MINGLE
Move around and see people, giving each guest some personal time. You’ll have the best experience if you and your new husband remain together as you mingle. That way, you can introduce each other to relatives and friends that your spouse may not yet have met. Plus, your guests want to say hello to both of you, not just one of you.

ACCESS TO EVERYONE
Another option, rather than going from table to table, is for you and your new spouse to stand in a spot that’s easily accessible to everyone at the party. For example, you could position yourself on the dance floor or in front of the bridal party table. Don’t block doorways or stand in the corner; this will only create havoc and result in guests missing their opportunity to speak with you.

DINNER SEATING
During dinner, small talk may be less awkward for your guests based on how you have chosen to handle seating arrangements.  If you’re allowing guests to choose their own seats, they have the option of sitting next to someone they’re already acquainted with for comfortable conversations, or they can enjoy meeting someone new.

If part of your wedding planning will include toiling for months, creating a floor plan of the room, then be sure to consider personality types and how guests might get along with others, and then meticulously assign them to specific tables.

Keep in mind eight to 10 people can sit comfortably at each table. Just be careful to anticipate guests’ needs – don’t sit Great-Aunt Harriet right next to the DJ’s biggest speakers.

CONVERSATION STARTERS
One way to break the ice at your guests’ tables – and add your own personalities to the affair – is to throw away table numbers and name the tables. Give them names with meaning to you and your fiancé. Perhaps the characters from the movie you saw on your first date or landmarks from the alma mater you share.

GRATITUDE
As you visit with your guests, it’s important is to let them know you’re glad they are a part of the day. These people have come at your invitation, with many of them rescheduling their work and traveling a distance, and it’s your obligation, as hosts, to make sure that they each get their fair share of time.

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Floral Arrangements: Floral arrangements are one of the most popular kinds of wedding centerpiece. When it comes to elegant wedding centerpieces, nothing can beat fresh flowers. However, if you want to save money there are now more and more options for synthetic flowers available. You can even double up the centerpieces as wedding favors for your guests by keeping plants in pots that can be taken home at the end of the night.

Floating Petals or Candles: Another popular choice is to make use of crystal bowls, filled with water and floating candles and rose petals. If your reception is at night then the candles can help create the perfect ambience. Rose petals are also a fantastic choice due to their strong association with elegance and romance, and the lovely fragrance they’ll add to the table.

Candles: Candles are often used as an accent to the main centerpiece, though can make a great focal point on their own. Use candles that match the color scheme of your wedding, scented if you wish. You can also use elegant candlesticks and holders to vary the kind of display you can create.

Tabletop Water Fountain: Wedding fountains are always guaranteed to spark interest and attention on your big day. Nothing says elegance more than the sight and sound of flowing water. There are a wide range of styles of tabletop fountain available to choose from.

There are a huge number of different types of elegant wedding centerpieces to choose from, these are just some ideas to get you started. Just make sure you decide on your color scheme before you start looking for centerpiece ideas, to make it as smooth and as easy as possible.

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A winter themed wedding would only be effective if there is consistency in terms of design. But most importantly, the table centerpiece must observe the winter theme. Otherwise, the whole winter themed wedding would be pointless. Most couples find it very hard to look for the perfect winter themed centerpiece. Most of them end up spending more than necessary. Here are some ideas to help couples choose a winter themed centerpiece.

Your centerpiece should match the design of the whole reception area. One thing that must be avoided is placing centerpieces that are fit for other seasons other than winter. This includes the most common table centerpiece – flowers. It should be noted that flowers are ideal for summer and spring weddings. Since there are no flowers during winter, it would be awkward to include them in the design; or worse, make them your centerpiece.

Items that are made of glass are perfect winter themed centerpieces. Even fish bowls would make good centerpieces. Floating candles would make beautiful table centerpieces. You can achieve this by filling a glass bowl with water. Then, attach the candles on a flat surface and let it float in the water.

Other great winter centerpieces are snowmen and frozen trees. Then, you can attach colored papers with quotes on the branches of the tree or arms of the snowman. For a warmer touch, you can use pine cones as your centerpiece. Although it is quite costly, ice statues make the best table centerpiece

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Aside from objects that are related to nature, the colors of the centerpiece must match the theme of fall. The colors brown, yellow, orange, and red are the perfect colors for this season. Pumpkins would make a very good centerpiece. The table number can be carved or painted on the surface of the pumpkin. Aside from being really unique, this centerpiece would save you a lot of money.

Candles are also a good option. Pick red, brown, yellow, or orange candles. You can place them in the middle of a bowl full of leaves or flowers. Yes, this is a classic, yet it still works for most weddings.

Fruits and nuts also make a good centerpiece. A mixture of green and red apples is very eye catchy. You can also try to make use of chestnuts and other types of nuts as table centerpiece.

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Flour-based breads without sweetening were the centerpiece of weddings in Medieval England. One custom mentioned occasionally told of stacking sweet buns in a pile and, if the couple could kiss over the pile, they would be blessed with many children.

The bride’s pie was introduced somewhere in the middle of the 17th century and lasted well into the early 19th century. This wedding pie was either a mince pie or filled with sweet breads or mutton. The tradition was a glass ring hidden in the pie and the lady who found the ring would be the next bride. While pies and breads (“cakes”) were not the main symbol of the marriage ceremony at this time, mention can be found if historians dig deep enough.

The bride’s pie disappeared in the late 19th century, replaced by early, simple plum cakes in several versions. These cakes did not resemble today’s multi-tiered, towering wedding cakes in any way.

A Cake Pull, a pre-Victorian tradition that has survived the years and is still seen at some weddings in the southern United States, is the custom of baking tiny silver charms attached to satin ribbons inside a layer of the wedding cake. During the reception, single women pull the ribbons from the cake and read their future in the charms attached.

The charms represent their future success, or lack of it, with marriage, wealth and several other conditions. Spinsterhood is predicted if the charm pulled out of the cake is a thimble. This practice has moved over to bridal showers and been expanded with the availability of hundreds of silver charms.

Another 17th century superstition that went through a few changes over the centuries is the practice of sleeping with a piece of wedding cake under your pillow to dream of your future spouse. A hundred years later, in the late 18th century, brides would pass tiny crumbs of wedding cake through their wedding rings and pass them on to guests. Those crumbs would be placed under many a pillow that night. There’s no evidence of the effectiveness of this traditional superstition, but it survived for several hundred years. Some researchers say that the custom was abandoned when it became the practice for the bride to not remove her wedding rings after the wedding ceremony.

The color white has always symbolized purity, gentleness, innocence and softness and, in weddings worldwide for centuries, virginity. Early wedding cakes were often white, but not usually to represent the bride’s purity. The ingredients for icings were difficult to find in very early Victorian times and white icing only required fine sugar. As with most traditions, white icing evolved into a representation of the family’s wealth and standing in the community – the whiter the icing, the more affluent the family.

There’s a lot of history behind the wedding cake that has continued in one form or another throughout centuries of both simple and elaborate wedding ceremonies. Next time you are enjoying a wedding, see if you can spot some traditions that survived the passing of time. You might be surprised.

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These days, it can get pretty confusing to try and plan who toasts whom and who goes first. Even if you make meticulous plans, will someone throw you off by offering an impromptu toast? Will someone tell a story or two that you really wish they would keep quiet about?

TRADITIONAL
Traditionally, the father of the bride is the first to offer a toast. He welcomes everyone to the reception since often he and the bride’s mother are hosting the event. The father of the bride toasts his daughter.
1.Next, the groom toasts his new wife.
2.Finally, the best man toasts the new Mr. and Mrs.
3.Following the best man’s toast, it’s time for the meal to begin.

CONTEMPORARY
If the traditional order of toasts doesn’t please you, or if you’ve got more family and friends who would like to speak, perhaps you would be more comfortable with something along these lines.
1.First, the best man toasts the groom.
2.Next, the maid of honor toasts the bride.
3.The father of the groom toasts the bride
4.The father of the bride toasts the groom.
5.The bride offers a toast.
6.The groom completes the toasting ceremony.

OPEN MIC
If you’d like for your guests to feel welcome to come forward and speak during your reception, an open microphone is one way to go. It lets guests know that you’re ready o hear what they have to say, whether it’s an impromptu toast or a story from your college days.

Be aware, however, that you will have no control over what guests might say, which could be a source of stress if alcohol flows freely or if your spouse’s college roommates haven’t quite learned tact yet.

Some wedding professionals warn against having an open mic, out of respect for the guests. Once the traditional toasts have been taken care of, guests are often tired of sitting in one spot, listening, and taking a sip. Also, the flow of the event may be compromised by an open mic, with both the meal and dancing interrupted repeatedly.

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You have to keep in mind that the pictures produced by wedding disposable cameras are not the same as the pictures taken using professional cameras. So it would be better to have both—a group of professionals taking formal and professional-looking pictures, and disposable cameras for your guests to have natural and casual pictures.

These disposable cameras for weddings have different wedding backgrounds. Some have wedding cake backgrounds with the word wedding on one side, a pair of wedding rings, a pair of wineglasses, and many other backgrounds ideal for wedding pictures. Once the pictures have been printed, you will see these cool backgrounds that will make your pictures more fun and interesting.

Make sure to gather the disposable cameras after the party. Place a basket near the exit with a sign that says “Leave disposable cameras here” and an arrow pointing to the basket. Or you can ask a friend to collect the cameras before the guests leave the party.

Capture those special moments with unique wedding cameras, now on sale at The Knot Wedding Shop!

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Here are some fun options.

One of the most popular is the number system. Each table is assigned a number and the MC or DJ calls numbers at various intervals. The people at that numbered table then find the buffet and begin their feast. You can place the numbers in a variety of locations. For the most utilitarian version, just place the number in the flower arrangement on the table.

Some brides don’t like this look of numbered table as if at a convention. In that case, you can put the numbers under the flower arrangements, or under the chairs. If you have place cards at the tables, you can write a small number somewhere on the card so people know which table they’re sitting at. For a fun variation, you can have the florist play around with the table floral arrangements. If the arrangements are going to have a dozen flowers, you could have the florist add one extra flower to table “one”, two extra flowers for table “two” and so on and make the guests figure out which number table they are based on how many extra flowers they have in their arrangement.

The flower method could be cost-prohibitive, of course, if you have a large guest list and many tables.

Now, if the number system doesn’t thrill you or make you think “unique”, there are other options. Each table can have a color and the DJ simply calls out the color name. Depending, again, on how many tables you have at your reception, you could coordinate the tablecloths with the color of the table. So you might have white, pink, lavender, beige, and yellow tablecloths, and the guests sitting at that table simply move to the buffet table when the color of their tablecloth is called.

Another popular option for moving people easily to the buffet table involves having a little fun with your guests. You provide each table with a buzzer, either a bell like you might find at a store, or a small silver bell. Just something they can buzz or ring. The DJ or MC asks a trivia question, or a question about the bride and groom. The tables buzz in with their answers. The guests at the table with the first correct buzzed answer move to the buffet table. You repeat the process until everyone is finally on their way to getting some grub.

The trivia method is an especially fun way to help guests to get to know one another, as they might have to work together to come up with an answer. If your guests are hungry, you’re sure to hear muffled groans and sighs of exasperation. But even with the small complaints, this is always a crowd pleaser because it’s fun and gets everyone involved.

Now, this next option is fun but can engender a bit of jealousy sometimes. When people get their place card, whether it’s placed on the table, or they pick it up when they look at the seating chart, you can put a number on it. But not everyone at the same table will have the same number. If you have 100 guests, for example, you might choose to have 10 people at the buffet table at a time. So each person would be assigned a number 1 through 10.

In the same scenario as above, the DJ or MC will call a number and those numbers will head for the buffet table. There are sure to be more than one person from each table heading for the buffet table, but the guests at each table won’t get their food at the same time.

This staggered feeding can be fun or a nuisance, depending. It solves the problem of half the room being finished with their meal while waiting for the “later” table to finish theirs before the festivities start, but it can also mean that one or two guests might be long done with their food (or wanting to head back for seconds) when others at the table haven’t even eaten yet.

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Times have changed, and with more people than ever using digital cameras instead of film, brides can take advantage of digital technology in several ways.

TABLE CAMERAS
Buying a digital camera to place at each table during the reception – reminiscent of the 1990s trend – could easily put a major dent in the wedding budget. There are several services online that rent digital cameras, ship them to you, and then you ship the cameras back when you’re finished with them. A quick search online will turn up several options.

GUESTS’ PHOTOS
Encourage your guests to bring digital cameras and take plenty of candids during the reception. Many of your guests will likely take their cameras to your event anyway, and if you let several know how much you would appreciate their roving photographer skills, you’ll
have an even bigger selection of photos to help you remember all of your guests and how much fun everyone had.

PARTY PIX
Is there a “party pix” type business where you live? Many photography studios have launched an offshoot of their main business, with a stable of photographers who are hired to attend social events and snap photos as possible for the hosts.

Some services are offered per photographer and per hour of attendance, while others are offered with packages including a set number of photographers who will attend and a total number of photos the host will be provided with.

RECEPTION LAPTOP
To encourage guests to upload their digital photos while they’re still fresh on their minds, set up a workstation at the reception. Designate someone to be in charge and bring a laptop, a mouse and USB cord.

Make sure your designated person is able to stay close to the workstation during the reception to help guests as needed. Also encourage your techie person to ask guests to copy their photos from their camera to the computer without deleting them from the camera. That way, the guest still has his or her images on the camera.

Another advantage to having someone designated to stay near the workstation is the fact that this will protect the computer from disappearing. Although we like to think that everyone at our event will be honest, there is always the possibility of a guest inviting someone that you don’t know and you may not have any idea about that person’s trustworthiness.

ONLINE UPLOADS
There are many online services that let you set up your own account to upload and share digital photos. Many of these options allow you to do so at no charge.

Be sure to let your guests know what’s going on, and then remind them again.

Make a cute tent card to place at each table, alerting guests to the fact that you have set up an online photo sharing site and how easy it is for them to upload their photos to share.

Prepare an attractive card in advance and place it at each place setting at the reception. Include the information in your wedding program and, once again, when you mail your thank-you notes.

Flicker.com and Shutterfly.com are just two easy-to-use sites.

Whether your guests upload their photos at the reception, upload them to a file sharing site, or simply email the best shots directly to you, the memories that they’re able to capture and share beyond the posed photos by your professional photographer will bring you joy for years to come.

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Someone close to the couple is a recovering alcoholic. A friend or relative has been hurt or even killed by a drunken driver. The bride and groom simply aren’t drinkers or they frown on drinking for religious reasons.

Maybe the wedding budget simply can’t handle the added expense of serving alcohol.

Whatever the reason, it is totally acceptable to hold  an alcohol-free wedding reception.

One of the most common questions asked by couples when planning a non-alcoholic reception is how to let their guests know. When sending out your invitations, don’t feel obligated to include the fact that alcohol won’t be served. Your guests will realize, once they arrive at the reception, that alcohol isn’t part of the celebration.

This won’t be a big deal for the majority of your guests. Simply have plenty of other beverages to serve before, with and after the meal.

Sparkling juice or cider is often used when it’s time for toasts. Iced tea and water are standard options to serve with the meal. Coffee, of course, can be served with the meal and following the meal.

Today’s couples are opting for creative beverages as well, including parlaying their love of java into a coffee or espresso bar. How about providing a station to whip up their favorite fruit smoothies or childhood favorites such as hot cocoa or milkshakes?

If you like the trend of having a signature cocktail for your reception, but want to skip alcohol, there’s no need to feel deprived. Serve mocktails instead of cocktails. Search online or in books for non-alcoholic drinks, choose your favorite, and give it a fun name to reflect the theme of your wedding.

What makes a good mocktail? It’s not as easy as following the recipe for a cocktail minus the alcohol. In fact, if you merely delete the alcohol from a cocktail recipe, odds are your guests will leave the event with an odd taste in their mouths due to the balance of flavors being off. Your best bet is to search specifically for mocktail recipes rather than making adjustments to a cocktail recipe.

The simplest of wedding receptions would be the cake-and-punch reception, which often includes mints and nuts. Many cake-and-punch receptions also include light appetizers such as a deli platter, tea sandwiches, and a vegetable tray. If this is the type of reception you’re planning, alcohol won’t be missed at all.
RASPBERRY LEMONADE
Not too sweet and very quenching. Serves 36.

2 (12 fluid ounce) cans frozen raspberry lemonade concentrate
6 cups water
1-1/2 teaspoons lime juice
2 (12 fluid ounce) cans or bottles lemon-lime flavored carbonated beverage
2 cups crushed ice
2 cups fresh raspberries, garnish

Combine raspberry lemonade concentrate, water and lime juice in a large punchbowl. Stir in lemon-lime soda and crushed ice. Garnish each glass with a fresh raspberry.

FAUX CHAMPAGNE
For a hint of fruity flavor, use strawberry flavored carbonated water. Serves 15.

5-1/2 cups carbonated water, chilled
5-1/2 cups ginger ale
4 cups and 2 tablespoons unsweetened white grape juice

Refrigerate club soda, ginger ale and grape juice overnight. In a large punchbowl or pitcher, combine club soda, ginger ale and grape juice. Serve immediately over ice.

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