Planning the Wedding Rehearsal

• Check with the wedding party and key family members about work schedules on the day before the wedding. This will help in scheduling the rehearsal. Work these times around the times that the venue is available for the rehearsal.
• Send invitations to those you want/need at your rehearsal at least 4 weeks in advance,
• Hold the rehearsal in the ceremony space if at all possible. Sometimes this is not a possibility and if that is the case be prepared with photos and diagrams so that the wedding party understands where they will be.
• Have the rehearsal before the dinner. No one eats (or drinks) until the rehearsal is completed. This helps to guarantee attendance to the rehearsal.
• Have a coordinator who is in charge of the rehearsal, and the ceremony on the wedding day. Some churches supply this person as a part of the rental fee, often this is the pastor’s wife. It can also be a friend or family member who is not involved in the wedding party. Lastly, it could be the wedding coordinator who you hired to help you plan your wedding. It should never be a parent of the bride or groom or someone in the wedding party. Make sure the coordinator knows exactly what the bride, groom and officiant want/need for the ceremony. Meet with the couple and their families at least a week before the rehearsal to map out exactly what needs to happen when.

The Wedding Rehearsal

1. Start on time-Coordinator asks everyone to have a seat. Coordinator introduces themself and the officiant to the crowd.
2. Officiant prays over the rehearsal.
3. Coordinators speech. This sets the tone for the rehearsal. Remind everyone that they are there in love and support of the couple. This is not the time for petty arguments or comments about the way the ceremony is planned. The planning is done it is time to execute the plans that have been made. Remind them to pay attention and listen carefully so that extra run-throughs are not required.
4. Review how the rehearsal will run-out of order. Recessional, Processional, Ceremony.
5. Show the girls how to hold their flowers and remind everyone not to lock their knees.
6. Place the wedding party on stage, where they will be for the end of the ceremony. Discuss how they will process out, what their cues are etc. Rehearse the recessional at least 2 times with the music, starting with the officiant’s announcement of the couple.
7. Line everyone up wherever they will be starting from. Typical line is grandparents of the groom, grandparents of the bride, parents of the groom, mother of the bride, bridesmaids, maid of honor, ring bearer, flower girls, bride with her father. Play the music and rehearse the timing of sending people in 2-3 times as needed until everything times out properly.
8. Rehearse the ceremony up to where the father gives away the bride. This is where we did something different! We sent all of the guests, parents and other family members to the rehearsal dinner site so that only the bride, groom, wedding party, officiant, parents of the children in the wedding party and the coordinator were left. This way the unique parts of the ceremony were a delightful surprise to everyone on the wedding day.
9. Run through the rest of the ceremony 1-2 times.
10. Run through the recessional once more for good measure.
11. Everyone then heads to the rehearsal dinner.

Aaron and Summer’s wedding rehearsal lasted about 90 minutes. It went smoothly and Kim, our coordinator did a great job of keeping everything moving and answering questions along the way.

Have you been a part of a smooth or bumpy wedding rehearsal? Share your story in the comments.

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Gather Your Team

Your wedding reception requires a team of people to ensure that things run smoothly:

• A Kitchen Coordinator-This person is in charge of the volunteers who are serving the food/maintaining the buffet. For us this person also oversaw the food and beverages  at the  garden party and cleanup of the buffet and kitchen.
• Reception Host/DJ-We had a friend running the music via a Spotify playlist and another friend, who is a great people person host the reception. The host is the person who announces the wedding party when they arrive, announces each part of the reception and keeps the party moving and on schedule. Often this is the job of a professional DJ, if you hire one. We saved hundreds of dollars by creating specific Spotify playlists and having a friend host the reception.
• Photographer – We hired a friend who is an up and coming local photographer for her photography and videography services.
• The bride, groom and parents who are helping to plan the reception-These are the people who have the most input into the timeline and music selections.

Choose Your Events

Every wedding reception is different. There are a lot of events that can take place you need to decide which of these you want to happen at your reception. Here are some events to choose from:

• Announcing the Wedding Party as they arrive
• Receiving Line
• Blessing the Food
• Bride & Groom first dance
• Father/Daughter dance
• Mother/Son dance
• Wedding Party Dance
• Toasts: Best Man, Maid of Honor, Father of the Bride
• Money Dance
• Cutting the Cake
• Flower Toss
• Garter Toss
• Traditional Cultural Dances
• Send-off

Choose the Music

• This was the most difficult step for us because we are all musicians and music lovers-we also have very varied musical tastes. We spent several weeks choosing the music-don’t leave this to the last minute.
• Using Spotify playlists was the easiest way we found to organize and manage the music.
• Once the music is organized, you can share your playlists with whomever is running the music at your reception and everything is in one place.
• **WARNING** make sure your venue has fast and reliable wi-fi that you can use before choosing this option.
• We also used a Spotify playlist for the ceremony music

Get Organized

• How long do you want the reception to be/how long do you have the wedding venuefor?
• Create a Google Spread Sheet-save it in your Google Drive. That way you can share it with everyone on your team.  Please remember to use last names in your script. Here is a screenshot of the “party” portion of our reception. It doesn’t have to be elaborate, just functional.
• Make sure you bring several printed copies of the timeline to the reception so that everyone who needs one, has one.
• Don’t put the cake cutting too far into the reception. Some of your guests will have to leave early for a myriad of reasons and no one wants to miss the cake cutting.
• Buy your wedding bands early!
• To keep things moving, we started the toasts right after everyone had been through the buffet line the first time. This gave the wedding party plenty of time to eat before moving into the next part of the reception.

As you can see, creating your wedding reception timeline doesn’t have to be very involved or difficult as long as it is organized.

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If you remember they got married 2 days after Thanksgiving and that in itself could have added more stress into what can be a crazy week.

Aaron and Summer’s Wedding Week

Aaron had to work Monday and Tuesday and Summer had to work Monday-Wednesday, though she ended up only being needed in the morning on Wednesday-so the beginning of the week was a “normal” week with no additional wedding activities planned. We were blessed by the fact that we could get into the reception space at 9am on Wednesday morning and into the prep space at 1:30pm that same day. This is one time when having a holiday wedding helped us. The church we had the wedding at does not have Wednesday night activities on the day before Thanksgiving so families can be free to travel or start preparing food for Thanksgiving. Since they weren’t using the building we got to. Wednesday at 9am Ron, Aaron, Jordan and I arrived at the church and started the deconstruction phase-we had to stack all of the 120 chairs in the sanctuary, vacuum and rearrange the stage so that we could hang our backdrop and set the head table on the stage. Later Ron’s mom, my parents, Summer and Jessica arrived to help with the decorating of the sanctuary (where the reception was being held) and setting up of the prep/staging space in the fellowship hall and nursery. We had everything done by about 4pm.

We were able to relax and enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday just like we normally do. It was a wonderful pause in an exciting week. Since Friday was rehearsal day, I opted not to take part in our annual Black Friday traditions, much to my father’s dismay. Friday we arrived at the church early to set up enough of the outdoor ceremony space for the rehearsal. We had a great rehearsal, more on that in another post, and then an interesting rehearsal dinner, again-another post

Saturday I did not go to the church until 90 minutes before the ceremony and it was delightful! I got my nails and hair done and had lunch with friends. Ron was at the church all day. He was there to oversee all of the deliveries and be there while the girls got their hair and make-up done.

Great tips on How to Have a Stress Free Wedding week!
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Why We Were Able to Have a Stress Free Wedding Week

In short, we planned it that way. From the beginning we planned to have all of the work and planning completed 2 weeks before the wedding date with out stress thanks to our wedding binder, we created a planning schedule that allowed us to be ready ahead of time. I have said it all along, planning is key. Our weekly wedding planning family meetings were the key to making sure everything got done well and on schedule. We also made sure to schedule in a buffer of time in case something didn’t go as planned.

IF for some reason we didn’t get the decorating done on Wednesday, we had plenty of time Friday to finish up. Thankfully we didn’t need that time so we were able to relax. The decorating went smoothly because it was planned. Everyone knew what they were in charge of getting done and they did their work and then helped the next person get their work done. All of the decorations and supplies were organized in bins so that items that went together were together. The grandmothers of the groom sat at a table and rolled the silverware in the napkins and attached the napkin rings. They also built the cupcake boxes. My mother ironed the cloth tablecloths that we decided to use for the head table while my father vacuumed. All this was happening while tables were being moved in and set up and everything else was being decorated. It worked as a well-oiled machine, for the most part, because we were organized.

This was a DIY wedding, we did most of the work ourselves. I made most of the decorations, my friend was the wedding coordinator for the rehearsal and the ceremony. Other friends worked the reception and my in-laws hosted the rehearsal dinner. We worked together, in community, and we pulled off a great event. You can do this too! Especially if you are doing the wedding yourself, please plan, plan, plan. If you have questions, please reach out to me-I’m happy to help. Don’t leave anything to the last minute, relax and enjoy your wedding.

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It is hard for me to think that my son has already been married for a month! It feels weird not seeing him and Summer on a daily basis. I actually went almost 4 weeks without seeing or talking to Summer which was very odd for me. Aaron texts regularly and he stops by at least once a week. I’m glad he works on this side of town

#5 Our Wedding Binder

#4 How to Make Glitter Mason Jars

#3 They’re Engaged!

#2 David’s Bridal The Good, The Bad and The Disappointed

#1 Wedding Registry Do’s and Don’ts

The post that I thought would make this list and didn’t was The MomMaven’s Ultimate Printable Wedding Gift Registry Checklist.

I appreciate all of you following along on our  journey and i hope you found these posts helpful or that you pinned them for the future.

The post Top 5 Wedding Posts of 2014 appeared first on The Mom Maven.

Why use a wedding hashtag?

Hashtags are searchable on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram so anyone who posts a picture or comment using your hashtag can be found and collected. By using a wedding hashtag, guests can share their view of the ceremony and reception and often, they will focus on things your wedding photographer didn’t.

Choosing a hashtag Do’s and Don’ts

Do’s

• Do make it memorable. If you want your guests to use it, your hashtag needs to make sense so guests can remember it.
• Do keep it short, 15 characters or less if possible.
• Do search the hashtag before you start advertising it. You don’t want to use a hashtag that has already been used. One hashtag we came up with actually led to gay porn! Not what you want your friends and family viewing.

Don’ts

• Don’t use special characters. Keep your hashtag alphanumeric.
• Don’t use all initials, your guests won’t know what it stands for and it will be hard to remember.
• Don’t use more than one hashtag. Keep it the same for bridal showers, bachelor parties, ceremony and reception.

Advertising your Hashtag

If your guests don’t know what the hashtag is, they won’t know to use it.

• Signs-Create a cute sign for the hashtag and use it at the entrance to the ceremony and later at the reception.
• Programs-Make sure your hashtag is listed on the program.
• DJ-Have the DJ announce the hashtag at the beginning of the reception.
• I Spy-If you are having I Spy games as favors make sure the hashtag is printed on the game cards.

If you want to follow along on Saturday, November 29, 2014, our hashtag is #schultzwed14 .What are your thoughts on using wedding hashtags? Leave me a comment and let me know.

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1. Reception Layout

According to some event planners before you even finalize your guest list, it is best to decide on your reception venue. If you have decided on a banquet room, for example, you should plan the room layout next. This will give you the numbers you need to know a) how many tables will I have and b) how many people can I seat comfortably. Armed with this information you can pare down your guest list to only the amount of people you know you can seat.

2. Start Early

Even though you can’t finalize your seating plan until after the RSVPs have rolled in, I find it much less stressful to start with a masterplan, knowing it will be edited while you go along.

3. Get Input

Ask you parents, the groom and his parents if there are any people who definitely shouldn’t be seated at the same table.

4. Where to start?

Start with the families first. Are all the parents going to sit together? Are you having a head table or a sweetheart table? Where is the bridal party sitting if you don’t have a head table? Once those questions are handled move on to other family and friend groups

5. Singles?

Where to seat your college roommate who knows no one at the reception except for you is always a tricky situation. If you have several single friends, whether they know each other or not a singles table can be a good idea. It is also fine to use single guests to fill up tables with one or two empty seats. Take into consideration who they will be sitting with and try to make the best matches as possible but don’t stress over it.

THE Tool to Help you Manage your Guest List & Seating Chart

If you search Pinterest for tools to help you create your seating chart you will find ideas spanning from index cards and sticky notes, to notebooks and spreadsheets. I am going to introduce you to my favorite, easy to use, FREE online tool…AllSeated.com. I discovered All Seated while doing some internet searches right after Aaron and Summer got engaged and it has been the best tool I have used in planning this wedding, and I’m not even using all of the features.

AllSeated can manage your guest list, RSVPs, meal choices, floor plan and seating plan all in one free convenient website. I love that with AllSeated you can design a custom room layout. You put in the room dimensions, table sizes etc so that your floor plan truly matches your room.

Once you have uploaded or created your guest list and created your floor plan you can use the simple drag-and-drop interface to seat your guests at their tables. Need to make a change? Double click on the table and move or remove the individual, couple or family. As our RSVPs have rolled in, I have removed people who will not be able to attend and I have moved people around and even added people as the bride replaces those who are unable to attend. Thankfully I can click on the pie chart looking tool at the top of the page and I get a colored floor plan. Red tables mean too many people are seated at them, Yellow means they are full and green means there is room for more-how easy is that?

The only, minor downside I have found to AllSeated is that it doesn’t allow you to add a seat to the end of the tables. This is why some of my tables appear to have too many seats on one side, that person will be sitting on the end.

I hope you find these wedding seating chart tips helpful!

The post Creating Your Wedding Seating Chart in 5 Easy Steps appeared first on The Mom Maven.

One of the things that often slips a bride’s mind when she is deciding on how large to make her bridal party is the fact that she and her groom need to buy gifts for them all. The rule of thumb is that the value of the gifts should be 25% of the total of what you have required them to spend. If their bridesmaid dress is $200, shoes are $50 and hair/make-up fees are $100, your gift to them should be worth about $87.50. If you decide to have 5 bridesmaids and a maid of honor you need to budget for $525 in gifts! Your groom uses the same formula to figure out what he should spend on gifts for the groomsmen too. If you have wedding party members who are flying in for your wedding, the costs go up significantly-so plan accordingly from the beginning.

The gifts you get your wedding party are customarily given to them at the rehearsal dinner. That doesn’t mean these should be last minute purchases. You don’t want to be buying less-than-perfect gifts at the last minute any more than you want to receive a Christmas gift purchased at Walgreens on Christmas Eve.

Gifts for Bridesmaids

Little LuxuriesTucked inside this charming box are three Tarocco Orange, Eucalyptus & Sage favourites that promise indulgence for hands and skin. The award-winning Ultra-Moisturising Hand Therapy, bubbly Bath & Shower Gel and hydrating Body Lotion leave skin smooth, supple and vibrantly scented.

Be Grateful – Wrapped Canvas Print Be Grateful Love Dearly Shine your light Share Give Hugs Hope Listen Say Thank you Cherish Friends Grateful Heart Spread Kindness Stay Positive Dance Smile Enjoy the Chaos Choose Happiness Be Joyful Laugh Give Grace

Create a Photobook for each bridesmaid with pictures from your life together through your bridal showers.

Bridesmaid Rhinestone Girly Tank Top All the girls will enjoy wearing their tank tops as they get ready for your big day!

Gifts for Groomsmen

What guy wouldn’t want a Cuisinart 14-Piece Deluxe Stainless-Steel Grill Set?

This Personalized Engraved Pocket Rescue Hunting Knife has it all! It’s a Hunting Knife, Led Flashlight, Bottle Opener, and Fire Starter all-in-one!

Ivory 3-piece Shaving Set with Nickel StandDesigned and handmade exclusively by Sheffield, England’s Edwin Jagger, this 3-piece shaving set contains everything a well-groomed man needs to complete his daily shaving ritual.

Gifts for Flower Girls

NIV Really Woolly BibleThe bestselling Really Woolly® Bible is now in NIV. The readability of the New International Version® combined with the whimsical DaySpring® characters make this a perfect gift for any occasion.

Every flower girl dreams of being the bride. That is why she will love this Melissa & Doug 14″ Bride Doll

The Flower Girl Activity Backpack is full of fun things to keep the smallest member of the wedding party focused during this important day.

Gifts for Ring Bearers

Mabel’s Labels personalized labels are a great gift for any young man.

This Ring Security T-Shirt takes the job of ring bearer and makes it a whole lot more interesting!

Personalized Books make a memorable gift!

I hope I have given you some gift suggestions that are a little bit more unique than a lot that you see. The most important thing is to be genuinely thankful to everyone who is helping you with your wedding. A smile and a “thank-you” still go a long way.

The post Gifts for your Wedding Party appeared first on The Mom Maven.

No matter how formal or informal your wedding reception is, there are some basic rules that should be followed for table settings. If you are having a more formal sit down dinner there are even more rules to follow. While most of us know the basics of setting a table it is nice to add some little extra touches to your wedding table.

If you are having a buffet you have the option of starting with your plates and/or utensils at the table or up at the buffet. Personally, I like the utensils and napkins at the table because it means fewer things to juggle while walking between the buffet and your seat. I also find it easier to manage when beverages are in a location separate from the buffet. Yes, this takes an additional trip but it also prevents more spills.

Wedding tablescapes often include centerpieces of some sort. Whether it is flowers, candles, photo frames or anything else-make sure there is enough room at the table for the dinnerware. Also make sure centerpieces don’t impede vision. Guests don’t want to have to look around a large floral display to talk to someone across the table!

At Aaron & Summer’s wedding we are having a buffet. The tables will be pre-set with everything except the beverage glasses which guests will be bringing with them from the Garden Party Hour. We have chosen to use paper dinner plates, dessert plates, napkin rings, dinner napkins and beverage napkins with cloth tablecloths and plastic utensils and salad bowls.

To mix up the look we are using turquoise square dinner plates, clear salad bowls, turquoise round dessert plates that will be available at the cake table, silver looking plastic forks and knives, turquoise and white polka dot napkin rings with white dinner napkins and turquoise beverage napkins.

It doesn’t matter if your guests are eating off of bone china or paper-you are going for a look or theme that fits with the rest of the wedding. Chances are, you wouldn’t eat barbecue on bone china or filet mignon  from a paper plate. Use the tablescape to extend your wedding theme through the reception space.

How have you seen a wedding’s theme carried into the tablescape? Did it work or was it too much?

The post Setting your Wedding Table appeared first on The Mom Maven.

Having kids in a wedding can be adorable or awful. While we all know kids are not 100% predictable, there are things we can do to help prepare children to be a part of this special day. If you are a bride I hope you take these suggestions to heart and share them with the parents of your smallest wedding party members.

8 Tips for Preparing Kids to be in a Wedding

1. Choose responsible kids. Don’t choose kids who you know do not obey. They are not going to miraculously become perfect children on your wedding day.
2. Choose kids who are old enough to understand what is going on and what their job is. Kids under age 3 may be adorable but they aren’t able to focus on one task for a long period of time.
3. Prepare them for their role by watching wedding videos and reading books. A few good books are: The Best Ever Ring Bearer: All the Best Things About Being in a Wedding, Ring Bearer A to Z, One Little Flower Girl and Will You Be My Flower Girl?
4. Practice, practice, practice. Help them practice walking slowly and help them practice standing still and quiet for increasing periods of time (if they will stand throughout the ceremony). Also, especially of they are not used to stilling quietly through a church service, this will take practice too.
5. Try to choose children whose parents are not in the wedding party. It is much easier for parents to wrangle their own children than for someone else to try and do it.
6. Picture time! Practice smiling nicely and following directions. Doing fun photo shoots leading up to the big day is a great way to prepare kids for photo time.
7. Try and take the photos that include kids early in the photo time then the kids can go have some fun and get out their wiggles before it is time to enter the reception.
8. Kids will be kids, allow them to have fun and dance but make sure they are properly supervised.

photo courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons 2.0

Kids who are well prepared can be a great asset to your wedding. Follow the tips above and hopefully, your big day with go smoothly. Do you have other tips you would add to the list? Please leave them in the comments.

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There are many different types of wedding ceremonies, based mostly on religious and cultural traditions. For the purpose of this post I will focus on what I know, a Christian wedding ceremony. Christian wedding ceremonies vary in length and contents depending on the desires of the couple I will outline the basic parts.

It is important for the couple to have an idea of what they want and don’t want in their wedding BEFORE they meet with the pastor who will be officiating the service. Wedding vows and music choices are very personal and it is helpful to know what you want so that you have the ceremony of your dreams and not the cookie cutter ceremony some churches are known for.

Planning Your Wedding Ceremony

Pre-service Music Usually instrumental, this music should start 20 minutes before the service begins. This lets the guests feel welcomed and sets the tome for the ceremony.

Prelude Starts at the time posted on the invitation. This is the music that the grandparents and parents of the bride and groom enter to. This should be a meaningful song, usually instrumental that can be edited to fit the time needed for these family members to come down the aisle.

Processional This music has a more regal feel to it. This is when the wedding party enters.

Bride’s Entrance Often played here is Wagner’s “Bridal Chorus” or Pachelbel’s “Canon in D”. Whatever is played at this time, when the music starts the mother of the bride stands and looks down the aisle, and this signals the rest of the guests to do the same thing. The bride traditionally walks down the aisle with her father.

Greeting & Seating The Pastor greets the congregation and thanks them for attending. Then he tells them that they may be seated.

Call to Worship This is the traditional “Dearly beloved…” or whatever the couple and pastor decide upon. Often times there is also a Scripture reading by a member of the bridal party or a family member.

Prayer The Pastor prays for the ceremony and the couple.

Giving of the Bride The Pastor will ask, “Who gives this woman to be wed to this man?” or something like that and one or both of the bride’s parents respond, usually with “We do” or the father may say, “Her mother and I do”. At this time the father kisses his daughter and joins her hand with the groom’s hand before being seated.

Questions of Intent This is the “I Do’s” NOT your vows. This is where you state that you have come of your own free will to marry one another. After the questions the couple often moves up onto the dais or closer to the wedding altar depending on how the ceremony space is designed.

Sermon The Pastor shares a short 10-15 minute sermon about the importance of marriage.

Congregational Singing IF you choose to have a congregational song sung this is a good place to do it. the bride and groom should sing too.

Vows The Pastor usually asks for the couple to face each other and hold hands. The bride should hand her bouquet to her Maid of Honor. Here is where you make your promises to love, honor and serve your spouse to death til you part. You can use traditional vows, write your own or surf the Internet and find ones that you, as a couple like. I highly suggest running all vows by your pastor so that he can make sure they are appropriate.

Rings Often the pastor will share about 5 minutes on the significance of the wedding ring and why we exchange them.

Declaration of Marriage The “legal” part of the ceremony is now over. The pastor pronounces you husband and wife.

The Kiss This “seals the deal”. The wedding kiss should not be too long or too sexy.

Special Elements (Special Music/Unity Candle/Communion etc) Most modern weddings include some special element. My son’s wedding will include the sand ceremony and communion while a friend sings a special song. These elements are both spiritual and symbolic and many couples choose to receive communion together as their first act as man and wife.

Benediction The Pastor prays a blessing over the couple and over the witnesses.

Announcement (The bride retrieves her bouquet) The Pastor introduces you as Mr & Mrs _______

Recessional Upbeat music to which the bride & groom followed by the wedding party exit the ceremony.

Directions Once the bridal party has exited the ceremony, the Pastor gives any instructions about dismissal, receiving lines and the reception.

I have bee a part of wedding ceremonies that were as short as 10 minutes and as long as 2 hours. In my opinion 45-60 minutes is optimal.

Did you have any special element in your wedding ceremony? I’d love to know what you did to make your ceremony unique.

Other Wedding posts

Choosing Your Wedding Food

DIY Wedding invitations

Ultimate Printable Wedding Gift Registry Checklist

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