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Our wedding planner was coming over shortly to talk about the menu. We’d spoken about it briefly before but I kept putting it off assuming it would be one of the easier tasks to deal with. Boy … you know what they say about making assumptions … I was sitting on mine trying to figure out how I could have been so stupid. Ah well … thank goodness I had Margo to rely on. She would spend as much time with me as needed no matter how vital or trivial. She was a gem. The doorbell rang and I went running to let her in.

We had invited over 200 people and so far we had received RSVP from about 130 all of whom were coming. I knew my family; I knew my friends; and their tastes in food were all over the place. I really wanted something different for my wedding. Something everyone would chat about for days afterwords. So, Margo and I had our work cut out for us.

I knew I was going out on a limb when I decided hold off on sending the proverbial food choice card with the invitation. Figured I would surprise everyone. Guess what … I think I surprised myself more when I came face to face with actually having to create the menu. We talked for what seemed like hours and through countless cups of coffee tossing ideas around: agreeing and disagreeing about a variety of foods. We talked about and finally decided on the reception hors d’oeuvres. They were quite easy. I wanted trays of bite size quiche; portabella mushrooms; bite size steak tartar on very thin crackers; butterfly shrimps; stuffed crab meat in edible shells; mildly sauteed vegetables; smoked salmon with and without capers; baby red roasted potatoes; very lightly fried rice balls; truffles; custard and cream puffs; petit fours; small sherbet parfaits; dark and white chocolate mousse parfaits; and demitasse cups of coffee, cappuccino, and teas. And, of course, an open bar from beginning to end.

We had spread out a floor plan for the tables and eventual seating arrangements. It was no easy job placing people together, then changing their seating over and over. We should have eloped, but we didn’t because I wanted the “real thing.” While we were looking back and forth from the plan to each other the thought of wedding favors took hold. However, it was just a thought in itself. I had little notion as to what they would be: another sobering moment in all this chaos that I would have to take care of really soon.

It was time to take a breather. We went outside for some fresh air. That’s when it hit me full force: I wasn’t going to have a “normal” sit-down dinner. I was going to have the serving staff come around each table alternating with the trays of the different foods I wanted served. My reception hors d’oeuvres were going to be our main menu choices. Since our ceremony was going to be very soon after people arrived there really wasn’t going to be time for a traditional reception, but we would have a variety of nuts, raisins, decorative crudits placed around the room, and have wine brought around. I wanted to get the formalities over with tout suite, and get straight into the dancing, food, drinking, and all round fun and enjoyment.

Margo looked up at the ceiling, shrugged her shoulders, stood silent for a few seconds, then looked at me and told me I was nuts and she loved the idea. I looked at her and told her that since I had come up with the dinner/menu concept it was up to her to give me ideas for a unique wedding favor. She thought for a few moments then suggested perhaps we should have table photographs taken while “dinner was being served,” and then have 3×5 photos made up and laminated in a simple nice single paged photo album and sent out to our guests. That was settled … we were a great team …

My wedding plans were slowly but beautifully meshing together, and I was delighted with them. It was going to be a “Night to Remember;” and the first step towards a lifetime of memories.

Aaron Hu has authored on an extensive range of topics related to the wedding industry. If you are looking for unique wedding favors, E-WeddingFavors.com has the biggest selection available. You will also find Wedding Favors and much more, all at very affordable prices.

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For some reason I was always a little unsure of whether I would get married when I grew up. I had no idea why, but those feelings lingered on through the years. I had learned to live with it, and chose a career that I guess subconsciously compensated for it I had decided to become a professional wedding planner. I learned the business by working with a reputable one more than five years. I was very good at turning plans into reality: I could visualize what people wanted, and I could convince them into what might be better for them with them thinking it was all their doing.

Eventually it was time for me to start my own business. That “eventually” came when my oldest friend, Jana, asked me to plan her wedding. She told me, “It’s you, or me …” I really had little choice. If I let her do it, it would definitely fall under the heading of “Bloopers.” Her family had to budget for it, but they were determined to give their daughter a wedding as beautiful as the rising sun when it shimmers on the horizon. Brother, did I have my work cut out for me … this would be as much Jana’s wedding as it would be my entree into the society of wedding planners.

Over the years I had built a viable and quite enviable network within the business. Because our work covered the broadest and most detailed spectrum of wedding planning, I had made several friends who specialized in one - sometimes more - area of the business. Even more important, I had bent over backwards to accommodate their occasional nuances and boundaries. I was going to be on the phone for quite a while enlisting their help. After all, it was going to be like me vicariously getting married alongside Jana. And, the best way to advertise and market oneself in this kind of business is by word-of- mouth.

Jana’s favorite colors were ivory and ice pink; and Mercer’s, her finance, was copper. Jana loved crystals and the colors they radiated; and I knew just the flower specialist who could and would give me a great deal on crystal lotus flowers. Two decisions made: the flowers and the overall color theme. I had family in the printing business: invitations taken care of too. There was a local - very talented - band called the Crystol Lights. That would take a bit more work. Off hand, I didn’t have any contacts there, but you never know. I had worked with a truly nice caterer on many occasions that had connections with the owner of a private country club with a divine space to have a wedding: catering done and venue 90% done. I’d work with Jana and Mercer on the menu, and then finalize it with the caterer. It was all coming together: my future jobs should be so uncomplicated. Once I arranged all that, it would be easier to deal with other incidentals that came along.

Later that afternoon, I showed Jana some pictures of crystal lotus flowers: she started crying and thanking me. I hugged her and told her that I wanted as beautiful a wedding for her as I would have for myself. She started to cup her hands together though I’m not exactly sure why, but the gesture, the image, gave me thought to her wedding favors. They would be a simple but lovely hand palm up with a crystal lotus flower resting in it. And yup … I knew just the person who could design and model one for her and he knew who to tap to have them made up: and, he owed me big time. I told Jana, and guess what … more tears but with smiles.

It was going to be a fantastic wedding, Jana was going to shine, Mercer was going to fall in love with her all over again. They were going to be on cloud nine, and I was going to be exhausted and resting on cloud eight. This was going to be their “once in a lifetime” day, and it was my wedding gift to them.

Aaron Hu has authored on an extensive range of topics related to the wedding industry. If you are looking for unique wedding favors, E-WeddingFavors.com has the biggest selection available. You will also find Wedding Party Favors and much more, all at very affordable prices.

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My wedding has to be exciting and fun and definitely memorable. Since we decided to go with a professional wedding planner a lot of my time has been spoken for. I never actually realized or appreciated the complexity of taking on someone else’s wedding. You or more appropriately the wedding planner have (has) to contend with all the intricacies as well as all of the unforeseen and inescapable problems, disagreements, discrepancies etc. etc. that seem to crop up almost every day. As the bride-to-be I thought I had it tough: well, not so tough compared to my planner. He is simply out of this world, and I mean that with all respect and growing awareness of the pressures he juggles daily. I bless and thank my cousin, Jersie who also happens to be one of my closest friends and ally for convincing me to let Danny take over.

Jersie and I were in the mall the other day, and every store we passed or went into was piping music out as if the shoppers were octogenarians and close to deafness. Aside from the unbearable loudness, you could barely distinguish what kind of music was coming from which store. We got so fed up we left rather quickly, but not before I started thinking about what kind of music/band I wanted for my wedding. And my next thought was how I could reinterpret the idea of music into a wedding favor. Sounds weird, maybe, but I love a challenge.

We found an outdoor place to sit and have some coffee, and almost simultaneously blurted out that music was going to set the tone and liveliness for the evening so we had better start talking about what music I wanted and what band I wanted so our guests could dance inside and bounce outside when they left. I called Michael, my fiance, asked him if he had any preferences: he said those kinds of decisions were mine; he would be there no matter what and as long as I was there his life was complete. Wow … what a guy!!!

Next I called my parents. They, on the other hand, had suggestions. They were partial to 1940’s music … torch song type of stuff … I didn’t say “No” right out of hand, but I did when they mentioned every so lightly that they loved classical and opera. I made light of it too, thanked them and said “Talk to you later …” Jersie and I, and most of our friends, liked music from the 60’s up through the present with a few exceptions. We mulled over which era we liked best; and then we mulled some more. I looked at her eventually and told her I wanted a band that could do it all … from old-fashion/classical rock’n'roll to the hottest music of today, but could also bring in some of that `moody’ music from my parent’s day. Then I dialed Danny and broke the news to him. Had I been able to see him react, I just know he wouldn’t have batted an eyelash. Thank you, Jersie.

I got home, called Michael to tell him what I had decided on for music. He just laughed and asked me what next, some kind of musical wedding favors, and then hung up. Trust him to leave it all up to me, and be on the same wave length as me even though he didn’t realize it.

I got comfortably ensconced on my bed, put my creative cap on, and began thinking. I wanted everyone to have something that would bring smiles to their faces and fill their thoughts with warm, fun, memories. That’s when it hit me … I would have whatever band we chose to pre- record a short repertoire of the music they would play and we would somehow have it installed in a small simple but tasteful music box. What a great, unique wedding favor. My parents had been asking me, us, what I wanted for a wedding gift. This was it … something I would have and could also share with everyone I loved and cared for. Might take some convincing, but I was their only (baby) daughter among four brothers. What a hoot. It’s “love” that “makes the world go round,” and music that makes it spin.

Aaron Hu has authored on an extensive range of topics related to the wedding industry. If you are looking for unique wedding favors, E-WeddingFavors.com has the biggest selection available. You will also find Wedding Party Favors and much more, all at very affordable prices.

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Haps, my wedding planner, and I had pretty much everything arranged. We were way ahead of schedule. I was a stickler for getting things done before necessary: that way I had time to deal with the unanticipated, and to make any rearrangements if I was so inclined.

We finally decided on the “venue” as Haps liked to call it. There was a new Grand Marriott hotel that had a wonderful (sizable) ballroom: they wanted exposure for events and we wanted a good deal. It worked out for both of us. The hotel had a much publicized chef, Simon, and catering staff. We met with Simon. He wowed us with a sampling of dishes, appetizers, entrees, and deserts; no need to look further. We even went so far as to leave the menu up to him, and were delighted when he told us what he had in mind. The florist and floral arrangements were agreed on after a few disagreements with my parents, not the florist. The band was really good; they would please more than enough of our guests and that was fine with me. The printer had designed a simple but beautiful invitation and they were going out the following week. Like I said, everything was falling into place.

But, and there is usually a but, I was having difficulty deciding on my wedding dress and hence my bridesmaid dresses. You’d think I would have known “my dress” from day one. Well, guess again. I had seen a few dresses and I liked different things about each one, but that didn’t help me much. So, I went in search of a designer/tailor. A friend of mine suggested this guy Jesse who was starting out and trying to make a name for himself: most important he was supposed to be very good. I called him. We met; I told him what I had in mind and then took him to see the dresses. He took his time looking at them, and then we went for coffee. Jesse took out a sketch pad and pencil: I sat silently. Coffee came, I drank and watched him. He sipped in- between drawing and I waited. Patiently. About 15 minutes went by and he looked up and handed me his sketch. I was in seventh heaven. He knew just what I wanted, and he was just what I wanted for my dress, of course. Jesse suggested an egg-shell white for my dress and also a silk and rayon combination for the material. I must have had a quizzical look on my face cause he smiled and told me not to worry it would be gorgeous. Dress situation solved.

The only other thing I could think of that needed seeing to was my wedding favors. I wanted something unique, “keep-able, and usable.” I had a way out thought. We all loved animals so I told the printer that I wanted the RSVP cards to ask each guest who was coming to note their preference for either a panda bear or polar bear, and to RSVP asap. I then went to my computer and started searching for a specialty company that made crystal-type paper weights: polar bears with snow: panda bears with bamboo shoots. Once I found that and had the RSVP in I was going to order the paper weights with their respective choices. I thought it would be different, and I hoped our friends would too.

“It’s a beautiful feeling” when everything comes together, and you know it’s all going to work out just fine. I let out a sigh … smiled to myself … snuggled in bed with my dogs and cats, looked out my window, wished upon a star and drifted off into dreamland.

Aaron Hu has authored on an extensive range of topics related to the wedding industry. If you are looking for unique wedding favors, E-WeddingFavors.com has the biggest selection available. You will also find Wedding Guest Favors and much more, all at very affordable prices.

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I’ve been spending a lot of time with family and close friends over the past few days trying to figure out what kinds of gifts I want. Don’t get me wrong … people have been calling me and asking me what Sam and I could like, what we could use. They have also been asking as discreetly as possible, mind you my parents for suggestions. My parents, of course, have been turning it around and asking me without giving anything away. Bless them, but it wasn’t difficult to guess why they were asking. I didn’t let on though. We discussed the typical ones and tried to come up with out-of-the-ordinary ideas. Not an easy thing to do!!!

Everything else seemed to be coming together quite smoothly. I was pretty much planning my own wedding with the guidance of my cousin who just happens to be a professional wedding planner. I couldn’t decide whether or not I really needed professional help. Between you and me this is going to be my third wedding. I don’t really count the first one. I was young and foolish; we eloped, and it lasted less than four months. My second one was better. I went through a superficial type of planning. It was a small wedding. We had a nice ceremony and comfortable reception. The food was tasty, and the wedding favors were sweet. They were glazed-over small glass hearts with the saying,”Love’s much lovelier the second time around.” That’s what I thought at the time anyway. What did I know; I obviously hadn’t learned too much, let alone enough.

This third time had to be my lucky one. It just had to. I was older, more mature, and Sam was a tower of strength and wonderfully supportive. I simply had to make our wedding stop time for us in that moment when we were saying “I do.” And, I wanted our guests our friends and family to enjoy the evening almost as much as we were going to.

I think I was driving everyone close to me a little crazy trying to think of novel ideas for gifts. Little seemed to click with me until my friend Camdan suggested I get onto the internet and check out a website that could very well be the solution to my gift dilemma. Knowing that this was my third time around, she knew that most gifts could very well be duplicates as new as they might be. She also knew that I didn’t like clutter. I kept badgering her to tell me about the site, but she told me to stop being so lazy and look at it myself. Well, when I finally did I knew she was right and I, then and there, made her my new best friend.

The site was all about the concept of honeymoons and what goes into making them fantastic, sexy, fun, and sparing you the honeymoon couple the expense, or at least a great part of the expense, of the honeymoon. It also gave me a couple of ideas for possible wedding favors.

The site was a virtual gift idea phenomenon. The intent focuses on giving people a variety of options to buy into paying for different aspects of a honeymoon. Some of the choices included paying in part or full towards: the hotel room/suite; spas visits for facials, massages, or the hair salon perhaps; meals (dining room or room service); car rentals; and/or anything else that hotels offer their guests. They also had comparable choices for cruises and all the amenities. The list went on, but you get the idea. It’s something like a time-share except you get to keep your share. And the best part of it all: the selection and actual gift purchasing can all be done from the comfort of one’s home. 21 century living. Go figure.

After browsing through that, I started thinking about wedding favors. I wanted to give unique wedding favors that would be fun and memorable, and I came up with an idea that I believed would overall fit the bill. I was going to get those small ships inside bottles placed on birthstone colored stones with words embossed saying “thanks for the memories.

Aaron Hu has authored on an extensive range of topics related to the wedding industry. If you are looking for unique wedding favors, E-WeddingFavors.com has the biggest selection available. You will also find Wedding Shower Favors and much more, all at very affordable prices.

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I used to wonder sometimes about who ever thought of the expression “tying the knot.” I can understand its usage in wrapping gifts, using ropes to secure things in storms, and so on. But tying a knot in the context of a wedding would leave me baffled … until I started meeting with wedding planners and even friends who had “tied” the proverbial knot. I supposed, initially, I wasn’t open to interpretations other than my own. I sure didn’t want to think of my up-coming marriage as being knotted: that to me left little room for happy thoughts, let alone a happy marriage.

I was meeting with Dayle, my wedding planner, to talk about wedding favors among other things, but whenever we met the thought of knots interfered with my concentration as well as my helping her. I sat on it for a while that day, but then during lunch I couldn’t help myself and blurted out that the “knot” thing really bothered me. So many people used that term and it aggravated me. Wedding and knot when used together was an oxymoron as far as I was concerned. My marriage, my future life, and the event that was going to set all of that in motion were not going to be a knotted series of happenings. You could say I was rather obsessed with the whole idea of “tying the knot.” Well, Dayle looked at me and started laughing so hard I thought she was going to … well, you know what I mean…

After that one-person laugh fest, Dayle sat quietly for a few minutes, and then she took my hand kissed it smiled at me and told me to stop being such a little snob and so narrow minded. She was one of a few who could get away with talking to me like that. “Weddings are my business. You are getting married. I’m planning your wedding so you are now my business.” She told me I needed to consider the expression from a different perspective. Tying the knot was perhaps an overly used adage, but it was one that really defined the union, the eternal embrace between a husband and wife. She got me there. I could feel the semi-frown on my face turning into a smile … a big one. Dayle had a way with words; and her words were insightful enough to bowl me over.

We talked for hours about invitations, table lay-outs, general seating arrangements, photographers, and wedding favors. By the time we got to desert, she looked at me and asked if my stomach was in knots from everything we had to figure out and then plan out. (We giggled.) She was the kind of wedding planner that insisted on the bride’s and when possible the groom’s in-put and involvement. She might disagree and when she did it was for good cause, but she was usually right. She’d better be: she was the expert. I stared right back at her smiling, of course and said, “No knots there.” We talked for a bit longer then parted.

My mind was still focused on “tying the knot,” but my thinking about them had changed totally. I wanted our guests to have unique wedding favors, and I knew just what they would be. I would have a knot (approximately two inches long) designed out of a beautiful rose type wood origami style - engraved with the words “eternal love” on it for each guest. I sat in my car for a few minutes then I called Dayle and told her; she loved the idea. Everything was slowly coming together; and I was loving the thoughts of my “tying the knot” forever.

Aaron Hu has authored on an extensive range of topics related to the wedding industry. If you are looking for unique wedding favors, E-WeddingFavors.com has the biggest selection available. You will also find Wedding Favors and much more, all at very affordable prices.

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