buffet, but if it is a plated dinner, you need to plan for a meal for them, even if it is only 4 distant cousins on your husband’s side.

6 - The big question - what do you want to eat? For example, a pig roast can be fun, but a whole pig to feed 200 people requires a very large rotisserie and not many people can do that in the Okanagan. If you wish to have an Oyster bar make sure you have a shaded area planned for the person shucking 600 oysters.

7 - If you have anyone deadly allergic to a food ingredient you should let your caterer know ASAP so that it can be avoided if at all possible.

If you wish to do it super cheap, go to Costco and buy a few platters of cheese cubes, cold cuts and sandwiches and that should do the trick. Keep in mind that this is this is not a birthday, or some Super-Bowl party, this is your wedding. Possibly the only one you’ll ever have, so you don’t need to go crazy if you don’t want to, but spend a little to make it a great day that you will remember for a very long time. Getting what you decide is important is much better than regretting spending that extra $5 per person.

She says:

It will be ten years this summer that we were married, and I still remember our wedding day like it was last weekend. I swore after our wedding that I was going to become a wedding planner, as I had discovered all the pitfalls and quirks and I was convinced I needed to save other brides some of the hassles I encountered. Well, that never happened but I do have some pieces of advice to add, just girl-to-girl:

Your favourite things should be a part of your day...whether it’s music, or flowers, or food. Remember to be selfish, as this is truly your day, and when it’s all over you are the one who will have the biggest memory...and everyone else will get over not having their way.

If you are a foodie, or a serious wine geek, then ask for extra advice to make the food and wine extra special. The experts will love being able to do something really interesting for someone who appreciates it (just remember it doesn’t come for free – but it’s worth it, like the Chef said).

Make sure that you have a plan for photographs – if you hire a photographer, tell them what pictures are most important for you to have. We had friends who were photographers take pictures but they took artsy pictures of some things and no actual visible photos of others (like the wedding cake – the best photo I have is the one I took of how it looked in our fridge, after Martin decorated it!)

Have someone appointed as your point person (I know that sounds redundant but I am trying to be forceful here). When they do something like serve the dessert wine you chose specially for having with the cake as the stuff to toast the couple at the start of the reception (like they did at our wedding!) you need someone to step in and get things back on track (thank you so much, Chase!!)

Think seriously about having a receiving line...the day goes far too fast, and you won’t get a chance to have even half the conversations you want. If Aunt Mabel who you haven’t seen since you were 12 is coming all the way from Pouskoopee and a long lost friend is coming to congratulate you, then you should give them a chance to say so, and you should have a memory of that. (It used to be that the bride passed around those wrapped up pieces of fruitcake later on at the reception and that was an occasion to catch up, but no one does that anymore.)

Most important of all, take time to stop and breathe and just take it all in. Let your Mom try to wipe that mole off your face as if it was a bit of dirt (yes, she really did – I do have a photo of that!). Have a special word with that special man that walks you down the aisle (I did that, too – love you, Daddy!) And remember the look on your man’s face as he sees you...that is the biggest compliment you can ever get, I think, to know that you have taken his breath away.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.