This week’s topic can be filed in the “lessons I’ve learned”
tab rather than the blatantly obvious one. And while it isn't focused on hiring a specific service, it's still a very important lesson I learned of where to spend your money when it comes to a wedding budget.
Many brides know (or have at least heard of) the importance
of hiring a good photographer, or the immense benefits of letting someone else
do the behind-the-scenes grunt work; but when it comes to today’s post, this
lesson is one may have to learn from their own painful experience…
After being a guest at over a handful of weddings the last
few years, I have seen and learned the importance of HAVING ENOUGH FOOD!
And I’m talking about pre-dinner food here people.
There is nothing worse as a wedding guest than sitting
through a beautiful ceremony, and arriving at a reception all-excited to eat
and drink to find no food in sight. I don’t care if your ceremony is 15 minutes
or an hour. There is something about arriving somewhere, knowing you will be
eating there at some future time that gets your stomach grumbling. And
unfortunately we all also know the devastating effects that come from one’s
attitude if hunger takes over (have you really not seen the Snicker’s bar
commercials? Please do yourself a favor and check out this gem if you haven't: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DxlOWVVQWE
Try to put yourself in this situation: You can smell the main reception meal either emanating from
the kitchen, or sitting in those chafing dishes ready for the buffet, and all
you can think is, “When are the bride and groom going to get here for heaven’s
sake?” That wonderful ceremony you sat through fades to the background as your
mind can now only focus on the sudden moans and bellows coming from your belly.
No longer are you in the mindset of love and fairy tales and happiness; you are
frustrated and hungry and desperate…
While the above may sound extreme to some, I am one of those
lucky people who does quite-literally respond to hunger in the same way as the
characters depicted in the Snickers commercials. I can’t think straight,
everything is annoying, and I am physically unable to portray anything other
than misery on my face. So I of all people should have known the importance of
having enough food to nosh on before dinner is served right? Wrong.
In my own efforts to penny pinch, I started on the route of
thinking, “Oh, dinner will be served within an hour of people arriving…they don’t
need snacks,” and the often-thought, “Well we don’t want to be wasteful with
how much food we have…”
But then, for the sake of my future wedding guests, God
directed me to a friend’s wedding where the only reply a waiter could give me
and my hungry friends was “Dinner will be served soon..." and the lesson immediately hit me.
Unfortunate as it is, in most cases it is much easier to
focus on (and even remember) the negative rather than the positive. So no
matter how satisfying and delicious your catered food may be for your guests,
if they are left standing around hungry before dinner is served, that is more
than likely one of the big things they will remember from your big day. And as
a future bride, who has already put so much effort and time into ensuring your
guests are having fun and enjoying your big day just as much as you are, you
owe it to yourself and your hard efforts thus far to include this important
part in your pre-wedding plans.
Whether it’s peanuts or canapes, making sure your guests are
well-fed from the start of your wedding day through the night is one of the
easiest ways to make sure they leave with something wonderful to say - which if you're going to the efforts to create a big day, is what you are really hoping to inspire, isn't it?
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