Wedding Party - Wedding Decorations

A wedding party sounds much nicer than it really is, and in order to have the wedding party you have always dreamed of, you need to work hand in hand with the wedding planners, caterers, photographers, florists and everyone else that is there for you in the big day. There is nothing simple about planning a wedding party, especially if it is your wedding party; lots of wedding planners agreed that their parties were by far the most difficult ones to organize.

No matter how much you think you can rely on the company that organizes your wedding, in the end it is you that need to make all the decisions and be there day by day, whenever there is something that needs to be taken care of. Furthermore, there is no other way to make sure that your wedding party is like you truly dreamed of unless you take care of it yourself.

In order to plan a nice wedding party you need to take care of the food and drinks but even more important you need to take care of the wedding party music.

In case you are considering a wedding theme, things are a little more simpler, analyzing everything with the wedding planner, you will only need to figure out the perfect theme and once you have that you wedding coordinator will make a list with everything that is appropriate and indicate for that certain theme and you will only need to discuss small details from that point on.

Like we already mentioned, no matter how skilful your wedding coordinator is, still the main decisions belong to you and one of them is regarding the wedding menu and the type of meal you prefer to serve. You can go for a complete sit down menu or you can go for a Swedish buffet and serve mainly finer food (if you opt for this variant you must consider you still need a lot of food, no matter how you serve it). Again, it is easier to establish the menu if you already have a wedding theme.

Another important issue is regarding the drinks. Drinks are important to as party as it rings everybody on the dance floor, therefore you need to make sure that you have enough drinks for everybody and that the drinks go with the food. Some types of cuisines require certain types of drinks; make sure you do a research about that before ordering anything.

Music is probably the most important thing at a wedding party. In order for everyone to dance and have a good time for as long as possible you need to make sure that the music you play suites all tastes. Nowadays you can simply ask the coordinator for wedding music and you will receive a full collection of songs that everybody loves. However, make sure you take a look on the play list in order to make sure it is your music style. The perfect solution would be hiring a live band to play at your wedding party. This is a little bit more expensive but you will no longer need to worry about music at all. The band will set up everything and you can lay back and enjoy the party.  

All wedding parties must end with the wedding favours, a way from the bride and groom to thank everyone for being there for them. The wedding favours must be symbolic and are supposed to remind the wedding guest about the wedding they took part at. Make sure you choose the wedding party favours carefully and match theme to your wedding theme if you have one.

It is time for you to discover your artistic sense and help the designers with the wedding decorations. Although they will be doing all the arrangements you will need to choose the models, colours and placement of the decorations. In case you have a wedding theme, it is again, easier with the wedding decorations as they will be directly connected with the wedding theme. Things get a little bit more complicated if you have a nice classical wedding and you don’t know what kind of wedding decorations to use.

For those that do not have a wedding theme and still need to plan all the wedding decorations our best advice is to use hearts and bells. These are the two classical wedding symbols. No matter their colour, their texture or sizes, as long as you have bells and hearts you have the perfect wedding decorations. Unlike certain theme decorations, the bells and hearts can be placed in the church as well not only at the reception location. Try to create a little bit of atmosphere in the church as well by decorating it with three dimensional wedding bells and hearts. As far as the reception decorations are concerned you can use paper decorations, heart shaped balloons, heart and bell shaped candleholders or even wedding cakes.

Whether you have a wedding theme or not, whether you refer to the civil ceremony or to the reception party, there can be no wedding without candle decorations. No matter their colour, shape or size, there is something magical about candles. If you decide to shop for candles you will discover that there are certain candle producers that only make wedding candles and you can order them directly, they even make special designs, different colours, scents and sizes. For a bigger impact or perhaps as a wedding favour, you can order special candle holders personalised with the newlywed’s picture and the wedding date.

In case you decide over a sit down wedding menu then you must as well decorate the tables, and there is no better way to do that than with a floral centrepiece. Choose for the centrepiece decoration natural flowers as much as possible and try to match the design of the centrepiece with the rest of the tables’. You can go for a long or large centre bouquet, high or low, crowded or modest. The choice you make for the centrepiece must be adjusted to your taste, the rest of the wedding decorations and of course to your budget. Try for as much as possible to match the colour of the flowers with that of other wedding decorations or even the bride’s wedding dress. However, make sure that all the centre bouquets have the same colour and shade as when it comes to flowers things always get more complicated.

Another great idea for wedding decoration is personalized card holders and you can use this as wedding favours as well. Most people prefer to have at their wedding parties, if they decide for sit down menus, a place for each guest. It is indeed a better variant than allowing everyone to seat randomly; this way you can have control over the wedding guests and make sure they seat next to the group they belong to and this way they are having a good time. If you have a wedding theme you can use that theme to print on the place card holders but if you don’t you will still find great classical ideas for the place card holders, ideas that match all types of weddings.

Depending on your wedding budget you can dare to create more original place card holders; you can even make silver or golden wedding bells or hearts and grave the guest’s name on it. At the end of the party everybody can take the bell with his name on it as a wedding favour and take it home. Finding this wedding favour after some years will definitely bring a smile to your face and some beautiful memories. The silver wedding bells or hearts serve both as wedding decoration during the party and as wedding favours after it.

Like we have already mentioned, music is one of the most important aspects for a wedding party. In case you do not have a certain wedding theme that indicates a certain type of music, you need to think what you like better and based on what you know about your tem, what your wedding guests like better. The issue is even more complicated than it first looks as you need to consider music for the wedding ceremony, a play list for the wedding party, the perfect song for the first dance, one for the dance of the bride with her father and the groom with his mother.

For the wedding ceremony the couple must choose between recorded music and live music. Depending on their preferences and their budget, if they decide for live wedding music they need to choose between a choir, instrumental choir and an individual singer. Same thing for those that prefer the recorded music, they can choose between individual singer, choir or instrumental music.

Another decision must be made regarding the type of music the couple prefers for their wedding day. Most of them choose to go for the classical wedding march or for different hymns. Hymns are very popular among those that get married in a different country than their original one. Jazz music is very popular for weddings as it is romantic and very deep. The wedding planner will bring you a list of wedding ceremony songs and you will decide over the perfect one for you.

Moving on towards the reception wedding party you will have to make the same choice, whether you decide over live music or pre-recorded music and a DJ that plays the recorded music. When hiring a DJ for your wedding party you must consider the financial aspect (a DJ is less expensive) and the practical part, you will already know all the songs from the play list and there will be no place left for surprises.

The bad part is that a DJ, no matter how good he is will never lift the atmosphere like a live band. A live band will also be able to give a special tone and a more personal approach to some of the classical wedding songs and you will feel them closer to your heart. The atmosphere will be unique and more elegant. Still the band may not sound as good as they did on the demo tape, and that can turn into a real catastrophe; not to mention that the price is higher, so you need to make sure that it is worth it  and it you will have no unpleasant surprises.

During the wedding party you must play several music types so that everyone will feel satisfied, and the guests can dance different types of dances. You must also choose some ambient music for the eating breaks and the background of the speeches.

Besides that, pick your favourite song for the first dance of the bride and groom, the first dance for all the guests, the dance for the bride and her father and the room and his mother. These are the wedding songs that must not miss from a wedding under no circumstances. The rest of the wedding music it is advisable to be as diverse as possible: jazz, r’n’b, rock (especially rock ballads), hip hop, pop and necessarily dance music.

If you decide to hire a DJ you must make sure you give him a list of the so called “key songs” we mentioned before and some other wedding songs you care to hear at your wedding. You also need to give him the list some days before the big day otherwise he might not have enough time to find those songs and you will be the only one to blame.