Tag: wedding venue

Aloha! Hawaiian Themed Wedding

Posted on by Glendalough Manor

If you are newly engaged you may not know where to start your wedding planning!  Planning a wedding can be very overwhleming process, escpecially when trying to decide what type of wedding you want to have!  No need to worry….you don’t have to have a wedding theme but coming up with a clear direction of your wedding is key.

First decide on a color palette or combination you love.  This may naturally send you in a direction of a theme you want to go in.  If you choose earthy tones and want an outdoor wedding a garden theme might be perfect for you.  Or if you love the look of muted colors, birdcages and lace, a vintage wedding theme may be perfect for you.  Whatever you decide make sure it is a good example of you…as long as it fits you and your fiance the more people will love your “theme”.

Below is an insiration board of a hawaiian themed wedding since the couple loved Hawaii and went there on their honeymoon.  After choosing her wedding colors the theme came naturally.  Over the next few weeks I will try to give you some expamples of different wedding themes and color palettes.  I hope this helps you in picking your wedding “theme”.

Happy Planning!!

 

Sources: www.glendaloughmanor.com, www.hamletphotography.com, www.blueberrysprings.com, www.bakersmaninc.com

Ways to Ask Your Friends to be Bridesmaids!

Posted on by Glendalough Manor

Gone are the days of asking your friends to be a bridesmaid over the phone or asking via text message! We want to give you a few fun ways to ask your friends and family to share in your special day.  With a little time and creativity you can come up with your own way of asking your girls to be in your wedding.

Here are a few ideas to help you…

Take a few pictures of yourself holding letters and words that say “Will You Be My Bridesmaid?” then put them together to make a cute card to send them!

Do you remember making these cut out cards when you were in school?  Well this is the same thing, with a twist.  Put their names on the “girls” and include this in an envelope with some great stationary asking them to be your bridesmaid!

I thought this was so great!  Use pictures of your bridesmaids to make a card and leave a blank picture in the middle with the words “Without You in the Wedding Something Would Be Missing….Will You Be My Bridesmaid? ” Love it!!

Find a cute bridesmaid frame (or make one yourself) with a picture of you and your future bridesmaid.  Use letter stickers to stick on the picture asking them to be in your wedding!

You can’t go wrong with a bottle of wine to ask your friends to be a bridesmaid!

This is my favorite idea yet!!   Take a wooden box, this is a cigar box, and paint the box in one of your wedding colors. Put the words  “Will You….” on the outside of the box and on the inside put “Be My Maid?” In the inside you can put lots of fun things inside to give your bridesmaids an idea of what type of wedding you are going to have.  You can include things like paint swatches to show them your wedding colors,  a few inspiration pictures of dresses you would like them to wear. I found this adorable do-it-yourself project on  Rinse. Repeat to learn how to do this yourself!

I hope all of these ideas have inspired you to come up with your own way of asking your bridesmaids.  We would love to hear about how you asked your bridesmaids!

Sources: www.weddingchannel.com, www.etsy.com, Rinse, Repeat,  www.oncewed.com

Questions to Ask Possible Wedding Venues

Posted on by Glendalough Manor

Before you go to any venue it is best to be prepared with a list of questions.  I hope to give you a detailed list of questions to ask to help in your venue search.  Asking the right questions before you decide on a particular venue can prevent any surprise costs during the planning process!

1.       How much is the facility rental fee? Is there a food and beverage minimum or guest minimum I must have for certain days/times?

2.       What if anything is included in the facility rental fee?  If the venue provides tables and chairs make sure to ask how many of each and the sizes of the tables.  If you may use more than the allotted number of tables and chairs make sure to ask if there would there be additional costs of renting chairs and/or tables. (As a side note 60” round tables will seat 10 people and 72” rounds will seat 12 people).

3.       Is there a separate ceremony fee?  What is included? (Chairs, audio visual?)  Is there a back-up plan for the ceremony?  If there is make sure you will not be too disappointed if you have to use it!

4.       How many people can you fit comfortably for seated dinner? What is your maximum capacity without chairs?   Make sure to use the word “comfortably”.  Many venues can fit more people in the reception room than would be comfortable for your guests.

5.       How many hours are included in the room fee?  Does that include setup and breakdown? Who handles the setup and breakdown?  Try to look for a venue that handles all setup and breakdown of the tables and chairs.

6.       Will there be a facility coordinator?  Will someone be there to coordinate vendors and ceremony on the day of and coordinate the rehearsal the day before?  If the venue does not provide one you may want to look at hiring a wedding coordinator to at least run the day of.  This helps lessen the stress on you and your family on the wedding day. (I will have another blog on wedding planners later!)

7.       Do they have a preferred vendors list?  If you use those vendors do you receive any perks for using their preferred vendor?  Are you allowed to bring in outside vendors?

8.       Can you bring in an outside caterer?  If not, will there be a menu tasting?  If the facility has an on-site chef make sure they provide the dinnerware, flatware and all serving utensils.

9.       What type of bars do you offer?  Many times you are not allowed to bring in outside alcohol.  If a venue provides the alcohol they will handle all of the permits and liability.  Make sure they provide the bartenders and ask if there are additional charges for the number of bartenders.  Also make sure there are no hidden fees such as wine corking as well as whether they provide a sparkling cider or champagne toast included in the fees.

10.   Do they have adequate parking?  This can be a very expensive detail that many brides overlook. Make sure to ask this question!  Some venues partner with local hotels so make sure to ask if they provide free shuttles or any discounts.

11.   How many weddings can you have on one day?

12.   Are there any additional fees?  Gratuities, tips, etc I should be aware of?

Lastly make sure to ask each potential venue for a sample contract before leaving.  That way you can review the contract and ask any follow up questions if needed.

I hope this helps in your venue search. Make sure to check out www.glendaloughmanor.com if you are still on the search for a venue.  It is an all-inclusive facility that would be happy to schedule a tour and answer all of these questions for you!  You can click on the pricing tab or the cost calculator to get more detailed information about this beautiful garden venue.

If you know of any questions that helped you in your search please comment and let us know.

Happy Planning!