4pm-4:30: guests arrive, appetizers provided in "social hour" area
4:45: guests begin to take their seats
5:00: Flower girl walks down aisle to start ceremony
5:30: merge to reception (appetizers, movement to reception area, barbecue fires up)
6-6:30: Dinner starts to be served
7:00: Toasting, cake cutting
7:30: First dance (and dancing to continue until people head out)
How does that sound?
Food is an entirely different story. I have the candy shop and soda bar done, but as for "dinner" we are doing a barbecue with Kim, Calvin's brother-in-law, cooking. Since this is a Native wedding, I've been informed that we are having fry bread and indian tacos as well (yum!). It'll be interesting doing all this food, but since it's not fancy and pricey, I'm confident it will be within the budget. The challenge will just be getting it all cooked and eaten!
Main course choices:
steak
chicken
hot dog
indian tacos (fry bread and chili)
And I'm trying to figure out how to estimate who will be having steaks/chicken/hot dogs. According to Calvin, there's no such thing as too many steaks, so I guess we'll just buy as many as the budget allows for and freeze the extras (to his delight) , but on the day of the ceremony, I'm thinking perhaps request cards on a table near the entrance might be a good idea, so Kim knows how many of each to cook.
Side dishes, I haven't even gotten to think about yet, but I'm thinking plain potato chips or baked potatoes or something. Definitely need ideas here.
For many brides, appetizers turn out to be the most expensive part of the budget because of the variety needed. Hopefully with a bit of creativity, I'll be able to avoid that problem. I'm still brainstorming here as well but my first thought is turkey pieces wrapped in bacon. They are easy to make and can stay on a warmer until pierced with toothpicks and placed on a tray. I'd like to do more similar appetizers, so I'll be hitting the recipe books!
Any ideas, please for heaven's sake, share them!
Couple thoughts about this scedual, please understand i'm trying to offer constructive advice and things to consider and don't mean to not rip on your ideas....
ReplyDeleteIf guest arrive at 4 and the wedding ceremony doesn't start till 5 and they're already been pigging out on appetisers they aren't likely to stay for the reception afterwards. Especially if they are going to have to wait another hour until dinner is served. My suggestion would be Have the ceremony start at 5 and say something on the invitation to let guests know they should be in their seats before them. Then have the "appetisers" and things people can snack on while they're waiting for the food to be served.
Another reason why I suggest this is because you're not going to want people to see you until your walking down the aisle in all your glory. So who's going to be orchastraing the mingling and appetizers and things before the ceremony starts? Could be a brides maid? but it seems that it'd possibly run smoother with that time moved till while guest are waiting to get the grub :)
Also I think it's a good idea to have guests select which entre they'd like to have either as they arrive or as they RSVP, however lets be realistic... who's gonna pick bread or hot dogs when they have the choice of steak?! That could get expensive!!!
I would avoid baked potatos as a side dish just because it requires so many extras, ie butter, bacon bits, chives, knives and forks, huge time to cook them all, keeping them hot... where as potato chips or perhaps some other side dish, all you've gotta do is bring a bowl and rip open the bag.
Excellent, this is exactly the type of stuff I need to think about.
ReplyDeleteThe new trend is to do a "social hour" before the ceremony while the bride is getting ready. It's not officially timed or anything, but just allows guests to get there without being rushed when the ceremony starts. Generally it's the groom who hosts it. I see what you're saying about the appetizers, that's a good point. A lot of guests will be calvin's out of town family though, so they won't be taking off. And would potato chips be tacky? I'd love to just dump a couple bags of ripples and call it good.
Oh and since I live in Deer Park, I have some sources for low-cost steaks (ie. buy a cow, get it slaughtered and send it to the butcher. It's like $3 a pound or less that way). Steaks are kind of Calvin's one request, so I'm going to do what I can to get that done. After all, he's allowing me to get a $900 dress!
ReplyDelete