One of the most important tips is to have a plan for a time-line for the day of the wedding. But, leave it up to the planning professionals that you hire and just enjoy your day.
Make out a checklist of everything you need for the wedding and reception. Have a safety kit or tool box, and circle the things you want someone to gather at the end of the evening and put with the wedding gifts.
Regarding the tool box, I never do a wedding with out my emergency kit. Have these things set up ahead of time in case something should occur. Just a few of the items include:
Tylenol
sewing kit
super glue
moleskin
band aid
mints
Shout wipes
scissors
double sided tape for dresses (sold at dress shops)
safety pins
I also always pack up cake to go for the bride and groom, as they never get to eat the cake.
If all the bridesmaids go to Church or a Synagogue to dress, have large, white shopping bags with the girls names painted on them and have the girls bring all the items they need in these bags. Once dressed, they can put all their items back into their bag and nothing is lost. The bags can be loaded into a limo and taken to the club or hotel, and it is so much easier to keep track of everyone’s things.
Eileen Benson’s Sample Day-Of Checklist
rings
marriage license
wedding programs
guest book
favors
seating list and floor plan (copy)
cake knife and server
place cards
menu card
BONUS TIPS from Eileen:
Never let the toasts last longer than 3-5 minutes and limit the number of toasts. Do the long ones the night before. I once had a best man do a toast that lasted 17 minutes.
Do not try to serve a five course meal if you want to dance and have a lively reception. Your guests will get antsy and some may start leaving before its time to hit the dance floor.
What good are awards for if you don’t boast about them, right? In the past week we’ve found out we won the following:
A “Best of Weddings 2010″ Award from The Knot for Best Wedding Band goes to The Bottom Line band! As an office, we have been honored with this award for the past three years. This year, however, the “Best Wedding Music” category was split it into two: “Best Band” and “Best DJ.” We are still honored that one of our bands was named by the readers of The Knot!
Cleveland Business Connects Connector’s Choice Awards: We have been nominated for Best Cleveland Entertainment for the second year in a row. Readers of the magazine cast 1,948 total ballots between Nov. 15 and Dec. 31, 2009. Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on Wednesday, March 3rd at the House of Blues.
And finally, WeddingWire named us as a winner of their Bride’s Choice Award for 2010. This is the second time we’ve been given this award, which recognizes the top 5 percent of local wedding professionals from the WeddingWire Network who demonstrate excellence in quality, service and professionalism.
The Bride’s Choice Awards™ are determined exclusively by recent newlyweds (brides and grooms) through extensive surveys and reviews.
Our most popular wedding and event band, The Orchestra, just wrapped a brand new video shoot for 2010, and the first cut of this hot new batch of material is I Gotta Feeling by the Black Eyed Peas!
Watch for the rest of the video from The Orchestra soon!
On Sunday, Jan 3, 2010, singer DD Magdalena will lead the National Anthem at Browns Stadium as the Cleveland Browns match up against the Jacksonville Jaguars. DD will sing just before kickoff at approximately 1 pm.
DD is the lead female vocalist for the Cleveland wedding and event band, FasTrack. She may potentially be seen and heard on tv and radio airwaves as part of this wonderful opportunity.
Eileen Benson’s Sample Day-Of Checklist
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