Questions to Ask Your Caterer

Besides your location, the food for your wedding weekend will probably consume the largest portion of your wedding budget and be one of the most important factors in ensuring a successful event. Great food service will leave a lasting impression on your guests whether you are having an intimate affair or really big blowout. 

A lot of things come into play when selecting a caterer, so don’t be afraid to ask as many questions as you need to. Whether your potential caterer works at your event facility or you’re hiring them independently, here are some vital questions that are often overlooked:

1. How many weddings do you do per year, and how long have you been in business?
2. Have you done any events at my location before? 
3. Are you licensed and insured?
4. Will you provide a banquet manager to coordinate the meal service or an on-site coordinator who will run the entire event?
5. Do we have to work off a pre-set menu or can you create a custom menu for our event? If I have a special dish I’d like served, would you accommodate that?
6. Can you accommodate dietary restrictions, such as kosher, vegan, etc.?
7. What décor do you provide for appetizer stations or buffet tables?
8. What’s the difference in cost between passed appetizers and appetizer stations? What’s the price difference between a buffet and a sit-down meal? If we have a buffet, are there any stations that cost extra, like a carving station? 
9. How much do you charge for children’s meals?
10. How much do you charge for vendor meals?
11. Do you do food tastings and is there an extra charge for this?
12. If there is leftover food from my event, can we have it wrapped up for guests to take home or have it delivered to a local shelter?
13. What is the last date by which I have to give you a final guaranteed guest count?
14. What is your payment policy? Do you accept credit cards?
15. How much of a deposit is required to hold my date? When is the final payment due?

Questions to ask a Photo Booth Company

Questions to ask a Photo Booth Company

Photo Booths are quickly becoming a permanent fixture at most wedding events. Loved by adults and children alike, they allow for hours of fun and also provide guests with a fun souvenir of your event. When selecting a company to provide a photo booth for your wedding you want to find a vendor that will deliver a quality product at a reasonable price. When researching vendors it is also worth narrowing your search based on the location of the booth, as cross-country delivery and accommodation for an attendant is something you want to avoid paying extra for.

Here are some important questions to ask your Photo Booth vendor:

1.    How long have you been in business? 

2.    Do you have references? 

3.    Where are you based? 

4.    Are you licensed and insured? 

5.    How much do you charge?

6.    Have you been at my venue before? Is the company familiar with your venue, where to set up, the load in procedures, etc.

7.    What kind of back up plan do you have in place in case there is a problem at my event? What will they do if something goes wrong on the day of your event or at your event?

8.    What kind of equipment do you use? You want to make sure they use high quality professional grade cameras and lab quality dye sublimation photo printers in their booths. No web cams or ink jet printers.

9.    What are the power requirements for the photo booth?

10. Will you stay until the end of the event?

11. What types of packages do you offer and what do they include? Do their packages include on site prints, a web photo gallery, digital copies for you, scrapbooking service, etc.

12. Can the photo strips be personalized? Do they offer custom photo layouts? Does the vendor only offer photo strips or are other layouts available? Will they try to match the colors in your wedding?

13. Do you offer unlimited photos at the event?

14. Will there be an attendant operating the booth all night?

15. Will I get a copy of all of the photos taken at the event?

16. What style of photo booth do you have? Is it an “open air booth” pipe and drape or homemade booth? Is it fully enclosed offering your guests privacy so they can let loose?

17. How many people can you fit in your photo booth?

18. How many reprints do you offer on site? A great photo booth company should provide a copy of the photos to every person in the booth.

19. How much is the deposit? When is the balance due?

20. What are your overtime charges?

Décor Ideas For Outdoor Weddings

Warm summer nights create just the right vibe to hold your reception or event outdoors. We just love sipping on champagne under the stars and eating al-fresco. Here are some of our favorite ideas to make your outdoor wedding as perfect as possible:

1. White lights – we love any excuse to use these! Strings of twinkling white lights  or glass orbs really add a glow to the surroundings and create that magical, romantic feel.

2. Lanterns – these look great either dotted around pathways or even as table centerpieces.

  

3. Candles - There’s nothing more romantic than the dark night being lit by the glow of hundreds of candles. And luckily, candles are inexpensive while looking elegant.

4. Organic greenery – we love it when our brides opt for greenery and natural elements such as branches. Not only does this work really well when paired with white lights or small accents of color, but its also eliminates the need to go overboard with flowers.

5. Mis-matched chairs - It is becoming even more common to mix and match chairs of different styles for a more vintage look. This trend is certainly extremely popular at rustic, outdoor weddings and can definitely help you to save part of your budget for other things! 

NYC Themed Goodies

Many of our couples pick NYC as a destination for their wedding, flying in from all over the US to celebrate their special day in the Big Apple. Others are local to the Tri-State area and so choose the city that never sleeps as the location for their upcoming nuptials. Regardless of which category you fall under, New York City is undeniably a truly magical place to get married. We love it when our couples choose to incorporate themed goodies into their guest welcome bags, as even an edible snack or a simple souvenir of the city can make for one memorable gift! Here are our favorite NYC-themed welcome bag fillers:

Key Chains

Available here

Bottle Openers

Available here

Tote Bags (also great to use as the welcome bags themselves!)

Available here

Pre-stamped Postcards 

Available here

Tinned Mints 

Available here

Fifth Avenue Candy Bar

Available here

 Cookies

Available here

Instrumental Indian Songs

Bride's are always asking us for new song suggestions for their big day. Especially for your walk down the aisle you want to consider something soft, romantic and instrumental. Here are some of our new favorite Indian Songs to walk down the aisle:

Tum Hi Ho

Ishq wall love

Sun raha hai

Kabira

Aashiqui Theme

Custom Wedding Shoes

Choosing the perfect wedding shoes can be a little tricky. To some brides the shoes are more important than the dress! You want to make sure to select something that suits your style and that will be comfortable for a full night of dancing. Finding this can be no easy fete, so why not create your own masterpiece?

There are various websites that now allow brides to be to create their own shoes, from color and fabric to details and heel height. 

Here are some of our favorite sites:

Custom Weddings Shoe

Shoes of Prey

Upper Street

If you are looking for something more high end make sure to check out Christian Louboutin's Custom Atelier Minuit Moins 7. Total cost depends on materials and the intricacy of design. For an appointment, call 33-1/42-36-05-31.