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Image by McNamara Photography
In a recent post I briefly explained many of the aspects of floral and event design. I am going to break down the more traditional floral budget today, starting with your personal flowers. I will explain how much you should budget for each portion of your design and what items you should be considering. Typically flowers in general will be around 8%-10% of your overall wedding budget. That would break down to the following amounts:
$2,000.00-$2,500.00 8%-10% of an under 25k overall wedding budget (based on 25k)
$3,000.00-$3,750.00 8%-10% of a 25k-50k overall wedding budget (based on 37.5k)
$5,200.00-$6,500.00 8%-10% of a 50k-80k overall wedding budget (based on 65k)
$8,000.00-$10,000.00 8%-10% of an 80k and up overall wedding budget (based on 100k)
Your flower budget will most likely be broken up into the following parts:
10-20% Personal Flowers - greatly depending on the number of attendants
10% Ceremony Flowers
5% Cocktail Hour Flowers
50% Reception Flowers
5% Special Extras
These are very approximate percentages as some brides will have one bridesmaid in her wedding party but will want a lavish place card table arrangement which would in a sense reverse her % for personal flowers and cocktail hour flowers. Use the above breakdown as a guideline, but don’t worry about it at all if your amounts fall outside of these parameters.
![[PhiladelphiaMap.jpg]](http://www.weddingbeepro.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/philade1.jpg)
We often talk about maps being used as save-the-date cards and part of welcome gift bags, but another very popular use for maps is as itineraries.
Here you can see this adorable Philadelphia map, of course showing all of the couple’s important places of interest (the church, their favorite Philly cheesesteak locale {yummy!}, the Liberty Bell) but it also features the “Weekend Activities” on the reverse side.
There are many things to think, even worry about while planning a wedding. As we begin to tell family and friends we plan to be married and have our reception on a farm, questions begin to arise. A recent question, posed by Rich’s father is, “Where are we going to sit!?” I suggested bales of hay, somewhat in jest, but knowing full well just how pretty a canvas-covered bale of hay can be when accompanied by wildflowers. Perhaps we will put a few chairs out. Just in case. 
{Images via Martha Stewart Weddings}
As I made my way to the Lake Mohawk Country Club in Sparta, New Jersey for Meg and David’s wedding, it started to pour, and I was very concerned about the ceremony – which was to take place outside, overlooking the lake. Thankfully, the rain completely cleared up, the sun came out, and we had beautiful weather for their ceremony. Thank goodness!
If you’re having a tented wedding, be prepared for additional costs and additional vendors. A tented wedding costs more money since you have to bring everything on site, and there’s no way to really get around that. Here’s a list of items you need to consider when working with a tented event that you wouldn’t need to deal with if you had your wedding at an existing venue. You don’t need all of these items but it gives you a pretty complete list to work off:
If you want to learn more about tents, check out one of our past blog posts here: What you need to know about tented weddings.
Reception Tent: So this is pretty obvious. The size of your tent depends on the number of guests you’re having. If you are planning on an outdoor ceremony and/or cocktail hour, make sure you consider getting the next size up for your main tent as a rain plan. Better yet, consider a cocktail tent if your budget and space allows. In addition to your tent, you need to consider tent sides- clear, mesh, white, windows, a dance floor if you’re not having a complete tent floor, and maybe even a stage for your reception entertainment. Depending on the size and style of your tent, this will vary from $500-$10,000.
{photo from Shop Composition}
It must be the paper, because I have never tasted the chocolate. Above are chocolate bars from the Mast Brothers -leaders of the chocolate revolution and pretty packaging with Italian papers. From all the articles I have read, it sounds like people would give their left arm for a tiny morsel of this goodness. I am completely charmed by their process. The brothers clean, sort, roast, and refine the cacao beans in small batches themselves and develop the flavors, like almond + sea salt. They also hand-wrap and tape each bar closed themselves {my favorite part}.
In the brief and fleeting moments I have thought about our wedding favors, I think an edible one is the way to go, especially when they are this pretty. Many people will be traveling to our wedding and to give them something such as a small plant or flowers {our first choices} will only be appreciated for a day or two, then left behind. Plus, who does not want to nibble on a bit of chocolate before their dinner comes?
But back to the paper. I actually own some sheets of the same paper. Which makes me think -maybe I should do this myself. If I did it myself I could:
1. Customize the paper as well as the label; 2. Buy chocolate bars from local shops {such as my favorite, Haven’s, in Maine}; 3. Then I would not have to travel to Brooklyn to get these chocolate bars; and 4. Not spend $7 - 8 per bar {well, I will have to crunch some numbers and get back to you on that part}, even though I am quite sure they are worth it.
Now I want some chocolate. 
We have expanded the Kate Parker Weddings brand to include a number of products, most notably our custom Out of Town (OOT) Welcome Baskets. While OOT welcome baskets are often a DIY project for many brides, I wanted to show you our process so you get a better sense of how involved they can be from the ordering through shipping of each individual basket. We will ship to as many hotels as a client requests, contacting each hotel in advance to let them know our baskets are coming. In addition we send each box with a list of guests as to minimize any confusion. I hope this tutorial gives inspiration for the DIY brides and maybe even some expert secrets and tips of the trade!
We all have such wonderful people in our lives – but when we get married not everyone wants to have a bridal party – or maybe you only want to have a small bridal party, but would like to help some other family members or friends involved with the ceremony as well.
I’ve had some very clever and smart brides lately with some great ideas to get more people involved in your wedding ceremony! Here are some of my favorites:
Readers: This is more on the traditional side, but can be a great way to include a special friend or family member who is not part of the bridal party. Why not let them choose the reading they’d like to use? There are a ton of fabulous places to find fun and personal readings to include in your ceremony – you could even choose a few, and just give your reader an option.
Guest Vows: This is one of my favorite rituals. Immediately after the couple does their “I do’s” or their vows, I’ll address everyone gathered directly, and ask them to pledge their own love and support for the bride and groom in their marriage. The wording is usually slightly different than the traditional vows:
Today, you have come here not simply to witness our couple’s union, but to take part in it. Each of you represents not only yourself, but all of the people who have and will touch the lives of our bride and groom. Your support has helped their relationship to flourish, and the joy that you all bring into the couple’s lives keeps them going. Our bride and groom have asked all present to take vows as well, to pledge your support and love for them as they embark upon this new path together. After I have spoken these vows, please answer with “We will.”
Everyone gathered here today, before you stand two people who love you very much. Do you promise to encourage and inspire their dreams? To accept them not only as individuals, but as a couple? To be their friends and their support, today and everyday to follow?
And then they all answer with a resounding “We Will!”
This is part 2 of the post “What’s Important, What’s Not” from the Real Groom series. Once again, I give you our groom, the amazingly generous and kind, Danny Lai.
![[Puerta+Vallarta+2009+200.jpg]](http://www.weddingbeepro.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/puerta1.jpg)
Photography by Kevin Chin
Obligatory face time - Do not feel obligated to obey all of the age-old formalities and wedding traditions. Grumpy relatives don’t have to be seated at your table if all they’ll do is complain and ask about when you’ll have kids. It is your wedding, and you should make sure you get to see the people you’ve been looking forward to seeing.
One of my biggest regrets was not keeping track of the people I wanted to see, and not realizing that they had already left until the end of the evening. Continuously make the rounds, and don’t spend too much time talking to people you see all the time. This is the one time when everyone in your life is within ear shot, and when everyone wants to see and talk to you. Take advantage of this opportunity, and connect with the people you rarely get to see.
Pictures taken with everyone - There will be lots and lots of cameras at your wedding, and hardly a single detail will be missed. Your friends will send you the pictures that they took, you’ll have your wedding photographer’s photos, and between the thousands of pictures you sort through, you will have photographic evidence of everyone who attended your wedding. Why waste precious time during the cocktail hour or reception rounding everyone up so that you can get a posed photo of everyone? A much more meaningful memento would be a photo collage showing candids of everyone at your wedding. After the wedding, when time is less of the essence, you can take your time printing the photos and assembling your collage.
Rich and I started receiving seed and bulb catalogs in January. Yes. We get them in the mail each winter and pour over them saying “ooooh pretty!” and “ahhhh we need those!” We have made the decision to grown our own wedding flowers in our backyard garden, as well as Rich’s parent’s massive backyard in Massachusetts. We need to do some further zone research to see if the flowers we want for our wedding will last until late summer to early fall in my parent’s backyard in Maine…which I suspect they will as evident from the above photo which I took in their backyard late last summer. My mom’s zinnias were amazing!
As lovers of pretty much every flower on earth, we do have some favorites that we are also successful at growing and they are as follows:
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