We Feel Great

Are you a “bride-zilla”? Hopefully not. This term was of course coined for the bride who goes overboard in her demands for her wedding, even throwing temper tantrums when things aren’t quite going her way.

Fortunately, not all brides are like this, and not only are they absolutely joyful during “their” day, but some couples even use the occasion of their wedding to express their concern for others, and concern for the environment. Any bride and groom can use their big day as an opportunity to give back to the community and to show respect for the earth, with the right socially conscious wedding ideas. Here are just a few:

Stay simple and as small as possible. More guests mean more transportation, more food, and more energy. Fewer guests mean less waste and less consumption. Keep all your wedding ideas tasteful but modest.

Cut down on the auto emissions by using fewer cars to and from the ceremony. If you must use limos, use just one for the men and one for the women. Better yet, skip the limousines and use compact cars. If you can find a horse-drawn carriage, consider this as an eco-friendly wedding idea, not just a romantic one!

Many brides are setting up websites to share with friends and family all the plans they’re making for the wedding and to post photos, the story of how the couple met, and so on. Another eco-friendly wedding idea is to use this website as a means of getting your invitation RSVPs as well, to eliminate both the paper used for the cards and the gasoline used to deliver them.

Use recycled material as much as possible. This means napkins, place cards for the seating chart, matchbook covers, and whatever other paper wedding ideas you have at your reception. You can even shop for invitations that are made from recycled paper as well; many invitation companies offer this option.

Avoid the word “disposable.” This only refers to something that’s going to be used once and thrown away. For some years, a popular wedding idea has been to leave disposable cameras at each table of the reception hall for guests to take candid shots, but this means several dozen disposable cameras thrown away within a few days. Multiply that by the number of weddings that happen across the U.S. every weekend and you see why the landfills are so … full.

In addition to recycled material, cut down on WHAT you use as well. Have one main menu for each table placed attractively in the middle rather than a separate menu for each guest. This principle can apply for all your wedding ideas that are printed – forego so many of the inserts in your invitations that are unnecessary, such as the blotter sheet, the inner envelope, and so on.

And the decorations are another area where you can be simple to conserve and cut back on energy usage. Everyone wants a breathtaking venue and reception hall and your wedding ideas may be something grand in scale, but consider getting creative with decorations that can be reused. For example, stringing lights around artificial trees can add a beautiful touch to any wedding – both the lights and the trees can be taken home to reuse.

Potted plants are better than cut flowers, balloons, and crepe paper, all of which will just be thrown away. Speak with your florist about what wedding ideas there are for blooming plants that will add just the right color and style for your location; guests can then take the plants home afterward. Use candles for the ceremony and reception as much as possible (being mindful of safety of course). This wedding idea will not only add a romantic feel, it will cut back on energy usage from lights.

Making things simple can also apply to your menu. Many couples forego a full dinner because of budget reasons, but think about how much energy is used to make a multiple-course meal for hundreds. To save some energy, make your reception wedding ideas simple. By having a smaller wedding later in the evening you can offer a simple appetizer and dessert menu, saving not only energy but money as well. Speak to your caterer openly and candidly about what you’re looking for.

And be mindful of your wedding ideas when it comes to wedding favors as well. Make sure you’re choosing items that will be used and appreciated; many brides have given up the option of bottled water with personalized labels, as some fail to recycle the bottles. Whatever your choice of favors, be sure that it’s something that guests will keep and appreciate.

And the most responsible and conscientious thing that couples are doing today with their wedding ideas is making sure that not even the leftover food goes to waste. Before your ceremony, get in touch with a local soup kitchen and arrange to have any leftovers donated, if possible. You can even get your guests involved and ask that they donate to a favorite charity in lieu of gifts to you, or choose gifts that can be given to a local children’s hospital, homeless shelter, and so on. These are great socially conscious wedding ideas for the couple that is getting married after having already established a household, meaning that they have little need for the typical blenders, toasters, and so on.

All of these socially conscious wedding ideas are just some ways that brides and grooms can show their concern and respect for the environment and for others. Many are keeping in mind that while it’s “their” day, it’s “our” planet, and there’s no better time to show your appreciation for that than with your own generous and original wedding ideas.

When trying to decide what kind of storage to use for your wedding dress, you may be stuck between a proper wedding dress box, or a plastic bag. Let’s take a look at reasons why you should use a proper box instead of a bag.

A Proper Wedding Dress Box

A proper wedding dress box will be acid free (because the acid will break down the fabric and cause discoloration) and will also be pH neutral, because a box that is acid free without being neutral will likely have a reverse alkalinity which will cause the same kind of damage as not having a acid free box. The proper wedding dress box will also be solid with no viewing window, because a viewing window will let light in.

A Plastic Bag

While it may be good to help you get your dress from the store to the seamstress for alterations and to the cleaners after the wedding, using a plastic bag allows light to get to the dress which will break down the fabric and lead to discoloration. In addition to light, the bag will likely be more susceptible to moisture which can cause the dress to mildew and mold. As time goes on, the plastic bag will break down, whereas the proper dress box will stay intact. Chances are the plastic composition of the bag will also contain acids that will break down the fabric.

While it may be more cost effective to store your dress in a bag initially, in the end it will do more harm than good when you go to take out the dress in a few years to give to your daughter, friend, or other loved one to find it ruined with discoloration and weakened fabric.

Save yourself potential heartbreak later and store your dress correctly with an acid free, pH neutral wedding dress box. This way you know your dress will be safe through it all and when it is time to renew those vows, you will be ready to go.

Are expensive wedding cakes really worth it? As a wedding planner in the SF Bay Area, this is one of the questions I’m continuously asked by brides. The answer I always give is that, it really depends on a lot of things.

Any wedding planner or wedding budget calculator will tell you to allocate 2-3% of your total wedding budget towards a cake. This is the average, the norm, the current trend. So if your total wedding budget is $50,000, then you should allocate $1000 – $1500 towards your cake. If you’re expecting 150 guests, then you would need to find a baker whose cakes ranged between $6 – $10 a slice. However, 2-3% is only a suggestion.

I recently worked with clients who had their heart set on a string trio for their ceremony. They chose to pay 3 times as much as they originally budgeted for ceremony music to get the string trio. To cut costs elsewhere, they cut the videographer and cake from the wedding. Instead of a cake, they had a candy station. The candy station was set up by family members in heirloom dishes and bowls, and was a conversation piece amongst all of the guests. It was cute, inexpensive, and it worked.

If couples are totally into decadent desserts, or have their heart set on a cake you saw in a trendy cakery’s window, then allocating 5% or more of your budget towards a higher quality cake, taking funds away from other wedding items in their budget, may be the right choice for them.  Many high end cakes in the SF Bay Area can cost up to $20 a slice. For a wedding of 150 guests, that’s $3000 for a cake. This translates to 6% of the total wedding cost, if the overall budget is $50,000.

Many couples want a wedding completely unique and all their own. Knowing what the trends and traditions are, often help couples steer away from them, to help create what they want their “untraditional and original” event to be.  A lot of the time, the untraditional and original events do not include wedding cakes.

My clients that do chose wedding cakes, often struggle with their overpriced costs. “How could something made out of flour, sugar and eggs be so expensive?” they ask, as they’re holding a picture of a couture wedding cake from the latest Town and Country Weddings Magazine.  Are these expensive wedding cakes really worth it?

To best answer this, I’ve listed a list of points below to help shed some light on this blazing question.

Wedding

Put the word “wedding” in front of anything, and watch the price increase by 30-40%. It’s the way of the world. As long as customers pay high prices, bakers will charge high prices.

The mark up on weddings also has a lot to do with the pressure to make the event perfect. There is an enormous amount of expectation on wedding professionals for perfection. This is stressful, period. Would you be that upset if your birthday cake were flawed? Maybe a little, but you’d have a lifetime of birthdays to get it perfect, right? Not the case with a wedding. Couples view their wedding as a one-time chance to get it perfect. If their cake is flawed, they could be angered and disappointment on their wedding day. You best be sure the baker will hear about it. Discounts or partial refunds may be offered by the baker, or demanded by the couple.

Ingredients

If bakers use real butter and cream, and/or organic products, then their cakes will cost more than those that don’t. . The type of cake also matters. A simple sponge cake made from a mix that’s full of preservatives, is much less expensive than a cheese cake made from scratch with all organic products. Also, top notch cakes are fresh. They are made 2-3 days prior to the event. It takes a lot of manpower to work non-stop on a cake in just a few days, as opposed to one person taking their time, freezing layers and beginning the baking months ahead.

Décor

Many agree that the most expensive and time consuming factor of wedding cakes is the décor. A butter cream frosting cake with fresh flowers for decoration is much easier to create than a fondant cake with hundreds of intricate sugar flowers. If your cake involves elaborate designs, then it will take much longer to create, and cost more money.

Structure

A standard 3 tiered cake is much easier to assemble, support and transport, than a 4, 5 or 6 tier cake. The taller the cake, the more effort it takes a baker to support it, and to get all of the tiers level and straight. Many layered cakes are not easy to assemble and keep straight, and a baker will charge you for this.

Location of the Baker or Bakery

You may find that a baker in a major metropolitan area or a bakery in a trendy main street location will be much more expensive than a baker that bakes out of their home in suburbia.

Training of Bakers

Where did the bakers get baking and pastry arts training? Do they even have training? Well trained bakers and sugarcrafters, especially with many years of experience, demand a higher price for their creations.

Reputation

Bakers who have a reputation for creating outstanding cakes, are covered often in the media and are in high demand, will ask high dollar for their cakes.

Time of Year

The high season for many bakeries is during December, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Easter. If your wedding falls on one of the key high season days, it’s possible your cake may cost a bit more.

Delivery & Set-up

If your venue is far from the bakery, it’s possible that your cake may cost more to deliver. Delivering a cake safely is a timely and stressful process. So the longer the stress and the longer the baker is not in their shop making money, the more you’ll be charged.

Many brides that I’ve worked with insist on purchasing cakes from grocery stores. Grocery store may be full of preservatives and not made with the finest ingredients or from scratch, but they’re decent looking cakes. The problem is that grocery stores may not deliver and set-up. I always remind couples that if they chose to purchase a grocery store cake, they’ll probably need to take on the stress, time and bother of safely transporting a wedding cake. Do they have a car with a large flat area? Do they have working air conditioning that will need to be on high the entire time the cake is in their car? Do they have a rubber mat to prevent the cake from sliding around? Do they have a friend or family member who has dealt with assembling cakes before? These are things to consider.

Frantic Bride Time

This could also be called “bridezilla time”.There is a lot of pressure and expectation put on the cake designer to meet and often exceed the expectations of the bride. This sometimes requires dropping everything else they’re doing to make the bride happy.

Many bakers build in time into their initial cake costs for this. In an emotional frenzy, brides often panic about last minute details of their wedding cake. Of course any professional baker will deal with a stressed bride calmly and do anything to make her happy. It’s part of what they do. They strive to meet the expectation of wedding perfection. However, calming and appeasing a frantic and emotional bride-to-be is stressful and time consuming.

For more articles and information regarding everything wedding cake: wedding cake designs, wedding cake toppers, and more, visit our site at www.wedding-cakes-and-toppers.com