What food to provide for an evening reception?

When budget is a constraint it's very difficult to decide on how to provide food for your evening reception.

A usual hotel facility will usually charge anywhere between £13-£17 per head for a finger buffet. They will also usually want you to cater for a minimum number, eg 75%. If you were having 120 guests, you would be looking at spending £1170! This for a couple with a budget of £10,000 is over 10% of the total budget.

When considering what to do for the evening reception there are a few things you need to consider,

How many more people will there be to the evening reception?

How far are my evening guests travelling?

When would my daytime guests have last eaten?

There are plenty of options available even within the restrictions of a hotel.

One of the cheapest options available is to provide bacon and sausage (vegetarian options) rolls. Usually you will still be looking at approx £5-£6 per head. However, if you were to not serve your wedding cake with coffee and serve it with the evening buffet, this would fill out your evening fayre.

Another cheaper option, if the venue allows is to have a hog roast. I have paid as little as £400 for a full hog roast, with baps, apple sauce and crackling for 200 rolls. Ask the venue to supply 3 large bowls of different salads at about £10 per bowl and for less than £500 you have an impressive evening buffet which will feed everyone.

For those of you who are restricted by the budget and simply don't have the money to spare, ensuring there are plenty of bowls of nibbles around for people to eat as well as the wedding cake will help at least soak up some of the alcohol. Look at serving giant pretsels, tortilla chips and dips, grisini breadsticks to add something a bit different to the usual bowls of crisps.

www.finesseplanning.co.uk

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How to Personalise Your Wedding

When planning a wedding it is easy to get lost in all of the different aspects involved and even easier to lose sight of what you actually want.

Following a few simple rules and guidelines will ensure that your wedding will reflect your personalities and styles and will add aspects that will ensure your guests know that it is your wedding.

The most important thing to remember is that the day is about you and your partner and this should be reflected throughout the wedding.

Choose a theme that reflects you whether it is a favourite colour, a sport, a hobby and use it to personalise things. However, do not combine different themes, choose one and stick to it.

Once you have chosen your theme, it is a great idea to produce a ‘mood board’. It is all too easy to save pictures that you have seen and swatches of fabrics you like in a file, but until you put them all together it is hard to see what does and doesn’t work. Make as many mood boards as you want, to see what works well. You can then use this to show to your suppliers who will instantly understand what look you are trying to achieve.

Make sure though that you don’t go over the top. It is easy to get carried away. Choose a number of elements that you can personalise such as invitations, centre pieces, attendants outfits, flowers, even music but make them impressionable. To add too many things will over power the wedding and any impact could get lost. Have just a few bold items, this could be large flower displays, an amazing cake design or the use of coloured lighting and then finish off the theme with smaller details.

Finally, don’t forget your budget. Theming a wedding usually involves the finer details of things and last minute ideas and changes can seriously alter your budget. If you choose a theme from the beginning, brain storm the different aspects that you want to incorporate into it, then you can budget for them accordingly.

By following these simple guidelines you will be ensuring your guests will walk away not only impressed but knowing that it was definitely your wedding and no one else’s.

www.finesseplanning.co.uk

It's time I shared some of my wedding knowledge!

So, here it is, the first of my blogs to help those of you getting married or involved in the planning process. As a wedding & events planner I have lots of tips and advice on how to plan your wedding or event with less stress and more money in your pocket. I will be providing tips and solutions to all parts of the wedding planning process and will be updating you on my day to day antics as I plan other people's events.

Everytime I come across something new that I think should be shared, I will let you know.

When I try something new and want to share, I will let you know.

When I have got something wrong, I might not be so quick to let you know.

I hope you enjoy my blogs and that I can help you plan a successful and unique event.

Ruth

www.finesseplanning.co.uk