Creative Thanksgiving Centerpieces

It’s the start of the holidays! Get ready to add on 10 lbs and still make it look good.    It’s fun to try something new with fall colors, try one of these centerpieces.

Caramel apple centerpiece

ghost pumpkin centerpiece

elegant orange and white

Vintage fall ceremony

Pro’s & Con’s of short vrs long engagements

Short engagements

Pro’s

1. There isn’t enough time to get nervous
2. You don’t have time to overwhelm yourself with too many options or choices
3. Keeps your wedding more streamlined with less time to overthink and
4. Helps you to keep your budget under control

Con’s

1. Many of the 100s of options available to brides with long engagements will not be available on such short notice; fewer options available to you on a short turn around
2. Less locations with availability to choose from
3. You may not get what you’ve been dreaming of for your wedding day

Long Engagements

Pro’s

1. You’ll have more time to make careful selections/ choices to custom create your ideal wedding day
2. You’ll have every option under the sun available to you; within budget
3. You’ll be able to have more time to save more money and space out payments to the professionals assisting you in creating your dream wedding

Con’s

1. You usually go over budget
2. Most brides change their mind a couple of  times on everything from décor, location, menu, colors and many of the other 100s of choices available to todays brides
3. You have time to get nervous and as a result; a couple of mild break downs
4. Parents have time for the realization that their little girl is leaving home
5. Family and friends will try to talk you out of what you envisioned

Easy menu’s for bridal showers & baby showers

Of course your menu would differ based upon the time of year and the time of day.  However, most showers are about 20 attendees.  So it’s pretty easy to develop a menu that can coordinate with your party theme, taste great and is pretty easy to create.

Spring & Summer – fresh fruit is always a big hit.  Depending upon your time or your caterer, placing your fresh fruit into a watermelon basket is fun and really brings in the summer element.  It’s pretty easy to do, but is time consuming.  An easier variation is using a fruit centerpiece that is cut into shapes and dipped into chocolate, caramel, or peanut-butter.   You can also just have fresh fruit and a chocolate, caramel or peanut-butter fountain.  Small sandwiches are easy such and you can create 4-5 different options that can be picked up or displayed down the table.  You should of course have a couple fruity beverages and an option for liquor to be added for those who want it. 

Fall & Winter:  A little heartier meal such as beef or pork dishes, casseroles, and stews are simple.  You can create veggie options pretty easily for those who would prefer no meat. 

You can always chose to have all pink food or all blue food for a bridal shower if you know the sex of the baby.  Choosing this option; food coloring will be your best friend and blue; it’s difficult to figure out what flavor should coordinate the color past blueberry.  Just a head’s up.

If using specialty lighting on your food display, you should never use green.  Why? It will cast a green hue onto the food and it subconsciously suggests that the food is moldy.  Very few people will eat it.  We suggest instead using blue, white, yellow or pink lighting on food displays.     

How to manage event stress

Let’s face it…any event is stressful. You only get one chance to get it right.  It’s not like your daughter is going to turn six-teen twice.  If something goes horribly wrong it will be a sore point for life.  Occasionally, the “gone wrong” moment becomes the most hilarious memory, but really those are far and few between. 

So why risk it?  Instead the best way to manage event stress is to bring in a professional to assist you in coordinating the hundreds of elements and items between the initial planning and the clean-up. Ninety percent of the time, the professional will have tricks or insider knowledge that will save you time, money and know about those things that you have not even considered yet.  Such as when a company is going out of business, where to find items at dirt cheap prices, where you will need extra hands to make sure that the set up of your event will happen before your guests arrive.  Did you know that it takes three times the amount of time to set-up for an event then it does to take it all down?  Why, you may ask.  All of the items must be fluffed, positioned just right, spot ironed so it looks right.  Fluffing; takes for forever and the pictures from your event will live on face-book and possibly Pintrest for eternity.

Coordinators are like air traffic controllers that take all of the stuff you don’t want to deal with and pre-deals with possible hiccups, corrals and coordinates the several industry professionals that come together as a team to make your event flawless.  Such as a graduation party we did recently … had seven different event professionals that had a hand in the party so it was just what the graduate had in mind for the party.  There was a rental company, planner/coordinator, décor staff, bar-tender/ margarita machine, catering, chocolatier, bakery and an entertainer.  Approximately 20 people arrived at the graduates home at 7am in order to be ready for a party that started at 11am.  Of course not all of the staffing requirements needed to stay for the entire party, but it did require that many hands on board to be ready by 11am.       

Does that seem shocking?  At the end of the event, everyone comes back and within a couple hours – you’d never know that an event had even happened.  Isn’t that the way everyone wants it?

www.amemorylaneevent.com 
Event Planning / Wedding Planning / Coordinating / Decor / Invitations