by kailey | Aug 5, 2021 | Wedding
Location, decor, catering…oh my! There are many big decisions that go into bringing your dream wedding to life. For all the foodie couples, we’ve got you covered. From plated meals to food trucks—get ready to feast on endless wedding day catering options. We’re taking the stress out of planning by explaining all the info you need to know about wedding catering in one place.
Before choosing your caterer, you’ll need to have your venue booked and understand any limitations that they’ll have on the vendors you’ll be able to hire. If you’re unsure about how to find the perfect venue for your wedding, check out our venue guide. Then, come back and read through all of the options available to feed yourselves and your wedding guests.
Different Meal Styles
Once you’ve selected your venue, consider the type of meal you’d like to entertain your guests with. Keep these in mind on your catering journey to ensure that there’s no confusion between you, your wedding dream team, and your guests.
Plated Meals
If you’re looking for a formal, served meal, this option is for you. Plated meals typically include three courses: appetizer, entree, and dessert. Though this adds an intimate nature to your wedding, keep in mind this type of meal comes with extra planning and preparation—from formulating a seating chart to collecting guest’s food choices and dietary restrictions (typically from their RSVP). Then, you’ll need to communicate these to your caterer.
Passed Appetizers
Couples wanting a more relaxed reception—without sacrificing plentiful and delicious foods—should opt for a passed appetizer option. Typically passed appetizers are combined with the cocktail hour and include bite-sized snacks that are served by catering staff.
Hors D’oeuvres
From charcuterie tables—also known as grazing tables—to sliders, hor d’oeuvres have become a popular wedding food option. This is a perfect meal selection for couples looking to combine food presentation and taste to enhance their reception. Usually set in a buffet style, guests can come and go as they please and have the choice of endless food options. This is sure to add a relaxed vibe to any wedding day, without having to sacrifice mouth-watering foods.
Cake and Punch
A fun and budget-friendly catering option is a “cake and punch” reception. Instead of serving your guests a full sit-down meal, you jump right to wedding cake and drinks—we’re all for skipping straight to dessert. This is a perfect option for late-night weddings or short and sweet celebrations.
Catering Styles Vary
You’ve selected the meal style fit for your wedding vibe and theme, now it’s time to determine execution. There are catering styles fit for every couple and every wedding size. Whether you’re wanting a hands-on catering experience or wanting to assemble a team of industry professionals to take the reins, you’re sure to find a catering style here that is perfect for you.
Venues With In-House Catering
If you’re searching for ways to simplify your wedding planning process, some venues offer in-house catering. This style of catering means the venue takes full reign of the catering duties from setup to tear down, and everything in-between. No extra time needed to coordinate between the caterer and the venue—it’s already done for you. Of course, you’ll still be able to work with the in-house catering team on the menu.
DIY Catering
With weddings getting smaller, more couples are opting to DIY major elements of their weddings—like decor and food. Maybe you love cooking and want to prep the meal yourselves, whatever the reasoning may be, do it yourself catering is always an option. By going with a DIY approach you’re able to directly control the flavor and outcome, without having to sacrifice quality.
Hire a Caterer
Hiring a top-notch caterer is one of the easiest ways to reduce your wedding planning stress. A professional caterer will take care of the procurement, planning, cooking, and cleanup. The caterer will also impact your reception experience by limiting your wedding day work. This way, you can be present and soak up all of the memories.
Consider reaching out to your favorite restaurant as a fun way to show off local dining to your guests.
Food Trucks
Options, options, and more options. If you’re dreaming of a relaxed reception vibe with a variety of food options, food trucks are an ideal catering option. This can also be an easy way to appease many different dietary restrictions and preferences. Whether you’ve got vegans or gluten-free guests, there are trucks for everyone.
This style of catering also adds fun to any styled reception, not to mention the endless food options that are offered on wheels nowadays.
Cocktail Party Reception
A cocktail party reception means skipping the meal and instead indulging in a variety of hors d’oeuvres and drinks. Cocktail party food opens the door to creativity. This can mean an oversized charcuterie table or passed appetizers. This reception food option is perfect for couples looking to customize every part of their reception—from the food options, to the decor—and for couples that want their reception bar to be the main event.
There is no better way to kick off your marriage than with a reception that is authentically you. From the wedding catering options to the reception drinks, every element should be a reflection of you, your partner, and your union. If you’re searching for ways to make your reception unique without breaking the bank, you won’t want to miss these tips for decorating your reception space on a budget.
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by International Associations | Aug 4, 2021 | Marketing
Email Helps Make Your Content King!
Email Energizes Your Content Marketing Strategy
A dedicated digital marketer will send out an email marketing campaign or work on a content piece for future Email Marketing while they wait for their coffee to brew in the morning.
When you combine email and content marketing strategies, it guarantees having a productive morning because it’s the perfect combination. Content marketing and email are like chips and salsa. You can’t just have one without the other. Why do you think that’s true?
Your Email Driven Content Marketing
It sounds like a huge challenge, let’s look at what research shows us that other Digital Marketers rely on to succeed. An Ascend2 research study examines how combining email and content marketing is the bedrock to build your Digital Marketing Strategy on.
The survey was done to determine what an effective email-driven content marketing strategy looks like. The survey was fielded the week of August 27, 2018, and a total of 224 marketing professionals participated.
Email Leads Your Digital Effectiveness
Email is clearly considered an effective channel for marketing content to prospective customers by 82% of marketing professionals. The next most effective channels are social media and a company’s website or blog for 54% and 51% of marketing professionals, respectively.
Email’s importance is consistent in various research studies on content, email, data, and technology.
Establish Your Content Priorities
Define Your Content and Email Priorities
Improving the quality of leads is a top email-driven content marketing strategy priority for a 54% majority of marketing professionals. Increasing conversion rates and the number of leads or subscribers generated are also top priorities for 49%.
When considering your content & email priorities, you should examine your content.
- To improve the quality of your leads and increase conversions, you need high-quality content.
- Content needs to be laser-focused on your audience. Determine who you want to reach. Just like you segment your email list, segment and personalize your content.
- What content types should you create? Here is what the research study revealed that works best for marketing professionals.
What is Your Most Effective Digital Content for Email
Videos or motion graphics are considered the most effective types of digital content used for marketing purposes by 44% of marketing professionals.
Almost as effective are webinars or events, and research or eBooks for 43% and 41% of marketing professionals respectively.
Optimize Your Digital Content for Email
High-quality content creation is difficult, so when you create awesome content, be sure to optimize your results by generating a variety of content types. For example, a research study could produce the following content types:
- Report: Create a report that is easy to scan and answers the readers important questions.
- Video: Many people would rather watch a video than read a report. So give them what they want with a video format of your research.
- Webinar: Your research is ideal to set the stage for the topic of your webinar. Your research helps to identify a problem or opportunity and your speakers can provide expert advice on that topic.
- Blog posts: A quick review of a research chart will inspire a blog post. If you have eight research charts, that is eight blog posts.
- Infographic: A picture is worth a thousand words. Use your research to tell a story visually.
You do the math:
1 research study = 1 report + 1 video + 1 webinar + 8 blog posts + 1 infographic
Emails and Content Marketing Achieve Priorities
More than half (54%) of marketing professionals consider an email-driven content marketing strategy to be successful at achieving priorities.
Email and Content Marketing Are a Winning Combination
So keep combining email and content marketing, it is a great combination!
by riley | Aug 3, 2021 | Wedding
Like most other couples of 2020, Daniella and Nelson had a small family wedding planned in the Dominican Republic before a pandemic changed the wedding world as we know it. But rather than let that stop them from tying the knot, the couple moved their ceremony to the Consulate of the Dominican Republic in Boston. After saying “I do” in the courthouse, the newlyweds went to lunch, cheered to their future with champagne and cake, and throughout the process took some stunning photos around the city with photographer Scarlet Roots.
Although their special day was small, every detail was well-thought-out–especially their fashion. Daniella looked beautifully casual in her Staud short wedding dress, Jennifer Behr birdcage headband, and Refine chunky headband–all of which accentuated her colorful bouquet from Central Square Florist. Meanwhile, Nelson opted for a more traditional look in a linen guayabera, a button-up shirt typically worn in the Dominican Republic. Who says courthouse wedding fashion has to be boring?
The Couple:
Daniella and Nelson
The Wedding:
Consulate of the Dominican Republic, Boston, MA
Recommended Reading: The Ultimate Elopement Planning Checklist
Making Sure The Day Was COVID-Conscious
It was important for us to keep in mind the true end goal–our marriage and life together and not necessarily the day. Since everything came together very quickly, we didn’t have much time to plan. To keep things as safe as possible, we had our ceremony with two witnesses, snapped some pictures, and then went to lunch together. Back home, we called our families and shared some cake and champagne.
Shop similar headbands:
Laidback Vibes At The Romantic Courthouse Wedding
We decided to elope after COVID-19 complicated our plans for a small family wedding at home in the Dominican Republic. It was important for us to have a relaxed and fun day, so we kept everything laid back. My look was an easy linen dress from Staud with block heels. I couldn’t decide between the Refine satin headband or the Jennifer Behr veil, so I wore both. Nelson wore a linen chacabana or guayabera that’s traditional in our country. I ordered my bouquet from our local florist the day before.
Recommended Reading: 16 Elopement Ideas to Make Your Small Wedding Special
Congratulations again to Daniella and Nelson on their romantic courthouse wedding. We’re so thankful Scarlet Roots was there to capture the love of the day! If you’re planning your own courthouse “I do’s,” be sure to check out these courthouse wedding dresses that are simple yet special.
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by olivia | Aug 1, 2021 | Wedding
Creating a unique wedding celebration with thoughtful details truly makes the big day that much more special. Jenna and Jay put so much care and detail into their multi-cultural Headlands Center for the Arts wedding. Not only did they have a personal, hybrid ceremony, but with help of their wedding planner Heartthrob Weddings and Events, they also added a champagne cocktail hour with a remarkable view of the Golden Gate Bridge.
On top of stunning views and personalized ceremonies, Jenna and Jay created stunning wedding favors—a pinch bowl with incense—and hand-dyed their napkins to match their wedding color palette. Keep scrolling to see this absolutely creative wedding as captured by Eve Rox.
The Couple:
Jenna and Jay
The Wedding:
Headlands Center for the Arts, San Francisco, California
Advice for Nearlyweds
Get a wedding planner! Even if you think you don’t need one. We were so excited to make our day feel really special that we were initially hesitant to give up control. It turned out that there were so many details to think through that having a planner is what ended up making it possible for us to focus where it mattered most to us. Oh and start writing your vows early!
Choosing A Headlands Center For the Arts Wedding
We exhaustively searched and there were times where we wanted to just settle for something easy. At the last minute, we found the perfect place. Its blend of history and scenic beauty gave it a romantic and dreamy vibe. Plus, the fact that it’s a non-profit that supports local artists enabled us to give back to our community and choose a place that was within our budget.
Personalized Ceremony
We worked with friends and family who were members of two communities that are really important to us—Jewish and queer communities—to create a highly personal hybrid ceremony that blended tradition with our personal values.
DIYed Wedding Details
We DIYed our favors and hand-dyed our napkins with support from friends. For the favors, we were lucky to have the help of a friend and professional ceramicist, Jo Boyer Ceramics. Jo generously donated their time, know-how, and supplies to help Jay and another friend make pinch pots with our wedding date stamped on the bottom for every guest. We packed these bowls in bags with incense from another friend, Rituals Incense.We love that everyone could light them with intention and bring the sense of love from our wedding day with them.
Congratulations to Jenna and Jay on their beautifully creative Headlands Center for the Arts wedding. Major shout out to Heartthrob Weddings and Events for sharing this day with us. If you’re looking for a way to make your wedding day more personal, check out these nine ways to personalize your wedding and our guide to planning a unique wedding.
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by kailey | Jul 30, 2021 | Wedding
Backyard weddings have become increasingly popular in 2021—a trend we don’t see going away anytime soon. Emily and Abdo’s Woodland Hills sunset backyard wedding proves you don’t need an over-the-top or expensive wedding venue in order to pull off your dream celebration. With the help of planner Bone Soiree Productions, their backyard was fully transformed into a breathtaking wedding space complete with candles, draped twinkle light, and a band that turned their reception into a fun-filled party.
Photographer Lauren Belknap did a great job capturing images packed with memories—fully immersing us in Emily and Abdo’s sunset backyard wedding. This is what photographer Lauren Belknap had to say about this unforgettable celebration:
This event was the epitome of, “love is never canceled.” Emily and Abdo had a large wedding planned to celebrate with all their family and friends. But when COVID regulations continued into the winter months of 2020, the two realized that getting married in an intimate backyard wedding with loved ones was important to them.
This wedding is a gorgeous example of practicing COVID guidelines while also celebrating love! The bride’s wedding gown is from Marchesa and the style of classic, romantic, and stunning was impeccable throughout the night. The tent created an intimate scene, candles enhanced the atmosphere, and the band created a lively mood.
The Couple:
Emily and Abdo
The Wedding:
Woodland Hills, California
Enjoy The Planning Process
I would challenge every couple to really think about what is the most important part of the wedding. COVID forced us to give up the idea of a giant party at a big venue. It was initially difficult to accept this, but it ultimately made us realize that it didn’t matter where, when, or how we got married. We just wanted to be married, and for the most important people in our lives to be there. The wedding is just one day of your life, your marriage is forever! Enjoy the process as much as you can, be kind to yourself and others, and just remember what this whole process is supposed to be about: you and your person committing to each other forever. Everything else will fall into place.
Most Memorable Sunset Backyard Wedding Moments
The most memorable part of the day was exchanging our vows in front of our closest family and friends. It felt incredible to be surrounded by so much love, during such an awful time in the world, and vowing our commitments of love to each other. I also loved the moments we had after our ceremony—just us—eating appetizers between photos while our guests enjoyed cocktails in the front yard while listening to live music—everything from classic jazz hits to Kanye West.
Meaningful Handmade Wedding Favors
My mom made each guest an embroidered monogrammed blanket. Our wedding was fully outdoors, so it allowed guests to stay cozy when it got cold, and was something unique they could keep and use to remember our wedding.
Congratulations to Emily and Abdo on their beautiful sunset backyard wedding! They were faced with many obstacles that forced them to trade their large wedding for a micro wedding—like many couples during these crazy times. Their celebration turned out beautifully!
Whether you’re looking to avoid canceling or rescheduling your wedding or simply looking to trim your guest list to have a more intimate celebration we’ve got you covered. Whatever your reasoning for downsizing your wedding may be, we have the ultimate planning guides for you. Check out our micro wedding guide and elopement planning guide to get started now.
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