Brides on a Budget -Advice from a Wedding Planner

According to Gwen Helbush, head of Where to Start in Newark, Calif.

Helbush attempts to move the bride off the notion of a hard budget figure and to the concept of a beautiful event. "How do you help brides understand that they can have a wonderful wedding even in a recession?" she asks. "First you help them to understand that a wonderful wedding isn’t about money. Then you help them understand that if they are honest with you about how much money they are willing and/or able to spend for their wedding, and if they allow you to, you can make sure their money is spent wisely and with the sole purpose of creating a wedding that would be perfect for them in any economic climate."

Adding Color Pop to your Reception

Color is a key component to creating your wedding style. The two most common questions you answer when people learn you’re getting married? Where are you holding the reception and what are your colors. But, being a bride you’re always happy to talk about your wedding, you probably don’t mind…

Get your colors working for you! (even if you are doing all white or ivory)

Chair covers can transform a room very quickly. There are a variety of styles and colors to choose from. Be daring, instead of doing a white or ivory chair cover tied with a sash in your color, do the chair cover in your color. It will make your room come to life. ($5.50-$7.00 per chair)

Colored glassware is another way to add pop to your table. Use one colored glass co-mingled with the stemware provided by the venue. ($2.00-$3.00 per glass)

Ambient room lighting is an affordable way to add color to the space. The color of the walls disappears and the room glows with soft lighting. Enhance architectural features with lighting. ($200-$500 per ballroom)

How we helped Kayleigh...

One of my favorite parts of helping a bride is bringing her vision to life. It’s hard to know what you’re thinking will really look like. Here in The Events Company showroom we’ll put the linen on the table, dress a chair, add a centerpiece, and show lighting to give the bride an idea of what her ideas will look like.

Things always cost more than you think... The second part that I love is helping the bride make the best use of her money. We try to be sensitive to the bride’s budget and understand that a $30 linen may be more than you’ve allocated and love being able to provide solutions that will maintain the vision at a cost that aligns with the budget.

Here’s a simple solution… your table has 8-10 chairs all the way around; chair covers are going to transform the room with the greatest impact. Invest in the chair cover. As for the linen, once the chairs are around the table, the flatware, stemware, napkin, and centerpiece are on the table you won’t see that much of the linen. Use the linen provided by the venue and add a runner (we use a chair tie because it’s long and wide) for the cost of $4.00. For Kayleigh, this was a $440 savings. That brought a smile to her face. Mission accomplished.

How We Meet Our Perfect Man

Since we were little girls we thought about meeting our Prince Charming, having a fairytale wedding, and living happily ever after… ahh, the optimism.

Fact: 1 in 8 couples getting married met on line.

Is it harder to find prince charming? Do we not have time to find him? Have we been burned too many times? Whatever the reason obviously matching personality traits has merit. Why date Mr. Wrong, when you can find Mr. Right?

I met my husband (I won’t say how many years ago) in college. And although my first impression wasn’t the best, we became friends, fell in love, and got married. It’s really about the personality traits and although we may appear to be opposites we have the same value and belief system and end goal. We recently did a personality assessment and found that we truly are more alike than not.

So, for all you couples who are finding each other on-line here’s to wishing you ‘happily ever after.’

Share your ‘how I met my fiancé’ story and our favorite story will receive a complimentary cake table linen for your wedding.

Your First Stop

Engagement is an exciting, glorious time in your life. Enjoy it! Take some time, before jumping in, (as tempting as it may be) and just BE engaged.

And then come to us.

As a bride, I made my linens, lighting, chairs and backdrop my last stop. Advice: Come here first. Why? We transform. We listen, hear what you want and help funnel it into an articulated vision of your wedding. Look, all elements of a wedding are more expensive than you think they are going to be. It's just something you'll need to except now (as well as how many ways you can be super-budget-savvy!) While there are many a budgeting tool out there, when you don't know where to start, how's that gonna help? I spent all my time finding ways to personalize my event and create the atmosphere I was looking for-- if I had realized how easily decor elements transform a room, I would have saved myself a lot of time and energy (and money!) There's a lot to be said for going to a professional. And at such an elated time in your life, there's no need to be bogged down with worrying-- there will be enough to juggle just because you're a bride!

And when it comes to the pros, they are here for you. It's your day. It's your vision. It's what you've been dreaming for, and it's about to come true! So day-dream, brainstorm with your fiance, and look to your favorite things in life to start designing your day. Write 'em down. And then contact us.

Who knew being engaged could be so fun?

August 8th Wedding Continued

Sweet Heart Table and Backdrop: 12" Silver Shantung w/Eggplant Swag and uplighting. Sweet heart table Eggplant Lamour w/silhouette floral. Florist provided candle display behind sweet heart table.

August 8th Wedding

Nice wedding in the Cyprus Room at Turning Stone for 138. Eggplant Lamour chair covers with Citron Lamour sash. Table linen is floor length (120" on a 60" table) black Silouette Floral